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 Inception first
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
2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
Film
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
Tenet 2020
Film
Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
The sides of Tenet
- A spy learning to move backwards in time
- A plane crashing into a building
- A fight going both ways at once
Good for you if
- you like a film you'll need to think about for days.
- you like fights played forwards and backwards.
- you want huge practical stunts.
Bad for you if
- two and a half hours of it is too much for one evening.
- you need to care about the people. The hero is only ever called the Protagonist.
About: time · fate · friendship
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
Neon Genesis Evangelion 1995
Anime
At the turn of the century, the Angels returned to Earth, seeking to wipe out humanity in an apocalyptic fury. Devastated, mankind's last remnants moved underground to wait for the day when the Angels would come back to finish the job. Fifteen years later, that day has come... but this time, humanity is ready to fight back with terrifying bio-mechanical weapons known as the Evangelions. Watch as Shinji, Rei, Asuka and the rest of the mysterious shadow agency Nerv battle to save earth from total annihilation.
The sides of Neon Genesis Evangelion
- A boy ordered by his father to pilot a giant robot
- Angels attacking Tokyo-3
- A final two episodes inside his head
Good for you if
- you like a series that leaves you with more questions than answers.
- you care more about the pilots' minds than the robot fights.
- you like an ending that goes somewhere no one expected.
Bad for you if
- you can't take depression and self-loathing on screen.
- you don't watch anime.
About: depression · fathers and sons · loneliness
Interstellar 2014
Film
On a dying Earth, a former NASA pilot leaves his two children behind to travel through a wormhole and look for a planet humans can live on.
The sides of Interstellar
- The father and the daughter
- The science you can believe
- The organ and the silence
- The loneliness out there
Good for you if
- goodbyes hit you harder than explosions.
- you like wormholes, black holes and a planet where one hour costs years.
- you want to feel very small in your seat.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather not think about relativity and time stretching to follow a plot.
- big speeches about love make you roll your eyes.
- nearly three hours is too much for one evening.
About: time · sacrifice · home · the people left behind
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
Minority Report 2002
Film
John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they're committed. But Anderton becomes the quarry when another investigator targets him for a murder charge.
The sides of Minority Report
- Police who arrest you before the crime
- A cop accused of a murder he hasn't done
- Screens you move with your hands
Good for you if
- you like a man on the run from his own unit.
- you like proving your innocence of a future crime.
- you like jetpack chases and cars that drive up the sides of buildings.
Bad for you if
- two and a half hours is too long for your evening.
- you need the science to hold up. Three psychics in a pool see murders before they happen.
About: free will · justice · surveillance
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
The Matrix 1999
Film
Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.
The sides of The Matrix
- Reality isn't what it seems
- Slow-motion bullets and kung fu
- The red pill or the blue pill
Good for you if
- you like fights that feel new: bullets in slow motion, kung fu on walls.
- you like a film with its own look, all green and black.
- you like questioning whether the world around you is real.
Bad for you if
- long gunfights in a lobby are too much for you.
- you need the science to hold up. Here you learn kung fu in seconds through a plug in your neck.
About: freedom · control · choice
Shutter Island 2010
Film
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
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
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 2023
Film
After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters the Spider Society, a team of Spider-People charged with protecting the Multiverse's very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must set out on his own to save those he loves most.
The sides of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
- Miles meets a whole society of Spider-People
- Every world drawn in its own style
- A rule he refuses to follow
Good for you if
- you want animation that looks like nothing else.
- you like fast, dizzying chases between universes.
- you like a hip-hop score.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch animated films.
- you want a complete story. It ends on a cliffhanger.
About: identity · destiny · family
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
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
Mission: Impossible 1996
Film
When Ethan Hunt, the leader of a crack espionage team whose perilous operation has gone awry with no explanation, discovers that a mole has penetrated the CIA, he's surprised to learn that he's the prime suspect. To clear his name, Hunt now must ferret out the real double agent and, in the process, even the score.
The sides of Mission: Impossible
- A team betrayed on a mission
- A vault entered from the ceiling
- A train in the Channel tunnel
Good for you if
- you like a silent break-in hanging from a wire.
- you like a spy film full of double-crosses.
- you like a helicopter chasing a train in a tunnel.
Bad for you if
- you lose patience with a plot you have to untangle. Who betrayed whom takes the whole film to sort out.
- you need it to hold up. Rubber masks fool everyone, even people who know the face.
About: trust · betrayal · identity
Die Hard 1988
Film
High above the city of L.A. a team of terrorists has seized a building, taken hostages, and declared war. One man has manages to escape... An off-duty cop hiding somewhere inside. He's alone, tired... and the only chance anyone has got.
The sides of Die Hard
- A cop barefoot in a skyscraper
- Terrorists at a Christmas party
- Yippee-ki-yay
Good for you if
- you like a hero fighting barefoot through air vents and elevator shafts.
- you like one man against many in one building.
- you like a hero who jokes when he's scared.
Bad for you if
- you want a Christmas film for the whole family. This one is for grown-ups.
- gunfights and broken glass ruin it for you.
About: marriage · survival · Christmas
The Empire Strikes Back 1980
Film
The epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined than ever to capture Luke. Meanwhile, rebel leader Princess Leia, cocky Han Solo, Chewbacca, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are thrown into various stages of capture, betrayal and despair.
The sides of The Empire Strikes Back
- Rebels hiding on an ice planet
- Training in a swamp
- A family secret
Good for you if
- you like a revelation that changes how you see the whole saga.
- you like snow planets, swamps and cities in the clouds.
- you like a middle chapter where the heroes lose.
Bad for you if
- effects and pacing from 1980 feel dated to you.
- you need an ending that wraps things up. This one leaves the heroes scattered, waiting for the next film.
About: family · failure · patience
Money Heist 2017
Series
To carry out the biggest heist in history, a mysterious man called The Professor recruits a band of eight robbers who have a single characteristic: none of them has anything to lose. Five months of seclusion - memorizing every step, every detail, every probability - culminate in eleven days locked up in the National Coinage and Stamp Factory of Spain, surrounded by police forces and with dozens of hostages in their power, to find out whether their suicide wager will lead to everything or nothing.
The sides of Money Heist
- A heist planned for months
- A professor who has thought of everything
- Robbers with city names
Good for you if
- you like a hostage siege where every hour brings a problem.
- you like a plan that keeps surprising even the police.
- you like a gang where every robber has a story.
Bad for you if
- you won't read subtitles. It's in Spanish (a dub exists).
- several long seasons is more than you want to start.
About: resistance · loyalty · money
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