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It's Monday, and that means another edition of our weekly guide to the best new shows and movies! On this page, you'll find six recommendations for some of the hottest films and TV shows that are available to watch this week. Whether you're subbed to Netflix, Disney Plus, or some of the other entries on our list of the best streaming services you're bound to find something great to watch here.
The arrival of Lilo & Stitch on Disney Plus takes our number one spot this time around, but if that's not to your taste, then fear not. We also have a new season of Only Murders in the Building, Tim Robinson on terrifyingly funny form in Friendship, and new drama The Girlfriend to name just a few of the things on our list.
Lilo & Stitch
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Disney Plus
Disney's latest live-action remake of a beloved animated classic hits streaming this week. Lilo & Stitch easily crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office, making it the second biggest film of the year so far, and has been a hit with audiences, despite some lukewarm reviews.
The new film sticks pretty closely to the 2002 original, with a mischievous alien known as Experiment 626 crashing to Earth. The creature immediately meets and forms a close bond with Lilo Pelekai (Maia Kealoha), a young orphan girl in need of a friend. She names him Stitch and the two embark on a madcap adventure that also drags in Lilo's older sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong). The mixture of live action and CGI may lack some of the hand-crafted charm of the original, but this is a solid reinterpretation that kids will love.
Our guide to the best Disney Plus movies is packed with classics.
The Girlfriend
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
This psychological thriller hinges on the fledgling relationship between estate agent Cherry (Olivia Cooke) and wealthy Danny (Laurie Davidson). The two meet in London and quickly spark up an intense bond. Things take a dark turn, however, when Danny introduces his girlfriend to his family – notably his cynical mother, Laura (Robin Wright), who quickly grows suspicious of her son's new love. Is Cherry out to get the family fortune? And what lengths will these two increasingly desperate people go to?
It's a melodramatic setup, but a strong cast enlivens this six-episode series. We've probably all had times when our parents didn't quite approve of a new partner, but hopefully not with such disastrous results! The six-episode series starts on September 10.
Find more great thrillers in our best Prime Video shows list.
Only Murders in the Building season 5
Available: UK/US
Where to watch: Hulu (US), Disney Plus (UK)
The fourth season of the cosy crime comedy ended with a shock: the death of Lester (Teddy Coluca), the doorman of the Arconia. Picking up in the aftermath of the apparent slaying, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) decide to investigate, even as the police decide that Lester's death was accidental. What they uncover will plunge them deep into New York's criminal underworld and pit them against the mob.
You probably know how you feel about Only Murders in the Building by now. For fans, it's a warm and witty hug of a show with smart plot twists and lovable characters. To its detractors, it's a cameo-stuffed indulgence – expect to see Renée Zellweger and Christoph Waltz in the new season. The truth is probably somewhere in-between. Regardless, we're looking forward to getting lost in the Arconia's murderous halls once more.
Only Murders in the Building is part of our guide to the best Hulu shows.
Playing Gracie Darling
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Paramount Plus
This six-episode Australian drama opens with a séance going tragically wrong and only gets wilder from there. Joni Gray (Morgana O'Reilly) was 14 when her friend Gracie Darling vanished. Now grown up, she works as a child psychologist, but is still troubled by the seemingly supernatural events that happened to her as a teen. When she learns that another member of the Darling family, Frankie, has vanished in similar circumstances, she begins to investigate. Meanwhile, people in the town are falling mysteriously ill.
Somewhere between a contemporary crime thriller and an outright horror story, Playing Gracie Darling looks like a spooky treat for the Autumnal evenings. Yeah, séances going wrong and unleashing supernatural havoc is the stuff of cliché, but this is atmospheric fun to chill the bones.
Find more fantastic TV with our guide to the best Paramount Plus shows.
Friendship
Available: US
Where to watch: HBO Max
Fans of Netflix's unhinged sketch comedy show I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson will want to check out Friendship, the debut feature from director Andrew DeYoung. Robinson stars as Craig Waterman, a marketing exec whose marriage is crumbling thanks, in part, to his own detached disinterest. When Paul Rudd's charismatic meteorologist Austin Carmichael moves in across the street, however, Craig becomes obsessed with his new neighbor.
Darkly hilarious, Friendship is the perfect vehicle for Robinson's patented mix of innocence, confusion, and barely suppressed rage. Rudd is hilarious, too, the everyman foil to Craig's overt weirdness. At its heart, though, this is a sincere exploration of a difficult man wanting to connect with someone he admires – and trying far, far too hard.
Discover some more classics with our guide to the best HBO movies.
The Dead Girls
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Netflix
This '60s-set series is based on Jorge Ibargüengoitia's novel of the same name and follows a pair of sisters who set out to build a brothel empire across Mexico. Arcelia Ramírez and Paulina Gaitán star as the Baladro sisters, two entrepreneurial women who will risk everything to make it rich – even murder.
The Dead Girls (Las Muertas in its original title) is a lavish historical drama full of sex, death, and lashings of dark humor. Ibargüengoitia's book was inspired by the real-life crimes of the notorious Las Poquianchis – the four González Valenzuela sisters who, between the 1950s and 1960s, killed at least 91 people in Mexico, and perhaps many more than that. Will the fictional Baladro sisters go that far?
Discover the brilliant series that make up our list of the best Netflix shows.
Looking for something else to watch? Check out our list of the best movies on Disney Plus.
