5 must-watch movies & TV shows streaming right now

Welcome to Boston.com’s weekly streaming guide. Each week, we recommend five must-watch movies and TV shows available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and more.

Many recommendations are for new shows, while others are for under-the-radar releases you might have missed or classics that are about to depart a streaming service at the end of the month.

Have a new favorite movie or show you think we should know about? Let us know in the comments, or email [email protected]. Looking for even more great streaming options? Check out previous editions of our must-watch list here.

Movies

“Aftersun”

This weekend marks the initial release for A24’s new Massachusetts-filmed coming-of-age drama “Janet Planet,” though it won’t open in Boston-area theaters until next Friday. Before then, it’s worth checking out another A24 film about a young child slowly comprehending that their single parent is a fully-formed human being — flaws and all — in 2022’s “Aftersun,” which begins streaming on Netflix June 21.

First-time director Charlotte Wells’ semi-autobiographical tale follows Sophie (Frankie Corio), a pre-teen Scottish girl on vacation with her 31-year-old dad, Calum (Paul Mescal, “Normal People”), in Turkey. Wells layers on the melancholy as Sophie’s recognition of her father’s worries and struggles drives a wedge between them, one which neither can fully articulate or acknowledge. The film’s finale packs an emotional wallop, one that still stings nearly two years after its initial release.

How to watch: “Aftersun” is streaming on Netflix.

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

Donald Sutherland, who died on Thursday at the age of 88, was an actor’s actor. Rarely the sole lead of a film, Sutherland was nevertheless always impactful, whether he was performing as part of a two-hander (“Klute”), a larger ensemble (“M*A*S*H”), or only a single scene (“J.F.K.”). You could choose any of his nearly 150 movies to stream this weekend, but my personal pick is “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” the 1978 horror remake about aliens clandestinely turning the world’s population into pod people while they sleep.

Sutherland’s public health inspector is one of the few people who recognizes the creeping menace for what it is, but he and his colleague’s (Brooke Adams) efforts to warn the government only unearths more alien replicas. The film’s final scene has lived a second life as an internet meme, and watching how Sutherland’s character subtly modulates his performance (before a big reveal we won’t spoil here) is heartbreaking.

How to watch: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is streaming on Prime Video.

“Uncut Gems”

“Celtic Pride” isn’t streaming on any major service at the moment, so instead, why not honor the Celtics’ 18th championship by watching Kevin Garnett in Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems”? The 2019 thriller, which was added to Max this month in honor of the Safdie Brothers’ new HBO docuseries “Ren Faire,” stars Sandler as Howard Ratner, a Manhattan jeweler who is always in search of his next big score.

As he juggles unpaid debts — and the goons hired to make sure he pays them — an impending divorce, and a crippling gambling addiction, Ratner has his eyes on the prize: a rare uncut black opal he hopes to sell to Garnett, who plays himself. (The movie takes place in 2012 during the Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.) “Uncut Gems” will have you on edge the whole movie, as Howard’s increasingly reckless decisions — including giving KG’s 2008 championship ring to a pawnbroker as collateral — threaten the lives of him and his family.

How to watch: “Uncut Gems” is streaming on Max.

TV

“Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown”

As my colleague Matthew Gilbert pointed out, every streaming company has produced multiple documentaries about cults, trailing only serial killers and scams as documentary topics du jour. Only two weeks ago Netflix gave us “Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult,” and this week Hulu gave us a look back in history at cult leader Jim Jones with “Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown.”

Unlike other hastily produced docs hoping to capitalize on a recent headline or trend, “Jonestown” takes times to correct the historical legacy of the Peoples Temple, its commune in Guyana, and the ritual death of hundreds of members in 1978. For a younger generation only vaguely aware of the term “drinking the Kool-Aid,” the three-part series helps show that the alleged “mass suicide” can be better understood as a mass murder, and shows how Jones studied the works of Hitler and Mao to curry favor among elected officials and create a cult of personality for his thousands of acolytes.

How to watch: “Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown” is streaming on Hulu.

“House of the Dragon”

Following the Season 2 premiere of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” the jury is still out on whether Ryan Condal’s “Game of Thrones” prequel will retain the must-see quality of its predecessor for another season. The first episode followed the general pattern of so many great episodes, with the action jumping from the Wall to Storms End to King’s Landing as we discover the fallout of the Season 1 death of Lucerys and the mobilization of power around the two branches of Targaryens.

Some of the more interesting characters — namely Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra Targaryen — were a bit more marginalized during the premiere, and the absence of Paddy Considine (whose King Viserys died in Season 1) was certainly noticeable. I have faith that once we adjust to the more grown-up versions of King Aegon Targareyon and brother Aemond and develop stronger rooting interests for who should ultimately sit on the Iron Throne, “House of the Dragon” will kick into gear.

How to watch: “House of the Dragon” Season 2 is streaming on Max, with new episodes airing Sundays on HBO.