All Best New Releases - The Spool | The Spool

8.4

Welcome to Wrexham Season 4 entertains but can’t manage a clean sheet

By: Tim Stevens

FX's documentary series continues to profile the sometimes queasy relationship between sport, commerce, and celebrity.

8.8

Poker Face Season 2 dares you not to crack a smile

By: Tim Stevens

Back for a second season, Peacock’s Rian Johnson-Natasha Lyonne "howcatchem" continues to delight.

8.2

Summer of 69 a teen comedy worth assuming the position

By: Tim Stevens

In Hulu’s new teen sex comedy, Jillian Bell directs a light and frothy take on the genre with two delightful leads.

8.1

The Four Seasons aren’t for everyone

By: Tim Stevens

Netflix’s look at friendship and love in middle age is an acquired taste.

8.2

Stacy London and Clinton Kelly are back in Wear Whatever the F You Want

The fashion advising duo may be returning in the Prime Video reboot series but is there still a place for them?

8.0

Drop in on Drop for some fun thrills

By: Tim Stevens

Christopher Landon’s latest returns him to well-plotted, effective thriller territory after a brief journey into family-friendly territory.

8.7

Loss and tech overreach haunt Cronenberg’s The Shrouds

David Cronenberg’s latest is a messy glimpse into his mourning.

9.4

The Rehearsal Season 2 delivers more mind-boggling Nathan Fielder excellence

Nathan Fielder is in classic form in season 2, blurring the line between truth and artifice while wringing laughs out of discomfort.

8.4

Black Mirror Season 7 mostly worth another trip through the looking glass

By: Tim Stevens

The dystopian oriented anthology series plays a predominantly melancholic note in its newest Netflix season.

8.3

Your Friends & Neighbors are a bit much at times

By: Tim Stevens

Jon Hamm is perfect as the disgraced lead stealing to maintain his socioeconomic caste in uneven AppleTV+ offering.

8.8

Dying for Sex fearlessly grabs the live wires of sex and death

By: Tim Stevens

FX’s adaptation of the hit podcast switches the point of view without sacrificing its big, kinky heart.

9.4

Grand Tour is a captivating and challenging visual odyssey through time

Director Miguel Gomes took home the Best Director award at Cannes for this strange and experimental anti-love story.

9.2

An argument for The Studio system

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s show business comedy is a master class in the form.

9.0

Black Bag is a mannered, merciless delight

By: Justin Harrison

Severus has slipped its leash. It was never supposed to leave the cavernous, cold corridors of British Intelligence’s chic HQ. But it did. There is a mole. Severus is in the wind. If it’s used, thousands will die. Badly. Thus, intelligence operative Philip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård) turns to George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), a superb analyst ... Black Bag is a mannered, merciless delight

8.8

Black Bag is the kind of film you don’t want to keep secret

By: Tim Stevens

Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a twisty intimate spy tale that hinges on hushed words far more than loud bangs.

8.2

Dope Thief will rob you of any sense of calm

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s new crime drama excels at telling an unbelievably tense tale even as the plot grows ludicrous.

9.0

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl effortlessly transforms into something special

Rungano Nyoni's precise directing and scripting deliver a film unafraid to tell dark and painful truths.

9.6

Adolescence is painful and should not be missed

By: Tim Stevens

Netflix’s family/crime drama is a brutal and deeply engaging masterpiece about social media, family, trauma, and teen life.

8.2

Your favorite rootless man mountain returns in Reacher Season 3

By: Tim Stevens

Shedding much of Season 2’s sadism, the Prime series—and its hero—delivers a world of moral clarity where “true” justice can be found.

9.0

The White Lotus Season 3 blossoms slowly, but satisfyingly

By: Tim Stevens

The third installment of the rich people acting badly on vacation series is its least flashy, most thoughtful installment yet.

8.0

Apple Cider Vinegar burns going down

By: Tim Stevens

Kaitlyn Dever is excellent as a scamfluencer so hungry for love she’ll never be satisfied in Netflix’s new based on a true story drama.

8.2

School Spirits Season 2 is a series worth haunting

By: Tim Stevens

Paramount+’s returning tale of teens, spectral and otherwise, picks up right where it left out off.

8.5

Is there trouble in Paradise?

By: Tim Stevens

Hulu’s conspiracy political thriller delivers excellent performances but a successful conclusion remains unclear.

8.2

Mythic Quest Season 4 takes some time to find its final path

By: Tim Stevens

The final season of AppleTV+'s video game development comedy delivers more than just laughs...eventually.

9.1

Severance Season 2 drills deep into audience’s heads

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s best and oddest series returns as compelling and hypnotic as ever.

8.0

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera turns dirtbags into gentlemen thieves

By: Clint Worthington

The rough and tumble cops-versus-robbers film goes European, and is all the sleeker and more assured for it.

8.4

A monkey makes a Better Man

By: Tim Stevens

The Robbie Williams’ biopic makes a tired genre feel a little fresh with the subject's attitude and strong musical set pieces.

8.0

There’s plenty of good reasons to get (into) Laid

By: Tim Stevens

Peacock’s Stephanie Hsu-led comedy cleverly takes on sex, love, and death.

8.6

Carry-On is an excellent airplane movie

By: Tim Stevens

Jaume Collet-Serra’s lands on a satisfying actioner following his departure from franchise-ville.

8.2

Black Doves wings in with black comedy, plenty of nonsense

By: Tim Stevens

Netflix’s British spy and crime series is fueled by two excellent leads and a willingness to go over the top.

8.5

Based on a True Story Season 2 isn’t quite based, but it is a lot of fun

By: Tim Stevens

The true crime/suburbs send up returns with the same dark and silly energy intact.

9.4

Always a good time to have A Man on the Inside

By: Tim Stevens

Netflix teams with Michael Schur for a heartfelt comedy with an excellent Ted Danson at its center.

9.3

Silo Season 2 give plenty of reasons to go back underground

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s hushed sci-fi series returns, more contemplative than ever.

8.5

Cut to Interior Chinatown, with flair

By: Tim Stevens

The Hulu series features good performances and plenty of stylish choices but ends up less than the sum of its parts.

8.4

Out of My Mind captures ups and downs of disabled tween life

By: Tim Stevens

Disney+’s adaptation of Sharon M. Draper's novel honors its characters largely without treacle.

8.2

The spectacle of Gladiator II wants to whisk you away — Let it.

Ridley Scott’s followiup to his 2000 Oscar-winner is unlikely to repeat at the Awards, but is still an entertaining epic that feels plucked from another era of Hollywood.

8.0

The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth staunchly refuses to take sides

By: Tim Stevens

The three-part documentary series explores the landmark psych study in-depth but offers few conclusions.

9.4

Say Nothing says plenty

By: Tim Stevens

Joshua Zetumer’s adaptation of the 2018 nonfiction book wrestles with big ideas without becoming a nine episode lecture.

9.3

A Real Pain a real cinematic joy

By: Tim Stevens

Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg delivers a deeply felt glimpse at family, loss, and regret with help from a perfectly collaborated Kieran Culkin.

8.6

Woman of the Hour gives true crime trivia a soul

By: Tim Stevens

Anna Kendrick’s confident directorial debut pushes the story of so-called "Dating Game Killer" into something more.

8.8

Shrinking Season 2 invests in self-improvement

By: Tim Stevens

The Jason Segel-led comedy about flawed therapists returns in better shape than we left it.

8.4

Teacup barely contains a tempest of distrust

By: Tim Stevens

Despite only a passing resemblance to the source material, Peacock’s new series is a ripping paranoid tale for the era.

8.5

Eerie Caddo Lake an interesting place to visit

By: Tim Stevens

MAX’s sci-fi drama is being sold on its creeps, but it’s the family dynamics that linger.

8.8

Disclaimer! This excellent drama comes with the price of deep unease

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s latest tells a dark, enthralling tale of the consequences of revenge run wild.

8.7

Many will want Nobody Wants This

By: Tim Stevens

Kristen Bell and Adam Brody elevate Netflix’s mismatched lovers romantic comedy series.

9.0

No taming The Wild Robot’s spirit

By: Tim Stevens

The adaptation of Peter Brown’s novel presents a surprisingly mature consideration of the gains and losses of motherhood, community.

9.2

A Different Man dives into an absurdist exploration of identity

Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson are unforgettable as friends and rivals in a beautifully bizarre take on what it means to be human.

9.8

The Substance is a female Fight Club that doesn’t pull its punches

Writer/director Coralie Fargeat crafts a nasty, sexy, bloody feature that pits the internal against the external.

8.3

Rebel Ridge isn’t quite the top

By: Tim Stevens

Jeremy Saulnier’s newest film is a good piece of work that only suffers compared to the rest of his filmography

9.2

Slow Horses Season 4 refuses to be broken

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s stellar spy show packs an emotional wallop in its fourth go-round.

8.9

Bad Monkey? Good, Actually.

By: Tim Stevens

Against expectations, Bill Lawrence and Vince Vaughn’s sensibilities merge to create an eminently watchable crime comedy offering for AppleTV+.

8.0

Mr. Throwback delivers well off the bench

By: Tim Stevens

Peacock’s six-episode mockumentary isn’t a blue chip prospect but still plenty of fun.

9.0

Kneecap tells a bigger story of Irish identity though hip-hop

Kneecap stars the Irish hip-hop trio as themselves in an exciting, stylish music biopic that refuses to play by the rules.

9.0

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder intrigues without innovating

By: Shannon Campe

Netflix's new British mystery is a delightful entry in the Girl Detective genre.

8.8

Batman: Caped Crusader can’t stop looking over its shoulder

By: Tim Stevens

The latest take on the Dark Knight from Prime Video recreates The Animate Series vibes—perhaps a bit too faithfully.

8.0

Tween reality, not sci-fi spectacle, fits Me best

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+'s sci-fi middle school series excels when making a metaphor of early adolescence but stumbles over a larger mythology.

8.5

Mother, Couch’s surrealist family drama is full of big swings

First-time director Niclas Larsson takes huge surrealistic risks, and it’s refreshing to see someone so unafraid to miss.

8.5

June Zero is a depressingly relevant film about the past

By: Chris Ludovici

Jake Paltrow takes a novel look at the crimes and contradictions of the Holocaust.

8.2

Rashida Jones is anything but Sunny and that’s great

By: Tim Stevens

The star plays unpleasant with aplomb elevating Sunny, AppleTV+'s near-future robot caper, above its increasingly complicated plot mechanics.

9.5

Thelma sets a senior citizen on an Impossible Mission

By: B.L. Panther

Josh Margolin's charming action-comedy lets June Squibb have the kind of "still got it" energy as Tom Cruise.

Intimate Indigenous yarn Fancy Dance hits most of the right steps

Erica Tremblay crafts an honest, lived-in tale of Indigenous struggle and community.

Janet Planet’s dreamy summer haze makes it easy to get caught in its orbit

Pulitzer-winning playwright Annie Baker’s first feature turns a quiet coming-of-age story into an exciting debut.

9.5

Tuesday tackles the heaviness of death with a feather-light touch

By: B.L. Panther

Daina Oniunas-Pusić’s singular debut feature migrates across space and scale with poignant ease.

9.2

The Boys Season 4 isn’t bulletproof but it gets damn close

By: Tim Stevens

Prime Video’s satirical superhero series continues to deliver sick gags and trenchant societal analysis.

8.5

Presumed Innocent guilty of being a strong legal thriller

By: Tim Stevens

The second adaptation of Scott Turow’s novel strips away some of the story’s complications for a deeper character study of Jake Gyllenhaal’s protagonist.

8.3

Sweet Tooth Season 3 cuts its saccharine with plenty of grimness and brutality

By: Tim Stevens

Netflix’s take on the “life after a plague” genre concludes on a decidedly mixed note.

8.0

Hit Man hits most of the right notes

By: Gena Radcliffe

Richard Linklater directs Glen Powell in a star-making performance.

9.0

The Acolyte opens new doors in a Galaxy we know well

By: Megan Sunday

Disney+'s new Star Wars series dares to suggest the Jedi fallibility, risking fan backlash to open up the universe.

9.0

Don’t miss the mesmerizing, moving I Saw the TV Glow

By: Gena Radcliffe

Jane Schoenbrun writes & directs a haunting story of loneliness & obsession.

8.1

Dark Matter wanders too far before finds a satisfying path

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s newest science fiction offering struggles with pacing between its bracing opener and powerful final two hours.

8.9

The Fall Guy’s jaw-dropping stunts hit their marks

By: Justin Harrison

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt charm and thrill—carrying The Fall Guy over the gap between its thin script and its joyful execution.

8.3

Welcome to Wrexham Season 3 takes success in stride

By: Tim Stevens

The season’s trio of opening episodes find the doc series resisting a victory lap in favor of continuing to focus on life beyond the pitch.

8.9

Knuckles’ zany buddy comedy is worth digging into on Paramount+

By: Justin Harrison

Idris Elba and Adam Pally's chemistry anchors the consistently hysterical and well-choreographed miniseries.

8.7

Step right up to The Big Door Prize Season 2

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s feel-good supernatural comedy returns with a willingness to be messier and more complicated.

9.0

Conan O’Brien Must Go (to Max), and you must follow

By: Clint Worthington

The comedian travels the world, and leaves a trail of laughs and mayhem in his wake.

8.5

Max’s new series The Sympathizer reflects on Vietnam through media and memory

By: Clint Worthington

Park Chan-wook and Robert Downey Jr. expertly adapt Viet Thanh Nguyen's novel about war, identity, and cultural consumption.

9.0

Prime Video’s Fallout is a Vault-Tec-approved glance at the apocalypse

By: Lauren Coates

Strap on your Pip-Boys, boys and girls, Amazon's done it again.

10.0

Netflix’s Ripley soaks its shades of grey in delicious black and white

By: Clint Worthington

Steven Zaillian crafts a methodical, darkly funny adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel, with Andrew Scott at his chilly best.

9.0

Sugar brings new flavors to Los Angeles noir

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+ gets strange with a Colin Farrell in their film-obsessed new LA-noir crime drama.

8.0

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 sees the series die as it lived: in good company

By: Andrew Bloom

The series’ last batch of episodes comes with all the ups and downs fans have come to expect over the past five seasons.

8.5

X-Men ’97 forces your childhood to grow up on Disney+

By: Clint Worthington

Disney revives the fan-favorite Fox cartoon for its now-adult fans, running headfirst into grown-up issues and anime-inspired action.

9.0

Manhunt well worth the search on AppleTV+

By: Tim Stevens

The dramatic look at the pursuit of John Wilkes Booth is compelling, but truly succeeds by focusing on much more than just the assassination.

9.5

The impeccable Love Lies Bleeding flexes its way through bloody lesbian noir

By: Justin Harrison

Rose Glass' neon-soaked crime thriller is a perfectly arch, deviously dark romance.

8.1

Doff your cap and take a knee before The Regime

By: Tim Stevens

MAX’s Kate Winslet-starring series doesn't offer the sharpest satirical jabs, but there’s something to be said for being funny & frightening.

9.0

Season 3 of The Bad Batch closes on a satisfying note

By: Megan Sunday

The final season of the Star Wars side adventure goes to some unexpectedly moving places.

8.5

In Dune: Part Two, the spice must flow, and so must the blood of nonbelievers

By: Clint Worthington

Denis Villeneuve finishes his epic two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel with sprawling scope and thorny politics.

9.0

Dior and Chanel battle over bolts in wartime Paris in the star-studded The New Look

By: B.L. Panther

Apple TV+'s latest miniseries blends fashion with fascism in its dramatization of the couture wars of the 1940s and '50s.

8.6

Navigate by this Constellation for dread you can’t shake

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s latest foray into sci-fi, Constellation starring Noomi Rapace, is short on resolutions but long on atmosphere.

8.3

Chemistry makes One Day worth your time

By: Tim Stevens

Netflix’s new romance limited series offers a thoughtful, warm adaptation of the 2009 novel.

9.5

Abbott Elementary is top of the class

By: Shannon Campe

The sitcom remains consistently charming and funny in its third season premiere.

8.8

Mr. and Mrs. Smith offers old code names, new missions, better product

By: Chris Ludovici

Amazon’s excellent reboot seems more interested in interrogating Bond movies and television domestic dramas than its thin source material.

8.5

A Criminal Record of sins past, echoing still

By: Tim Stevens

AppleTV+’s new crime drama compellingly juggles issues of race, internal politics, and family dynamics.

9.0

True Detective deftly navigates the weirdness of Night Country

By: Justin Harrison

Jodie Foster and Kali Reis shine as a pair of detectives investigating an increasingly surreal crime.

8.9

Michael Mann fills Ferrari with all his sound and fury

By: Justin Harrison

Adam Driver does insightful, searching work as auto legend Enzo Ferrari in the filmmaker's study of a pivotal year in his life.

8.0

The Color Purple paints a picture of community

By: B.L. Panther

Blitz Bazawule's adaptation of the Alice Walker classic (and the Broadway musical) is a more joyful, celebratory film than its predecessor.

9.8

The Zone of Interest presents the Holocaust with minimum spectacle and maximum terror

By: Matt Cipolla

The writer/director’s first feature in 10 years is a near-unclassifiable work, emotionally flattening yet fundamentally opposed to mining tension through its craft.

8.0

Doctor Who splits hairs in The Giggle and teases a bisected future

By: Clint Worthington

David Tennant's final(?) special as the Fourteenth Doctor is a giddy, overstuffed callback to the excesses of the Russell T. Davies era -- with a suitably overbaked guest star and a dashing preview of adventures to come.

8.1

Hulu offers something more interesting than the usual Culprits

By: Tim Stevens

The heist thriller series stays compelling even as it grows more typical.

8.0

Poor Things is a weird & wonderful Frankenstein story

By: Gena Radcliffe

Yorgos Lanthimos directs a sumptuous adult fairy tale featuring Emma Stone at her very best.

8.1

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off what’s come before in favor of dawning something new and wonderful

By: Justin Harrison

The ScienceSaru-produced animated series rebuilds rather than retells Bryan Lee O'Malley's beloved comic.

8.0

Killers of the Flower Moon confirms Martin Scorsese’s undiminished talent

By: Peter Sobczynski

The chronicling of the Osage Nation’s early 20th-century tragedy proves powerful and prescient.

9.0

Clock strikes true with surreal, character-based terror

By: Lauren Coates

Writer/director Alexis Jacknow's feature debut boasts strong craft and a stupendous, frightening turn from Diana Argon as a woman coming undone.

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