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6 best TV shows, movies, and podcasts to stream in Houston this weekend

The highly anticipated Killing Eve returns early this season.

Photo by Sid Gentle/BBC America

Houstonians are facing another week of staying at home and social distancing. Fortunately for those staying in, there are several streaming movies, podcasts, and TV shows released for your viewing pleasure.

Look for a side-splitting podcast, some cutting-edge TV, and edgy and fun, family flicks to entertain you this long (pandemic) holiday weekend.

Movies

The Gentlemen (STXfilms)
Earlier this year, director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) went back to what he knows best: making British gangster flicks that’s heavy on both gunplay and laughs. He rounded up an all-star cast for this one: Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell, Charlie Hunnam, and Henry Golding. They play just a few of the hard men involved in this crazy pulp saga of a marijuana kingpin and the web of blackmail, betrayal, deceit, bloodshed and a whole buncha other stuff that’s spun from those who want to topple him. (Available for rental on Tuesday.)

Trolls World Tour (DreamWorks/Universal)
For those who have kids and just want to entertain them up for a brief spell, here comes the sequel to the 2016 animated jukebox musical (which was originally supposed to hit theaters this weekend). Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake return as the magical, musical troll dolls as they hit the road and check out the tunes playing at other troll island. Mary J. Blige, George Clinton, Anderson .Paak, and Kelly Clarkson are a few of the voices who provide some musical cheer. (Available for digital purchase on Friday.)

Podcasts

The Donnie Houston Podcast
For all those local rap heads, let us ask you a question: have you been listening to The Donnie Houston Podcast?Hosted by DJ/producer Houston and his pals Hot Perez, DJ LeanonMe, and Devo, this show is basically the regional equivalent to The Combat Jack Show. Houston and his friends usually chop it up with anybody and everybody involved with Houston hip-hop. Past episodes have featured Willie D, Slim Thug, Lil Flip, and even rap historian Lance Scott Walker.

Oh Hello: The P’dcast
If there is anything we need right now, it’s two popular comedians playing old, delusional guys on a podcast — and that’s exactly what you get with this one. John Mulaney and Nick Kroll bring out George St. Geegland and Gil “Charmed I’m Sure” Faizon, their side-splitting characters from the stage show Oh, Hello, on Broadway, for a weekly podcast where they say they’ll answer many of life’s deepest questions. But, in all likelihood, they’ll just get some things wrong and make a lot of people mad.

Television

Insecure (HBO)
Issa Rae’s The Lovebirds, the screwball, action rom-com she stars in with Kumail Nanjiani, has gone from being bumped from its April 3rd release to getting an eventual release on Netflix. Thankfully, the show that made Rae a star to watch is finally returning for its fourth season. Star/showrunner Rae is back to ride the rocky waters that is the African-American single life in Los Angeles. But, as always, she’ll have her best girlfriends to ride along with her. (Premiering on Sunday at 9 pm.)

Killing Eve (BBC America)
The third season of the popular, Emmy-winning cat-and-mouse game was originally supposed to premiere later in the month. But the powers that be decided to give the self-isolating fans some much-needed good news. Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer return as the British intelligence investigator and the twisted assassin who just can’t get enough of each other. Suzanne Heathcote (Fear the Walking Dead) serves the showrunner this season. (Premiering on Sunday at 8 pm.)

tv movies

Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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STREAM THESE NOW

6 best TV shows, movies, and podcasts to stream in Houston this weekend

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

CultureMap Emails Are Awesome
Get Houston intel delivered daily.