5 New Movies and Shows You Need to Stream This Week (May 19–22), Led by The Boroughs

Another week, another fight to find good stuff to watch and the time to actually watch it. This one is stacked: Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV, and Peacock all dropped titles that feel like they are daring you to ignore your plans. Top of my queue is Netflix's The Boroughs, a new sci-fi series from the Stranger Things brain trust. Also circling: Apple TV's messy-crime- comedy Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed and the cleaned-up, complete cut of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair on Peacock.

• 'Wanda Sykes: Legacy' — May 19 — Netflix
• 'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War' — May 20 — Prime Video
• 'Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed' — May 20 — Apple TV
• 'The Boroughs' — May 21 — Netflix
• 'Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair' — May 22 — Peacock

'Wanda Sykes: Legacy' (Netflix, May 19)

Wanda Sykes being funny is not exactly breaking news, but her new stand-up hour hits different. She goes back to her alma mater and unloads on the state of, well, everything right now. Cybertrucks? In the crosshairs. Robert Kennedy Jr.? Also getting roasted. It is sharp, it is blunt, and it is Wanda doing what she does best: finding the joke without softening the jab.

'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War' (Prime Video, May 20)

Dads, your Super Bowl is here. John Krasinski suits up for one last ride as Jack Ryan in a two-hour sendoff meant to close the loop after four seasons. Post–season 4, Ryan has officially left the CIA for the private sector, but you know how that goes. CIA Director James Greer (Wendell Pierce) pulls him back to take on an old enemy, and suddenly we are back in the usual groove: globetrotting, dangerous stunts, and punchy, gun-heavy set pieces. It is built to give longtime viewers actual closure, which is rarer than it should be with shows like this.

'Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed' (Apple TV, May 20)

Paula (Tatiana Maslany) is a walking stress fracture: freshly divorced, raising a very energetic pre-teen, and running on fumes. Enter Trevor (Brandon Flynn), a charming camboy who becomes her chosen form of stress relief. Then Paula thinks she witnesses something criminal on Trevor's end, and her life tips from chaotic to hazardous in about five seconds. The show lives up to its wink-wink title while threading a real needle: it is a darkly funny crime story that doubles as a painfully honest look at a woman not just nearing a breakdown, but actively having one. Sex, lies, and webcam drama: peak summer mystery energy. The only real problem is carving out the hours to binge it.

'The Boroughs' (Netflix, May 21)

Stranger Things may have only just wrapped, and the Duffer brothers are already back at Netflix as executive producers on this new eight-episode creeper. The hook is great: a quiet retirement community starts having a monster problem. New arrival Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina) believes something nasty is out there, and while most folks chalk it up to a lonely widower seeking attention, a few neighbors take him seriously enough to dig in. Renee (Geena Davis) and Jack (Bill Pullman) join the hunt, and suddenly your leads are boomers, not teens. That alone gives it a fresh angle in a very crowded horror lane.

'Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair' (Peacock, May 22)

Yes, you have seen Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. No, this is not just both stuck together. Quentin Tarantino's spruced-up, 253-minute cut adds and restores material that changes the rhythm and feel. There is a new animated sequence that digs deeper into young O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), and the House of Blue Leaves brawl plays in full color. Plus assorted tweaks and trims throughout. If you love the revenge saga, this is the definitive version worth a rewatch, a reappraisal, and probably an extra coffee.