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6 best movies, podcasts, and TV shows to stream in Houston this weekend
So, we’re all still inside — and or those who are smart enough to stay indoors, here is this list for your streaming pleasure. Look for some fun dark comedies, hilarious podcasts, and a TV series about a ’70s political movement that is quite apropos for today.
Movies
Bad Education (HBO)
This fact-based dark comedy from director Cory Finley (Thoroughbreds) was a big hit at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. And we’re sure that was mostly because Hugh Jackman stars as a slick high-school principal embroiled in an embezzlement scandal at a New York school district. HBO reportedly gave out $20 million to make sure it premieres on the premium cable channel first. Allison Janney and Ray Romano co-star. (Premiering on Saturday at 9 pm.)
Beastie Boys Story (Apple TV+)
Who doesn’t love the Beastie Boys? The first white rappers to hit the rap game are hip-hop icons. (Their first two albums alone, Licensed to Ill and Paul’s Boutique are gonzo masterpieces.) The ever-inventive Spike Jonze, who has directed several Beastie videos, is the director of this live documentary, where surviving members Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “King-Ad Rock” Horovitz (Adam “MCA” Yauch passed away in 2012) do a stage show chronicling their career. (Available to stream on Friday.)
Podcasts
Staying In with Emily and Kumail
Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon are certainly an alt-comedy power couple. After all, the married pair landed a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for The Big Sick, the movie which laid out their whole relationship. (While Nanjiani played himself, Gordon was played by Zoe Kazan.) Now, the duo has taken it upon themselves to host a podcast where they offer tips on “how to make the best of living in quarantine.” The two are indeed a pair of cute lovebirds, so getting some pointers from them may not be the worst thing in the world.
Stay F. Homekins: A Quarantine Podcast
Nanjiani and Gordon aren’t the only pair staying at home and doing a podcast. Comedian/podcast vet Paul F. Tompkins — who has appeared on everything from The Best Show to Comedy Bang Bang — has a stay-at-home podcast of his own. Joining him for this show is his significant other Janie Haddad Tompkins. Together, this “pandemical partnership” drops “dispatches from the Haddad/Tompkins household during our Great National Self-Isolation.” Yeah, it sounds silly, but it doesn’t sound like the craziest way you can waste time during this pandemic.
Television
Mrs. America (FX/Hulu)
This FX-produced, four-part miniseries, about the movement to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, premiered on the Hulu streaming service last Tax Day — and it’s already got a lot of people talking. For starters, we have Oscar winner/two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. She’s not the only star playing a real-life character: Rose Byrne plays feminist icon Gloria Steinem, while Uzo Aduba plays trailblazing Shirley Chisholm and Elizabeth Banks is White House assistant Jill Ruckelshaus.
We’re Here (HBO)
Drag is all the rage on TV these days. (Hell, RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race starts airing on VH1 on Friday!) In this six-episode, unscripted series, renowned drag queens Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara, and Shangela Laquifa Wadley visit a different small town and recruit local residents to participate in a one-night-only drag show. So, they basically took the plot of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and made it a show. But, hey, it still sounds fun. (Premieres this Thursday at 8 p.m.)