5 must-watch movies and TV shows streaming right now

Welcome to Boston.com’s weekly streaming guide. Each week, we recommend five must-watch movies and TV shows available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, and more.

Many recommendations are for new shows, while others are for under-the-radar releases you might have missed or classics that are about to depart a streaming service at the end of the month.

Have a new favorite movie or show you think we should know about? Let us know in the comments, or email [email protected] Looking for even more great streaming options? Check out previous editions of our must-watch list here.

Movies

“Do Revenge”

In the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock film “Strangers on a Train” (adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s 1950 novel of the same name), two men seeking revenge agree to “swap murders,” figuring that their crimes will be harder to track if the killings are done by a complete stranger. Such a juicy premise feels ripe for the drama-filled halls of high school, which is where Netflix’s new “Do Revenge” largely takes place. Drea (Camila Mendes, “Riverdale”) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke, “Stranger Things”) agree to take down their respective tormentors, with Eleanor targeting Drea’s ex-boyfriend, who leaked an intimate video of her, and Drea tackling Carissa, a girl who started a rumor that Eleanor held her down and kissed her. “Do Revenge” doesn’t just take inspiration from Hitchcock, paying homage to countless teen movies that came before it. The film even casts Sarah Michelle Gellar, whose sadistic turn in “Cruel Intentions” wouldn’t be out of place in a Highsmith novel. But “Do Revenge” also heads in unexpected and delightful directions, and is carried by the performances of Mendes and Hawke, two stars we will undoubtedly see a lot of in the coming years.

How to watch: “Do Revenge” is streaming on Netflix.

“Glengarry Glen Ross”

“Coffee is for closers.” “A.B.C. — Always. Be Closing.” “That watch cost more than your car.” Alec Baldwin may score the lion’s share of memorable lines from “Glengarry Glen Ross” during a single monologue, but he’s hardly the only standout performer in this 1992 David Mamet adaptation, which turns 30 this weekend. Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, and Ed Harris play desperate real estate salesman forced into a high-stakes sales contest: First place gets a new car, second place gets a set of steak knives, and the other two are fired. Things get out of control quickly, especially when the office manager holding all of the best leads (Kevin Spacey) refuses to play ball with the salesmen. An unsympathetic look at the kill-or-be-killed capitalist system, “Glengarry Glen Ross” is filled to the brim with Mamet’s crackling dialogue, delivered by a rogue’s gallery of screen legends.

How to watch: “Glengarry Glen Ross” is streaming on Amazon Freevee.

“Hocus Pocus 2”

Almost 30 years after the release of 1993’s Salem-set spookfest “Hocus Pocus,” Disney has released its sequel, “Hocus Pocus 2,” on Disney+, reuniting the Sanderson sisters just in time for the unofficial start of Halloween season. This time around, two best friends named Becca and Izzy (Whitney Peak, Belissa Escobedo) celebrate Becca’s 16th birthday in Salem’s Forbidden Woods, where they are unwittingly tricked into lighting the Black Flame Candle that summons the Winnifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, respectively) once more. Winnifred’s objectives are twofold: Enact revenge on the Mayor of Salem, and achieve immortality through the use of ancient and complex dark magic. Unlike other recent Disney attempts to rehash classic ’90s IP (see: “Home Sweet Home Alone,” “Mulan”), “Hocus Pocus 2” is an entertaining, lively experience that captures the campy fun of the original. While there are plenty of fan service nods to its 1993 predecessor, “Hocus Pocus 2” stands capably on its own, offering a spooky diversion for a whole new generation of viewers.

How to watch: “Hocus Pocus 2” is streaming on Disney+.

TV

“Industry”

We’ve already suggested “Glengarry Glen Ross” as a movie option this weekend, so let’s keep things in the realm of cutthroat business drama with HBO’s “Industry,” in which recent graduates compete for full-time positions at a prestigious London investment bank. The show, which wrapped up its second season earlier this month, is full of pulpy intrigue, peppered with financial jargon, and showy performances from the likes of Marisa Abela (“COBRA”), Myha’la Herrold (“Bodies Bodies Bodies”) and Ken Leung (“Lost”).

How to watch: “Industry” is streaming on HBO Max.

“The Twilight Zone”

With Halloween only a month away, now is the perfect time to revisit one of the most unsettling, mind-bending, and inimitable shows in TV history. Each week, Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” induced shivers and left your mind reeling, sometimes with hulking monsters or creepy aliens, but more often simply by revealing an uncomfortable truth about the human psyche. While many have tried, and some have even succeeded on occasion (Charlie Brooker’s “Black Mirror” springs to mind), no one has topped Serling’s anthology show, almost 60 years after its final episode aired in 1964. 

How to watch: “The Twilight Zone” is streaming on Paramount+.