Netflix has lifted the lid on its “big black box” of viewing data, which it normally keeps closely guarded, to reveal that Bridgerton, the racy Regency-era drama series, is its best performing TV show
Amid pressure from stars and shareholders, the streaming service is slowly becoming more transparent about what people are watching (and what they aren’t)
But which offerings are worth your time? Times critic @KevinTMaher gives you the run-down
Extraction
A vacuous action yarn in which Chris Hemsworth (Thor in the Marvel movies) plays a mercenary who deals with the death of his son by repeatedly shooting people in the face
Verdict: Don’t watch 👎
Bird Box
Silly but engaging thriller in which a blindfolded Sandra Bullock stumbles around in a world full of aliens that make you commit suicide if you set eyes upon them
Verdict: Do watch 👍
Spenser Confidential
Mark Wahlberg plays a former cop investigating police corruption in a solidly entertaining action-comedy set in Boston
Verdict: Do watch 👍
6 Underground
From Michael Bay, the man behind the Transformers franchise, comes this queasily frenetic action thriller starring Ryan Reynolds as a billionaire turned geopolitical vigilante
Verdict: Don’t watch 👎
Murder Mystery
Aimless comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler as a blue-collar New York couple who get caught up in an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit while on holiday in the Mediterranean
Verdict: Don’t watch 👎
The Old Guard
Forgettable superhero movie starring Charlize Theron stars as the leader of a group of immortal mercenaries bent on revenge
Verdict: Don’t watch 👎
Enola Holmes
Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven in Stranger Things) plays Sherlock Holmes’s precocious teenage sister in a fun, suffragette-era sleuthing adventure
Verdict: Do watch 👍
Project Power
Slick fantasy about a mysterious pusher who supplies pills that give their users superpowers for five minutes
Verdict: Do watch 👍
Army of the Dead
Overblown zombie heist flick from Zack Snyder, the director of 300 and Justice League
Verdict: Don’t watch 👎
Fatherhood
Paul Weitz (American Pie) directs Kevin Hart in a formulaic but effective story of a father who raises his daughter alone after the death of his wife
Verdict: Do watch 👍
The top ten tables represent only a snapshot of Netflix’s viewing information, which the company continues to release on its own terms, but the absence of heavy-hitters such as The Crown is notable thetimes.co.uk/article/netfli…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
It’s better than good. It’s magnificent. With #NoTimetoDie, Daniel Craig's Bond has finally delivered on his initial promise – a moving portrait of an antiquated hero facing his own obsolescence thetimes.co.uk/article/no-tim…
Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007 was cursed by Covid, changing directors, changing scrips, injuries — and even an Amazon takeover. How did it all still come together?
In May 2018, Danny Boyle was announced as the man who would make Craig’s final hurrah. But in August of that year, he suddenly bowed out due to “creative differences”
What happened? Did he want to kill off Bond? Or something more?
Daniel Craig acknowledged the pressures resting on the shoulders of James Bond to provide a boost to the cinema industry as he prepared to walk the red carpet for the last time as the British spy #NoTimeToDie thetimes.co.uk/article/no-tim…
At 163 minutes, this is the longest Bond movie of them all, beating Spectre (2015), the previous record holder, by 15 minutes. #NoTimeToDie
#WorldatFive🌏: Richard Spencer reports from al-Hawl in Syria on the thousands of families living in internment camps after being displaced by the fall of ISIS. thetimes.co.uk/article/soon-t…
Islam Haitham was found dead in a sewage ditch.
Her face is framed by curly black hair. Her eyebrows are unkempt, but they added extra character to a look that could easily be imagined as laughing. The entrance wound in her right cheek from the shot that killed her is neat.
No one knows why she was killed, at least among the camp authorities. The 20,000 black-clad women who occupy the Iraqi and Syrian section may have an inkling. They nod knowingly when asked about Islam but scurry on and refuse to talk about it.
#worldatfive🌍: President Biden has promised the West’s closest allies in Syria that he will not abandon them as he did Afghanistan, their leader has told The Times thetimes.co.uk/article/biden-…
The White House sent General Frank McKenzie, head of US central command, on an unannounced visit to give a personal assurance to Mazloum Abdi, leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in eastern Syria.
The SDF is the Kurdish-dominated alliance of local militias that defeated Isis in eastern Syria with American and British support.
Abdi has forged the SDF into an effective fighting unit and established significant autonomy in eastern Syria since the defeat of Isis.