What to Watch in February 2018

Marvel hardly needs our help promoting one of its globe-conquering blockbusters. In fact, the internet’s already aflame at the Afro-futuristic wonderland of Wakanda and Chadwick Boseman’s charismatic acrobatics in the Black Panther trailer. That said, the insider buzz is equally as deafening, with hints that Marvel might’ve far outdone themselves this time. Add to that the direction of Ryan Coogler whose first two films Fruitvale Station and Creed were triumphs in all respects and you have this month’s one clear, must-see-it-in-theaters contender. In theaters February 16.

“Wait, another major studio release?” you may ask. Fair enough, but apparently Annihilation is so weird that Paramount decided to release it internationally on Netflix. Fortunately, American moviegoers will get to see it in theaters. Adapted by Alex Garland, Annihilation follows a group of scientists led by Natalie Portman as they enter a wilderness where a bizarre contamination is continually recombining the DNA of everything inside. The trailer gives only hints but seeing as Garland is the same filmmaker behind Ex Machina, perhaps the most intriguingly satisfying sci-films of recent years, there’s every reason to believe Paramount’s nervousness belies a truly interesting film. In theaters February 23.

At last, we get to a small, but potent art film. A British politician throws an intimate dinner party that quickly degenerates into a raucous, intellectual free for all filled with sex, drugs, violence and painful revelations—as any good dinner party should be. Director Sally Potter more than earned her cinematic bona fides with her adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and has armed herself here with a wickedly brilliant U.K. cast: Timothy Spall, Kristen Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer and Cillian Murphy. Looking very equally tart, and devastating, The Party could be a perfect aperitif in the run-up to the Oscars. In theaters February 16.

If you absolutely must catch up on one film before the Oscars, this is probably it. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s previous Leviathan was one of 2014’s most lauded films, winning both Best Screenplay at Cannes and Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards, for its subtle, penetrating social critique of contemporary Russia. His latest features another deceptively simple premise: a couple going through a divorce and each seeking to move on with new partners must reunite to search for their 12-year-old son when he runs away after one of their fights. Winning the Jury prize at Cannes this year, Loveless may yet rack up another Oscar for Zvyagintsev. In theaters February 16.

Alan Ball has had no small part to play in building HBO’s reputation via darkly comic series like Six Feet Under and True Blue. The showrunner returns with another wry, but heartfelt skewering of American diversity and liberalism: Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins play a quintessentially upper-class progressive family who has adopted three children from Somalia, Vietnam, and Colombia—in addition to having a biological child of their own. Once the perfect poster children for American tolerance, their kids have now grown up and must navigate the cauldron of social stress that is our modern world. Premieres February 11 on HBO.

Once the fan favorite to take over The Daily Show from Jon Stewart, Jessica Williams subsequently teamed up with friend and comedian Phoebe Robinson to launch what has become one of the most hilarious and highly praised podcasts in recent years. Now HBO has transformed the podcast into a special limited series on a stage set to look like a Brooklyn rooftop with special guests and diverse comedians in an hour of personal repartee and cultural dissection that may have us all asking once again—why doesn’t Jessica Williams have her own talk show? Premieres on HBO February 2.

Last year AMC had a break out hit importing British spy thriller The Night Manager, so they’re back for seconds with this international crime thriller from Hossein Amini, the masterful screenwriter of Drive, based on Misha Glenny’s non-fiction expose of international crime. A young Briton who just happens to be the son of ex-patriot Russian Mafiosi inevitably finds himself sucked back into the family business leading to the inevitable whirlwind of sex, drugs-trafficking, and exotic international locations. If that isn’t enough to entice you, rumor has it that lead James Norton is under consideration to become the new 007. Premieres on AMC, February 26.

Everybody wants the next Game of Thrones, and with this cyber-punk neo-noir Netflix hopes to have found it. Created by Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar), the series seeks to mainline Blade Runner-chic with a story set in a far future where human consciousness can be digitally transferred from body to body, resulting in virtual immortality—for those who can afford it. Joel Kinnaman stars as a super-soldier sleuth hired by one such undying oligarch to find out who murdered his previous body. Reportedly boasting Netflix’s highest-ever production budget, Altered Carbon is nothing if not lavish, violent, and terrifyingly ambitious: hopefully, it’s good, too. Premieres on Netflix, February 2.

The 90s nostalgia train keeps chugging along! Creators Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan, whose respective films have charmingly cornered the market of 30s-something malaise at Sundance recently, team up to remind us of the glorious ignominy of high school circa 1996. Aimed at the outcasts, Everything Sucks features a slew of newcomers portraying an A/V Club and Drama Club in Oregon who must overcome vast sociological differences to make a low-budget film. Both Mohan and Jones’ work often feature an irrepressible humanity that portends well for this being February’s nostalgia trip of choice. Premieres on Netflix February 16.

Fresh off its Emmy win for The Handmaid’s Tale, Hulu offers up another prestige drama sure to make headlines. Adapted from Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright’s non-fiction bestseller of the same name, the series chronicles the unsettling government dysfunction (in particular the CIA/FBI rivalry) in the run-up to 9/11 from showrunner Dan Futterman. Jeff Daniels stars as an FBI counterterrorism director trying to warn everyone that Osama Bin Laden was determined to strike in the U.S., headlining a prestigious cast that also includes Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlberg, and Tahar Rahim to tell the sad story of how the unending War on Terror began. Premieres on Hulu, February 28.