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 Searching for Sugar Man first
Bohemian Rhapsody 2018
Film
Singer Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bass guitarist John Deacon take the music world by storm when they form the rock 'n' roll band Queen in 1970. Hit songs become instant classics. When Mercury's increasingly wild lifestyle starts to spiral out of control, Queen soon faces its greatest challenge yet – finding a way to keep the band together amid the success and excess.
The sides of Bohemian Rhapsody
- A shy boy becoming Freddie Mercury
- How the hits were made
- Twenty minutes at Live Aid
Good for you if
- you like singing along to Queen in the cinema.
- you like an actor disappearing into a legend.
- you want a crowd-pleaser that ends on a high.
Bad for you if
- you want the hard part told in full. It ends at Live Aid, years before Freddie's death.
- you roll your eyes at big speeches. Freddie tells the band they are his family before Live Aid.
About: fame · identity · family
Amy 2015
Documentary
A documentary on the life of Amy Winehouse, the immensely talented yet doomed songstress. We see her from her teen years, where she already showed her singing abilities, to her finding success and then her downward spiral into alcoholism and drugs.
The sides of Amy
- Home videos of a teenage singer in London
- The recording of Back to Black
- Paparazzi flashes outside her door
Good for you if
- you like hearing Amy Winehouse's lyrics on screen as she sings them.
- you want her life told only through home videos, voicemails and friends' voices.
- you like being moved by someone you watch slip away.
Bad for you if
- you can't take addiction, an eating disorder and an overdose on screen.
- you need some hope, and you know how this one ends.
About: fame · addiction · talent
The Beatles: Get Back 2021
Documentary
The three-part documentary series, compiled from over 60 hours of unseen footage, captures the warmth, camaraderie, and creative genius that defined the legacy of music's most iconic foursome. The series also includes – for the first time in its entirety – The Beatles' final performance at London's Savile Row.
The sides of The Beatles: Get Back
- The Beatles writing songs in a studio
- Unseen footage from January 1969
- The rooftop concert in full
Good for you if
- you like watching songs like Get Back take shape from nothing.
- you like long sessions where almost nothing happens and then a song appears.
- you want to see the four of them joke, argue and work together.
Bad for you if
- nearly eight hours of rehearsals is too much for you.
- you find 1969 footage dated, even restored.
About: creation · friendship · the end of a band
Soul 2020
Film
Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.
The sides of Soul
- A jazz teacher between life and death
- A soul who doesn't want to be born
- A cat body in New York
Good for you if
- you like 22 stuck in Joe's body and Joe stuck in a cat.
- you like jazz played for real.
- you like a strange, gentle world before birth.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch animated films.
- you roll your eyes at life lessons. The film asks you to savour every falling leaf.
About: purpose · living · passion
The Greatest Showman 2017
Film
The story of American showman P.T. Barnum, founder of the circus that became the famous traveling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The sides of The Greatest Showman
- A dreamer who invents the circus
- Outcasts who become stars
- This is me
Good for you if
- you like pop songs that make you want to stand up.
- you want something joyful and bright.
- you like big, sincere emotions.
Bad for you if
- you can't stand love stories. Two romances run through the circus.
- you want sharp, talky scenes. Here the songs do most of the talking.
About: ambition · acceptance · dreams
Coco 2017
Film
Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.
The sides of Coco
- A boy who wants to play music
- A trip to the land of the dead
- A song for a great-grandmother
Good for you if
- you like a family film with an ending that floors you.
- you like songs that carry the story.
- you want a world glowing with orange flowers and colour.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch animated films.
- a story of dead relatives and a fading great-grandmother is too much for you tonight.
About: family · memory · death · music
Man on Wire 2008
Documentary
On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.
The sides of Man on Wire
- A wire strung between the Twin Towers in 1974
- Months of planning like a heist
- A Frenchman walking on air for nearly an hour
Good for you if
- you like a plan where one mistake gets everyone caught.
- you like hearing the accomplices tell it decades later.
- you like the image of a man lying down on a wire above New York.
Bad for you if
- you're afraid of heights. A man walks a wire between the Twin Towers with nothing below him.
- you roll your eyes at grand talk about art and beauty. Petit tells his walk like a poem.
About: daring · friendship · freedom
The Last Dance 2020
Documentary
A 10-part documentary chronicling the untold story of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty with rare, never-before-seen footage and sound from the 1997-98 championship season – plus over 100 interviews with famous figures and basketball’s biggest names.
The sides of The Last Dance
- The Chicago Bulls' 1997-98 season
- Michael Jordan watching old clips on a tablet
- Rare footage from inside the locker room
Good for you if
- you like basketball games replayed with the players telling you what they felt.
- you want Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and Phil Jackson in their own words.
- you like the 1990s NBA, from the Bad Boys Pistons to the sixth title.
Bad for you if
- ten episodes on one team is too much for you.
- a hundred interviews and a whole roster to keep track of lose you.
About: winning · competition · fame
The Intouchables 2011
Film
A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
The sides of The Intouchables
- A rich man who can't move
- A carer from the suburbs
- A friendship nobody expected
Good for you if
- you like a comedy where two opposite men tease each other.
- you like a feel-good film that also moves you.
- you like a true story, with the real Philippe and Abdel shown at the end.
Bad for you if
- you won't read subtitles. It's in French, though a dubbed version exists.
- you can't laugh at jokes about a man who can't move.
About: friendship · disability · class
Sing 2016
Film
A koala named Buster recruits his best friend to help him drum up business for his theater by hosting a singing competition.
The sides of Sing
- A koala who runs a theatre
- A singing competition
- Animals singing pop hits
Good for you if
- you like dozens of pop songs.
- you want a bright, feel-good family film.
- you like a nervous elephant and a punk porcupine.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch animated films.
- you lose track easily. Buster and five singers each have their own story.
About: dreams · courage · performance
My Octopus Teacher 2020
Documentary
After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa, Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for months on end he eventually wins the animal’s trust and they develop a never-before-seen bond between human and wild animal.
The sides of My Octopus Teacher
- A diver in a kelp forest off South Africa
- A year following one octopus
- A shark hunting her in the shallows
Good for you if
- you like cold water, kelp and the life hidden in it.
- you like seeing how clever an animal can be up close.
- you can be moved to tears by a bond with an octopus.
Bad for you if
- a man's voice-over about his feelings for an animal makes you roll your eyes.
- you need a story that moves. This is slow dives, day after day.
About: connection · healing · the life cycle
Three Identical Strangers 2018
Documentary
New York, 1980. Three complete strangers accidentally discover that they're identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds' joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives – and could transform our understanding of human nature forever.
The sides of Three Identical Strangers
- Three 19-year-olds who discover they are triplets
- Talk shows and fame in 1980s New York
- A secret study behind their adoption
Good for you if
- you like a happy story that turns dark halfway through.
- you like hearing the brothers tell it themselves.
- you want to think about what we owe to genes and what we owe to parents.
Bad for you if
- you can't take mental illness in a real family, told by the people who lived it.
- you want the joyful reunion to stay joyful.
About: identity · nature and nurture · brotherhood
Senna 2010
Documentary
The remarkable story of Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna, charting his physical and spiritual achievements on the track and off, his quest for perfection, and the mythical status he has since attained, is the subject of Senna, a documentary feature that spans the racing legend's years as an F1 driver, from his opening season in 1984 to his untimely death a decade later.
The sides of Senna
- Ayrton Senna's Formula One years, 1984 to 1994
- The rivalry with Alain Prost
- Only archive footage, no talking heads on screen
Good for you if
- you like onboard laps in the rain at Monaco.
- you like a life told entirely through real footage from the time.
- you like a rivalry that turns into collisions on the track.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather skip politics. Much of it is the fight with the sport's rulers over penalties and points.
About: ambition · rivalry · faith · death
Fyre 2019
Documentary
He promised supermodels and yachts, but delivered tents and cheese sandwiches. How one man engineered a music festival disaster.
The sides of Fyre
- A luxury festival sold with supermodels on a beach
- Guests arriving to disaster tents and a cheese sandwich
- The staff who tried to keep the promise alive
Good for you if
- you laugh at a disaster you can watch coming from the first ad.
- you like seeing how a fraud keeps going one lie after another.
- you like the people who built it explaining how it all went wrong.
Bad for you if
- you want a patient film. This one moves like a social media feed.
- you want to understand the man behind it. The film stays on the fallout.
About: hype · greed · influence
8 Mile 2002
Film
For Jimmy Smith, Jr., life is a daily fight just to keep hope alive. Feeding his dreams in Detroit's vibrant music scene, Jimmy wages an extraordinary personal struggle to find his own voice - and earn a place in a world where rhymes rule, legends are born and every moment… is another chance.
The sides of 8 Mile
- A young rapper in Detroit
- Rap battles
- Lose yourself
Good for you if
- you like rap battles filmed like boxing.
- you like Eminem playing almost himself.
- you like a story close to its star's real life.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather skip sex scenes, or you watch with others. Jimmy and Alex have sex at the factory where he works.
- you want something warm and safe. This is trailer parks, factory shifts and fights in a Detroit winter.
About: ambition · poverty · self-belief
The Pianist 2002
Film
The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.
The sides of The Pianist
- A pianist hiding in Warsaw
- Years alone in empty flats
- Music for an enemy officer
Good for you if
- you like a quiet performance of pure survival.
- you like a true story that stays with you.
- you like watching someone hold on through everything.
Bad for you if
- the Holocaust shown in detail is too much tonight.
- two and a half hours is too long for your evening.
About: survival · art · humanity
A Star Is Born 2018
Film
Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers — and falls in love with — struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer — until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.
The sides of A Star Is Born
- A rock star and a singer nobody knows
- Her first time on stage
- One rises while the other falls
Good for you if
- you like original songs sung live.
- you like a love story that moves you to tears, song after song.
- you like two artists falling hard for each other.
Bad for you if
- alcoholism and self-destruction are too heavy for you tonight.
- two hours and a quarter of concerts and drama is a lot for your evening.
About: fame · addiction · love
Citizenfour 2014
Documentary
In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.
The sides of Citizenfour
- Edward Snowden in a Hong Kong hotel room
- Journalists deciding what to publish
- A fire alarm that makes everyone freeze
Good for you if
- you like the days before a leak, filmed as they happen in one hotel room.
- you want to watch Snowden explain, in his own words, why he did it.
- you like seeing how governments watch their own citizens.
Bad for you if
- you need momentum, and most of it is people talking at a desk.
- you want scale and sound, not a laptop and a hotel bed.
About: surveillance · privacy · courage
The Imposter 2012
Documentary
In 1994, a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three-and-a-half years later, he is found alive in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.
The sides of The Imposter
- A Texas boy missing for three years, found in Spain
- A family welcoming him home
- A man telling the camera how he lied
Good for you if
- you like a story that gets stranger every ten minutes.
- you like an investigation where the questions keep changing.
- you like hearing a con man explain his con himself.
Bad for you if
- you can't take a real missing child and a grieving family.
- you can't stand not knowing who to believe. Each witness tells the story their own way.
About: identity · lies · grief
Green Book 2018
Film
Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.
The sides of Green Book
- A bouncer driving a pianist through the South
- Fried chicken in the car
- A friendship across a colour line
Good for you if
- you want a warm, feel-good road trip.
- you like two very different men bickering.
- you like stories based on real people.
Bad for you if
- you roll your eyes at a feel-good lesson. Tony and Don each teach the other something, one scene at a time.
- you want the Deep South shown at its harshest. The film keeps things warm.
About: friendship · racism · dignity