165 Best Mini-series Movies to Watch (Page 11)

After wars and revolutions, there tends to be the nostalgia of the “good old days”– days before the terror and violence have completely and irreparably changed one’s course, whether that be of one’s life, or that of a whole country’s. A Gentleman in Moscow displays that same nostalgia for aristocracy and their way of life before the October Revolution, with Rostov remembering the old days through the classic aspect ratio. It’s a decently made show, and it’s helped by casting Ewan McGregor, who brings the same sort of whimsy he brought to Christopher Robin, and the impeccable soundtrack from Federico Jusid. It’s also helped by expanding the role of Anna Urbanova, performed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. But this nostalgia feels a tad out of place, considering that nothing about the show, except perhaps some of the score, has been created by any Russian, or those that descended from the Russian immigrants that wanted a different life from the Bolshevik regime.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Alexa Goodall, Ewan McGregor, Fehinti Balogun, Jonny Harris, Marcus Hodson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Rating: TV-MA

Released earlier in 2023, Lady Voyeur is reminiscent of those 80s-90s erotic thrillers that you or your parents weren’t allowed to watch, albeit with a modern hacking subplot. The Brazilian Netflix mini-series balances its erotic and its thriller sides– with Eros ruling the consensual scenes, and fear powering the mystery of Prado-Couto families. Relying on mirrors, CCTV cameras, and window reflections, the show follows the titular protagonist Miranda, seeing and being seen, as she gets roped into a conspiracy against her fling’s best friend and hotel conglomerate. It’s an interesting watch, though it lacks a tighter resolution to all its plotlines.

Genre: Drama, Mystery

Actor: Ângelo Rodrigues, Débora Nascimento, Emanuelle Araújo, Nikolas Antunes

Rating: TV-MA

After decades of terrifying tales, it’s no wonder that Junji Ito developed a cult following internationally, big enough for a streaming giant like Netflix to invest in a brand new adaptation. Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre is fairly faithful to its source material, keeping the plot points of supernatural beings and spine-chilling body horror in its selected twelve tales. That being said, being an anthology, the selection in Junji Ito Maniac greatly varies on how scary it is. On top of this, the series’ art style, made more cleanly for easier animation, is simply less scary than the black-and-white, shadowy sketches from the original manga. New and younger viewers might still get a thrill from the latest anime rendition of Junji Ito’s stories, though older fans might find that it pales to the original.

Genre: Animation, Mystery

Rating: TV-MA

It would be unfair to demand the same things out of The Continental that the John Wick film series already does so well. And this three-episode prequel definitely works as its own animal; even if you haven't seen those increasingly elaborate Keanu Reeves movies, this miniseries easily finds a whole group of sympathetic characters worth rooting for and builds to a series of exciting set pieces full of personality and excellent choreography. The groundedness of The Continental's ensemble of heroes emerging from the seedy streets of this fictionalized 1970s New York works surprisingly well against the arrogance of the show's villains. And the world they all inhabit is rendered just as slickly as in the films.

But in its search for an identity of its own, The Continental becomes a reminder for why the John Wick movies work so well—and why this series just can't capture the same spark. Those are simple, primal movies that contrast Reeves' stoic, mythic protagonist against a bizarre world of colorful enemies. The Continental, in contrast, borrows from many hardboiled crime dramas but never actually provides any insight into the systems or rules that govern all the factions involved. Individual characters may achieve their goals by the end, but it's ultimately hard to see how they add to the grander ideas of revenge and redemption at play.

Genre: Action, Action & Adventure, Crime, Thriller

Actor: Ben Robson, Colin Woodell, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Jeremy Bobb, Katie McGrath, Mel Gibson, Mishel Prada, Peter Greene

Rating: TV-MA

This is a 3-episode true crime docuseries that shows great care to the victims and affected parties of this particular case. Whether they're detectives, autopsy specialists, victims' relatives, witnesses—all seem to share in this safe space, exploring thought processes behind why a certain place or person might be targeted, while at the same time extending support to the queer community directly harmed by this trauma. The production and reenactments are sleek without being overbearing or needing to sensationalize unnecessary details. The only time the atmosphere shifts is when we see the perpetrator's perspective, which is a kind of creepy that draws no sympathy or intrigue to itself. Its pace can drag in the middle of an episode, but it's a true crime mini-series with a straightforward, respectful approach, and these days that's more than enough.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Actor: Debbie Pollack, Katrin Faust, Lucia Lu, Miroslaw Wawak, Monika Laschke, Niklas Kohrt, Patrik Berg, Rick Hübner, Tristan Bumm

Director: Caroline Schaper, Jan Zabeil

Rating: TV-MA

To give credit to this three-episode documentary series, it succeeds in presenting a dynamic, three-dimensional portrait of '80s hair metal beyond the scene's glamour, guitar solos, and yes, all that hair. And it's certainly interesting to think about such lively, over-the-top music and visual aesthetics from the perspective of musicians and executives who struggled in the sidelines for so long, or who were only ever seen as replacement artists or female versions of more popular bands. But aside from a number of enlightening stories (mostly from Vixen vocalist Janet Gardner and record exec Vicky Hamilton), the series is just too simplistic and conventional an oral history that also never establishes the foundation of what hair metal is in the first place, and how the genre is unique from other styles of metal. It feels like the story of any other genre of music, which it absolutely shouldn't be.

Genre: Documentary, Music

Actor: Dave 'The Snake' Sabo, Dee Snider, Janet Gardner, John Corabi, Kip Winger, Vicky Hamilton, Wayne Isham

With the source material being a Pulitzer winning novel, All The Light We Cannot See had high expectations. Plenty of what made the novel great was its straightforward prose, as well as its back-and-forth timeline, where each scene is arranged not by chronological order, but by the thematic logic that informs the characters’ actions. The new Netflix adaptation keeps the novel’s structure, however, the novel’s poetry is lost as the metaphors are shortened to its most cliché versions, and the showrunners couldn’t trust that the viewers would acknowledge the novel’s subtleties. While the cast does what it can, the show just feels like a missed opportunity to tell an excellent story.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Aria Mia Loberti, Hugh Laurie, Lars Eidinger, Louis Hofmann, Mark Ruffalo

Rating: TV-MA

Following the success of the Aníkúlápó movie, Netflix Naija has followed up the fantasy film with a sequel series, Rise of the Spectre. Like the original film, it showcases Yoruba culture with its excellent production design, and incorporates some familiar fantastical elements, like Saro’s resurrection. The premise is also pretty interesting, as it directly deals with the spiritual consequences of the first film. However, the show has less of the resurrection powers being used, with less time seeing the fantastical crow that grants Saro’s powers, and more time dedicated to dialogue heavy scenes that are tough to follow without watching the first film. Aníkúlápó: Rise of the Spectre has less of the fantasy we hoped to see.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Bimbo Ademoye, Gabriel Afolayan, Kunle Remi, Sola Sobowale, Taiwo Hassan

At first glance, Irresistible doesn’t have the toxic ex-relationships, love triangles, or melodramatics known in the romance genre. As the main couple meet organically, and they’re able to share their ideas about love, the series had a promising slow-burn romance, that might be dialogue-heavy, but could possibly give out insights that any viewer would benefit to hear from. However, the casual way the protagonist Adele gets diagnosed with PTSD makes it feel like an insincere depiction of the disorder. And knowing that the male lead Arthur is married, and that they have such a casual fling, makes it hard to care if they’ll end up together. While there’s something that could be said about certain types of healing happening only through a relationship, Irresistible’s approach doesn’t seem to be headed that way, especially when it only has six episodes to tackle its nuances.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Camélia Jordana, Corentin Fila, Salomé Dewaels, Simon Ehrlacher, Théo Navarro-Mussy

Director: Antony Cordier, Laure de Butler

With an unusual premise, unique characters, and surprising writing, the original 2010 Megamind film had a genuine message all about accepting one’s self, and doing good despite the lack of acceptance, even as a big-headed blue alien. After 14 years, Dreamworks has released the series Megamind Rules! as sequel to the hilarious superhero comedy, naturally dealing with his journey to maintain his hero status, with a new villain to defeat every episode, along with a main plotline of increasing his influence through social media. There could have been a funny thread here, showing how careers have become fodder for content, as well as the contrast between evil habits he once had versus the heroic ideals he hopes to espouse. However, the series pays out in the most generic fashion, without any of the heart or timing the original film had that made it so compelling.

Genre: Animation

Actor: Emily Tunon, Josh Brener, Keith Ferguson, Laura Post, Maya Tuttle

Rating: TV-G

Netflix is no stranger to murder mysteries, having a whole catalog of films and series in the genre from around the world. Because of this, it can be hard for lesser known, non-English titles from the streamer to get their work noticed, and we at A Good Movie to Watch try to find the best of these hidden gems. Unfortunately, Hard Broken is not one of them. The latest six-episode Lebanese series feels rushed, often containing plot points that don't make sense, with stock characters that feel so one-dimensional. With the quality of other murder mysteries on the platform, it’s strange that Netflix decided to produce this series.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Actor: Elie Mitri, Muhanned Al Hamdi, Rasha Bilal, رودريغ سليمان, طلال الجردي

Director: Elie F. Habib

Rating: TV-MA