It’s rare that we find ourselves rounding up the biggest movies and TV shows of the week without including a nod to new Marvel, Star Wars or Pixar adventures.
In many ways, though, it’s refreshing to go a few days without the accompanying hype of pop culture events like Loki, the Friends reunion or Justice League. For once, this weekend is a much more relaxed affair, with several under-the-radar projects arriving alongside a slew of returning series.
Below, we’ll walk you through seven of the biggest highlights coming to the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus in the coming days – from new live-action Disney adventures to quirky animated comedies.
The Mysterious Benedict Society (Disney Plus)
Originally developed for Hulu, this adaptation of Trenton Lee Stewart's young adult novel follows a group of orphans who uncover a nefarious plot at their boarding school, known as The Institute. Tony Hale (Veep, Arrested Development) leads the cast as both the titular Mr. Benedict and villainous Mr. Curtain, alongside Kristen Schaal (Gravity Falls), Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy) and a host of adolescent newcomers.
If you’re anxiously awaiting the arrival of The Umbrella Academy season 3, this one may go some way to quenching your thirst for supernatural hijinks. Hell, there's even a character called Number Two...
Episodes one and two are available to stream now, with new episodes arriving weekly.
Now available to stream on Disney Plus
Bosch season 7 (Amazon Prime Video)
Detective Harry Bosch returns for one final case this weekend on Amazon Prime Video. Season 7 follows the storylines of Michael Connelly’s novels The Concrete Blonde and The Burning Room, with Titus Welliver’s weathered cop charged with unraveling the mystery of a young girl murdered in an arson attack.
As has been the case for all previous seasons, all 10 episodes will drop at once, so you can binge the whole thing at your leisure. A spin-off Bosch show has been ordered and will air on IMDb TV some time in the future, but this is definitely the last mainline outing for Connelly’s titular hero.
Expect brains and brawn in equal measure.
Now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video
Central Park season 2 (Apple TV Plus)
Apple TV’s original comedy show, Central Park, returns to the streamer for its second season this weekend. The Umbrella Academy’s Emmy Raver-Lampman takes over the role of Molly from Kristen Bell, but otherwise expect more goofy musical madness from the likes of Josh Gad, Kathryn Hahn and Tituss Burgess.
Three new episodes are available to stream today, and will be followed by one per week. The series, which comes from the mind of Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard, has already been renewed for a third season.
Now available to stream on Apple TV Plus
False Positive (Hulu)
Pierce Brosnan stars as a sinister fertility doctor (what?) in this A24-produced thriller (what?) from director John Lee. False Positive follows Broad City's Ilana Glazer in her quest to fall pregnant with her partner, Justin Theroux – but everything is not what it seems.
Early criticism for this one has been mixed, but large praise has been bestowed upon the movie’s cinematographer, Pawel Pogorzelski, who also did the camerawork for Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommar. Ultimately, False Positive seems like an interesting social critique on how women’s reproductive systems are treated like real estate – which makes it worth a watch, in our book.
It's unclear how this one is releasing in the UK, annoyingly.
Now available to stream on Hulu
The Ice Road (Netflix)
To the surprise of nobody, Liam Neeson is back for another late-career action outing in The Ice Road. Once again, the Irishman is on hand for a daring rescue mission – this time to save a group of miners trapped in a collapsed cave.
Laurence Fishburne and Ray McKinnon also star in what is likely standard CGI-fueled fare, though there’s no doubting Neeson’s capacity for nail-biting drama. Jonathan Hensleigh, best known for his work on Jumanji and Armageddon, writes and directs this one, so expect all the disaster movie tropes, and then some.
Now available to stream on Netflix
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 6 (Paramount Plus and Netflix)
The sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars arrives on streamers this weekend, ready to light up the screen with more sass, style and sequins than ever before.
The show confirmed its line-up last month, with All Stars alumni Pandora Boxx, Ginger Minj and Yara Sofia all set to appear, alongside early season favorites like Jiggly Caliente and Serena ChaCha. There’ll be a host of new guest judges, too, including Emma Roberts and Charli XCX.
The first two episodes are available to stream now, with new entries arriving every Thursday.
Now available to stream on Paramount Plus in the US, and Netflix in the UK
Too Hot to Handle season 2 (Netflix)
If you missed the first season of Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle, the premise is this: a load of attractive young people are thrown into a luxury villa, for which they’ll win a big pot of money if they stay celibate. It’s Love Island meets Big Brother, basically.
The format remains intact the second time around, with ten new singletons vying for the show’s $100,000 prize. You won’t find any great intellectual reward here, but Too Hot to Handle is undoubtedly an easy, enjoyable watch.
Half of season 2 is available to stream now, with the remaining episodes dropping on June 30.
Now available to stream on Netflix
- Make more from your subscription with a Netflix VPN
