The Best New Films and Series to Stream Right Now

American Horror Story producer Ryan Murphy returns with his second Netflix original, Hollywood. Always one to celebrate diversity, Murphy’s latest show imagines postwar Hollywood as an inclusive environment where women and minorities thrived. Featuring the likes of Darren Criss, Samara Weaving, and Patti LuPone among its esteemed cast, expect a festival of glitter and glamour that only Tinseltown can deliver.

Already being described by many reviewers as a slow-burning Stranger Things, Tales from the Loop has arrived on Amazon Prime with very little fanfare. However, the premise is one that should excite anyone with a penchant for sci-fi, nostalgia, or fantasy – which I’d say is most of us. The series is set in a small town in the Midwest that exists above the Loop, a machine that ‘explores the mysteries of the universe’. The Loop is an enigma, and beyond the obvious beauty of this show, that alone should be enough to hook you in.

Premiering on Hulu but produced by sibling company FX, Mrs. America dives into the Equal Rights Amendment of the US Constitution in the 1970s. The show stars Cate Blanchett as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and she is ably supported by the likes of Jon Slattery, Rose Byrne, and Uzo Aduba. Discursively, Mrs. America positions itself intriguingly. Schlafly finds herself becoming the villain of the piece as she wrestles with feminist icons in an attempt to carve out a space for herself in a male-dominated arena. It’s feminism and it’s anti-feminism all finely balanced, and if we have an awards season expect Mrs. America to be a big contender.

Directed by veteran Marvel stuntman Sam Hargrave, written by a Russo brother, and starring Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, expect satisfying action from Netflix’s latest original, Extraction. The film follows Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) as he seeks to recover an Indian drug lord’s teenage son, who is being held hostage by a rival gang in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Extraction is slick, well choreographed action with a typically charismatic performance from Hemsworth. What’s not to love?

Last year at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, the Beastie Boys’ two surviving members, Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond, sat down to revisit their band’s legacy under the gaze of Spike Jonze’s camera. The documentary sees Horovitz and Diamond looking back at not only the band’s most successful period, but a period of weird excess – the 1980s. If you’re a fan of the Beastie Boys and their adolescent anarchy then you probably don’t need much convincing. But Beastie Boys Story is definitely worth your time if not to just rediscover a bizarre chapter in 1980s music and culture.

Steve Carell starring in his first sitcom since The Office is probably all the information you need but I’m going to explain a little about the premise. Space Force is another workplace comedy but as the title suggests, it’s a little bit different from The Office. Co-starring John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow, and Ben Schwartz, Space Force centers on a group within the US government tasked with establishing the latest branch of the US Armed Forces, the titular Space Force. Even though the show is about space, it is set on Earth. And perhaps it is that anticlimactic feature that will make this another TV hit for Carell; because sometimes the most mundane things we can think of, such as following around the employees of a paper sales company, end up being the funniest.