What to watch on streaming: today's picks from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and more

The eponymous Titans return for this barmy fifth entry in the MonsterVerse franchise. Godzilla now lives on the Earth’s surface, while Kong resides in Hollow Earth, the inner realm of the planet’s core. When a distress signal sent from down below alerts Godzilla, the giant reptile is set on a collision course with Kong.

Dan Stevens’s vet Trapper and Brian Tyree Henry’s podcaster Bernie bring much-needed charisma amid the carnage.

James Mottram

A true story about unsung heroes, this polished and worthy drama tells the little-known story of an all-female, all-black group in the US Army during the Second World War. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was responsible for organising morale-boosting mail drops in Europe, handling some 17 million letters in under 90 days, despite facing ingrained prejudice and gruelling conditions. Ebony Obsidian plays new recruit Lena Derriecott King, a Georgia native who enlists after her Jewish boyfriend is killed in action.

Director Tyler Perry handles the material competently, marshalling hundreds of extras and giving the non-combat story a real sense of scale. A fine supporting cast, including Susan Sarandon as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Oprah Winfrey as civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, adds to the flavour. Sadly, the overly reverential screenplay lacks dramatic bite.

James Mottram

It’s spring in beautiful, remote northern California, and the sound of wedding bells is in the air. Mel and Jack (Alexandra Breckenridge and Martin Henderson) are getting married, and the sixth series of this satisfying romantic drama unashamedly wallows in every milestone along the way, but long-term fans know by now to expect the unexpected but not the unhappy.

Flashbacks to Mel’s parents in the 1970s spice up the schmaltz.

Jack Seale

One of the world’s most popular YouTubers, Jimmy Donaldson aka Mr Beast, now scales his operation up for TV. Having made his name by elaborately giving away large sums of money, Mr Beast oversees a Squid Game-style contest with $5 million as the prize.

None of his projects is without controversy, and this one has been hit by contestants complaining of inadequate facilities on set — but if you’re not talking about this show at Christmas, your kids will be.

Jack Seale

Almost every murder case starts with a dead body, but sometimes the location of the deceased is the piece of evidence that defines the investigation. This true-crime four-parter is an anthology of real killings that announced themselves with an unusually placed cadaver, from a corpse in a carpet and a stiff in a suitcase to a body found in a river.

The detectives who were confronted with unusual crime scenes recall how they cracked the mystery, backed by disturbing archive footage.

Jack Seale

A thriller first shown last year on Disney+ places us initially in a town in Washington state, where Joe (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is a humble dad. But Joe used to have a different line of work in the UK. As we flash back to his heist-pulling past for crime lord Dianne (Gemma Arterton), it looks like his old gang might be forced back together, just as Joe falls foul of a gangster.

The action hops around in time and the globe; the bits in between can drag but when the bullets fly, they zing.

Jack Seale

A life-or-death drama is always a good way to open a natural history series, and this one finds a cracker: on an island off the coast of Australia, a fur seal pup ignores clear instructions from his mother to stay put while she goes fishing. Soon he’s not only lost among a throng of unfamiliar, unfriendly adults, but the water’s edge is just one careless roly-poly away...

Narrator Hugh Bonneville brings the drama in a nice cosy sort of way, as each sumptuously filmed episode takes on a new life landmark.

Jack Seale

Part travelogue, part human-interest report, this National Geographic doc follows a Montreal family around the globe on a poignant adventure. Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier take their four kids, three of whom will lose their sight before adulthood, on a trip to “fill their visual memory”.

The film’s a touch bland, but the family make fine company.

Calum Baker

Streaming telly is not short of high-concept baking competitions but what the heck, here’s another one. James and Oliver Phelps — Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter films — are your hosts as pairs of bakers, who are potty for all things Harry, cook up creations that look like something from Harry Potter, but are actually cakes.

With Potter co-stars Warwick Davis and Bonnie Wright among the guest judges and the whole thing taking place at a Potter-themed tourist attraction, it’s a slick branding exercise.

Jack Seale

Joaquin Phoenix returns to the role that won him an Oscar in a brooding sequel that takes big risks. Arthur Fleck is now an inmate at Arkham Asylum, where he’s awaiting trial for five murders. Joining a music class, he meets fellow prisoner Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), aka Harley Quinn, who is a fan of his.

Less intense than its predecessor, this blend of Hollywood musical and twisted romance is bizarre but engaging, with the two leads making ideal sparring partners.

James Mottram

An excellent Peter Sarsgaard is the charismatic cuckoo in the nest propelling this class satire. It’s 1918, and with the flu pandemic raging, wealthy journalist Jay Horton (Billy Magnussen) has ensconced his wife (Sarah Gadon), children and staff in his isolated holiday mansion. Then their new chef (Sarsgaard) arrives and starts to subtly, gradually undermine his preening boss.

There are few huge laughs, but the performances power things along.

Calum Baker

A simple kidnap takes some wild turns in this fang-in-cheek horror yarn. Six bickering mercenaries expect a big payday when they abduct a tycoon’s teenage daughter (Alisha Weir). But holing up in a murky mansion leads only to terror.

There are plenty of killer lines, gruesome twists and juicy performances from a great cast led by Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, Kathryn Newton and Giancarlo Esposito.

Jeremy Aspinall

Though predictable, this quirky festive comedy has just enough edge to work. It sees Ben Stiller’s Chicago workaholic jet to the sticks in Ohio to temporarily look after his four unruly nephews, whose parents have suddenly died. Stiller’s on fine form, ably matched by the four real-life siblings playing the boisterous brood.

It’s never a full-on laugh riot, but neither does it quite slide into manufactured schmaltz, and the film’s beautifully handled ballet finale (you read that right) is really rather touching.

Calum Baker

Sprinkled with mordant humour, this pacey Moroccan thriller follows the nightmare that ensues when Hassan (Abdellatif Masstouri) persuades his son Issam (Ayoub Elaid) to help him carry out a task for a crime boss.

Set among the twisty streets of Casablanca, Kamal Lazraq’s beautifully filmed modern noir mines the father/son dynamic for pathos and a rarely slackening tension.

Amber Wilkinson

Disney’s 2019 remake of its 1994 animated classic uses realistic-looking CGI for a more “live-action” feel. It cleaves close to the original, telling the story of lion cub Simba, who believes himself responsible for the death of his father. All the much-loved characters and songs remain intact, and the starry voice cast is led by Donald Glover, Beyoncé and James Earl Jones.

A sequel, Mufasa: the Lion King, is in cinemas from Friday 20 December.

Trevor Johnston

The shy boy with a phenomenal talent, the rise to superstardom and the sex and drugs that almost consumed him: Elton John’s story is a well-trodden yellow brick road. This feature-length documentary charts his path with a sympathetic, celebratory — if slightly sombre — portrait of the Rocket Man (his husband David Furnish is the co-director).

It’s 2022 and the months are ticking down to Elton’s final US performance. The venue? LA’s Dodger Stadium, where two shows in 1975 helped cement his legend. As he prepares to bid farewell, the past 50-odd years of his career are flown through via a solid archive of footage, pictures and audio recordings.

His frankest moments arrive in the snippets of interviews that were taped for his autobiography, but it’s when interacting with his two children that he truly shines. The film’s crescendo proves the most poignant moment, with a performance of Your Song at that last ever American tour date.

Frances Taylor

In 2021 the serial-killer drama Dexter was revived via a so-so sequel, Dexter: New Blood. That show set up the son of vigilante murderer Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall) as a potential new protagonist, but before that we have a new take on the story: a prequel, starring Patrick Gibson as a 20-year-old Dexter and Christian Slater as the father who teaches him to channel his bloodlust for good.

Michael C Hall does still contribute, however, delivering the traditional inner-monologue narration.

Jack Seale

Festive cheer and Lewis Carroll-inspired whimsy collide in this gorgeously illustrated musical feature, based on the picture book by Carys Bexington and Kate Hindley. Gerard Butler voices the cheerful St Nick, who rides off down the rabbit hole to make a delivery to Wonderland, only to get into trouble with its Christmas-hating queen (Emilia Clarke).

The all-Brit cast has a blast with the rhyming script and toe-tapping original songs, while director Peter Baynton (The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse) preserves the book’s lovely, textured style.

Calum Baker

The 2019 cult favourite from the directors of the Scream reboot comes new to Netflix, offering a witty, splattery rejoinder to the streamer’s festive options. Grace (Samara Weaving) finds marrying into old money can be fatal when she has to play a game with her rich in-laws on the eve of her honeymoon.

In this version of hide and seek, if you’re found, you’re sacrificed. The film-makers know just what twists to take with their satirical thrill-fest.

Alan Jones

This gentle Danish drama has charmed audiences with its endearing characters, beautiful Jutland backdrop and enjoyable storylines. As the hotel opens its doors for a seventh series, former guest Amanda Madsen is the new owner, with regular summer guests relieved to escape briefly from the German occupation of 1940.

But, by 1941, when series eight starts, no-one can ignore the number of German uniforms in the area.

Jane Rackham

Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano are troubled Los Angeles house vendors in a series from Liz Feldman, the writer of Dead like Me. It begins with an open viewing, a device through which we get to know several locals who might put in an offer — but what do you know, they all have secrets and the sellers themselves are harbouring a big one.

As a fractious, damaged and superstitious empty-nester, Kudrow is the pick of the cast.

Jack Seale

Gabriel García Márquez’s classic novel, a multi-generational, magical-realist epic, is hefty source material that doesn’t seem to daunt this Spanish-language dramatisation one bit.

From the start, the tale of a family fleeing talk of a curse to found a new town has a dreamlike fervour and an eye for a beautiful composition, as it spins tales of progress and misfortune, and births and deaths.

Jack Seale

Riley, the girl whose emotions were made into characters in the hit Inside Out movies, has dreams. Expanding her voice role from the original movie, Paula Pell takes the lead in this four-part spin-off, playing Paula Persimmon, a seasoned dream director whose creations for Riley have traditionally featured unicorns and giant ice-cream cones.

But as the child grows up, Paula needs to expand her creative vision — enter Xeni (Richard Ayoade), a daydream director with grand pretensions. Can they work together to make the teenage dreams Riley needs to see?

Jack Seale