Escape from the dying wastelands of Draenor, aka your empty Netflix queue, and fill yourself on the plentiful bounty of the verdant fields and forest of Azeroth, aka our contributors weekly streaming picks! Enjoy a weekend filled with the best TV and movies from streaming services. Also, go see the new Warcraft movie.
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via Mikey Fissel
The IT Crowd (Netflix) – Before the Big Bang Theory sadly made it chic to laugh at people who were nerdier than you, there was The IT Crowd. All I should have to tell you Anglophiles is that it’s a British show starring the now well-known Chris O’Dowd (Roy) and equally amusing Richard Ayoade (Moss). For everyone else, I can only commend this show based on its absurd humor, great cast, and incredibly clever writing. Incredibly quotable, and, at times, side-splittingly funny.
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via The Film Avenger
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Hulu) – The pizza-eating cowabunga crime fighters are back in a new adventure for a new generation. I think I was one of the few people who genuinely enjoyed this film on some level when it came out in theaters. While it doesn’t make sense in some parts, it’s still a fun, nostalgic ride. I loved the turtles as a kid, and seeing them up on screen again just brought back some of that old magic. The four heroes in a half-shell maintain their distinct personalities from previous films, with a surprising amount of depth. And I do think this is my favorite cinematic incarnation of the Shredder; he’s menacing and the design of his armor is actually pretty cool.
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Via Alexis Johnson
Person of Interest (Netflix) – In our paranoid, post 9/11 world, a genius named Harold Finch (Michael Emerson, LOST) has designed a machine that spies on us every hour of every day. Not far fetched, if you know anything about the NSA and what they are capable of, but his machine takes this a step further. Using systematic filtering, it can predict crimes before they happen. When the machine spits out a number, it could be the victim or the perpetrator. When Harold discovers that the government using his machine doesn’t care about the “mundane” crimes of ordinary people, he takes it upon himself to assist in stopping murderous crimes before they happen. However, Harold is a thinker, not a fighter, so he needs his right-hand man John Reese (Jim Caviezel) to intervene.
There are very few things one could say come near perfection. Person of Interest is one of those things. It is both procedural and serial in nature. Like most shows, it begins simply and then expands into a complex web of intrigue and connection. Person of Interest, however, has no problem spinning the web and keeping it straight for the audience at the same time. The writing and concepts are razor sharp, the cast is phenomenal, and it has one of the best demonstrations of true partnership and platonic friendship.
Christopher Nolan’s brother, Jonathan Nolan, leads a team of writers and producers who make this series a crème de la crème production. There are four seasons available on Netflix and the fifth and final season is airing now on CBS. This is not one to be missed!
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