Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Five shows and movies to stream this week: ‘Legion,’ ‘Girls,’ and more

legion fargo cinematographer interview craig wrobleski shows to stream 2
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Online streaming is bigger than ever, and with so many streaming services adding new shows and movies every week, it can be nearly impossible to sort through the good and the bad. If you need something to watch and don’t want to wade through the digital muck that washes up on the internet’s shores, follow our picks below for the best new shows and movies worth a watch.

This week: A mind-bending show set in the X-Men universe, a college comedy from Richard Linklater, and more.

Legion season 1

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Five episodes into its first season, FX’s Legion is part of the growing field of shows based on superhero properties, specifically the X-Men franchise — but it easily stands apart as one of the most intriguing stories of its genre. The show follows David Haller (Dan Stevens), a schizophrenic mutant with immense psychic powers. After years in psychiatric care, David’s world seems routine, until he meets a mysterious patient named Syd (Rachel Keller), who has a power of her own. After being discovered by the government, David tries to harness his powers, but must contend with his own flawed perceptions of reality. The creation of Noah Hawley (the mastermind behind FX’s brilliant Fargo), Legion is a brilliant, psychedelic thriller with well-developed characters and outstanding visuals.

Hulu

Million Dollar Baby

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Winner of an Academy Award for Best Picture, Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby tells the story of Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), an old and bitter boxing trainer who agrees to train a waitress named Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank). Under Frankie’s tutelage, Maggie slowly builds up her reputation as a boxer, until a tragic event alters both of their lives irrevocably. Eastwood has a reputation for his focused, classical style, and Million Dollar Baby shows him at his best. Simple but evocative scene compositions give the film a beautiful look, but never distract from the characters, whose dreams and actions are the most important thing.

Netflix

Orphan Black season 4

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Con artist Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) seemingly finds the perfect opportunity to escape her past when she sees a woman who looks exactly like her, Beth Childs (Maslany), commit suicide. Stealing her identity, Sarah soon discovers that Beth was not the only person with whom she shares a face; she is one of a series of clones, bred by a secret society with dark intentions. Sarah and her fellow clones must uncover the truth about the company that created them, while evading a cult that hunts down clones. Orphan Black is an exciting sci-fi thriller, anchored by multiple excellent performances from Maslany.

Amazon

Everybody Wants Some!!

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Created as a spiritual successor to Dazed and Confused, Richard Linklater excellent coming-of-age comedy set in the late ’70s, Everybody Wants Some!! is similar only in that it is a period piece about young people having fun and listening to great music. Whereas Dazed and Confused presented high school as a great tapestry of different social groups blending together, Everybody Wants Some!! narrows its focus to a group of jocks, members of a successful college baseball team called the South Texas Cherokees. The film’s protagonist is Jake (Blake Jenner), an amiable athlete with the soul of a poet, who begins the film moving into the house he shares with the rest of the team. With a few days left before classes start, the boys waste no time partying, dancing, and trying to pick up women. As with many of Linklater’s films, Everybody Wants Some!! has no patience for plot; the film is entirely about people, and the small, often humorous interactions that make up daily life. Although it lacks the gravity of Linklater’s best works (Before Midnight, Boyhood), Everybody Wants Some!! is still an excellent slice of life, and the soundtrack really is perfect.

Amazon

Girls season 6

Image used with permission by copyright holder

After years of inspiring essays and controversy, Lena Dunham’s Girls is drawing to a close. The show focuses on a group of four friends — struggling writer Hannah (Dunham), aspiring musician Marnie (Allison Williams), bohemian vagabond Jessa (Jemima Kirke), and neurotic young professional Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet). Cut off from her parents after being forced to support herself, Hannah struggles to pay her bills and build a meaningful career in contemporary New York City. While many have criticized the show for its self-centered characters and lack of diversity, Girls is a sharp experimental series, one of the few shows that captures the existential (and financial) woes of the millennial generation.

HBO

Editors' Recommendations

Will Nicol
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Nicol is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends. He covers a variety of subjects, particularly emerging technologies, movies…
8 best Hulu true crime shows and movies to watch in September
best true crime shows movies on hulu in september 2023 never let him go 1

America loves true crime. From Ann Rule's bestselling books about famous serial killers in the 1980s and 1990s to the popularity of the Serial podcast in the 2010s, Americans, and most of the world, can't get enough of real-life mayhem and murder.

As a result, there's a bountiful selection of true crime documentaries and TV shows on a wide variety of streamers (Netflix alone is chock-full of intriguing true crime shows). Hulu has upped its true crime game in September, with a number of series devoted to the popular genre. Here are eight shows and movies to watch on Hulu this month.

Read more
Like the hit Netflix series Painkiller? Then watch these 3 TV shows just like it
The cast of Painkiller.

Earlier this month, Painkiller premiered on Netflix, and it has remained high on its list of the streamer's 10 most popular TV series. This miniseries is based on "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain," an article written by Patrick Radden Keefe for The New Yorker. It's an examination of the ongoing opioid epidemic that was caused by Purdue Pharma's most profitable drug, OxyContin. Matthew Broderick stars in the series as Richard Sackler, the former President of Purdue and the man whose actions have been blamed for devastating countless lives.

Painkiller dramatizes several stories of addiction, and it also features gripping disclaimers that are read by real people who talk about the family members that they personally lost to addiction. At times, it's almost impossible to look away from the unfolding tragedies, and there's no happy ending here. But once you've finished this six-episode series, there are three other shows that share some of the same thematic elements that Painkiller utilizes. So if you liked Painkiller, then you're going to enjoy these shows.
Dopesick (2021)

Read more
Netflix makes it easier to rate shows and movies on mobile
Netflix iPhone app.

Netflix is making it easier for users on mobile to rate a show or movie.

You can now rate the content while you’re watching it simply by tapping the display and selecting a double thumbs-up, single thumbs-up, or thumbs-down from the top center of the screen.

Read more