Your Weekly Watchlist

War Story

All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix). Wag Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel becomes a lavish Netflix epic, with Aria Mia Loberti as a blind French girl whose covert radio broadcasts deliver hope during Nazi occupation. Mark Ruffalo plays her father, while Hugh Laurie is the crusty uncle they take refuge with. That’s excellent Louis Hofmann as the German soldier who finds himself drawn to her voice. It’s lushly-appointed Emmy bait about finding hope in dark times. — Patty Bergen

American Tale

Black Cake (Hulu). Another of our favorites, Wag Charmaine Wilkerson, sees her splendid bestseller transformed into a glossy, globe-trotting saga starring Rising Star Mia Isaac as a young woman who flees her Caribbean home after a murder and reinvents herself as an immigrant. Chipo Chung plays the heroine in later life, keeping past secrets buried until they are passed along to her adult children as part of her will. Brazilian writer/director Natalia Leite renders a family portrait with gorgeous backdrops. — Emily Barham

Proper Piss-Up

Quiz Lady (Hulu). Points for playing against type! Anne (Awkwafina) is an uptight cubicle drone whose dog is being held hostage by gangsters because of her mom’s gambling debts. In order to rescue the pooch, she teams up with her wild and crazy sister (Sandra Oh, never wild and crazier). The plan: enter Anne, a trivia nerd, in a game show and win the ransom. Road trip antics ensue. As subtle as a sledgehammer hitting a banana cream pie, which is exactly what we need. — Del Griffith

True Grit

Lawmen: Bass Reeves (Paramount+). Taylor Sheridan must be rushed off his Lucchese boots. The Yellowstone mogul’s latest oater stars Lord David Oyelowo as Reeves, a real-life U.S. Marshal who arrested more than 3,000 outlaws on the American frontier. Donald Sutherland and Dennis Quaid also ride the range, while Lauren E. Banks fiercely defends her homestead as the lawman’s wife. Saddle up. — Mattie Ross