Showing posts with label HBO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HBO. Show all posts

Quarantine Week 8: Top Streaming Recommendations


I previously highlighted some of my favorite shows/movies from HBO [view that list here] and Netflix [view here]. This edition is a mixed bag across platforms, but primarily Hulu and Amazon. 🎶 Everybody get your motherfucking stream on🎶 [Big Tymers voice].

Contagion [HBO]
I rewatched this over the weekend, and let me tell you, it hits on literally every single aspect of COVID right now. Director Steven Soderbergh and writer Scott Burns strove of a hyper-realistic movie. It may be too realistic for some, but it's still a high-quality movie.


POWER [Starz]
Power is a TV show at the intersection of high class and drug money. One of my favorite shows from the past 10 years. Omari Hardwick and Joseph Sikora are amazing, the writing is strong and the story is engaging.


Killing Eve [Hulu]
A dark comedy (and I mean dark) about a cat and mouse dance between an America MI-6 agent and the deranged serial killer who falls in love with her. Sandra Oh won a Golden Globe for her work, and Jodie Comer won an Emmy the same year. The craziest thing? Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who created, wrote, and starred in Fleabag (below) was the showrunner for season 1!


American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson
American Crime Story is an anthology series from mega-producer Ryan Murphy. It chronicles the OJ Simpson murder trial and the entire vibe and race issues surrounding it. It's one season, so it's a quick watch. It has an all star cast and it's an all star show

Fleabag [Amazon]
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is amazing. She created Fleabag. She was the showrunner for Season 1 of Killing Eve. She wrote the newest James Bond movie. And Fleabag is all her comedic talents laid bare for everyone to see and enjoy. The good and bad thing about the show is that it's only 2 seasons/12 episodes total, so you can binge it in half a day. There's a great Obama joke in season 1 and Obama included Fleabag on his 2019 best of list.


Upload [Amazon]
Man, I ate an edible last week and binged this entire show. At first, I thought it was workplace comedy a la The Good Place, and the further into it I got, the more I realized this show was going some dark places. What happens when you go to digital heaven, but you don't want to be there? What happens when you have to pay for it, but someone else is controlling the purse strings? It's got some really interesting ideas and I can't wait for S2.


Love is Blind [Netflix]
My wife and I's guilty pleasure. Super bingable. I hear it's like Married at First Sight but I wouldn't know as I've never seen it. I will say, this show, more than any other reality show I've ever seen, actually has tension and drama and high stakes. You feel for the participants because so much of the interaction is one-on-one and relatable. This show also has one of the wildest proposals I've ever seen. Sooooooo extra.


LOST [Hulu/Amazon]
A classic. If you haven't seen it, I consider the first 3 seasons to be some of the best broadcast television ever produced. The ways they showcase each character - each episode focus' on a different person's backstory - was innovative at the time and the shows influence can be found in nearly every major high-end sci-fi series since.

Assassination Nation [Hulu]
A revenge thriller/satire of what happens when an entire community goes lynch mob against 4 high-school women who decide to fight back.


Quarantine Week 4: Top HBO Recommendations

Click here for Netflix picks. Fuck covid, I won't even put any respek on its name. Won't capitalize it or list the whole thing or nothing. These are some of my favorite HBO shows and my top recommendations for series to watch during quarantine. No particular order (but The Wire will always be #1):

The Wire (2002 - 5 seasons)

I really feel in my bones that this is the greatest scripted television show ever created. The realness, the writing, the story, the impact, the social commentary - it has everything. Watching this show is like reading a book; it's methodical. Every character has their purpose and all the pieces matter.


Westworld (2016 - 3 seasons)

One of my favorite shows right now, Westworld is a high-brow sci-fi show like The Matrix, Ex-Machina or Blade Runner. Westworld is an adult playground where you can do whatever your mind can think to whomever you want to do it to because all the workers in the park are robots. But what happens when the robots develop consciousness? What does morality say about that?

Insecure (2016 - 4 seasons)

I love when black comedies get national love. Issa Rae is a star in front and behind the camera. A modern day tale of awkward and insecure people who don't have their life together.

Watchmen (2019 - limited series)

One of the finest 9 hours of television you'll see this year. An all-star cast led by the fabulous Regina King, Watchmen is an adaptation of the beloved graphic novel series. Part thriller, part sci-fi, part racist revenge drama and origin story. I loved it.

The Outsider (2020 - limited series)

Based on the Stephen King novel, The Outsider is both a crime show and a supernatural thriller combined in one. Cynthia Erivo delivers another quality performance.

Avenue 5 (2020 - 1 season)

Maybe it's because I watched nearly every episode while high on edibles, but this show is probably the funniest, driest, dark workplace comedy I've seen in a long time. The trailers never really conveyed it, but the show is basically about what happens when a space cruise gets knocked off its course and takes an additional 3 years to get back to earth. Oh, and everyone on the crew is an imbecile.

Chernobyl (2019 - miniseries)

Every limited series you've ever seen? This rivals it in quality. It won the Emmy and Golden Globe for best limited series. Absolutely gripping.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

I didn't think I was going to like this movie because the special effects make it look like an anime, but strong emotional development and action had me pleasantly surprised.