If you’re tired of endlessly scrolling through a buffet of viewing options without a trusty recommendation, you’ve come to the right place! Each week I list a handful of titles I’ve enjoyed to help you shake up your weekly streaming routine.

EGYPT (Docu-drama)

Netflix

[image error]Before my tryst with docu-dramas went full-blown love affair, I added this seemingly unremarkable gem to my watchlist and promptly forgot about it. Then, a few months back, I queued it up on a whim and wished I had done so well beforehand. In short, Egypt is delightful. As with the previously praised Roman Empire: Reign of Blood, the line between educational and entertaining is barely visible here. The production values leave something to be desired, but I think we’ve reached the point where 2005 qualifies as “dated,” at least where BBC docuseries are concerned. That said, Egypt makes up for its technical difficulties with a trilogy of true stories as outlandish as they are engrossing. Two episodes each are devoted to Egypt’s three principle narratives and the characters populating them; adventurers, treasure hunters, scholars, and circus performers (seriously) responsible for unearthing some of Egypt’s most iconic sites and artifacts. Insofar as it’s possible to accomplish on the small screen, Egypt genuinely manages to provide the viewer with a vicarious taste of what it was like to, say, be the first people in thousands of years to gaze upon the tomb of Tutankhamen (no exaggeration, I got goosebumps).

Tour De Pharmacy (Comedy)

HBO

[image error]Mockumentaries, when properly helmed, are some of my favorite things. In the spirit of tennis mockumentary Seven Days in Hell, Tour De Pharmacy cooks up a cockamamie controversy in the biking world: the year every rider in the Tour De France was disqualified for drug use…except the five who managed to get away with it. The quintet of fictional athletes – played by Andy Samberg, John Cena, Orlando Bloom, Daveed Diggs, and Freddie Highmore – each bring their own brand of absurdity to the proceedings (Cena is especially hilarious). “Interviews” scattered throughout include the likes of Kevin Bacon, Maya Rudolph, Nathan Fielder, National Treasure Jeff Goldblum, and Lance Armstrong (who repeatedly fails to conceal his identity). That’s a pretty bare-bones description followed by a list of names, but if you know how you feel about mockumentaries and the people involved in this one, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Tour De Pharmacy swings for the fences on most of its sight gags and running jokes, and the reliance on vulgarity might be too excessive for some. For me, though, it was the perfect balance of witty and wacky.

Benny and Joon (Comedy/Drama)

Amazon Prime

[image error]Remember this one? There was a time, before superheroes and sequels were everywhere, when studios cranked out middle-of-the-road character studies along with everything else. Perhaps “character study” is a bit grandiose for the mostly-sweet Benny and Joon, but there aren’t as many ready comparisons as you might think. Benny (Aidan Quinn) is the sole caretaker of his mentally ill sister, Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson). We never get a full explanation of exactly what afflicts Joon, though schizophrenia is heavily implied. All’s well – insofar as that arrangement can be – until Buster-Keaton-devotee Sam (Johnny Depp) enters their lives. It sounds trite, I know – but it’s too easy to underestimate this one. While Joon’s illness is often trivialized, Masterson’s performance is complex and fierce without veering into manic-pixie-dream-girl territory. She doesn’t condescend to her character (or the audience, for that matter) and the resulting dynamics transcend the script’s limitations. Similarly, Depp channels a naive authenticity through Sam that almost makes you forget why you’re sick of him in 2017.

A “warts and all” assessment of this movie would remark on how much of Quinn’s career was carried solely by those piercing blue eyes. It would further chide the film for reducing Academy Award Winner Julianne Moore to a starry eyed, sighing romance-macguffin for Quinn’s Benny. But, for better or worse, Benny and Joon is an artifact of the early 90s – a less socially conscious time preoccupied with the frostbitten thousand-yard-stare of Aidan Quinn and the wholesome oddity of this newcomer Johnny Depp kid. Given that, however, Benny and Joon knows the way to your heartstrings; perfect for lazy Sunday afternoon viewing.