The best films and TV shows to watch in February

Starring Lily James as Pamela Anderson and Sebastian Stan as Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, Pam & Tommy tells the tale of ​“the greatest love story ever sold”, as the show’s trailer rather grandly puts it. Recounting how the couple’s infamous honeymoon sex tape was stolen and distributed in the mid-’90s, the eight-part series charts everything from the couple’s whirlwind romance to the ramifications of the tape’s leak. Featuring prosthetic boobs, a talking penis (yes, really) and sharp analysis of how Anderson bore the brunt of the tape’s fallout. Tune in for the scandal but stay for the cultural commentary.

Available now on Disney+

Ah, remember the good ol’ days, when pranks didn’t involve humiliating hospitality workers for TikTok and we laughed at grown men making omelettes out of vomit? Well, Johnny Knoxville and his crew of now middle-aged miscreants are bringing them back with Jackass Forever. Reminding us all of the simple pleasure that is disgusting slapstick humour, this is the Jackass team’s sixth full-length film. Expect to see 90 minutes of don’t‑try-this-at-home stunts, including ​“scorpion botox” and a human ramp. Put your phone away and let the pranking pros remind you how it’s done.

In UK cinemas now

After her turn as the no-nonsense Princess Anne in The Crown, Erin Doherty is stepping into the far more chaotic shoes of Becky in BBC’s latest murder mystery thriller Chloe. At first glance, Becky may seem like an unassuming twenty-something, but when the object of her social media obsession, the titular Chloe, commits suicide, things get a little more complicated. Determined to find out the truth behind Chloe’s seemingly perfect life and tragic death, Becky dreams up a fake identity (not for the first time, by the way) and worms her way into Chloe’s social circle. An original take on the impact of social media, bolstered by another brilliant performance from Doherty, Chloe will have you on the edge of your seat.

Available now on BBC iPlayer

The Kurupt FM crew are returning to screens, but this time, they’ve swapped their UKG pursuits for a heist. Set in the 80s, The Curse is an entirely different show to People Just Do Nothing, with Allan Mustafa, Hugo Chegwin and Steve Stamp reuniting to play a gang of woefully underqualified criminals. Also starring Murder in Successville​’s Tom Davis, the heist in question involves raiding a warehouse where £50,000 worth of goodies are to be found. The gag? They also stumble on a stack of solid gold bars, which the group soon realise carry a deadly curse. Go figure. As slick as it is silly, The Curse is the show to stick on when you’re in need of a proper belly laugh.

Airing weekly on Channel 4 at 10pm on Sundays. The first episode is available to watch on All4 now

Scams are hot right now – and we’re not talking about those texts that keep trying to get your bank details from you. From Tinder Swindler to the upcoming series about biotech fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, it seems that our appetites for stories of scammers and schemers is at an all time high. Lucky, then, that Inventing Anna lands on screens this month. Starring Ozark​’s Julia Garner, the hotly anticipated series that charts how faux heiress Anna Sorokin conned her way into New York high society and secured several fraudulent bags while doing so. It’s ​“fake it ​‘till you make it” and then some.

Available on Netflix from 11^th Feb.

There’s a lot of hype around Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi at the moment, namely thanks to his 2021 film Drive My Car, which is currently surrounded by awards season buzz. While you wait with bated breath to see if Hamaguchi will scoop an Oscar, head to the cinema to see his latest film, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, a collection of three stories that explore modern relationships, fate and desire.

Out in UK cinemas from 11^th Feb

Alana Haim makes her cinematic debut in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest feature film, Licorice Pizza, starring opposite another newcomer to the screen, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son, Cooper Hoffman. This film is a bildung-almost-romance and follows Hoffman’s teenage Gary as he falls for Haim’s twentysomething Alana, who’s assisting his school’s photographer. For obvious reasons, the pair can’t be betrothed as Gary wishes, but it turns out he’s a much more attractive proposition for Alana than the adult men around her. Also starring Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born, The Hangover) and Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems, Good Time), Licorice Pizza has already racked up a slew of nominations for Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards, with Oscar nominations still pending. Watch this space.

Out in UK cinemas now.

“Remember this feeling” teased HBO Max when they dropped the latest trailer for season two of Euphoria at the end of last year. Said feeling? A heady mixture of wistful teenage love, bathroom breakdowns and confused fear as we witness Zendaya’s Rue be violently yanked back by an unknown hand. We understand that it’s been two and half years since the last series, so you can find a more thorough catch up of what’s happened on the show so far here. But if you’ve already prepared by rewatching series one over Christmas (a great, uplifting and seasonal choice, by the way), then expect to see this unflinching, glitter-glazed depiction of teenage listlessness up the ante. After Zendaya became the youngest person to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series last year, it’s an unmissable watch.

On Sky Atlantic and NowTV from 10^th January.

Your latest East Asian TV Netflix binge is arriving later this month and guess what? Unlike last year’s streaming phenomena Squid Game and Hellbound, there’s not a single brutal murder to be seen. Instead, The Journalist tackles corrupt politics, as acclaimed Japanese director Fujii Michihito adapts his award-winning 2019 film of the same name for TV. The plot follows Anna Matsuda, a journalist (surprise!) on a mission to expose the crimes of the Japanese government, despite their best efforts to silence her. The original film was acclaimed for confronting corruption in Japan, but we reckon this is a story we’ll all be able to relate to here in the UK.

Available on Netflix on 13^th January.

Tilda Swinton teams up with Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul for Memoria, an eerie slow burner that sits on the intersection of horror, sci-fi and philosophical mysticism. Here’s the deal: Swinton plays Jessica, a Scottish ex-pat living in Medellín, Columbia who suddenly hears a loud bump in the night. She hears it again while having dinner with friends, but it soon becomes apparent that these strange new sounds are only audible to her. Is it all in her head, or is she privy to a supernatural occurrence that may or may not have something to do with ancient bones that were recently dug up in the city? Either way, Swinton and Weerasethakul’s thriller will have you on the edge of your seat.

Out in UK cinemas from 14^th January.

The residents of Woodsboro can’t catch a break, can they? 25 years after the town was first terrorised by Ghostface’s vendetta against Sidney Prescott, another killer that shops at Halloween stores is on the loose. Don’t roll your eyes. One of the most legendary horror franchises of all time, the fifth iteration of Scream promises lots of silly slasher scares, with In The Heights’ Melissa Barrera now the object of the killer’s, er, frustrations. Don’t pick up the phone, Mel!

Out in UK cinemas from 14^th January.

One house, three eras and a huge cast of impressive voice acting talent, including but not limited to Helena Bonham Carter, Downton Abbey’s Matthew Goode and East London’s finest, Bimini Bon Boulash. That’s the basic gist of Netflix’s new adult stop-motion three-part anthology series, but take one glimpse at the anthropomorphic worlds in The House​’s trailer and you’ll realise it’s something quite special. With each episode helmed by different directors – Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr and Paloma Baeza – The House transports us to three different realities, but in each one, the action takes place in the same house. Offbeat and laced in dark humour, this anthology series is set to be yet another gem in the growing genre of adult animation.

Available on Netflix from 14^th January.

Kenneth Branagh looks back to his childhood in Belfast, a tender coming-of-age story that follows nine-year-old Buddy as he navigates bickering parents, burgeoning teenagehood and a local community that’s being torn apart by the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But, filmed in black and white, this drama isn’t simply filled with tragedy and despair. In between moments of violence and fear are pockets of joy and peaceful mundanity, as Buddy learns that even when life seems to be at its worst, it keeps on going.

Out in UK cinemas from 21^st January.

If the big knives in Scream aren’t scary enough for you, tuck into the gorefest that is All of Us Are Dead towards the end of the month instead, a deliciously gruesome zombie series from South Korea. A high school is the centre of action in this imagining of the apocalypse, where trapped students must fight their way out or become flesh-eating creatures whose limbs bend in all the wrong places. And you thought double maths on a Friday was the worst thing that could happen to you at school…

Available on Netflix from 28^th January.

High school reunions are never a good idea, but even less so when the host is now an obnoxious popstar who everyone secretly hates. This is the setup in The Afterparty, which quickly goes awry when the obnoxious popstar, played by Dave Franco (21 Jump Street, Now You See Me), dies from suspected murder. Everyone’s a suspect, which means all of your comedy favourites are subject to Tiffany Haddish’s interrogations in her role as a detective, as each episode recounts the events of their party through a different character’s eyes. Expect to see Stath Lets Flats’ Jamie Demetriou, Veep​’s Sam Richardson, Broad City​’s Ilana Glazer and more face Haddish’s wrath, as each one of them attempts to prove they’re not guilty while hungover.

Available on Apple TV+ from 28^th January.