Watch, listen and be inspired by Calum Henderson's definitive list of what's hot right now and from the vault.
Paper Girls (Prime Video)
The 1980s. Kids on bikes. An eerie pink glow in the sky. At first glance Paper Girls might look a little … familiar. But don't write it off as a cheap Stranger Things knock-off just yet.
For a start, technically this came first – the show is based on a comic book series that began in 2015, a year before the first season of Stranger Things. But more importantly, once you get past the first few scenes it soon becomes clear this isn't really another 80s throwback at all.
The story begins the morning after Halloween 1988, which also happens to be the first day of work for new paper girl Erin (Riley Lai Nelet). She hops on her bike and hits the suburban streets before dawn, riding straight into an 80s teen horrorscape with roaming packs of bullies lurking around every corner.
Good luck to whoever's on the phones at the paper that morning, because there's not a lot of deliveries being completed. Before long Erin and three other paper girls are immersed in an intense bike chase sequence, which leads them to an abandoned house and leads the series to a sudden handbrake turn.
The girls have accidentally, got mixed up in a time war, and unwittingly time travelled to 2019. Not yet realising they've been boofed 30 years into the future, they go to Erin's house, where she does the whole "I live here", "no I live here" dance with her literal 40-something self (Ali Wong).
To get back to 1988 (and we can only hope, finish their paper routes) the girls must not only work with their depressing adult selves, they also have to get involved in a time war that looks like something straight out of Doctor Who. It's not the Stranger Things rip-off you thought it was going to be at all – it's ever geekier.
Surface (Apple TV+)
If its production pedigree is anything to go by, Apple TV+'s new thriller is going to be absolutely massive. Produced by the team behind Big Little Lies, directed by the co-director of I May Destroy You, soundtrack by the Icelandic guy who did the Broadchurch music … Surface has a bit of all three of those shows – a San Francisco woman (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) with a seemingly perfect life, falls off a boat and has to try to piece together the events leading up to it. Was it a suicide attempt? Was she pushed? Who's telling the truth here? We do love a good puzzle, don't we.
Uncoupled (Netflix)
Darren Star, the undisputed master of great bad TV (Emily in Paris, Sex and the City, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210… ), has a new series, and you're going to love to hate to love it. This one stars Neil Patrick Harris as a New York City real estate agent who finds himself unexpectedly single and back on the dating scene after his boyfriend of 17 years gives him the flick. It ticks all the boxes the Netflix algorithm has correctly identified as our biggest weaknesses: rom-com, New York, real estate … Eight episodes doesn't seem nearly enough.
Industry (Neon)
A TV drama about young finance grads competing for jobs in the cut-throat London banking sector is not everyone's idea of appointment viewing, which probably explains why Industry flew under the radar when the first season came out at the end of 2020. But if you know someone who did watch it, chances are they've been telling you it's actually really good and you should give it a go – well, there's no better time to finally heed their evangelising than now that the second season has arrived. In terms of rich people being horrible to each other, it might be second only to Succession.
Movie of the Week: Everything Everywhere All At Once (Apple TV+)
At once the most talked about and the most indescribable movie of the first half of 2022 is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV+. And it's worth every cent because you won't get more multidimensional bang for your buck anywhere else these days. All you really need to know is that it's a surreal sci-fi action adventure comedy (every genre everywhere all at once) about a profoundly exhausted woman (Michelle Yeoh) struggling to get her taxes finished, and it will implode your brain in the most fun way possible.
From the Vault: Apollo 13 (1995) (Neon)
From Sleepless in Seattle to Philadelphia, Forrest Gump to Toy Story. Tom Hanks pretty much only made classic movies in the 90s. Sandwiched in between those last two in his filmography, Apollo 13 is one you might have forgotten about, but it's as classic as they come. Hanks stars alongside Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton as the flight crew on Apollo 13, the aborted 1970 moon landing. Directed by Ron Howard, it remains one of the more realistic and authentic space movies, making its action all the more nail-biting.
Podcast of the Week: The Video Archives Podcast; MUBI Podcast
Two film-obsessed middle-aged men started a podcast last week to geek out about obscure old movies they own on VHS and reminisce about their youths working at a video store. Ordinarily, this would be one to avoid at all costs, but because those two men are Quentin Tarantino and his longtime collaborator Roger Avary it may be of interest. If you used to frequent the shelves of Videon or Aro Video and dog-eared the Incredibly Strange section of the film festival catalogue every year, and don't mind listening to people getting so excited about movies that they are eventually just literally yelling at each other without realising, check out The Video Archives Podcast.
For a different type of film geek thrill, the official podcast of MUBI (basically, imagine the film festival catalogue was a streaming platform) is currently midway through a season all about specific cinemas which have had a surprisingly profound impact on film history. The episode about the suburban Minneapolis cinema that single-handedly turned Harold & Maude from a massive flop into the cult hit it is today is a truly delightful listen. The first season was all about movies that are absolutely massive in their home countries but nowhere else – oddly none of the episodes were about Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tale.
