Javier Bardem brings charisma and ambiguity to a new version of the Scorsese revenge thriller. Plus, Mindy Kaling's Friends-adjacent comedy follows young adults on the career ladder in New York.
Pick of the week
Cape Fear
Max Cady is back! The terrifying villain of the 1962 and 1991 films is brought unsettlingly back to life in this serialised remake by a perfectly cast Javier Bardem. Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg loom over this version as executive producers but the ambience feels fresh enough to make it worthwhile. Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson are the Bowdens, a slightly self-satisfied pair of legal high-flyers whose family life is menaced by Cady, a released prisoner who blames them for his murder conviction 17 years earlier. Sympathies seem more ambiguously balanced this time thanks to Bardem's devilish charisma and suggestions that the Bowdens might not be as squeaky-clean as they seem. Apple TV, from Friday 5 June.
Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult
It feels like a discarded plotline from Zoolander but the events described in this documentary series are grimly real. In the early 1980s, model Hoyt Richards came into the orbit of Manhattan socialite Frederick von Mierers and fell hard for his cocktail of self-improvement, eastern philosophy and new age woo. Soon, he was part of Von Mierers's spiritual group (or cult, if you prefer) Eternal Values. The series (directed by Chris Smith of Fyre fame) tracks the group's journey into exploitation – and Richards's route out. HBO Max, from Monday 1 June.
Not Suitable for Work
Mindy Kaling's comedy is set in Manhattan and is afflicted with similar plausibility problems to its obvious antecedent, Friends (those apartments are surprisingly palatial for young adults on the bottom rungs of career ladders). Sadly, it doesn't match Friends for charm. Ella Hunt stars as AJ Pascarelli; abrasive but vulnerable, new in town and now living in a building that coincidentally houses old friends and former flings, including Jack Martin's aggravating nepo baby medical student Josh. It struggles to develop a satisfying central narrative and the characters aren't substantial or likable enough to compensate. Disney+, from Tuesday 2 June.
The Legend of Vox Machina
"Let me guess: a vague portent of doom with little to no explanation?" This fantasy action animation has its cake and eats it, managing to fondly spoof the conventions of its genre while still working as a lively example of it. As it returns for a fourth season, the Vox Machina crew have gone their separate ways, variously in search of lost families and missing purpose. But, of course, they must reassemble the team in the face of yet another new threat to the realm. What villainy awaits them? "Death cultists, supernatural villains; the usual." Prime Video, from Wednesday 3 June.
Clarkson's Farm
Back to Diddly Squat farm for another season of mildly stagey hijinks with Jeremy Clarkson, Kaleb Cooper and various photogenic animals. As we return, Clarkson has had a brainwave: he's invented a driverless tractor that looks like a rejected Tesla prototype and turns out to be just about as reliable. However, things get more serious as a TB scare threatens the farm, there are some unwelcome guests in the pub car park and Clarkson has a health issue. He still makes time to visit London to grumble about changes to farming inheritance tax, however. Prime Video, from Wednesday 3 June.
The Witness
"Have we spoken to the boy yet?" When Alex Hanscombe was two, he experienced unimaginable trauma: he witnessed the sexual assault and murder of his mother, Rachel Nickell, on Wimbledon Common. This gripping but distressing three-part drama – which was written with Alex and his father André as consultants – explores the aftermath. It was inevitable that the police were going to have to talk to Alex sooner or later. But with leads elusive and Alex and André struggling to rebuild their lives, would closure ever be possible? Netflix, from Thursday 4 June.
Teach You a Lesson
This South Korean drama panders to a reactionary fantasy: the idea that unruly pupils have effectively taken control of the education system and that ineffectual teachers will have to be rescued, if necessary, by force. The force in this case is the Teachers' Rights Protection Agency, a troubleshooting body whose take-no-prisoners supervisor Na Hwa-Jin specialises in arriving in schools, singling out troublemakers and then busting a few heads. All in a spirit of tough love, naturally. It's glossy, nasty and, above all, thoroughly bizarre. Netflix, from Friday 5 June.
