Sonal Pandya

The Invite, directed by Olivia Wilde, opens with an Oscar Wilde quote, “One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.” The Hollywood comedy is set in a San Francisco couple who invite their neighbours over one evening. It exposes the two couples to own up to some uncomfortable admissions and realise some suppressed truths about themselves. With only four actors in the cast, The Invite works as an engaging play that delivers steady one-liners and insights as the characters experience every emotion under the sun. Wilde impressively guides the feature to an absorbing ending that perfectly sums up human relationships.

The Enola Holmes franchise is growing up. With the third film, the intrepid young detective played by Millie Bobby Brown is about to marry Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) when disaster strikes. The team behind the award-winning Adolescence comes together for a new mystery that takes viewers to Malta, where the remnants of the past affect the future. The young leads of the film franchise, Brown and Patridge, have grown up as the film’s prior flashbacks show. And while it’s great to see the familiar faces again, the Victorian mystery is missing some of that London magic. In Malta for her wedding to Tewkesbury, Enola has some cold feet but on her way to the church, her brother Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) gets kidnapped. As Enola pieces together the when and why, she uncovers a plot that links back to Tewkesbury’s past. With the help of her husband and Dr. John Watson (Himesh Patel), they uncover a military cover-up that leads to a shocking truth and brings back a familiar villain, at least for Sherlock. Will Enola be able to save her family before it’s too late?

The key to the future lies in the past. That’s the message of the wildly thrilling third season that returns after a year and a half on Apple TV. Led by Rebecca Ferguson, the sci-fi series Silo has always been about rebellion. But this time, it delves into the question of why. Why are the residents of Silo 18 not allowed to go outside and who is controlling them? The answers to all of these begin in the past as the series based on Hugh Howey’s trilogy finally lifts the curtain on the founders. The more that Silo reveals, the more intriguing the origin story becomes, making the sci-fi series one of the most riveting series on the streaming service.

It’s a changing of the guard at The Bear in the fifth and final season of the FX series created by Christopher Storer. After four years and five incredible seasons, The Bear finally bids adieu and moves ahead in a way that only it can. Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Ayo Edebiri have gotten us so invested in these characters, along with its large ensemble cast, and the show does a great job of wrapping it all up in a satisfactory manner. Moreover, the Emmy-winning series stays away from the mistakes of the past seasons as it closes the lights out on the restaurant while staying true to its core premise.

It’s time once again to align yourself with Team Black or Team Green. The matter of the Iron Throne is still not settled, as the Targaryen clan is split on who the rightful heir is. Based on George RR Martin’s Fire & Ice book series, the HBO spinoff series House of the Dragon is set two centuries before Game of Thrones. In the third season, the hemming and hawing has stopped as the civil war arrives right at the doorstep for both Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), who were once friends. As the third season opens, they’ve made an unlikely arrangement; it remains to be seen how it holds as a bloody sea battle erupts and the first body falls by the end of the first episode.

After dropping the biggest shocker about its lead character, John Sugar (Colin Farrell), in the first season, Sugar moves back into being a moody neo-noir about a detective trying to track down a missing person. The original series by Apple TV puts the reveal of Sugar’s otherworldly secret aside and builds a story around corruption, betrayal and greed, all things that are alien to him (pun intended). The eight-part series continues with its homages to old Hollywood as the cinephile private detective attempts to reunite two boxer brothers. With some new faces in the second season, Farrell slips back into detective mode as the layered drama keeps viewers interested.

Seven years after audiences said goodbye to Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the gang in Toy Story 4, the toys return for a new chapter in Toy Story 5 that sees them face yet another threat as technology invades their universe. Andrew Stanton comes back to the franchise as director for the first time that sees the toys deal with abandonment, trauma, and bullying while coming together for their person, Bonnie. The toys versus tech debate is explored in the animated sequel and shares a strong stance to let children be and not grow up too soon. So is the age of toys over? Let’s find out.

The romance genre has gotten a new lease of life thanks to streaming. Amazon Prime Video is doubling down on its book-to-screen adaptations. The latest series that is set to dominate this summer is Every Year After, based on Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After novel. The simple premise is that a former couple reunites after a death, bringing up past feelings and emotions. The friends-to-lovers trope is explored nicely in the eight-part show, which includes plenty of romantic drama for all of its characters. The bingeable show is very similar to another Amazon Prime Video hit, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and could appeal to its fans as well.