It’s been a busy old month for television. In the last few weeks alone, we’ve seen the likes of Peacemaker, The Book of Boba Fett, Euphoria season 2 and Ozark season 4 arrive on our screens. And, to be honest, we’re struggling to find the time to get through everything.
Unfortunately, those hoping for a reprieve this weekend are out of luck. The world’s biggest streamers have seen fit to drop several new shows (alongside a precious few movies) as we leave January behind and move into the month of love.
That being said, some of them look hard to resist. Below, we’ve rounded up the seven biggest new movies and TV shows available to stream on Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video and more over the next few days.
The Legend of Vox Machina (Prime Video)
After a 2019 Kickstarter campaign saw $11 million pledged towards an animated series based on Campaign 1 of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role, a 12-episode first season has finally arrived on Prime Video.
Called The Legend of Vox Machina, the show follows a band of mercenaries in the fictional kingdom of Tal’Dorei as they battle to defend their realm against all sorts of supernatural nasties. It’s standard fantasy fare, for sure, but this one also throws in heaps of the web series’ trademark humor to keep the genre feeling fresh.
In our review, we said The Legend of Vox Machina “finds a wonderfully delicate balance between the first campaign’s greatest hits and original content that’ll please diehards and newcomers alike.” So, wherever your D&D knowledge is at right now, there should be plenty here for everyone to enjoy.
Now available to stream on Prime Video
The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window (Netflix)
If you hadn’t already gathered from the series’ ridiculously long title, The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window is, indeed, a parody of the psychological thriller genre.
Kristen Bell stars as Anna, a heartbroken woman who is left unsure of whether or not she witnesses a murder. Naturally, all sorts of paranoia-inducing happenings begin to occur, and the show quickly plays host to every murder mystery trope in the book.
Early criticism hasn’t been too kind towards this eight-episode dark comedy, but fans of other satirical series like The Good Place will likely find enough intrigue here to stay hooked until the end.
Now available to stream on Netflix
The Fallout (HBO Max)
Actor Megan Park’s debut feature, The Fallout, examines the emotional aftermath of a school shooting through the eyes of students left traumatised by the experience.
Jenna Ortega leads the cast as Vada, but the likes of Dance Moms’ Maddie Ziegler and Big Little Lies’ Shailene Woodley make up a large supporting outfit. Interestingly, the score for this one was composed by Finneas O’Connell, the brother of singer Billie Eilish.
The Fallout scooped both the top jury award and top audience award at last year’s SXSW Film Festival, so it’s definitely one to catch for those into their moving character dramas.
Now streaming on HBO Max in the US and playing in theaters in the UK
The Afterparty (Apple TV Plus)
Another murder mystery spoof in the vein of the aforementioned The Woman in the House Acro- (we won’t go there…). The Afterparty stars Tiffany Haddish, Dave Franco, Jamie Demetriou and more as old school friends who find themselves at a reunion that turns deadly.
The show uses a Rashomon-like structure to tell the same story through different characters’ perspectives, with each episode adding more possible theories as to the identity of the killer. For that reason alone, The Afterparty at least sounds like it’ll stand out from the crowd.
This one also marks the live-action television debut of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse co-writer Christopher Miller (whose longtime partner Phil Lord is also a producer on the show). As such, there’s bound to be something here worth sticking around for.
Now available to stream on Apple TV Plus
Home Team (Netflix)
You might deem it cruel to describe any movie as a run-of-the-mill Kevin James comedy, but from what we can tell, Netflix’s Home Team is exactly that.
In fairness, though, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional easy watch, and this one sees the funnyman star as New Orleans Saints manager Sean Payton, who famously coached his 12-year-old son’s high school football team during his suspension from the NFL.
Fellow Grown Ups alumni Taylor Lautner and Rob Schneider feature alongside James in this based-on-a-true-story family film, which probably won’t demand too much of its audience.
Now available to stream on Netflix
All of Us Are Dead (Netflix)
Quite simply, All of Us Are Dead looks like ridiculous fun. The latest South Korean import to be snapped up by Netflix, it’s also poised to shoot up the streamer’s popularity charts in the coming weeks.
In this eight-episode horror series, a group of trapped students must band together in an effort to escape their zombie-infested high school. From what we can tell from the show’s trailer, it looks like Army of the Dead meets Battle Royale – and that’s a combination we can more-than get behind.
What better way to ease the wait for Squid Game season 2?
Now available to stream on Netflix
We Need to Talk About Cosby (Showtime)
A little less gory (but perhaps no less monstrous), We Need to Talk About Cosby looks at the life of former comedian Bill Cosby through the lens of the present day, when numerous sexual assault charges have been leveled at the one-time TV giant.
This four-part documentary comes from fellow comedian W. Kamau Bell, and includes testimony from other stand-up comics, journalists and Cosby’s accusers to form a first-of-its-kind deep-dive into the truth behind the stories.
Don’t expect to find too much by way of enjoyment here, but We Need to Talk About Cosby looks to be a necessary watch, rather than an entertaining one.
Available to stream on Showtime in the US from Sunday
