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 Fargo first
Fargo 2014
Series
A close-knit anthology series dealing with stories involving malice, violence and murder based in and around Minnesota.
The sides of Fargo
- A new crime story in every season
- Small-town cops in the Midwest snow
- Ordinary people who make one bad choice
Good for you if
- you laugh at polite Minnesotans caught up in murder.
- you like waiting for a stranger like Lorne Malvo to decide what to do next.
- you like small-town crimes that snowball out of one bad decision.
Bad for you if
- you can't stand sudden, bloody killings in quiet places.
- you can't stand odd moments, like a UFO in the middle of a crime story.
About: fate · good and evil · greed
After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.
The sides of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- A mother and three billboards
- A small-town police chief
- A cop who changes
Good for you if
- you like a furious, funny lead performance.
- you like grief told with sharp, dark jokes.
- you like people who are worse and better than they seem.
Bad for you if
- sudden violent outbursts ruin it for you.
- you want a gentle film. This one is angry.
About: grief · anger · justice
Prisoners 2013
Film
When his young daughter and her friend disappear on Thanksgiving, a father takes the law into his own hands while a detective works the case.
The sides of Prisoners
- A detective who won't let go
- How far a father will go
- A case built like a maze
- Rain, cold, and grey light
Good for you if
- you like being tense for two and a half hours straight.
- you like collecting clues and trying to get ahead of the detective.
- you like watching an actor go somewhere raw. Hugh Jackman does.
Bad for you if
- a child in danger is too much for you.
- two and a half hours is too long for your evening.
About: faith · revenge · guilt · fatherhood
Pulp Fiction 1994
Film
A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
The sides of Pulp Fiction
- Stories told out of order
- Gangsters talking about burgers
- Sudden violence and dark jokes
Good for you if
- you like long, funny conversations about nothing before something terrible.
- you can laugh at the worst moment possible.
- you like spending time with criminals who are oddly likeable.
Bad for you if
- sudden, bloody violence ruins a film for you.
- you want a story told in order, start to finish.
About: chance · redemption · loyalty
Breaking Bad 2008
Series
A high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer starts making meth with a former student to pay for his family's future.
The sides of Breaking Bad
- An ordinary man's slow corruption
- Crime as a business
- One bad choice that spirals
- Desert, tension, long silences
Good for you if
- you like rooting for someone you know you shouldn't.
- you like tension that builds for a whole episode before it breaks.
- you watch for how people change more than for what happens.
Bad for you if
- graphic violence ruins a show for you. Some scenes are hard to unsee.
- TV is how you unwind. This one keeps you tense.
- five seasons is more than you want to start.
About: pride · family · power · consequences
Heat 1995
Film
Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and respects the ability and the dedication of the other even though they are aware their cat-and-mouse game may end in violence.
The sides of Heat
- A thief who can walk away in thirty seconds
- A cop who can't
- A shootout in downtown Los Angeles
Good for you if
- you like two men who respect each other and must collide.
- you like a cop and a thief who are the same man.
- you like a downtown bank robbery that turns into a street shootout.
Bad for you if
- nearly three hours is too much for one evening.
- films from 1995 feel dated to you.
About: obsession · professionalism · loneliness
Gone Girl 2014
Film
On their fifth wedding anniversary, a man's wife disappears, and as the police and the press dig in, he becomes the main suspect.
The sides of Gone Girl
- A marriage seen from both sides
- A trial on television
- A story that changes shape halfway
- Cold, precise, and darkly funny
Good for you if
- you love it when the floor drops out from under you halfway.
- you like a lead performance you can't look away from. Rosamund Pike holds every scene Amy is in.
- you like people who are hard to like.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather skip sex scenes, or you're watching with family.
- one sudden, very violent scene would ruin the evening for you.
About: marriage · lies · the media · image
No Country for Old Men 2007
Film
A hunter in West Texas finds two million dollars at the scene of a drug deal gone wrong, and a hitman starts following him.
The sides of No Country for Old Men
- A cat-and-mouse chase across Texas
- A killer who flips a coin
- An old sheriff who doesn't understand his world anymore
- Silence instead of music
Good for you if
- you like suspense built from silence, a hotel room and a door.
- you like scenes that take their time before anything happens.
- you like an ending that leaves you thinking instead of explaining.
Bad for you if
- sudden, cold violence ruins a film for you.
- you need music to carry a film. There's almost none.
About: fate · chance · violence · growing old
Better Call Saul 2015
Series
Six years before Saul Goodman meets Walter White. We meet him when the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and, often, against Jimmy, is “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut. The series tracks Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman, the man who puts “criminal” in “criminal lawyer".
The sides of Better Call Saul
- A small-time lawyer becoming Saul Goodman
- A brother who never believed in him
- A fixer named Mike Ehrmantraut
Good for you if
- you like a story that takes its time over one man's choices.
- you like watching Jimmy and Kim from up close, scene after scene.
- you like following a likable man you know will go bad.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather avoid cartel killings and Tuco's beatings.
- six seasons of slow change is too much for you.
About: ambition · brotherhood · morality · love
The Silence of the Lambs 1991
Film
A young FBI trainee asks Hannibal Lecter, an imprisoned psychiatrist and cannibal, to help her catch another serial killer who is still out there.
The sides of The Silence of the Lambs
- Conversations through the glass
- A young woman proving herself among men
- A race to save the next victim
Good for you if
- you like a performance you can't look away from, even when you want to.
- you like tension made of two people talking through a sheet of glass.
- you like a final stretch that has you holding your breath.
Bad for you if
- graphic gore ruins it for you. A few images are hard to forget.
- you can't take a story of women kidnapped and starved by a killer. One is held at the bottom of a pit in his basement.
About: fear · power · identity · ambition
Hot Fuzz 2007
Film
Former London constable Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he miss the excitement of the big city, but he also has a well-meaning oaf for a partner. However, when a series of grisly accidents rocks Sandford, Angel smells something rotten in the idyllic village.
The sides of Hot Fuzz
- A London supercop sent to a quiet village
- Accidents that aren't
- A shootout at the supermarket
Good for you if
- you like British comedy with fast editing.
- you like a parody that becomes a real action film.
- you like a village hiding something.
Bad for you if
- gory deaths played for laughs ruin it for you.
- you need police work that feels real. Angel's village beat is a send-up of cop films.
About: community · duty · friendship
Dexter 2006
Series
Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police also leads a secret life as a serial killer, hunting down criminals who have slipped through the cracks of justice.
The sides of Dexter
- A police blood expert in Miami
- A serial killer who only kills killers
- A code taught by his adoptive father
Good for you if
- you like rooting for a killer with rules.
- you like Dexter's deadpan voice-over about pretending to be human.
- you like a killer hiding inside the police station that hunts him.
Bad for you if
- you can't stand murder rooms and bodies cut up.
- eight seasons is too much for you.
About: double life · justice · family · identity
The Dark Knight 2008
Film
Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.
The sides of The Dark Knight
- A villain who only wants chaos
- A city forced to choose
- A hero paying the price
Good for you if
- you like a villain you can't take your eyes off.
- you like scenes where every choice could cost a life.
- you like tension that comes from people talking, like the interrogation room.
Bad for you if
- you need things to end on a high. This one leaves a weight.
- two and a half hours is too long for your evening.
About: chaos · order · sacrifice · corruption
Oldboy 2003
Film
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.
The sides of Oldboy
- A man locked up for fifteen years with no reason
- A corridor fight with a hammer
- A live octopus
Good for you if
- you like an ending that floors you.
- you like a one-take hallway fight.
- you like revenge with no clean way out.
Bad for you if
- brutal violence ruins it for you.
- you won't read subtitles. It's in Korean (a dub exists).
- you can't take despair on screen. A man locked up for fifteen years comes out close to breaking.
About: revenge · guilt · imprisonment
The Wolf of Wall Street 2013
Film
A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration. Based on Jordan Belfort's autobiography.
The sides of The Wolf of Wall Street
- Excess on every level
- How the con works
- A very dark comedy
Good for you if
- you want to laugh at excess pushed to absurd levels.
- you like following a crook having the time of his life.
- you like an actor going all in, like the scene crawling to the car.
Bad for you if
- lots of nudity, sex and drugs isn't for you tonight.
- three hours is too much for one evening.
About: greed · excess · money
Ozark 2017
Series
A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a drug boss.
The sides of Ozark
- A financial adviser laundering cartel money
- A family moved from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks
- Marty and Wendy Byrde
Good for you if
- you like Marty Byrde talking his way out of a cartel bullet.
- you like the nuts and bolts of laundering money through lakeside businesses.
- you like a marriage and a family pulled deeper into crime together.
Bad for you if
- you can't stand cartel killings.
- you need some hope, and the Byrdes rarely get any.
About: money · marriage · survival · complicity
Léon: The Professional 1994
Film
Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda. Before long, Mathilda's thoughts turn to revenge, and she considers following in Léon's footsteps.
The sides of Léon: The Professional
- A lonely hitman and a girl next door
- A plant he waters every day
- A corrupt cop on drugs
Good for you if
- you like an unlikely bond between a killer and a child.
- you like tight, stylish shootouts.
- you like an ending that leaves a lump in your throat.
Bad for you if
- shootouts and a family's murder are too much for you.
- a twelve-year-old playing Russian roulette is too much for you.
About: innocence · loneliness · revenge
The Usual Suspects 1995
Film
Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.
The sides of The Usual Suspects
- Five criminals in a line-up
- A survivor telling the police a story
- Keyser Söze
Good for you if
- you like an ending that makes you replay the whole film in your head.
- you like an interrogation that becomes a story.
- you like trying to work out who's behind it all.
Bad for you if
- you want a simple story. This one is told in flashbacks, on purpose.
- you can't root for crooks. Every lead here is a career criminal.
About: deception · legend · fear
The Sopranos 1999
Series
The story of New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads. Those difficulties are often highlighted through his ongoing professional relationship with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. The show features Tony's family members and Mafia associates in prominent roles and story arcs, most notably his wife Carmela and his cousin and protégé Christopher Moltisanti.
The sides of The Sopranos
- A New Jersey mob boss in therapy
- A wife who knows more than she says
- A crew of wiseguys and a nephew who wants more
Good for you if
- you like rooting for Tony Soprano while knowing exactly what he is.
- you like the hours Tony spends on Dr. Melfi's couch as much as the hits.
- you laugh at mobsters arguing about ducks, food and respect.
Bad for you if
- you can't stand sudden, brutal killings between family dinners.
- you need clear answers. The show leaves much of Tony for you to figure out.
About: family · guilt · the American dream · therapy
Fleabag 2016
Series
A portrait into the mind of a dry-witted, sexual, angry, porn-watching, grief-riddled woman, trying to make sense of the world. As she hurls herself headlong at modern living, Fleabag is thrown roughly up against the walls of contemporary London, with all its frenetic energy, late nights, and bright lights.
The sides of Fleabag
- A woman who talks to the camera
- A failing guinea pig café in London
- A priest she falls for
Good for you if
- you like laughing at a woman's worst moments as she tells you about them.
- you like Phoebe Waller-Bridge winking at you through the camera.
- you want two short seasons you can watch in a weekend.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather avoid frank sex talk and sex scenes.
- you can't take grief and guilt hidden under the jokes.
About: grief · guilt · loneliness · sisters