This Week in Streaming (February 4th)

Challengers (Prime) The Oscars’s obsession with identity politics may finally have come undone thanks to the cancel-culture conundrum that consumed Hollywood last week. But the real outcry should have stemmed from the total exclusion of this sudsy melodrama from the nominations. Zendeya forms the center of a decades-spanning love triangle set in the upper echelons of professional tennis. As we said last spring, “With Italian director Luca Guadagnino at the helm, Challengers not only succeeds as a gripping and epic sports drama, but as a film unafraid to take seriously the innate human drives for dominance and competition that many of our most lauded pundits would pretend don’t exist.”

Rescue Me (Hulu) While Mad Men remains the quintessential difficult dude story from the second golden age of TV, its success owes a debt to Denis Leary’s FX drama about the FDNY’s finest coming to terms with the post-9/11 world. Raunchy, hilarious, and game to take on survivors’ guilt without resorting to platitudes, it's a model for the great TV we hope will soon return. 

My Bloody Valentine (1981) (AMC+) Those who tired of Hallmark movies in mid-December can now celebrate V-Day and Justin Trudeau’s final ride at the same time with this early Canadian slasher film. Two decades ago, rogue miner Harry Warden went on a killing spree sparked by a preventable explosion that killed his friends. Now, the opportunistic mayor of a company town wants to reinstate the annual Valentine’s Day dance. But Warden may well be back to finish the job. Horror fans will appreciate the inventive set pieces, but the real draw is the film’s dissection of small-town bureaucrats and corporate collusion.