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 The Day of the Jackal first
The Bourne Identity 2002
Film
Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy—but who does he work for?
The sides of The Bourne Identity
- A man pulled from the sea with no memory
- Skills he doesn't remember learning
- A Mini chase through Paris
Good for you if
- you like an amnesiac spy and a stranger he pays to drive him to Paris falling for each other.
- you like a hero discovering who he is with you.
- you like being hunted across Europe.
Bad for you if
- you want a spy who always has a quip ready. Bourne barely smiles.
- you want big-screen spectacle. The car chase here is in a battered Mini through Paris.
About: identity · memory · conscience
The Bourne Ultimatum 2007
Film
Bourne is brought out of hiding once again by reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade to Project Treadstone, in a series of newspaper columns. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally uncover his dark past while dodging The Company's best efforts to eradicate him.
The sides of The Bourne Ultimatum
- Bourne finds out who made him
- A chase across Waterloo station
- Rooftops in Tangier
Good for you if
- you like a rooftop chase across Tangier filmed up close.
- you like a man always one step ahead of the CIA.
- you like the truth finally coming out.
Bad for you if
- you need quiet moments to breathe. It runs flat out from London to New York.
- you want a love story. Bourne and Nicky share a past, never a romance.
About: identity · guilt · truth
Killing Eve 2018
Series
A security consultant hunts for a ruthless assassin. Equally obsessed with each other, they go head to head in an epic game of cat-and-mouse.
The sides of Killing Eve
- A bored intelligence officer hunting a killer
- An assassin who shops for clothes between jobs
- A chase across European cities
Good for you if
- you laugh when a murder is followed by a line about someone's outfit.
- you can't look away from Villanelle in any scene she walks into.
- you like a hunt where hunter and hunted keep swapping places.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch a killer who is inventive about it.
- you want spy work that holds up, not an analyst wandering into the field alone.
About: obsession · identity · the chase
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
The Bourne Supremacy 2004
Film
A CIA operation to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent, who then shows up in the sleepy seaside village where Bourne and Marie have been living. The pair run for their lives and Bourne, who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact, is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive.
The sides of The Bourne Supremacy
- Bourne framed for a killing
- A car chase in Moscow
- An apology he has to make
Good for you if
- you like a brutal car chase through Moscow.
- you like a hunted man who stays calm.
Bad for you if
- you like sharp, talky writing. Bourne barely says a word between chases.
- you like a film that takes its time. Bourne never stops moving, from Goa to Moscow.
About: guilt · grief · identity
The Night Manager 2016
Series
Former British soldier Jonathan Pine navigates the shadowy recesses of Whitehall and Washington where an unholy alliance operates between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. To infiltrate the inner circle of lethal arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper, Pine must himself become a criminal.
The sides of The Night Manager
- A hotel night manager sent undercover
- An arms dealer's villa and inner circle
- A Whitehall handler running him from London
Good for you if
- you like a man one wrong word away from being found out.
- you like an infiltration built patiently, dinner by dinner.
- you watch for a charming arms dealer you can't look away from.
Bad for you if
- you want chases and shootouts more than conversations over dinner.
- you'd rather skip the sex scenes, or you're watching with others.
About: betrayal · conscience · power
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
Hannibal 2013
Series
Both a gift and a curse, Graham has the extraordinary ability to think like his prey—he sees what they see, feels what they feel. But while Graham is pursuing an especially troubling, cannibalistic murderer, Special Agent Jack Crawford teams him with a highly respected psychiatrist – a man with a taste for the criminal minded – Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
The sides of Hannibal
- An FBI profiler who thinks like killers
- A psychiatrist who cooks his victims
- Murder scenes staged like works of art
Good for you if
- you like crime scenes composed like paintings and dinners shot like still lifes.
- you can't take your eyes off Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter.
- you like watching Will Graham get closer to the man sitting across from him.
Bad for you if
- you can't stand corpses turned into displays.
- you want a crime show that plays like real police work.
About: manipulation · obsession · friendship · madness
You 2018
Series
A dangerously charming, obsessive man goes to extreme measures to insert himself into the lives of women who fascinate him.
The sides of You
- A bookstore manager who stalks women
- A voice-over from inside his head
- A glass cage in the basement
Good for you if
- you like hearing Joe justify himself in voice-over and almost agreeing.
- you like watching each of his lies come close to falling apart.
- you like laughing at Joe's inner voice judging everyone around him.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch murders up close.
- you'd rather skip sex scenes. Joe's relationships play out in bed too.
About: obsession · love · control
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
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
Drive 2011
Film
Driver is a skilled Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. Though he projects an icy exterior, lately he's been warming up to a pretty neighbor named Irene and her young son, Benicio. When Irene's husband gets out of jail, he enlists Driver's help in a million-dollar heist. The job goes horribly wrong, and Driver must risk his life to protect Irene and Benicio from the vengeful masterminds behind the robbery.
The sides of Drive
- A silent professional with a code
- The city at night, neon and synths
- Tenderness, then sudden violence
Good for you if
- you like neon Los Angeles nights.
- you like a synth soundtrack you'll play on repeat.
- you like long silences and a hero who barely speaks.
Bad for you if
- sudden, very brutal violence ruins a film for you.
- you want characters who talk.
About: loneliness · protection · violence
Marvel's Jessica Jones 2015
Series
After a tragic ending to her short-lived super hero stint, Jessica Jones is rebuilding her personal life and career as a detective who gets pulled into cases involving people with extraordinary abilities in New York City.
The sides of Marvel's Jessica Jones
- A super-strong private eye who drinks too much
- A man who controls minds with his voice
- Cases in Hell's Kitchen
Good for you if
- you like a hero who is rude, broken and drinks alone.
- you want David Tennant as Kilgrave, a villain you can't look away from.
- you like a private detective's noir cases.
Bad for you if
- a story about abuse, control and trauma is too much for you.
- you need a superhero show that moves fast.
About: trauma · control · survival
Sicario 2015
Film
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
The sides of Sicario
- An FBI agent in the drug war
- A border crossing at Juárez
- A man with a hidden agenda
Good for you if
- you like dread in every scene, especially at the border.
- you like a morally dark world.
- you like desert landscapes and night-vision raids.
Bad for you if
- bodies in walls and executions ruin it for you.
- you need momentum. Much of it is silent waiting before something breaks.
About: morality · power · the law
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2011
Film
Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist investigates the disappearance of a weary patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. He is aided by the pierced, tattooed, punk computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander. As they work together in the investigation, Blomkvist and Salander uncover immense corruption beyond anything they have ever imagined.
The sides of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- A journalist and a hacker
- A girl missing for forty years
- A cold Swedish island
Good for you if
- you like a dark, intricate investigation.
- you like dread in cold, clean images.
- you like an unforgettable, fierce heroine.
Bad for you if
- rape and torture scenes are too much for you.
- you'd rather not watch frank sex scenes, or not with company.
- over two and a half hours is too long for you.
About: violence against women · truth · revenge
House of Cards 2013
Series
Betrayed by the White House, Congressman Frank Underwood embarks on a ruthless rise to power. Blackmail, seduction and ambition are his weapons.
The sides of House of Cards
- A congressman passed over for Secretary of State
- Frank and Claire Underwood's marriage
- Asides spoken straight to the camera
Good for you if
- you like Washington played as a game of blackmail and favours.
- you like rooting for a man you know you shouldn't.
- you like Frank Underwood turning to the camera and making you his accomplice.
Bad for you if
- you want chases and fights, not backroom deals.
- six seasons is too much for you.
About: ambition · marriage · manipulation · revenge
Homeland 2011
Series
CIA officer Carrie Mathison is tops in her field despite being bipolar, which makes her volatile and unpredictable. With the help of her long-time mentor Saul Berenson, Carrie fearlessly risks everything, including her personal well-being and even sanity, at every turn.
The sides of Homeland
- A CIA officer who trusts her instincts over orders
- A Marine back from captivity under suspicion
- Her mentor Saul in the background
Good for you if
- you like wondering whether a returning soldier was turned.
- you want Claire Danes as Carrie, on the edge in every scene.
- you like the politics of intelligence agencies and the war on terror.
Bad for you if
- eight seasons is too much for you.
- a heroine struggling with bipolar disorder on screen is too much for you.
About: loyalty · paranoia · sacrifice
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
Andor 2022
Series
In an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue, Cassian Andor will discover the difference he can make in the struggle against the tyrannical Galactic Empire. He embarks on a path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.
The sides of Andor
- A thief who becomes a rebel
- A prison where inmates build parts for the Empire
- A secret network financing the rebellion
Good for you if
- you like the start of a rebellion told through spies, money and politics.
- you like a slow build told in three-episode arcs, each ending in a big payoff.
- you like long speeches about sacrifice, like Luthen's.
Bad for you if
- you want a light Star Wars adventure with Jedi and fun.
- you need some hope, and here freedom costs nearly everyone something.
About: rebellion · sacrifice · tyranny
Person of Interest 2011
Series
John Reese, former CIA paramilitary operative, is presumed dead and teams up with reclusive billionaire Finch to prevent violent crimes in New York City by initiating their own type of justice. With the special training that Reese has had in Covert Operations and Finch's genius software inventing mind, the two are a perfect match for the job that they have to complete. With the help of surveillance equipment, they work "outside the law" and get the right criminal behind bars.
The sides of Person of Interest
- A former CIA agent presumed dead
- A reclusive billionaire who built a surveillance machine
- A new number each week, victim or killer
Good for you if
- you like Reese stepping in before a crime happens, fists first.
- you like a show about who gets to watch everyone, and who controls the Machine.
- you like guessing whether the number belongs to the victim or the killer.
Bad for you if
- you can't take shootouts and beatings in nearly every episode.
- five seasons is too much for you.
About: surveillance · redemption · artificial intelligence