Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Actor: Emily Carey, Jemima Rooper, Sandra Yi Sencindiver, Sarah Parish, Tim Downie
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Actor: Emily Carey, Jemima Rooper, Sandra Yi Sencindiver, Sarah Parish, Tim Downie
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
Genre: Documentary
Actor: Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo, Jessica Oyelowo, Martin Luther King Jr.
Director: Jessica Oyelowo
Genre: Documentary
Attempting to be both a serious, well-researched documentary and a serious, hard-hitting drama is nothing new. Many shows on educational channels like History have long employed skilled actors and directors to elevate their reenactments. But Netflix’s Alexander: The Making of a God doesn’t seem to know where (or when) to draw the line. There is no tonal balance, no tasteful blending of the two; instead, drama and docu are smushed into one incoherent mess. And that’s a shame because, on their own, they could have been worthwhile. The production value and acting that goes into the drama have enough heft to carry it through, while the history and research (though not the strongest) are engaging enough to whet our appetite for learning more. But as they stand, these mixed genres only distract us from appreciating either.
Genre: Documentary, Drama
Actor: Agni Scott, Alain Ali Washnevsky, Buck Braithwaite, Christopher Sciueref, Dino Kelly, Jadran Malkovich, James Oliver Wheatley, Kosha Engler, Mido Hamada, Mohamed Attougui, Salima Ikram, Souad Faress, Steven Hartley, Waleed Elgadi, Will Stevens
Director: Hugh Ballantyne
Genre: Documentary
Actor: Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, William Byron
True crime stories set in the world of crypto are still relatively unexplored and therefore have a real contemporary edge to them; they feel more relatable because these criminals share the same online spaces we do. Bitconned taps into this with a more casual, carefree energy, but it also brings up the same concerns—namely: how helpful is it, really, to give this much attention to a con artist currently running free? The film spends most of its time explaining how its main characters built their scam then failed spectacularly at covering their tracks, but after a while even the entertainment of others' mistakes needs to be supported by more thorough analysis, which this documentary doesn't provide.
Genre: Crime, Documentary
Actor: Damian Williams, Ray Trapani, Robert Farkas, Sam Bankman-Fried, Sohrab Sharma
Director: Bryan Storkel
Genre: Drama, Music, Romance
Actor: Andie Ju, Austin Crute, David Corenswet, Evan Shafran, Jackson Kelly, Jenne Kang, Justin H. Min, Lucy Boynton, Mary Eileen O'Donnell, Retta, Rory Keane, Thomas Ochoa, Tom Yi
Director: Ned Benson
More a recounting of the matches and key moments of the 2023 Six Nations season (albeit from a more personal point of view) than a more analytical documentary series, Full Contact nevertheless delivers where it matters most. By never privileging one team's experience over another, the series establishes a different set of stakes for every match, and helps even non-rugby fans get the gist of what each national team was working towards or against during their respective runs. This is still a show that should hold more value for rugby diehards than casual viewers, of course, but it should be a reasonable enough diversion for anybody curious.
Genre: Documentary, Reality
Actor: Dan Biggar, Ellis Genge, Freddie Steward, Marcus Smith, Stephen Varney
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Mentari De Marelle, Mo Sidik, Muttaqiena Imaamaa, Pamela Bowie, Raditya Dika, Soraya Rasyid, Susan Sameh, Temi Diya
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction
Actor: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Isabella Rossellini, Jessica Bechyňová, John Flanders, Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, Marian Roden, Mikuláš Čížek, Paul Dano, Sinéad Phelps, Sunny Sandler, Zuzana Stivínová
Director: Johan Renck
Genre: Crime, Drama
Actor: Aditya Srivastava, Bhumi Pednekar, Chittaranjan Tripathy, Murari Kumar, Pubali Sanyal, Sai Tamhankar, Sanjay Mishra, Surya Sharma, Tanisha Mehta, Umesh Shukla, Vibha Chibber
Director: Pulkit
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Red Ollero
Director: Ryan Puno
As much as the Alabama-bred stand-up comic doesn't fit into the stereotype of someone with an online presence, Dusty Slay's comedy special can't help but feel like you're scrolling through the Twitter feed of someone's funny but incoherent (and most likely high) thoughts. There isn't much connective tissue to be found in Workin' Man, which doesn't necessarily weaken his jokes—many of which are actually these amusing, absurd observations on everyday life—but definitely makes all the little silences feel much longer, and leaves you looking for some sort of primary theme to really bring the show home. Still, the fact that a self-proclaimed stoner is actually this normal and unassuming (as opposed to a few other comics who can get dark and aggressive with their drug-related content) is pretty refreshing, all things considered.
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Dusty Slay
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Chris O'Connor, Kilah Fox, Shane Gillis, Stavros Halkias, Steve Gerben