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What do you want to watch tonight?

Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.

Closest to 1899 first

  1. Severance 2022

    Series

    Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.

    The sides of Severance

    • Office workers with their memories split in two
    • The endless white corridors of Lumon Industries
    • A team sorting numbers they don't understand

    Good for you if

    • you like piecing together what Lumon really does.
    • you like goats in an office basement and a waffle party as a reward.
    • you like Mark slowly realising what his other self lives through.

    Bad for you if

    • you need things to move fast from the first episode.
    • you want answers at the end of every season.

    About: work · identity · grief · control

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  2. Arrival 2016

    Film

    Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.

    The sides of Arrival

    • The grief underneath the sci-fi
    • Aliens that are truly alien
    • Understanding as the plot
    • Time that doesn't run straight

    Good for you if

    • you like a film that quietly breaks you at the end.
    • you like patient scenes where people try to understand each other.
    • you like aliens treated as a real problem of language and science.

    Bad for you if

    • you want an alien invasion with battles. There are none.
    • you'd rather not work to follow a story. Louise's memories only fall into place in the last act.

    About: language · grief · time · choice

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  3. Dark 2017

    Series

    A missing child sets four families on a frantic hunt for answers as they unearth a mind-bending mystery that spans three generations.

    The sides of Dark

    • A puzzle across time
    • A small town with a buried secret
    • Fate against free will
    • Four families, one knot
    • Grey rain and a heavy score

    Good for you if

    • you like a family tree you need to draw on paper.
    • you like a cold, patient mystery.
    • you like a series you understand better the second time.

    Bad for you if

    • you need some hope. In Winden, families lose their children, then everything else.
    • you won't read subtitles. It's in German (a dub exists).

    About: time · fate · family

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  4. WandaVision 2021

    Series

    Wanda Maximoff and Vision—two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.

    The sides of WandaVision

    • A couple living in old sitcoms
    • A perfect suburb with cracks
    • Grief that bends reality

    Good for you if

    • you like a show that changes decade and style each episode.
    • you like slowly working out what's really going on.
    • you like a superhero show that's really about grief.

    Bad for you if

    • you find old black and white sitcoms dated. The first episodes copy them on purpose.
    • you need logic that holds up, and this one runs on magic and sitcom rules.

    About: grief · denial · love

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  5. Inception 2010

    Film

    Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.

    The sides of Inception

    • Dreams inside dreams
    • The heist crew
    • A man who can't let go
    • Folding cities and that music

    Good for you if

    • you like a plot you have to hold in your head, layer by layer.
    • you want images you've never seen, like a city folding over itself.
    • you like catching on the second watch what you missed on the first.

    Bad for you if

    • you need every question answered before the credits.
    • nearly two and a half hours is too much for your evening.

    About: dreams · grief · guilt · ideas

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  6. Annihilation 2018

    Film

    A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.

    The sides of Annihilation

    • Five scientists entering the Shimmer
    • Nature mutating into something else
    • A bear that screams

    Good for you if

    • you like science fiction that feels like a nightmare.
    • you like rainbow-coloured, mutated landscapes.
    • you like an ending that refuses to explain itself.

    Bad for you if

    • body horror and one terrifying creature are too much for you.
    • you need momentum. The expedition moves slowly and quietly through the Shimmer.

    About: self-destruction · change · grief

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  7. Source Code 2011

    Film

    When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.

    The sides of Source Code

    • A soldier waking up in a stranger's body
    • Eight minutes before a train explodes
    • Again and again

    Good for you if

    • you like solving a mystery in a time loop.
    • you like a short, tight thriller.
    • you like a love story in eight minutes.

    Bad for you if

    • you want a big-scale blockbuster. Almost all of it plays out in one train carriage and a capsule.
    • you want a clear ending. The last minutes leave the rules of the loop open.

    About: identity · second chances · duty

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  8. In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.

    The sides of Twelve Monkeys

    • A prisoner sent back in time to stop a virus
    • An asylum and a raving patient
    • An airport memory

    Good for you if

    • you like a time loop you piece together.
    • you like a feverish, strange atmosphere.
    • you like a wild, twitchy supporting role.

    Bad for you if

    • you want clear answers about what's real.
    • you need some hope. A plague has already wiped out most of humanity before the story starts.

    About: fate · madness · memory

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  9. In 1954, a U.S. Marshal and his new partner go to a psychiatric hospital on an island to find a patient who escaped from a locked room.

    The sides of Shutter Island

    • A mystery that turns on you
    • Gothic dread on an island
    • A man haunted by loss

    Good for you if

    • you love a story that makes you question everything you just saw.
    • you like a film you want to restart as soon as it ends.
    • you like a mood that gets under your skin: storms, cells, a lighthouse.

    Bad for you if

    • grief and mental illness hit too close for you.
    • you want to be sure what happened when the credits roll.

    About: grief · guilt · madness · the truth

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  10. The Prestige 2006

    Film

    A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.

    The sides of The Prestige

    • Two rival magicians
    • A trick nobody can explain
    • Obsession that costs everything

    Good for you if

    • you love a film that shows you its secret only at the end.
    • you like going back to see how the trick was done.
    • you like a rivalry that gets more dangerous every round.

    Bad for you if

    • you need a hopeful ending.
    • you'd rather follow a story in order. The Prestige jumps between two diaries and several timelines.

    About: obsession · sacrifice · rivalry

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  11. In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.

    The sides of Ghost in the Shell

    • A cyborg agent in a special police unit
    • A hacker who can rewrite people's memories
    • Long silent shots of a city in the rain

    Good for you if

    • you like asking what's left of you when your body is a machine.
    • you like a dense, rainy city drawn in every detail.
    • you like long quiet moments between short bursts of action.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you want a plot that's easy to follow. Hacked memories and rival police sections tangle fast.

    About: identity · technology · the soul

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  12. Paprika 2006

    Anime

    Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from merging the dream and waking worlds.

    The sides of Paprika

    • A psychologist who enters her patients' dreams
    • A stolen dream machine
    • A parade of objects marching out of dreams

    Good for you if

    • you like a dream that spills into the waking city.
    • you want every frame packed with shifting images.
    • you like not knowing whose dream you're in.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need a machine to follow rules. This one runs on dream logic.

    About: dreams · identity · technology

    Explore its sides
  13. Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project.

    The sides of Mulholland Drive

    • A brunette with amnesia after a crash on Mulholland Drive
    • An aspiring actress newly arrived in Hollywood
    • A blue key and a blue box

    Good for you if

    • you like piecing a story together yourself, then rewatching to check.
    • you can accept that Lynch never tells you which parts happened.
    • you like a cowboy, a tiny couple and a diner called Winkie's.

    Bad for you if

    • you need a story whose logic holds up from start to finish.
    • you'd rather not watch an extended sex scene between the two women.

    About: identity · hollywood · dreams

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  14. Westworld 2016

    Series

    A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged.

    The sides of Westworld

    • A Wild West theme park run by robots
    • Hosts who start to remember
    • Guests who pay to do anything

    Good for you if

    • you like a plot you have to piece together across timelines.
    • you like a story that keeps changing what you think you know about the park.
    • you like a show where the first season hides clues for the second viewing.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't stand graphic shootouts and violence against the hosts.
    • you'd rather skip the nudity and sex scenes, or you watch with others.

    About: consciousness · free will · memory · control

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  15. The OA 2016

    Series

    Seven years after vanishing from her home, a young woman returns with mysterious new abilities and recruits five strangers for a secret mission.

    The sides of The OA

    • A blind woman who returns after seven years, able to see
    • Five strangers meeting in an unfinished house
    • A set of movements said to open a door

    Good for you if

    • you like a story that refuses to say what kind of story it is.
    • you can live with an ending that stops instead of answering.
    • you want the feeling that something bigger sits behind a disappearance.

    Bad for you if

    • you need momentum, and whole episodes here are one person telling a story.
    • you want travel between dimensions to hold up when you think about it.
    • you roll your eyes the first time five people do the movements in a basement.

    About: belief · grief · captivity

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  16. Donnie Darko 2001

    Film

    After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

    The sides of Donnie Darko

    • A troubled teen and a giant rabbit
    • A jet engine falling on a house
    • Twenty-eight days until the end

    Good for you if

    • you like strange, dreamy films with a dark edge.
    • you like piecing together a story that won't explain itself.
    • you like arguing about the ending afterwards.

    Bad for you if

    • you need some hope. Donnie's world counts down to the end from the first minutes.
    • you want something soft and safe. A jet engine crashes into Donnie's bedroom early on.

    About: fate · time · adolescence

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  17. Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.

    The sides of The Haunting of Hill House

    • Five siblings and the house they fled
    • A night their father never explained
    • Ghosts hiding in the background of shots

    Good for you if

    • you want ghosts you only spot in the corner of the frame.
    • you like a horror story that is really about brothers and sisters.
    • you like a reveal that makes you rethink the first episode.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't take grief, addiction and suicide on screen.
    • you need horror that moves fast. This one lingers on memories.

    About: grief · family · memory

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  18. Memento 2000

    Film

    Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

    The sides of Memento

    • A man who can't make new memories
    • Notes, photos and tattoos
    • A story told backwards

    Good for you if

    • you like assembling a story in reverse.
    • you like a man investigating his wife's murder with Polaroids and tattoos.
    • you like a film you need to see twice.

    Bad for you if

    • you want to know for sure who is lying. Even the ending won't tell you.
    • you need some hope. Leonard's hunt for his wife's killer can never end.

    About: memory · revenge · self-deception

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  19. Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.

    The sides of 2001: A Space Odyssey

    • Apes discovering tools
    • A computer that won't open the doors
    • A journey beyond the infinite

    Good for you if

    • you like spaceships waltzing to the Blue Danube in perfectly composed frames.
    • you like a film that moves like a symphony.
    • you want to feel small before the universe.

    Bad for you if

    • you need characters to warm to. Dave and Frank stay cool and calm, and the computer HAL shows the most feeling.
    • you want something to happen. Long stretches are silent.
    • you want a clear explanation of the ending.

    About: evolution · technology · the unknown

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  20. Steins;Gate 2011

    Anime

    A group of friends have customized their microwave so that it can send text messages to the past. As they perform different experiments, an organization named SERN who has been doing their own research on time travel tracks them down and now the characters have to find a way to avoid being captured by them.

    The sides of Steins;Gate

    • A microwave that sends texts to the past
    • A self-styled mad scientist in Akihabara
    • A friend who keeps dying in every new timeline

    Good for you if

    • you want to keep track of which message changed which world line.
    • you want time travel with rules the story never breaks for convenience.
    • you like a hero forced to choose which friend he gets to save.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need momentum, and the first stretch is lab banter in a rented room.
    • you can't watch the same friend die again and again.

    About: regret · friendship · time

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