Watching: What to watch this weekend
A rich drama about labor and dignity
Dear Watchers,"The Porter" is a Canadian drama from 2022 that originally aired on the CBC in Canada and on BET+ in the United States, and it's now available on the Roku Channel, too. The show is set in the 1920s and centers on a group of Black train porters who are trying to improve their lives, some through labor organizing and others through bootlegging. Beyond its porters, the show also follows people at a night club, a brothel, the beginnings of a medical clinic; it covers Canadian politics, American politics and railroad politics. Sure, the characters are all miraculously connected through the enchanting magic of narrative television, but the idea that one's plight is tied to another's is also one of the main ideas of the show. Solidarity matters — and the people who tell you that you're one of the good ones and to slam the door behind you are the people who benefit from your exploitation, not your success. Don't trust someone else to define dignity. It's a show about a train, so there's a sense of real momentum and destiny. Things are moving, and the characters are motivated, so the story feels exciting even when it's tragic. The camera here is shaky and searching, sometimes tilting with the rocking of the train cars but also, like the characters, always scanning the scene for someone to trust, always a little unsettled. So many streaming shows feel like the TV equivalent of gray laminate Zillowcore, resigned to a lack of specialness and taste in favor of volume and repetition. Part of what's so pleasurable about "The Porter" is how full its moments are, how crafted. There's a melody to the clacking of its typewriters and a viciousness to the half-eaten sandwiches on its plates. "Every task is a chance to show your excellence," says Zeke (Ronnie Rowe), our labor hero, explaining the virtue of the perfect place setting. (I've thought about this line every single time I've folded a napkin in the past three years.) There's only one season of "The Porter," which is a shame, but luckily it is an excellent rewatch. I like it even more now than I did when it debuted. Your newly available movies
If the success of the new "How to Train Your Dragon" is any indication, the huge audiences for blockbuster animated films will also turn up for live-action, C.G.I.-heavy versions of the same movies. (Hollywood is no doubt taking note.) This 2025 "Dragon," based on the 2010 DreamWorks adventure-comedy about a humble Viking boy and his dragon, Toothless, is more faithful to the original than most remakes. If you're looking for nearly the exact same experience in a different form, this is the movie for you. Unless otherwise noted, titles can generally be rented on the usual platforms, including Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango at Home and YouTube. SCOTT TOBIAS 'How to Train Your Dragon' Most of the good of this "Dragon" comes directly from its source material, as [the director Dean DeBlois] has almost religiously mimed his original creation without much daring or new dimension beyond mechanically translating it to an IMAX screen. — Brandon Yu (Read the full review here.) 'M3gan 2.0' "M3gan 2.0" is two hours long, and feels like it's reached its climax around the 80-minute mark — a pacing issue, due mostly to an overstuffed plot. Maximalism has its place, but it wears out its welcome here. — Alissa Wilkinson (Read the full review here.) Also this weekend
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