7 new movies and TV shows on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max and more this weekend (July 29)
The best shows and movies to stream this weekend.
After Netflix's gigantic splash last Friday with The Gray Man, there's nothing quite so action-packed or so expensive this weekend, but there's still plenty of new shows and movies to take in via the likes of Netflix, Prime Video and HBO Max.
The biggest releases of the week are Prime Video's new supernatural drama Paper Girls and Hulu's topical drama Not Okay, but there's also a slew of other movies and shows.
Allow us to guide you through the best shows and movies coming to streaming services on this final weekend of July…
Paper Girls (Prime Video)
Prime Video launches a new teen fantasy this week, which, as you can see from the trailer, has a decidedly Stranger Things vibe.
Set in 1988, the show follows four young girls who, while out delivering newspapers the morning after Halloween, become caught in a conflict between warring factions of time-travelers.
Led by an unknown cast, with the only established presence coming from comedian Ali Wong, this eight-parter is adapted from the comics by Y: The Last Man and Marvel's Runaways creator Brian K. Vaughan.
Prime Video will undoubtedly be hoping to build a franchise in the same vein as Stranger Things, but then wouldn't we all…
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Now available to stream on Prime Video.
Not Okay (Hulu)
Zoey Deutch spearheads this spiky satire on influencer-culture, which debuts on Hulu this weekend.
Deutch plays Danni Sanders, a wannabe influencer without the resources or connections to attract the number of followers she wants. Desperate for that to change, she decides to fake a trip to Paris to gain followers, but when a terrorist attack occurs and everyone mistakenly assumes that Danni is one of the survivors, she finds herself caught up in a dangerous lie.
Rising star Quinn Shephard directs, while Dylan O'Brien is among Deutch's supporting players.
A fizzy drama, but with a nice bit of bite in there too.
Now available to stream on Hulu.
Surface (Apple TV Plus)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, she of Loki and Black Mirror's San Junipero fame, stars in this dark psychological thriller for Apple TV Plus.
Mbatha-Raw plays Sophie Ellis, a young woman who is left with no memory at all after a traumatic head injury she suffers from what she's told was a failed suicide attempt.
Naturally, things turn out to be more complicated than that, and, as Sophie investigates, her life, which she was told was pretty much perfect, turns out to be anything but.
TechRadar's Laura Martin liked Surface, though acknowledging it's a concept we've seen lots of time before, she was still impressed with the thriller's style and particularly with Mbatha-Raw.
Now available to stream on Apple TV Plus.
Uncoupled (Netflix)
How I Met Your Mother scene-stealer Neil Patrick Harris headlines his own comedy here, teaming up with Netflix and Sex and the City creator Darren Star to do so.
Harris plays Michael Lawson, a New York City real estate agent, who finds himself abruptly dumped by his long-term boyfriend and forced back into the dating scene, where he finds he's got rather a lot of catching up to do.
Reviewers have praised the comedy, in particular the charismatic Harris, who brings viewers along with him as he tries to re-enter the challenging and hilarious world of dating.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Honor Society (Paramount Plus)
Angourie Rice, best known for her role as Betty Brant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stars in this teen drama as the titular Honor.
Honor is a high school senior with one thing on her mind, getting into Harvard. To help her, she is desperate to score a coveted recommendation from her guidance counselor, Mr. Calvin. Willing to do whatever it takes, Honor schemes a fiendish plan to take down her top three student competitors, but things get messy when she starts to fall for one of them, Michael, who is played by Stranger Things' Gaten Matarazzo.
A classic teen drama, the movie harks back to the likes of She's All That and Get Over It, with a particularly stirring turn from Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who brings it as Mr. Calvin.
Now available to stream on Paramount Plus.
Fanático (Netflix)
This dark Spanish drama follows Lazaro, a huge and committed fan of Quimera, Spain's biggest trap star.
But, tragically, when Quimera dies during a concert, Lazaro comes up a plan to resurrect his idol and literally take over his life. Surprisingly, the team behind Quimera play along, and Lazaro gets a lot more than he bargains for...
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Purple Hearts (Netflix)
A Netflix romantic-comedy firmly in the Nicholas Sparks vein here, with singer Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine, best known for his role in short-lived drama Chambers, in starring roles.
Carson plays Cassie, a struggling singer-songwriter trying to make it in music, recently diagnosed with diabetes, her day-to-day costs have skyrocketed. To try and alleviate some of the burden, Cassie suggests to her friend Frankie, who is in the US Army, that they get married so she can get access to health insurance. Frankie refuses, but his friend Luke volunteers to take his place.
Suddenly forced to be together, the pair's relationship develops, and, you know the rest…
Netflix has form for making these kind of dramas, with the likes of All The Bright Places and The In Between, and Purple Hearts will find a nice home among fans of those movies.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Tom Goodwyn was formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor. He's now a freelancer writing about TV shows, documentaries and movies across streaming services, theaters and beyond. Based in East London, he loves nothing more than spending all day in a movie theater, well, he did before he had two small children…