‘Good Omens,’ ‘Reservation Dogs’ and more to stream this weekend
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who needs new ideas about what to watch now that the “Barbenheimer” craze is slowing down.
After two weeks filling movie theaters, inspiring countless costumes and memes, and generally dominating the cultural conversation, the world seems to be returning to pre-”Barbie,” pre-”Oppenheimer” equilibrium, and with that you may be wondering what to queue up next. This week, we recommend two streaming series worth checking out, another blockbuster you might have missed, and add a fistful more from “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” showrunner Sarah Lambert. That should keep you plenty busy, and you won’t even need to get on the freeway.
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Turn on
Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
“Reservation Dogs” (FX on Hulu)
One of my favorite things about great coming-of-age stories is how palpably you can feel the heart behind the characters and their journeys — after all, it’s a time of big feelings, big swings and big change. One thing I am less thrilled about is that coming-of-age stories generally have to come to an end. The third and final season of “Reservation Dogs” picks up directly where the Season 2 finale left off, with Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) and Cheese (Lane Factor) in Los Angeles after having made it to the ocean to honor their late friend Daniel (Dalton Cramer). That accomplishment brings a sense of closure to that chapter of the Rez Dogs’ lives, and opens things up for each of them to explore further what they want to do and who they want to be. And after watching the foursome drift apart during Season 2, it’s nice to see each of the characters a bit more secure in their friendships and understanding that it’s OK that things change. I will be sad when it’s over, but until then, I’ll be enjoying the ride. —Tracy Brown
“Good Omens” (Prime Video)
David Tennant and Michael Sheen are back with their adorable double act as the demon Crowley and angel Aziraphale, happily earthbound old friends, in “Good Omens” Season 2. Written by Neil Gaiman and award-winning comedy writer John Finnemore (with I don’t know how much material drawn from the unfinished novel by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett), the present run (six episodes, all available) kicks off with an amnesiac Angel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) showing up naked on the steps of Aziraphale’s antiquarian bookshop. Apocalypse having been averted at the end of Season 1, the focus is more personal this time: Love powers the season, with Crowley and Aziraphale, like dual Charles Coburns in a remake of “The More the Merrier,” out to engineer a match between Maggie (Maggie Service), who owns a used record store next to the bookshop, and Nina (Nina Sosanya), who runs a coffee shop across the street. (Other romantic threads reveal themselves slowly, or suddenly.) There are digressions from present-day Soho — to 19th century Edinburgh, Scotland, and wartime London, and into the story of Job — all to the point that at its most terrible the messy world of humans is preferable to the hidebound, joyless institutions that are heaven and hell. —Robert Lloyd
Catch up
Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about
Before “Barbenheimer” took theaters by storm, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” reigned as the undisputed king of the 2023 global box office. For now it’s still the biggest movie of the year and it’s finally available on a streaming service near you (Peacock).
A plump, mustachioed plumber in overalls, Mario is one of the most beloved and recognizable video game icons in the world. Created by Nintendo great Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario has rescued princesses, raced karts, played tennis, group-brawled, transformed into various animals, competed in Olympic events and more since headlining 1985’s “Super Mario Bros.” Still as popular as ever, Mario’s sprawling multimedia footprint has even expanded into theme parks.
But previous screen adaptations of Mario and his brother Luigi are considered more cult favorites than bona fide hits. Fans online expressed some trepidation about the animated feature in the lead-up to its release, particularly after it was revealed that Chris Pratt would be voicing the titular hero. Video game Mario is an avatar of few words, but everybody knows what “it’s-a-me, Mario” is supposed to sound like.
As the movie’s April 5 premiere approached, numerous reviewers, including Tribune News Service film critic Katie Walsh, dinged the film for its flimsy plot. “ ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is mildly amusing, swift, noisy and unrelentingly paced,” wrote Walsh. “Fortunately, this loud, hectic movie doesn’t overstay its welcome, but it wouldn’t have the material to last a second longer.”
As if to prove “Super Mario Bros.” fans don’t play the games for its plot, audiences flocked to see the feature, which reigned as the No. 1 film in the domestic box office for four consecutive weeks. After that fourth weekend, the movie had grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. (It currently sits with a $1.35-billion worldwide gross.)
Not only that, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” boasts its own banger that ranked in the Billboard 100, “Peaches” by Bowser (played by Jack Black). We’ll leave it up to you to decide whether it tops “Barbie’s” “I’m Just Ken” as the movie bop of the year. —Tracy Brown
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Whether you’re used to the preschooler in your life mimcking Bluey, Bingo, Bandit and Chilli or have simply benefited from the wider U.S. distribution of international shows in recent years, you’ve probably found yourself exposed to a relative bumper crop of Australian TV. The latest entry for Stateside viewers is the sprawling drama “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” (Prime Video), in which 9-year-old Alice (Alyla Browne), orphaned in a fire, goes to live on a farm with her grandmother June (Sigourney Weaver) — and begins a decades-long journey unraveling her family’s secrets. Showrunner and executive producer Sarah Lambert stopped by Screen Gab recently to explain the growing power of her country’s TV industry, tell us what she’s watching and more. —Matt Brennan
What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?
“Somebody Somewhere” [Max] is a show that was recommended to me in a writers’ room and I fell in love with [it]. It’s a lesson in simplicity and trusting your characters, genuinely funny and makes me laugh and cry in equal measure. I’ve become a huge Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller fan. On the other side of the coin, I loved “Severance” [Apple TV+] and found it utterly compelling. I had no idea where it was going but it just hooked me in and I can’t wait for the second season. For friends living overseas, I recommend watching the Australian comedy “Colin From Accounts” [not streaming in U.S.] It’s written by and stars the wondrous Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall and is properly funny, relatable and also kind.
What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?
I’m going to give a shameless plug for my own series “Lambs of God” [Topic, Plex] as a TV show I go back to again and again. It’s about three nuns who live on a remote island who are visited by a young priest. When they find out he’s come to remove them and sell off their home, the nuns trap him on the island in a bid to change his mind. It’s very much “Misery” meets feral nuns and is for me the perfect combination of a dark, gothic tale with a twisted vein of humor, with powerhouse performances by Ann Dowd, Jessica Barden, Essie Davis, Sam Reid and Kate Mulvaney. A perfect four hours to lose yourself in.
The other comfort-watch series in our house is very much “Only Murders in the Building” [Hulu]. I have two kids and it’s a show we can all watch together. Watching my kids discover the wonder of Steve Martin’s physical comedy in particular has been a joy. Even though my kids are a bit older now — we all still sometimes need a fix of “Bluey” [Disney+]. It always makes you feel better about the world.
3. From “Please Like Me” to “Frayed” (and many others beside), Australian TV had found a foothold with U.S. audiences in the last decade or so that it didn’t seem to previously. Of course, the rise of streaming is a contributing factor, but what about the Australian TV industry itself has made it such a fruitful place to work in that time?
In the past six years, I’ve seen a real shift in the kinds of shows being commissioned by broadcasters like the [Australian Broadcasting Corp.] and SBS, Foxtel and the other streamers here. It’s opened up real opportunities to tell different kinds of stories and to be brave and ambitious in the way we do that. This push to take risks creatively has opened up the industry to new voices [and] perspectives and there’s a real energy and confidence in the shows that are coming out. They’re not copies of American or British shows but uniquely ours. We’ve always had I think some of the best crews and casts in the world but it’s been hard to hold on to them when competing with the U.S. market. But you’re seeing more and more creative people staying or coming home to create and make the shows they’ve always wanted to. There’s a real energy and passion in the community to tell our stories and bring them to the rest of the world.
4. Prior to your work as a writer/creator in Australia, many of your credits were in nonfiction — which is going to be on a lot of our screens in the near future due to the WGA and SAG strikes. Is there any documentary or docuseries that you’ve re-discovered lately that you recommend?
I do watch a lot of documentary and docuseries and there have been some brilliant shows to come out of Australia in the last couple of years. I loved the docuseries “Alone.” [U.S. version available on History Channel, Discovery+]. It had the most extraordinary cast of characters, trying to survive alone in the wilderness for as long as they could in Tasmania. There was no crew or support teams, just them alone documenting their own experiences. It was so raw and revealing about these people’s lives... I’ve also loved the feel-good series “Love on the Spectrum” [Netflix], about young adults on the autism spectrum diving into the dating world, and “Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds” [Netflix], about a social experiment that brings together elderly people with a group of 4-year-olds. They are both incredibly life-affirming series with wonderful characters you don’t often see on TV.
The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
