STREAMING NOW
“Painkiller”
Netflix presents viewers with a new view of America’s opioid crisis in the eight-episode limited series “Painkiller,” premiering Thursday, Aug. 10. Based on the book “Pain Killer” by Barry Meier, and the New Yorker Magazine article “The Family That Built the Empire of Pain” by Patrick Radden Keefe, this fictionalized retelling of events digs into the origins and aftermath of the opioid crisis, “highlighting the stories of the perpetrators, victims and truth-seekers whose lives are forever altered by the invention of OxyContin,” while examining “crime, accountability and the systems that have repeatedly failed hundreds of thousands of Americans” (per Netflix). Starring Uzo Aduba (“Orange is the New Black”), Matthew Broderick (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” 1986),Taylor Kitsch (“Friday Night Lights”), Dina Shihabi (“Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”),West Duchovny (“Saint X”) and John Rothman (“One Mississippi”), the series is directed by Peter Berg (“Chicago Hope”) and Dan Skene (“Shoresy”) and written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue (“Transparent”) and Noah Harpster (“For All Mankind”).
“Heart of Stone” (2023)
A battle for the fate of humanity rages on in the new action flick “Heart of Stone,” premiering on Netflix, Friday,Aug. 11. Secret Agent Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot, “Wonder Woman,” 2017) is not your average operative — she is a member of an elusive and mysterious group of elite spies known as the Charter, the most highly trained agents of all, with no political leanings and no national allegiances, who work together to keep peace in a turbulent world. Relying on a one-ofa-kind, advanced artificial intelligence called the Heart to achieve their lofty goals,Agent Stone and her fellow operatives find themselves embroiled in a fight for world power when a hacker sets out to steal control of the Heart for their own nefarious plans.Also starring Jamie Dornan (“Belfast,” 2021),Alia Bhatt (“Highway,” 2014), Sophie Okonedo (“Slow Horses”), Jing Lusi (“Gangs of London”) and Paul Ready (“Motherland”), “Heart of Stone” is directed by Tom Harper (“War & Peace”) and features a screenplay written by Greg Rucka (“Stumptown”) and Allison Schroeder (“Hidden Figures,” 2016).
“Only Murders in the Building” - Season 3
A new game is afoot in Season 3 of “Only Murders in the Building,” when it premieres on Hulu,Tuesday, Aug. 8. Starring Selena Gomez (“A Rainy Day in New York,” 2019), Steve Martin (“The Pink Panther,” 2006) and Martin Short (“Innerspace,” 1987) — as Mabel, Charles and Oliver, respectively, an unlikely trio of amateur sleuths brought together in the first season by their mutual love of the same true crime podcast — the series follows their adventures as they work to solve the mysteries behind murder cases that have taken place in their shared New York City apartment building. Building off of the dramatic conclusion to Season 2, this new installment follows Mabel, Charles and Oliver as they take on the theater world and work to solve the murder of actor Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd, “Ant-Man,” 2015). Created by series star Martin and John Hoffman (“Grace and Frankie”), “Only Murders in the Building” welcomes Rudd and Meryl Streep (“Don’t Look Up,” 2021) to the cast this season, alongside Ashley Park (“Emily in Paris”), Jesse Williams (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Linda Emond (“Lodge 49”), Jeremy Shamos (“Better Call Saul”),Wesley Taylor (“Smash”) and returning star Michael Cyril Creighton (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”).
“RED” (2010) & “RED 2” (2013)
The team is back together, as “RED” (2010) and “RED 2” (2013) are now available to stream on Hulu as an action-packed double feature.The first film,“RED,” loosely inspired by the limited Homage Comic series of the same name, was directed by Robert Schwentke (“The Captain,” 2017) and features an all-star cast including Bruce Willis (“Die Hard,” 1988), Morgan Freeman (“Invictus,” 2009), John Malkovich (“In the Line of Fire,” 1993), Helen Mirren (“The Queen,” 2006), Brian Cox (“Succession”) and more.Willis leads as former blackops agent Frank Moses (now R.E.D: Retired, Extremely Dangerous), who must abandon his once peaceful life and reunite with his old (literally, old) team in order to capture the assassin who has made it their personal mission to kill him.The film’s sequel,“RED 2,” brings the gang back together and introduces some new big names, including Anthony Hopkins (“The Silence of the Lambs,” 1991) and Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Wednesday”), as this newfangled team of experienced operatives is tasked with tracking down a missing nuclear device.The films also star Mary-Louise Parker (“Weeds”), Karl Urban (“Star Trek,” 2009), David Thewlis (“The Theory of Everything,” 2014), Neal McDonough (“Minority Report,” 2002), Richard Dreyfuss (“Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” 1977) and more.
“Red, White & Royal Blue” (2023)
Based on Casey McQuiston’s critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller of the same name, the new rom-com “Red, White & Royal Blue” premieres on Prime Video Friday,Aug. 11.Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez,“Minx”), the son of the first woman president of the United States (Uma Thurman, “Kill Bill: Vol. 1,” 2003), has everything going for him, from his stunning good looks and undeniable charisma to his international popularity.While he shares all of this and more with Britain’s Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine, “Chambers”), they also share a complete and total disdain for one another.When their long-standing feud comes to a head in a disastrous and very public way, their powerful families force them to come to a staged truce. Directed by Matthew López (“The Newsroom”) and written for the screen by López and Ted Malawer (“Rise”), the film also stars Sarah Shahi (“Sex/Life”), Clifton Collins Jr. (“Star Trek,” 2009), Ellie Bamber (“Willow”), Stephen Fry (“V for Vendetta,” 2005), Gaia Mondadori (“The Witcher”), Rachel Hilson (“Love,Victor”), Sharon D Clarke (“Holby City”) and Thomas Flynn (“Bridgerton”).
“High School Musical:The Musical:The Series”
It’s time to “Bop to the Top” of an all-new year at East High School, as the fourth and final season of “High School Musical:The Musical:The Series” premieres Wednesday, Aug. 9, on Disney+.A continuation of the highly popular “High School Musical” franchise of the early 2000s, the series follows a new group of Wildcats as they face the ups and downs of high school: teenage drama, relationships, algebra class and, of course, musicals. So far, each season has followed the production of a different musical for the students – the first being a production of “High School Musical,” seeing as the Disney movie (which, yes, exists in this universe) was filmed at their school. Season 4 begins just as the characters return for their senior year. Fittingly, the drama club decides on “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” as their final production, but their plans are derailed after learning that Disney will be returning to East High in order to film the long-awaited “High School Musical 4:The Reunion,” and they’ll all be playing extras.