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

Charly Clive stars as a young woman trying to escape her intrusive, X-rated thoughts.

Photo courtesy of HBO

This weekend, we can all rest easy knowing we've dodged a devastating hurricane (our thoughts with those affected by Laura — here's how you can help). You can celebrate by venturing out, or you could simply stay in and stream some hot new releases.

This week, look for a most excellent return of two of cinema's most favorite, rockin' airheads. Check out a podcast that makes the boring...interesting. And a new TV shows sheds light on the dirty disruption that OCD can cause. Here are your best weekend streaming picks.

Movies

Bill and Ted Face the Music (Orion)
Yeah, Tenet may be the big-name movie that''ll be hitting selected theaters and drive-ins this weekend. But this latest installment in the Bill and Ted saga is highly anticipated as well. The film, which boasts Houston producers, has airhead rock-star wannabes Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) once again going time, space, and all kind of different dimensions in order to save their young daughters, as well as human civilization as we know it. (Available for rent on Friday)

The Binge (Hulu)
For those of you wondering when a comic version of The Purge was gonna show up, it's finally here! Instead of people using one night to commit any crime they want, this comedy takes place on the night where people can legally take all the drugs they possibly can. The movie mostly follows a trio of teens who meet a fair share of messed-up people as they try to get to a rager of a party. Vince Vaughn co-stars as a conservative (of course), high-school principal. (Premiering Friday)

Podcasts

Secretly Incredibly Fascinating with Alex Schmidt (self-distributed)
Ken Jennings isn't the only fascinating Jeopardy! champion out there, folks. We also have comedy writer/emoji creator Alex Schmidt (formerly of The Cracked Podcast), who is out to show how awesome the mundane is with this weekly podcast. Whether it's microwave ovens, grocery stores, the color gray, or U.S. post offices (who we can all agree need our support now more than ever), Schmidt is ready to give us the beauty in the boring.

The Treatment (KCRW)
For nearly 25 years, film critic/gadfly Elvis Mitchell has done this weekly interview show from the studios of California public-radio station KCRW. He has talked to big-screen stars both behind and in front of the screen, and he still continues to do so. Just this year alone, he's hollered at filmmakers Oliver Stone, Judd Apatow, and The Old Guard director Gina Prince-Bythewood. But he also continues to talk to people in arts and entertainment who, just like him, are fascinating as hell.

Television

Love Fraud (Showtime)
We don't know if this was the filmmakers' intentions, but this four-part docuseries serves as yet another jarring reminder that maybe being alone isn't a bad idea. Oscar-winning documentarians Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp) follow a group of women and their search for Richard Scott Smith, the criminal/bigamist/flim-flam man who spent the past two decades scamming ladies out of their money by simply telling them those three little words. (Premiering Sunday at 8 pm)

Pure (HBO Max)
While television shows portray characters who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder as quirky, good-hearted weirdos (shout-out to Monk!), this British import is out to show people how much OCD can wreck a person's life. Based on Rose Cartwright's biography of the same name, this coming-of-age dramedy focuses on a young lady (Charly Clive) who moves to London and tries to stop the intrusive, sexual thoughts that are stuck in her head. (Now streaming)

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Movie Review

Supergirl fails to take flight in a movie weighed down by grief

Photo courtesy of DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures

Milly Alcock in Supergirl.

Last year's Superman reboot brought a renewed sense of optimism for, if not the concept of the comic book movie, then at least the DC Comics universe. After more than a decade of DC films that felt mostly creatively bankrupt, the leadership of James Gunn gave the story a sense of fun. That included the brief introduction of Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, who’s now getting her own showcase in, naturally, Supergirl.

When we first met her in Superman, Supergirl was in rough shape, arriving at the Fortress of Solitude visibly inebriated. Nothing has changed at the beginning of this film, save for her aimlessly traveling around the universe with her rambunctious dog, Krypto. One of her random stops puts her in the same bar as Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who is looking for help tracking down Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a group known as the Brigands after they brutally murdered her family.

Kara is initially loath to offer aid, but when Krem shoots a poison dart into Krypto while escaping, her motivation goes way up, especially since Krem holds the antidote. Kara, with Ruthye doggedly following her, uses every means available to her to find Krem, a journey that is hampered by galaxies having different colored suns than the one that gives her powers, the yellow sun.

Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, the film is a big step back in the fun category, not least because Supergirl is deep in her feelings for much of the film. Her personal trauma, which is detailed in occasional flashbacks, gives a reason for her depression, but fails to land fully. The story seems to want everyone to be sad, as it includes a child trafficking ring and multiple instances of families being murdered.

Milly Alcock and Krypto in Supergirl.Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

To try to counteract that downer material, the filmmakers give Supergirl many opportunities to show off her fighting skills. While still CGI-heavy, the action scenes contain enough of a semblance of reality that they feel exciting. Unfortunately, this is undercut by the inclusion of several slow-motion sequences, giving the impression that the filmmakers didn’t trust the actors to deliver the goods on a consistent basis.

Superman (David Corenswet) makes a handful of appearances in the film, and while his presence is welcome given how well the character came across in the previous movie, it also doesn’t allow Supergirl to become her own person. Almost everything she does is colored by either her cousin or her parents, and since her powers are identical to those of Superman, there is very little that makes her story unique aside from how she’s dealing with the fallout.

Alcock (House of the Dragon, Sirens) gives an appealing performance despite her character being drunk and/or moody most of the time. She definitely sells what Supergirl is going through, so if given a better story in a future film, she’s proven her capability. Schoenaerts makes for a pretty good villain, although he’s aided by a look that includes a face full of studs. Jason Momoa has a memorable supporting role as the bounty hunter Lobo, even if his character doesn’t add much to the story.

While not a full-on disaster, Supergirl does not continue the momentum that Superman started. With a story that’s more concerned with showing audiences death scenes than a hero saving people, the film doesn’t seem to understand the appeal of a character like Supergirl or how to make her someone audiences will return to over and over again.

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Supergirl is now playing in theaters.

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