540 Best TV-MA Movies to Watch (Page 29)

True crime documentaries have a way of stretching out a thin story for views. For instance, what could have been an hour-long film is tediously and often unnecessarily extended into five or so episodes. Thankfully, that’s not the case in Hollywood Con Queen. Three hours is a reasonable length to cover Harvey Tahilramani’s wild crimes and even wilder stories. His biggest offense thus far is pretending to be bigshot Hollywood executives (among them famed producer Amy Pascal and Universal chairman Donna Langley), then luring freelancers into flying all the way to Indonesia to deposit sums of money to his account. If he’s not manipulating them, he’s demanding them to commit sexual acts, effectively abusing them. Despite that, Tahilramani is convinced that he is somehow the victim of all this scheming, and it’s his first-hand account, along with the victims’ harrowing testimonies, reporter Scott Johnson’s excellent reporting, and private detective Nicoletta Kotsianas's staunch investigation that make Hollywood Con Queen a compelling true-crime watch.

Genre: Documentary

Rating: TV-MA

Countless documentaries have been made about The Third Reich's rise to power, so Berlinger’s Hitler and The Nazis doesn’t particularly tread new ground. It starts with Hitler’s childhood and political beginnings, which anyone with a cursory knowledge of world history should know, but it picks up by the second episode, when it finally settles into a rhythm of stunning archival footage, realistic reenactments, expert commentary, and Shirer’s AI-recreated voice. The latter is chilling, not just because it recounts horrific events but also because it sounds strangely, unfittingly mechanical--to say nothing of the unnecessary use of AI when hiring a voice actor would’ve done the trick. Other than that, however, Hitler and the Nazis is a meaty historical account of a past that shouldn’t be forgotten, one that the newest generation will do well to watch.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Balázs Kató, Imre Csok, István Dankó, Károly Kozma, Soma Zámbori, William L. Shirer

Rating: TV-MA

Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Oceans trilogy, Erin Brockovich, and more recently, Kimi), Full Circle is a twisty and stylish noir that takes a while to grasp, what with its epic ensemble and sweeping storylines, but once that first thread of connection is made, it becomes a series that’s very hard to leave. Each episode leaves you excited for the next, which in turn ups the ante even more. Soderbergh is in his element, and aided by a stacked cast of veterans and newcomers alike, he turns in a series that’s expertly tense and watchable throughout.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: CCH Pounder, Claire Danes, Dennis Quaid, Gerald W. Jones III, Jharrel Jerome, Jim Gaffigan, Phaldut Sharma, Suzanne Savoy, Timothy Olyphant, Zazie Beetz

Rating: TV-MA

Based on the bestselling book of the same name, Everything I Know About Love follows four roommates fresh out of college making a name for themselves in London, 2012. It's ridiculous how much of the early 2010s this show gets right, from the heavy eyeliner and skinny jeans to the girlboss mindset and the nascent social media boom. The atmosphere alone is addictively nostalgic, but the real draw of the series is the girls themselves, especially lifelong best friends Maggie (Emma Appleton) and Birdy (Bel Powley). 

It’s refreshing to watch their friendship take center stage and be fleshed out and explored this much. Their dalliances are exciting, sure, but they’re also secondary to the relationship at the core of this show. In the end, this is all about bestfriendship—its thrilling highs and its depressing lows, its incomparable joy and tendency for toxicity. It's a blast to watch, especially in the company of your friends.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Emma Appleton

Rating: TV-MA

With the popularity of the Villenueve films, it’s no surprise that Warner Bros. Discovery would want to expand on the Dune franchise. Because of this, they decided to make HBO’s Dune: Prophecy– a mini-series centered around the mysterious Bene Gesserit. It’s an interesting premise, with the group’s strange supernatural powers, and it makes sense for HBO, too. After all, they love to make shows centered around power plays, deception, and the upper class. So it’s not surprising that Prophecy is more-or-less the same, albeit sandy and sci-fi flavored. There are some anachronicities to the series– after all, technology ten thousand years from the Dune movies should feel a bit more different– but Dune: Prophecy is not terrible, especially with the excellent performances of Emily Watson and Olivia Williams.

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

Actor: Aoife Hinds, Chloe Lea, Chris Mason, Edward Davis, Emily Watson, Faoileann Cunningham, Jade Anouka, Jodhi May, Josh Heuston, Mark Addy, Mark Strong, Olivia Williams, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Travis Fimmel

Rating: TV-MA

Detective Forst isn’t a mindbending, totally original crime thriller that would revolutionize the detective genre, but sometimes we just want something familiar. The thriller adaptation of Remigiusz Mróz’s book series mostly sticks to the classic tropes, with eerily strung up bodies being investigated by the gruff, hardened detective, portrayed well by Borys Szyc. It’s not immediately clear what brought Forst to the mountains– whatever it was, it’s enough to gain the mistrust of his new station, and it’s possibly the reason behind his splitting migraines– but that’s part of the fun, as an additional mystery alongside who is behind the murders. That being said, the show plans to depict a whole series, so the ending of its first season might exasperate viewers who just want a complete story. Still, with the striking scenery of the Tatra Mountains, Detective Forst is at least stunning enough to watch, even with all the moody murder mystery tropes onboard.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Actor: Aleksandra Grabowska, Borys Szyc, Kamilla Baar, Szymon Wróblewski, Zuzanna Saporznikow

Director: Daniel Jaroszek

Rating: TV-MA

Many fantasy K-dramas stick to the serious side, but Destined with You feels more lighthearted as it starts off with a light jab at the handsome grim reaper trope with SF9’s Rowoon. The show honors many of modern-day fated love tropes, and sometimes makes fun of it, but the series does it in a way that’s grounded in its characters and setting. The show first introduces the main duo as individual people, specifically, characters working with and for the public at large. Because of their jobs, Destined with You acknowledges the modern-day systems we use to deal with day-to-day injustices, but also provides the fantasy of having a second recourse in witchcraft. With the show’s pairing, there’s a hope that one way or another, the two could meet halfway.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Ha Jun, Jo Bo-ah, Lee Pil-mo, Rowoon, Yura

Director: Nam Ki-hoon

Rating: TV-MA

When crime happens at the border between two countries, it’s usually not big enough to earn the attention of two police departments. Criminal Code starts off with a literal bang, with around 50 participants bombing a security firm for a robbery. As the Paraguay and Brazilian police departments find new revelations, including the robbery’s link with a prison breakout, amongst other crimes, both sides want the glory of solving a case this big. However, Benicio just wants justice for his fallen partner, who got caught in the clash in the breakout. It’s not new – the written cases were inspired by actual real-life crimes – but it’s executed well, the whole plot unfolding piece by piece as more evidence presents itself. It’s no wonder this story was chosen to be the first Brazilian police series on Netflix.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Crime, Drama

Actor: Guilherme Faria, Maeve Jinkings, Miguel Nader, Pedro Caetano, Thomas Aquino

Rating: TV-MA