Do you feel like you’re drowning … but you haven’t even left your couch? Welcome to the Great Content Overload Era. To help you navigate the choppy digital waves, here are The Globe’s best bets for weekend streaming.
What to watch in 2023: The best movies (so far)
Clone High (Crave)
Way way back in the 2000s, the Canadian cable network Teletoon took a chance on a new adult-skewing animated series called Clone High, which followed the lives and loves of teens who were cloned versions of famous historical figures. Teletoon could not have anticipated that the show’s three creators would go on to define much of the entertainment landscape for the next two decades: Bill Lawrence with Ted Lasso, and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller with three megafranchises: The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Today, Teletoon is dead, but Clone High is finally back for its long-delayed second season, having initially been cancelled after just a single 13-episode run that was as hilarious as it was controversial (mostly owing to depicting a teenage Gandhi as a party animal). The new batch of episodes are just as sharp and fast-paced as fans might expect, with Lawrence, Lord and Miller even using the Gandhi controversy to fuel a Season 2 premiere that cleverly comments on the concept of “cancellation.”
FUBAR (Netflix)
Like his one-time action rival, Tulsa King star Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger has finally entered into the streaming wars. But man, would it have killed the guy to get old pal James Cameron to give his scripts a pass? Schwarzenegger’s first-ever television series, FUBAR, plays like a CBS-friendly version of True Lies, with the star playing a ready-for-retirement CIA agent who has kept his professional life a secret from his family until ... he finds out that his daughter is a spy, too. (Never mind the fact that CBS just aired, and then cancelled, its own television series based on True Lies.) Listen: Schwarzenegger is perfectly charming here as always, it’s nice to see Jay Baruchel do solid comedy-relief work in the margins as Arnie’s son-in-law, and there’s fun to be had in spotting the Toronto shooting locations (with the city standing in for various American locales). But this is strictly multitasking viewing, ideal for watching halfheartedly while making dinner or dusting the bookshelf.
Bupkis (Showcase/STACKTV)
Finally, there might be a new series worth figuring out how to access and operate Corus Entertainment’s STACKTV streamer. Bupkis arrives via Pete Davidson, the most famous Saturday Night Live player to come out of the show since, I dunno, Will Ferrell? Anyway, Davidson has parlayed his viral fame into this witty, warm and sometimes fiendishly wacky sitcom in which he plays an exaggerated version of himself. The half-hour episodes can vary wildly in tone, but Davidson is consistently engaging, and gets lifetime achievement points for casting excellence: Edie Falco plays his widowed mother, while Joe Pesci plays his dying grandfather. Yes, the mostly retired Pesci will today work for only two people: Martin Scorsese, and Pete Davidson. (I’ll even let slip the fact that Davidson seems to misunderstand the word “bupkis,” which he thinks means “made up” and not “nothing.”)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (on-demand, including Apple TV, Google Play, Cineplex Store)
I’m not going to lie to you and pretend that The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a good film. It isn’t, even by the sometimes lazy children’s flick standards of its producer Illumination, the company responsible for the Despicable Me, Trolls and Sing franchises. But my kids went absolutely nuts for Mario during its theatrical run – which is still going incredibly strong – and now that the film is available at home, you can bet that I’m going to be subjected to many, many repeat viewings. Which, okay, fine. It’s mostly harmless, and at least the animation is of the highest quality (unlike so many Netflix kiddie fare). Listen, sometimes you just need something to put on in order to get dinner on the table. Let’s-a-go. Read review.
Edge of Tomorrow (Crave with Starz)
My Tom Cruise a-thon ahead of the new Mission: Impossible sequel picked back up recently after a few weeks of distraction. And with one of the star’s most slept-upon smashes, a high-concept sci-fi thriller that would have performed way better at the box office if they went with either the original title of its source material (All You Need Is Kill) or the slogan producers adopted for the home-entertainment release (Live. Die. Repeat). Playing a cowardly soldier who is forced into a Groundhog Day-like scenario during Earth’s battle against invading aliens – every time he dies, he wakes up to go through the fight all over again – Cruise is firing on ally cylinders here. He’s aided greatly by director Doug Liman’s go-go-go pace and the considerable charms of co-star Emily Blunt, playing a no-nonsense war hero.