
HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST
- Netflix
If you've been missing talk of cream horns and wee lesbians since Derry Girls ended way back in 2022, fear not - Northern Irish humour is alive and well in this new series.
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Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee is the creative brains behind How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, which mixes the singular brand of comedy she's known for with something of a murder mystery.
The new show follows friends Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher, The Lovers), Robyn (Sinead Keenan, Unforgotten) and Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne, A Thousand Blows) as they receive word that their high school bestie Greta has died.
The friends, now all in their late 30s, haven't spoken with Greta since something dramatic and illegal went down in their final year of high school, and their fear of this deed getting out drives them to travel to Greta's tiny town of Knockdara to pay their respects and see if perhaps she'd told anyone what happened.
The trip is immediately troublesome, with the trio encountering car troubles on their drive in. That brings around local mechanic/policeman (or Guard/Garda) Liam (Darragh Hand, Heartstopper) into their orbit, and Saoirse, despite the fact that she's engaged, is quickly enamoured with him.
The more they learn about Greta's death - and meet with her weird family - the more they're convinced that all is not as it seems in Knockdara. Trouble follows them at every turn, stories aren't adding up and Liam always seems to be around.
The show is all neon lights, gloomy skies and bright costuming - the type of visual landscape uncommon in popular series of late.
While the mystery is engaging and takes so many twists and turns, it's the comedy and sizzling chemistry between Saoirse and Liam that keeps you locked in for the full eight episodes.
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast also showcases plenty of stunning Irish locales, yet another great reason to tune in.
And if you're a Derry Girls fan you're in for a real treat. Plenty of actors who appeared in the earlier series can be spotted in this show, and there's something to make the fans extra chuffed in the season finale.
It's set up with a tease for another season, so let's hope that comes to pass so we can spend more time with these lovable weirdos.

CROSS
- Prime Video
After a fascinating first season, Aldis Hodge returns as the titular Alex Cross for another go round.
This time the series, which is based on the character created by author James Patterson, sees the DC detective/forensic psychologist teaming up with his FBI buddy Kayla (Alona Tal, Veronica Mars) to look into threats against billionaire food producer Lance Durand, played by Matthew Lillard (Scream).
Durand was presented a box filled with severed fingers while on stage at a conference, and a picture of his own face with the words 'you're next'. The threat is tied to the murder of a fellow billionaire on his private island.
There's more than a little sense of 'ripped from the headlines' in this season, with the dead billionaire sharing some Jeffrey Epstein characteristics.
As with the previous season, we as viewers know who is behind the misdeeds from the jump. While Ryan Eggold made for a creepy and engaging serial killer, this time around we're dealing more with a vigilante killer, and she's definitely more sympathetic.
Jeanine Mason plays Rebecca, something of an avenging angel. She delivers a dedicated and unhinged performance and is quickly making herself just as memorable as Eggold's Ed Ramsey.
In addition to the crimes at the centre of the story, Cross is also dealing with his complicated love life, and his partner/surrogate brother John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa, It: Chapter 2) has some personal issues of his own to attend to.
After an initial drop of three episodes, new episodes are arriving weekly.

LOVE ME LOVE ME
- Prime Video
Look, you don't expect a lot from a high school love triangle movie adapted from a Wattpad story, but at the very least - the very least - you expect there to be some sort of internal logic. You expect people to act somewhat like a normal human.
Those expectations remain decidedly unmet in Prime Video Love Me Love Me, an Italian original production delivered in English. For a film helmed by the director of Cruel Intentions, Roger Kumble, it is remarkably poorly made.
The story follows June (Mia Jenkins), a British girl who has just moved to Milan with her artist mother. We kick things off with her first day at an international school, where everyone speaks English instead of Italian. She's immediately claimed by two students who decide she's their new project, and she's warned away from dating surly bad boy James (Spaniard Pepe Barroso). In her first class she's seated next to Will (Italian Luca Melucci), James' best friend, and it takes all of four seconds for him to become besotted by her and her knowledge of Othello.
Shortly after they're sharing Shakespearean in-jokes before June accidentally splashes her iced coffee all over James, who promptly drags her into the boys' showers and disrobes, ordering her to launder his sullied uniform. Makes so much sense. And of course, this is the start of a love triangle.
It's only February, but Love Me Love Me is already a strong contender for worst film of the year.
Considering the poor quality of everything else in the film, it has a remarkably buzzy soundtrack, featuring songs by Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish and Miley Cyrus.
Watch at your own peril.

ALSO STREAMING
The pop cultural phenomenon that was America's Next Top Model gets the documentary treatment in Netflix film Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model. The filmmakers speak to host/creator Tyra Banks, former judges Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel and Miss J, as well as a bevvy of past contestants. Over on Disney+ you'll find another Ryan Murphy series (will that man ever rest?): Love Story: John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette, which, like his other series, suffers from invading the private lives of people it's purporting to sympathise with. Meanwhile on Binge Simu Liu and Melissa Barrera star in thriller series The Copenhagen Test.

