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.

New movies streaming

“The Crow”

Instead of heading to theaters to watch the new remake of “The Crow” (currently sitting at 21% on Rotten Tomatoes), stick to the 1994 original, a stylish revenge thriller with an inescapable air of tragedy due to the on-set death of Brandon Lee. Based on the comic book series of the same name, Bruce Lee’s son plays Eric Draven, a rock musician killed in crime-ridden Detroit, while his girlfriend succumbs to her injuries soon after. A year later, Eric is brought back from the dead, able to heal from any injury and hellbent on revenge.

Director Alex Proyas makes some ambitious stylistic choices, and while the story doesn’t always cohere, it’s held together by Lee, who tragically died when the muzzle of a gun used in filming wasn’t cleared. His haunting performance was an obvious inspiration for Heath Ledger’s Joker in “The Dark Knight,” and it’s easy to see why Lee and “The Crow” developed a cult following.

How to watch: “The Crow” is streaming on Prime Video.

“Glengarry Glen Ross”

In light of the recent news that Bill Burr will make his Broadway debut alongside Bob Odenkirk and Kieran Culkin in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” now is an appropriate time to revisit the big-screen adaptation of David Mamet’s Tony Award-winning play. (The 1992 film is also part of our monthly list of the best movies on Netflix right now.)

Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, and Ed Harris play desperate real estate salesmen forced into a high-stakes sales contest: First place gets a new car, second place gets a set of steak knives, and the other two are fired. Things get out of control quickly, especially when the office manager holding all of the best leads (Kevin Spacey) refuses to play ball with the salesmen. An unsympathetic look at the kill-or-be-killed capitalist system, “Glengarry Glen Ross” is filled to the brim with Mamet’s crackling dialogue, delivered by a rogue’s gallery of screen legends.

How to watch: “Glengarry Glen Ross” is streaming on Netflix

“The Killer”

Watching the trailer for John Woo’s new movie “The Killer,” an English-language remake of Woo’s 1989 film of the same name, I was worried. How could Woo live up to the standard set by his highly influential original? Would Nathalie Emmanuel (“Game of Thrones”) be a worthy heir to the role originated by Chow Yun-Fat? And why did the trailer feature just one solitary pigeon instead of dozens of doves?

The 2024 version of “The Killer” doesn’t quite match the 1989 original. But since that one isn’t streaming anywhere, the remake now on Peacock is a worthy substitute. “The Killer” follows Zee (Emmanuel), a hired killer who grows a conscience after accidentally blinding a lounge singer (Dianna Silvers, “Ma”) caught in the crossfire of one of her hits. That leaves Zee at odds with both her handler (Sam Worthington, “Avatar”) and an obsessed detective (Omar Sy, “Lupin”) hot on her tail. Woo still has an eye for cinematic action sequences, and moving the action from Hong Kong to Paris means we get to see some explosive confrontations in the same picturesque locations we saw during the 2024 Olympics. You half expect to see Tom Cruise skydive in to join the fray.

How to watch: “The Killer” is streaming on Peacock.

New TV streaming

“Interview with the Vampire”

If refusing to pay for a fourth or fifth streaming service has kept you from watching AMC’s adaptation of Anne Rice’s hugely successful (and influential) vampire novel, Netflix is here to help. The streaming giant has had a mutually beneficial relationship with AMC for years, with shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men” providing Netflix an early boost when it first became a streaming service, and AMC getting new viewers and AMC+ subscribers for fans who couldn’t wait for the newest season of “Better Call Saul” to eventually arrive on Netflix.

If this is your first foray into the gothic world of “Interview with the Vampire,” you may notice a few changes by showrunner Rolin Jones (“Weeds”). For one, Louis de Pointe du Lac is no longer a plantation owner, but a Black brothel owner. For another, the homoerotic undertones between Louis and the blood-sucking Lestat threaten to boil over (and eventually do in Season 2). That makes Louis’ interviews with curious journalist Daniel Molloy (Woburn native Eric Bogosian) all the more scintillating — as if casually discussing life as a vampire wasn’t interesting enough.

How to watch: “Interview with a Vampire” Season 1 is streaming on Netflix, while Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on AMC+.

“Pachinko”

Despite being one of the best TV shows of 2022, Apple TV+’s “Pachinko” only received one Emmy nomination. Perhaps it was a victim of its dense, decades-spanning storytelling style, but hopefully industry voters will catch on during Season 2, which is even more ambitious in scope and storytelling. Based on Min Jin Lee’s 2017 novel of the same name, “Pachinko” is a sprawling, masterfully drawn drama that jumps between cities, languages, and generations to tell the story of one Korean family’s slow, steady rise as immigrants in Japan.

Season 1 hopped between 1938 and 1989, while Season 2 advances the past story to 1945, when Sunja (Minha Kim) must move her family to a remote rice paddy to avoid war’s destruction in the cities. Almost 50 years later, an elderly Sunja (Oscar-winning actress Yuh-jung Youn) watches wistfully as her grandchildren face comparatively trivial hardships that nevertheless have an impact.

How to watch: “Pachinko” Season 2 is streaming on Apple TV+.