2 Best Movies to Watch by Dina Shihabi

This sci-fi thriller based on a podcast by the same name is about Dan (Mamoudou Athie), a video archivist who takes a job to restore a set of burned Hi8 videotapes. When he starts seeing the footage, he discovers that it is from a now-missing woman trying to document a cult in the '90s. 

The events of the footage take place in an unassuming apartment building in New York City; after the building mysteriously burned down, many were left dead and missing in its wake. As Dan tries to understand what happened, he uncovers details about the woman filming and something that links even his own family to the fire.

The show is at times more of an unsettling horror than a supernatural thriller, but it features a stunning performance from Mamoudou Athie. It's also notably co-produced by James Wan, co-creator of the Saw, Insidious, and Conjuring franchises.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Ariana Neal, Dina Shihabi, Evan Jonigkeit, Julia Chan, Mamoudou Athie, Martin Donovan, Matt McGorry

Rating: TV-MA

Painkiller is a dramatized account of the opioid crisis that details how Purdue Pharmaceuticals manufactured and marketed the highly addictive pain medication OxyContin. Before each episode, the family member of an opioid victim recounts how the drug scarred their lives. Although the intentions seem righteous, the execution begs to differ. The drama leans heavily into crime thriller tropes, overproducing the events to a sensational degree with flat, cookie-cutter characters making it unwatchable at times.  

Two episodes in, the theatrics in the production choices feel dismissive of the severity of the opioid crisis, prioritizing eccentricities and a shallow textbook overview.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Ana Kayne, Carolina Bartczak, Clark Gregg, Dina Shihabi, Jack Mulhern, John Ales, John Rothman, Matthew Broderick, Ron Lea, Sam Anderson, Taylor Kitsch, Tyler Ritter, Uzo Aduba, West Duchovny