488 Movies Like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Page 31)

Renegade Nell is an upbeat historical fantasy series boasting great chemistry from the main cast. It's anchored by our fiery lead actress Nell (Louisa Harland), whose colorful bloodlust and banter always bring a lot of energy to the show. Her fun, easy dynamic with her siblings and allies on the run is reason enough to make this a light, comforting watch. Plus, with a plot revolving around murder, revenge, and accusations, it is easy to be invested, with all its moving parts leaving you curious and wanting more. Episodes can feel a bit stuffed, but if you stay beyond the second episode, you're probably staying for the whole thing.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Adrian Lester, Alice Kremelberg, Bo Bragason, Craig Parkinson, Enyi Okoronkwo, Florence Keen, Frank Dillane, Jake Dunn, Joely Richardson, Louisa Harland, Nick Mohammed, Pip Torrens

Rating: TV-14

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

It starts off rather plain and descriptive, almost like a Wikipedia article in documentary form with how unremarkable it is. While it maintains that bare minimalism throughout, the aggravating sadness begins to seep in as stories get a little more personal, ages get a little younger, and the list of transgressions starts getting longer. You can’t help but feel for these women and their families who are very much trapped or used by this exploitative “agency” and threatened by other dangerous circles. If you can stomach keeping it going, it’s tragic and disgusting in the most barebones and straightforward way.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Rating: TV-MA

Agent Elvis is the latest reimagining of the King, this time as a cool and collected James Bond-esque spy in a 60s neon-lit world. The adult animation series takes fun and unserious turns, in 1960s world history and also in Elvis’ life. The show turns faulty on-stage shows into recollecting spy trauma, poor film performances into body doubles that step in during his missions, and pins known financial troubles to a cartoon monkey. It’s an interesting approach from co-creators John Eddie and ex-wife Priscilla, along with some cool animated sequences. It would have been successful in reimagining Elvis at his best, if the comedy was funny enough to match.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy

Actor: Don Cheadle, Johnny Knoxville, Kaitlin Olson, Matthew McConaughey, Niecy Nash, Tom Kenny

Rating: TV-MA

While the identity of the post-Daniel Craig James Bond hangs in limbo, the franchise is branching out into TV with this mid-octane game show, which riffs on tried-and-tested reality TV competitions: its multiple choice questions and climb-the-ladder approach to prize money are evidently borrowed from Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, while its globetrotting recalls The Amazing Race.

For all its snazzy backdrops, though, this still feels like a half-hearted effort. The editing is partly to blame: in the first two episodes, for example, we only meet four of the nine pairs, and we’re constantly jumping back to the opening challenge in the Scottish Highlands for their introductions. There’s also zero interaction between any of the duos: they never meet or even acknowledge each other's existence, which dulls the drama and leaves you to suspect their scenes were all shot entirely in isolation. (You get the same impression from Brian Cox, who plays the mysterious mastermind behind the challenges and whose vague commentary is clearly designed so editors can slot it in wherever.) While there are plenty of Easter eggs for eagle-eyed Bond fans to spot, the show is definitively of the background-watch kind of TV: moderately interesting, but never as gripping as the movies whose coattails it’s plainly riding.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Reality

Actor: Brian Cox

Starting off as the 24th(!) overall season of this long-running TV franchise at the time of its release, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon understandably treads very familiar ground: general paranoia and distrust, humanity divided into survivalist factions, a search for a cure. In its early episodes, though, this series gets a boost from its uniquely historical setting—which creates a feeling of these characters stuck in a previous century—as well as a strong focus on religious faith in the time of the apocalypse. Still, this spin-off continues to go through the same action-horror motions, sticking to what's expected at the expense of any suspense or meaningful development for its stoic title character.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Adam Nagaitis, Anne Charrier, Clémence Poésy, Laïka Blanc-Francard, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi, Norman Reedus, Romain Levi

Rating: TV-MA

Whether or not one is a fan of auto racing, a documentary series like NASCAR: Full Speed manages to stay exciting simply due to the extreme nature of the sport. It isn't just a highlight reel of wipeouts and close calls, of course, but the insights we get into how complex (and expensive) racing is—and how much these racers have put on the line for themselves—increases the tension in every lap. Still, there's a sense that Full Speed is only sticking to the stories and personalities we expect to see in this kind of show. And like many other sports docs, it can't help but begin to go through the usual motions, becoming more like white noise punctuated by bursts of thrilling action.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, William Byron

Rating: TV-MA

Returning to your hometown can be an eerie thing, mostly because of the way plenty of things would feel familiar, but they’ve either stayed in stasis all these years, or they’ve changed so much. Tierra Incognita takes that eeriness and uses it to craft a mysterious vibe in the small town of Cabo Qwert, a town now best known in the series for its titular abandoned amusement park. It relies a tad bit on jump scares and family melodrama, and the theme park itself seems much more pristine than an abandoned park would look like, but Tierra Incognita would be an okay series for kids to enjoy.

Genre: Family, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Rating: TV-14

Today's comic book industry and cinematic universes are inextricable from popular culture, but the road to global recognition was long and arduous. Superpowered: The DC Story chronicles a fraction of that journey including the quiet beginnings of the publishing house as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's response to being bullied, all the way to the risky investments in film and TV adaptations and championing diverse voices. The three-part series delves into the  "holy trinity" (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) and how the cultural phenomenon of comics evolved over the years. Every era summarizes how DC creators had to overcome rigid executives, competing publishers like Marvel, and the highs and lows of relevancy in the ever-changing consumer market. With contributions from creators, innovators, directors, and actors, the attention to the politics of media and the call for diversity round out the somewhat-insightful and fan-sustained life of the DC universe. 

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Rosario Dawson

Rating: TV-14

Despite reportedly having a hundred-million budget, Those About to Die looks laughably cheap. From the CGI backdrops that take us to 10 different locations in the first 20 minutes to the inconsistent costumes, poor lighting, and cheesy narration, almost everything about the show is off-putting. Even the brief presence of Sir Anthony Hopkins can’t save it. But perhaps the worst crime the show commits is that it fails to deliver the blood, sweat, and tears the teasers and trailers promised. Is the Ancient Rome of brutal violence and hedonism? Why does it feel so staged and sanitized? If you can sit through the first episode, the action sequences do eventually get better, but for the most part, the show buckles under the weight of the many things it tries (but fails) to be.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Alicia Ann Edogamhe, Angeliqa Devi, Anthony Hopkins, David Wurawa, Dimitri Leonidas, Emilio Sakraya, Eneko Sagardoy, Gabriella Pession, Iwan Rheon, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Jojo Macari, Kyshan Wilson, Lara Wolf, Liraz Charhi, Moe Hashim, Pepe Barroso, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Rupert Penry-Jones, Sara Martins, Tom Hughes

Rating: TV-MA

The Perfect Couple is an uneven show. Some parts of it work, particularly the dramatic exchanges between members of the rich but strained Winbury family and the performances of its great actors. But most of it falls apart. The scenes where characters in the interrogation room provide information on the main characters aren’t just unhelpful, they’re deeply unfunny. Among the running jokes are that the feminine wedding planner may or may not be gay and that the French girl speaks funny. Oh, also, the maid hates poor people for some reason. The mystery and the writing of it are borderline soapy. Dakota Fanning and Meghann Fahy are always great, but multiple characters mean we don’t get to see a lot of them. Even Kidman and Schreiber, despite what the trailers suggest, are barely in it. The Perfect Couple is perfectly pleasant if you don’t mind your murder mysteries thin, but don’t expect it to be like The White Lotus, Big Little Lies, or Bad Sisters. Put those on instead if you want to see the actors here perform in much better shows.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Actor: Billy Howle, Dakota Fanning, Donna Lynne Champlin, Eve Hewson, Ishaan Khattar, Jack Reynor, Liev Schreiber, Meghann Fahy, Mia Isaac, Michael Beach, Nicole Kidman, Sam Nivola

Rating: TV-MA