Girls5Eva (Netflix)
Earlier this year, a large swath of Twitter/X users made a startlingly belated realization as they begun to suddenly share and meme-ify old clips from the NBC sitcom 30 Rock: Hey, this Tina Fey show was pretty darn funny! For anyone who had watched the series when it was actually airing – back when appointment network television was still a thing – this was hardly breaking news. But social media can operate in its own weird sort of temporal-loop timeline. Anyway, the upside of this Fey-naissance is that new fans can hopefully make their way over to Girls5Eva, a new series which carries on 30 Rock’s whip-smart, throw-a-million-jokes-at-the-wall sensibility, not to mention the executive-producing credentials of Fey, her husband Jeff Richmond and their creative collaborator Robert Carlock. Originally produced for NBC’s streamer Peacock, but airing on Netflix since the third season premiered last month, Girls5Eva follows the disparate members of a nineties pop group who reunite after decades apart. Featuring such regular Fey favourites as Paula Pell, John Lutz, Dean Winters and Amy Sedaris, the show is a still-under-the-radar gem waiting to be binged and retweeted/re-x’d.
Run Lola Run (on-demand, including Apple TV, Amazon, Cineplex Store)
While on vacation in L.A. last month, my wife and I caught a repertory screening of Tom Tykwer’s high-concept thriller on a whim – it happened to be the film screening at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema the only night that we had a babysitter booked. While I had forgotten many of the film’s details, including its riotous animated opening sequence, since I first watched it on DVD who knows how many years ago, Run Lola Run stills packs a head-spinning punch today. So much so that, a few weeks after I caught it on an enjoyably grubby 35 mm print complete with copious scratches at the New Beverly, Sony Pictures Classics announced that it would theatrically rerelease the film in 4K for its 25th anniversary, starting June 7. And while it’s ideal to watch an orange-haired Franka Potente run around Berlin like a mad woman inside a sold-out auditorium, the news is an equally good reminder that Tykwer’s anxiety-inducing epic deserves a second (or third) look at home, too.
To Kill a Tiger (NFB.ca)
While director Nisha Pahuja’s documentary didn’t end up walking away from the Academy Awards the other month with a statuette, the Oscar-nominated film remains one of the year’s most important, potent viewing experiences. And because institutions like the National Film Board of Canada still exist – for now – Canadians have the opportunity to watch the film for free online. A riveting and nuanced examination of cultural attitudes toward rape in India, To Kill a Tiger focuses on one father’s quest for justice after his 13-year-old daughter is sexually assaulted by three men. The Toronto-based Pahuja spent eight years making the film, which actually began its life as a more wide-ranging look at masculinity and oppression in Indian culture before zeroing in on an extraordinary case of family, justice and violence.
Sons of Anarchy, full series (Crave)
Confession: I watched all seven seasons of Kurt Sutter’s violent, rage-soaked biker series as it aired on FX over the years ... except the very last episode. After getting myself pumped, I inadvertently stumbled upon a spoiler-heavy tweet recapping the events of the series finale and, so dejected by the story’s details, decided to leave my memory of the series as unsullied as possible. Perhaps with the distance of time, I can now jump back in to see exactly how this Macbeth-ian tale of an honourable son (played by Charlie Hunnam) caught in a viper’s nest of Northern California bikers led by his villainous stepfather (Ron Perlman) plays out. Or not. Either way, for audiences who have never caught the series, and don’t mind diving into some genuinely dark corners, now is your time to binge as all 92 episodes hit Crave. Or, if you’re like me, 91 episodes.
X-Men ‘97 (Disney+)
I have an unofficial rule for this column to never recommend the same movie or series twice – but I’m going to go rogue here for a moment to talk about Rogue. Well, Rogue and all of the southern-accented superhero’s various X-Men ‘97 compatriots, as the animated Disney+ series continues to hit new heights each and every week. This reboot-slash-sequel of the decades-old cartoon isn’t just a cute exercise in Saturday-morning television nostalgia, but a legitimately thrilling comic-book drama of the highest order, expertly blending huge action with juicy melodrama. And now, with the Season 1 finale streaming this weekend to increasingly obsessive fans, it is the absolute best time to catch up with the most thrilling production that Marvel Studios has delivered in ages.
Barry Hertz