After Netflix’s giant hype last Friday with The Gray Man, there’s nothing quite as action-packed or as expensive this weekend, but there are still plenty of new shows and movies to watch via the likes of Netflix, Prime Video, and HBO Max.
The biggest releases of the week are the new supernatural drama Prime Video Paper Girls and the current drama Hulu It’s Not Alright, but there are tons of other movies and shows too.
Let us guide you through the best shows and movies that will appear on streaming services on the last weekend of July …
Paper Girls (Best Movie)
Prime Video introduces this week’s new teenage fantasy which, as you can see in the trailer, definitely has a Stranger Things vibe.
The action takes place in 1988 and tells the story of four young girls who, delivering newspapers in the morning after Halloween, run into a conflict between the warring factions of time travelers.
Led by an unknown cast and the only established character is comedian Ali Wong, this eight-part comic book adaptation by Y: The Last Man and Marvel Runaways creator Brian K. Vaughan.
Prime Video will undoubtedly hope to build a franchise in the same spirit as Stranger Things, but won’t all of them …
Now you can stream on Prime Video.
Not alright (Hulu)
Zoey Deutch leads this sharp satire on influencer culture to debut on Hulu this weekend.
Deutch plays Danni Sanders, a would-be influencer who doesn’t have the resources or connections to attract the desired number of followers. Desperate to change that, she decides to fake a trip to Paris to gain followers, but when a terrorist attack occurs and everyone mistakenly assumes Danni is one of the survivors, she falls for a dangerous lie.
The director is rising star Quinn Shephard while Dylan O’Brien is one of Deutch’s supporting players.
A sparkling drama but with a nice bite.
Now available for streaming on Hulu.
Surface device (Apple TV Plus)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, known from Loki and Black Mirror San Junipero, stars in this dark psychological thriller for Apple TV Plus.
Mbatha-Raw plays Sophie Ellis, a young woman who suffered a head injury following a failed suicide attempt.
Of course, things turn out to be more complicated and, as Sophie researches, her life, which she was told was almost perfect, turns out to be nothing else.
TechRadar’s Laura Martin liked the surface, although admitting it was a concept we had seen a long time before, she was still impressed with the thriller style and especially Mbatha-Raw.
Now you can stream to Apple TV Plus.
Unconnected (Netflix)
How I Met Your Mother, scene thief Neil Patrick Harris is the headline of his own comedy here, collaborating with Netflix and Sex and the City creator Darren Stare to do so.
Harris plays Michael Lawson, a New York real estate agent who is suddenly abandoned by his longtime boyfriend and forced back into the dating scene, where he discovers he has a lot of catching up to do.
Reviewers praised the comedy (opens in a new tab)in particular the charismatic Harris, who takes viewers with him as he tries to re-enter the challenging and fun world of dating.
Now you can stream on Netflix.
Honorary Society (Paramount Plus)
Angourie Rice, best known for her role as Betty Brant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stars in this teen drama as the title Honor.
Honor is a high school student who has one thing in mind, getting into Harvard. To help her, he desperately tries to get a coveted recommendation from his advisor, Mr. Calvin. Willing to do whatever it takes, Honor devises a devilish plan to defeat the top three students, but things get tough when he begins to fall in love with one of them, Michael, played by Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things.
A classic teen drama, the movie harks back to films like She’s All That and Overcoming It, with a particularly touching twist from Superbad’s Christopher Mintz-Plasse featuring him as Mr. Calvin.
Now available for streaming on Paramount Plus.
Fanatico (Netflix)
This dark Spanish drama follows Lazaro, a great and devoted fan of Quimera, Spain’s greatest trap star.
But tragically, when Quimera dies during the concert, Lazaro comes up with a plan to resurrect his idol and literally take over his life. Surprisingly, the team behind Quimera continues and Lazaro gets a lot more than he expects …
Now you can stream on Netflix.
Violet Hearts (Netflix)
Netflix’s romantic comedy strongly in the spirit of Nicholas Sparks, starring singer Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine, best known for his role in the short drama Chambers, starring.
Carson plays Cassie, a struggling singer and songwriter trying to make a career in music, recently diagnosed with diabetes, and her daily costs have skyrocketed. To ease the burden a bit, Cassie suggests to her friend Frankie, who is in the US Army, to get married so she can access health insurance. Frankie refuses, but his friend Luke volunteers to take his place.
Suddenly forced to be together, the couple’s relationship develops and, you know, the rest …
Netflix has a form for making this kind of drama, with the likes of All The Bright Places and The In Between, and Purple Hearts will find a nice home among fans of these movies.
Now you can stream on Netflix.