Genre: Drama
Actor: Alexa Goodall, Ewan McGregor, Fehinti Balogun, Jonny Harris, Marcus Hodson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Put the kids to bed before you go through this list of great titles to stream. These are the very best movies and shows with a TV-MA ratings, intended for mature audiences only.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Alexa Goodall, Ewan McGregor, Fehinti Balogun, Jonny Harris, Marcus Hodson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Between 2017’s Death Note and this year’s critically acclaimed One Piece, it’s been a hit or miss for Netflix when it comes to live action anime adaptations. The latest one is YuYu Hakusho, whose supernatural scrimmages influenced 90s action manga. Yusuke Urameshi maintains that classic 90s delinquent with a heart of gold in the modern era now, and it’s easy to root for him because he shares the same intentions as anyone else would. The fights are fantastic, with Robot Communications at the helm, and the spirit world looks and feels so intriguing, even for viewers unfamiliar with the original story. However, with only five episodes, amounting to only five hours, it’s too short of a time to flesh out so many of the manga’s full ensemble. YuYu Hakusho might have the visuals, but fans of the original might be let down by the live action time spent with their favorite side characters.
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Actor: Ai Mikami, Go Ayano, Goro Inagaki, Hiroya Shimizu, Jun Shison, Kanata Hongo, Keita Machida, Kenichi Takitoh, Kotone Furukawa, Meiko Kaji, Sei Shiraishi, Shuhei Uesugi, Takumi Kitamura
As the drama’s dysfunctionally in-love leads, Coleman and Jackson-Cohen are compelling. Whether the scene demands rage or romance, they’re able to effectively dial it from a subtle one to an all-out ten. Sadly, the material they’re working with fails to match their energy. Lackluster direction makes their arguments more of a weak tug than an intense push and pull, while scant introspection and backstory fail to justify the murderous urges that Liv all of a sudden has. In fact, it’s this aspect of Wilderness that remains the weakest. It’s watchable as an infidelity drama, but not nearly as believable as a crime thriller. The violent scenes come out corny, if not unintentionally funny. There is a version of Wilderness that could’ve made it a spiritual successor to the much wilder and brasher Doctor Foster, but this, unfortunately, isn’t it.
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Actor: Ashley Benson, Claire Rushbrook, Eric Balfour, Jenna Coleman, Jonathan Keltz, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Morgana Van Peebles, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Talia Balsam
The pulp and machismo that defined the ‘80s is very much present in Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, but instead of glorifying the era, Indonesian auteur Edwin smartly flips the script and puts the headstrong Iteung (Ladya Cheryl) front and center in this subversive and heady action film. As the anti-damsel-in-distress, Iteung expertly wrestles her way through love, all while retaining an endearing cheekiness and independence about her.
Excellently choreographed, impeccably detailed, and skewed with enough of a feminist bent to keep it fresh, Vengeance Is Mine fittingly won the top prize at the 74th Locarno International Film Festival.
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Actor: Arie Dagienkz, Ayu Laksmi, Brilliana Desy Dwinawati, Cecep Arif Rahman, Christine Hakim, Djenar Maesa Ayu, Eduwart Manalu, Elang El Gibran, Elly D. Luthan, Kevin Ardilova, Kiki Narendra, Ladya Cheryl, Lukman Sardi, Marthino Lio, Maryam Supraba, Max Yanto, Piet Pagau, Ratu Felisha, Reza Rahadian, Sal Priadi
Director: Edwin
Genre: Documentary
Actor: Kevin Spacey
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Allison Janney, Amber Chardae Robinson, Carol Burnett, Josh Lucas, Kaia Gerber, Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Leslie Bibb, Ricky Martin
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
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
If you've been following the bubbly personality that is Vanessa Bayer since her days in SNL, I Love That For You will come as a delight. It showcases the best of Bayer's abilities, which is to induce both hilarious cringe and endearing awe, and it features an ensemble that comes with its own strengths. Comic vet and fellow SNL alum Molly Shannon surprisingly delivers much of the show's emotional punch as she plays an aging host who longs to be seen as more than just the artificially happy persona she's required to be. Meanwhile, Jenifer Lewis plays the CEO whose no-nonsense girlbossness adds a much-needed comic acidity to the humor.
In a show that largely satirizes the oversized artifice and pomp of the sales and showbiz industry, it matters that the leads are weighty enough to ground us through their journey. That's thankfully the case in I Love That For You, which amuses and affects in equal measure.
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Ayden Mayeri, Jenifer Lewis, Matt Rogers, Molly Shannon, Paul James, Vanessa Bayer
It’s hard not to be struck by the inspiring stories of the six soldier-athletes we follow in Heart of Invictus. Many have lost limbs, most suffer from PTSD, and even others, like Ukrainian medic Yulia Paievska, are still active-duty and on the frontlines of war. They recall stories from their troubled past and uplifting present, and claim that opportunities like the Invictus Games allow them to heal and feel a sense of their former selves. As the co-founder of the games, Prince Harry’s testimonies can seem like fluff at times, but his sincerity pierces through and lends the docuseries an authentic feel. All is well on the material front, but Heart of Invictus wobbles in the technical details. The editing isn’t as smooth as it can be, the footage can feel generic, and the filmmakers can’t seem to establish an identifiable style.
Genre: Documentary
Director: Orlando von Einsiedel
Obliterated brings back the raunchy, yet epic ‘90s action through an inter-organization task force from the best of the best. From the team of Cobra Kai, it was expected to bring back some nostalgia, and it delivers with crazy, coked-up shenanigans with over-the-top explosions and great fight scenes in the neon-lit party city of Las Vegas. That being said, the actual story spreads thin across eight episodes, and the story beats are familiar if you’ve watched plenty of action films before, but it’s totally entertaining as they scramble around to get their wits together to be sober enough to fight old school Russian terrorists.
Genre: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Actor: Alyson Gorske, C. Thomas Howell, Eugene Kim, Kimi Rutledge, Nick Zano, Paola Lázaro, Shelley Hennig, Terrence Terrell
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Amaury Nolasco, Ariadna Gil, Carmen Maura, Eva Longoria, Gloria Muñoz, James Purefoy, Pep Anton Muñoz, Santiago Cabrera, Victoria Bazúa
As a spin-off of The Boys, Gen V returns to the same well of explicit, hyperviolent satire about seemingly benevolent superheroes—touching on many ideas that the franchise has already explored more strikingly before. This series' first three episodes are at their least effective when they get hung up on the shock factor of it all, with its satire often appearing as "cool" as the thing that it aims to satirize. But when the show quiets down and finally focuses up on its handful of main characters, it finds fresh ground for commentary.
At its heart this is a story about how the education system can be so easily bought by wealthy stakeholders who care more about producing star graduates than actually helping young people excel and find a place in the world. These kids are also immediately much easier to root for than Billy Butcher and his antihero crew, as each of them gradually reveals the trauma they're recovering from as a result of being experimented on and exploited. Gen V's central mysteries are slow to develop so far, but just seeing how this school-slash-factory is run helps make up for the slower pace.
Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Actor: Asa Germann, Chance Perdomo, Derek Luh, Jaz Sinclair, Lizze Broadway, London Thor, Maddie Phillips, Shelley Conn
Genre: Drama, War & Politics
Actor: Assaad Bouab, Daniel Mays, Ludivine Sagnier, Michael Douglas, Noah Jupe, Théodore Pellerin, Thibault de Montalembert
Genre: Drama
Actor: Cleopatra Coleman, Clifton Davis, Corbin Bernsen, Ed O'Neill, Harriet Sansom Harris, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Jacki Weaver, Kelly AuCoin, Laurence Fishburne, Rich Sommer