"Wait, why only two recommendations this month?" Worry, not! With the constant expansion of our Must See universe, we realized one monthly list just won't cut it anymore. To better arm you in your quest for cultural supremacy, we'll now select the 2-3 most intriguing new shows, web series, and films debuting each week. The battle may still be long, if not infinite, but with this new format in hand, we exhort you: Once More Unto the Viewing Breach, Dear Friends, Once More!
Atlanta
If somehow you managed to miss Donald Glover’s breakout series during its landscape-altering first season, you have absolutely no excuses now that the desperately awaited second one is here. This is, after all, the show that earned Glover the coveted role of Lando Calrissian in Disney’s upcoming Han Solo movie. (Honestly, Lucasfilm should be grateful; Glover’s the best part of the Solo trailer.) Bold, surreal, achingly true, Glover’s writing and performance as Princeton drop-out Earn making his way in Atlanta as his cousin Paper Boi rockets to stardom manages that most impossible of creative feats: reflecting the gnarly social reality of contemporary America with honesty and intelligence while being utterly hilarious. Early reviews for the new season indicate that Glover’s acute sense of the absurd and the best ways to surprise audiences hasn’t flagged in the least. Forget the DVR, Atlanta might be one of the few series in our streaming era still worth watching live as it airs. Premieres March 1 on FX; fxnetworks.com.
Foxtrot
If you’re rushing to catch up on those last unseen Oscar contenders before Sunday’s Academy Awards, it’s good to remember the bevy of excellent films the Academy passes over. While it didn’t make the final cut for Best Foreign Film, Israel’s submission Foxtrot was one of the 2017 festival circuit’s most lauded films: it played everywhere from Sundance to Telluride to Venice where it won the grand jury prize. Samuel Maoz's film also swept Israel’s version of the Oscars with its tale of parents who learn that their 18-year-old son has been killed at an obscure border outpost while doing his compulsory military service. While painful examinations of the socio-political morass in the Middle East are neither few nor far between, Maoz’s film apparently avoids the sand traps of preaching, relying instead on finely drawn characters, wit and humanity, and a meticulous visual sense to shock viewer out of the overpowering apathy that too easily sets in these days. In theaters March 2; sonyclassics.com.
