Since its UK arrival in the summer of 2022, Paramount+ has quickly established itself as a streaming service to be reckoned with. While it felt a little light on content upon arrival, it’s now matured into a much better rounded service mixing Paramount’s blockbuster movie library with a smattering of indie titles on the film front, with the TV side of things featuring a number of exclusive newer series as well as classic shows of yesteryear.
The sheer amount of content on offer can make finding the true must-watch gems a tough ask, so we’ve picked our way through the entire thing in search of the cream of the crop. Eager to watch something brilliant on Paramount+? Then delay no longer: read on and clue yourself up.
Note: Paramount+ is available both as a standalone streaming service and as an ‘add-on’ channel for Amazon’s Prime Video service. While the libraries for each are largely the same, there are a few differences between the two. Where available, we’ve added links to both the standalone service and Prime Video service.
The Curse (S1)
How to describe this series? On one level, The Curse a satirical comedy-drama about gentrification, generational wealth, greenwashing and, yes, a curse. On another, it’s an exploration of reality TV’s insidious production tricks. On yet another, it’s a drama about a couple who seem to be spiralling apart even as they finally enjoy the success they’ve been striving for.
Whatever mix of the above it is, it works for us. Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone are fantastic as the home makeover gurus/ethical landlords attempting to build an eco-community in a New Mexico town (who cares if they have to displace a bunch of minorities in order to usher in the new buyers?), all while Benny Safdie’s sleazy producer is trying to make a reality show following their exploits as dramatic and watchable as possible (who cares if he has to rile them up to create the tension he deems necessary?). It’s clever, awkward and genre-busting stuff, and one of 2023’s most original new shows.
Yellowstone (S1-5)
Succession with stirrups? The Godfather, but with gruff hillbillies? A conservative response to the proliferation of ‘woke’ shows on TV? The exceedingly popular Yellowstone is none of the above, seeming to us not particularly conservative, as gripping as The Godfather, nor half as clever (or funny – or even really as dramatic) as Succession. What it is is a solidly enjoyable and well-acted if frequently ludicrous and overblown drama series about a rich and powerful Montana ranching family who aren’t averse to a bit of bribery, intimidation or simple good ol’ fashioned murder if it’s done in the name of protecting their own.
It’s far too melodramatic to take as seriously as some people might suggest, but its modern-day take on cowboy tropes makes it an easy and fun binge watch. Oh, and there are two star-studded spin-off series about earlier generations of the Dutton family to chew on once you’re done.
Watch Yellowstone on Paramount+
Watch Yellowstone on Paramount+ (Amazon Prime Video channel)
Top Gun: Maverick
The movie that saved movie theatres? Steven Spielberg certainly thinks so, crediting Tom Cruise’s return to his most iconic 1980s role as a Panavision panacea: a blockbuster so universally appealing and crowd-pleasing that it convinced a public cowed by COVID-19 and coddled by an abundance of effort-free at-home streaming services into returning to picture houses en masse.
Maverick – in which Cruise’s ageing flyboy goes back to school to train the next generation of fighter aces – is certainly an exhilarating and warmly nostalgic ride, offering plenty of call-backs for the old-timers alongside some of the best airborne action sequences ever put on celluloid. Everyone should watch this story of daredevil pilots, romance, redemption and learning to grow old gracefully (even if a cinema screen is where it really belongs).
Watch Top Gun: Maverick on Paramount+
Watch Top Gun: Maverick on Paramount+ (Amazon Prime Video channel)
Twin Peaks (S1-3)
David Lynch’s supernatural murder mystery is now 30 years old but remains a small screen masterpiece, still every bit as involving, creepy, funny and mind-bendingly oddball as when it first had the world hooked. The first season is where it’s at its strongest (Lynch left halfway through the second season and it shows, with a major lull in the middle and a succession of sillier storylines) but stick around for the final few episodes and you’ll be nicely set up for the (once again Lynch-helmed) third season, which released in 2017 and rounds off everything in truly inventive and memorable fashion.
Just remember: the owls are not what they seem.
There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson’s American epic is relentless; the first we see of protagonist Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a wordless 20-minute sequence as he scrabbles in the dirt in search of silver. As fate would have it, he strikes oil instead. Plainview progresses to drilling and, in his unquenchable thirst for the black gold, begins dispensing homespun charm to rural folk as he dupes them out of their oil rights – his young adopted son proving the perfect prop for the God-fearing family man be wants to be seen as.
Young evangelist preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) isn’t fooled, though, because in Plainview he recognises a kindred spirit. Just as corrupt in his own way, he identifies him as a serious rival to his church’s supremacy. And thus the stage is set for a grand clash between religion and capitalism, played out in operatic fashion against the looming derricks.
The Godfather (and The Godfather Part II)
Look, if you haven’t seen The Godfather and The Godfather Part II already, stop reading this and just go watch them. And then maybe watch the third one just to round things out, even though it’s a bit of a dud by comparison to its stellar predecessors.
Francis Ford Coppola’s mafia epic spans a generation as it follows the story of Vito Corleone, a dirt-poor Sicilian immigrant who becomes a wealthy and powerful mobster in America, and his intelligent second son Michael, who yearns to turn his father’s criminal empire into a legitimate concern – a task that proves monumentally challenging.
With fantastic performances from a cast that includes Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and James Caan and a true sense of scale and grandeur that no later mob movie has ever matched, The Godfather trilogy (or at least the first two thirds of it) can rightly be called one of the greatest feats in cinematic history.
Watch The Godfather on Paramount+
Watch The Godfather on Paramount+ (Amazon Prime Video channel)
Deadwood (S1-3)
Whenever we talk about the greatest TV shows to suffer an untimely cancellation, Deadwood is the name that comes first to most people’s lips – and the ones that don’t say it probably just haven’t seen it yet.
David Milch’s Old West drama, set in the eponymous frontier town, is so much more than a simple tale of grizzled gamblers and upstanding lawmen. It’s more like a rich, ugly, booze- and tobacco-stained tapestry, encompassing so many threads of early American life that it’s almost novelistic in its scope and detail. That detail came at a huge budgetary cost, which is why HBO decided to cancel it after three seasons, despite several storylines left very much unresolved.
Note: A 2019 movie does tie up some of the loose ends, but sadly it isn’t streaming on Paramount+ – you’ll need a Now entertainment pass to watch it.
Yellowjackets (S1-2)
A high school soccer team reaches the national finals, meaning a flight to the west coast and a shot at glory – but when their plane crashes in the middle of the Rockies and rescue never materialises, the girls must cross horrifying boundaries to survive their wilderness ordeal – which comes with more than a tingling of the supernatural about it.
25 years later we catch up with the survivors, who are now approaching middle age but just as troubled, confused and dysfunctional as they were at 17. What really happened back there in the mountains, and can they ever escape the terrible choices they made? Yellowjackets’ back-and-forth time-hopping structure means its mysteries are unravelled slowly, but the excellent cast (including real-life 90s icons Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis) keeps things engaging throughout. Creepy, nostalgic and surprisingly funny.
Watch Yellowjackets on Paramount+
Watch Yellowjackets on Paramount+ (Amazon Prime Video channel)
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
The beloved pen-and-paper RPG has been adapted for the screen before (with what might charitably be called ‘mixed results’), but this jaunty big budget blockbuster finally nails the tone and tenor. It might be stuffed with references for fans of D&D to pick up on, but you don’t need to know the difference between a troll and a gnoll to enjoy the fun as a motley band of rogues led by Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez attempt to track down a McGuffin and save the Sword Coast from disaster. There’s nothing world-changing here, but it works both as a family-friendly popcorn flick and an IP-faithful fantasy yarn.
Watch Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on Paramount+
Watch Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on Paramount+ (Amazon Prime Video channel)
Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction has an astonishing legacy: not only did it instantly elevate writer and director Quentin Tarantino to the pantheon of Hollywood greats, it turned Samuel L. Jackson into a household name, got John Travolta’s wayward career back on track and delivered one of the all-time great movie monologues as Christopher Walken explained the significance of that pocket watch.
But over and above all that, it’s just an incredible bit of moviemaking. This non-chronological series of interrelated stories about Los Angeles crooks serves up a cavalcade of unforgettable scenes. It’s as eminently quotable as it is perfectly framed and executed, and it’s the kind of film you can watch over and over again, each time finding some small new detail to appreciate. Luckily, streaming is perfect for that very purpose.
Watch Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on Paramount+
Watch Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on Paramount+ (Amazon Prime Video channel)
No Country for Old Men
Cormac McCarthy’s metaphysical crime novel gets the Coen brothers treatment – and how. This is truly top-drawer cinema, thanks not only to the source material and its sympathetic adaptation by two of America’s finest filmmakers, but the superb performances from Josh Brolin, Kelly Macdonald, Tommy Lee Jones and, most memorably, Javier Bardem as the philosophising and seemingly unstoppable hired killer Anton Chigurh. If you like your thrillers as contemplative and lyrical as they are nail-biting, look no further than this gem.
Watch No Country for Old Men on Paramount+
Watch No Country for Old Men on Paramount+ (Amazon Prime Video channel)
Nathan For You (S1-4)
This bold, brilliant and bonkers spoof reality series, in which deadpan Canadian comedian Nathan Fielder swoops in to rescue ailing small businesses with absolutely woeful (but somehow completely logical) money-making advice, has largely flown under the radar this side of the pond, but do yourself a favour and give it a shot. Often so surreal and bizarre you won’t believe Nathan’s poor clients aren’t in on the joke, Nathan for You is a true comedy original.
Watch Nathan For You on Paramount+
Watch Nathan For You on Paramount+ (Amazon Prime Video channel)
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