What to watch on OTT: Sofia Carson’s newest rom-com My Oxford Year & a retelling of HG Wells’ novel, War of the Worlds, here’s what you can watch this weekend.
Anna (Sofia Carson), a young American woman, sets out for the UK and the University of Oxford to fulfill a childhood dream. There she meets a charming local Jamie (Corey Mylchreest) who alters both of their lives. The film is based on a novel by Julia Whelan, which was adapted from Allison Burnett’s original screenplay. Talking about the movie, which is steeped in literature and poetry, Carson says: “It was an honor and joy to dive into Anna’s world of dreams, of love, of poetry. To study the great poets that walked the halls of Oxford.”
Bakaiti
Zee5
This slice-of-life web series, featuring Sheeba Chaddha and Rajesh Tailang, captures the essence of a middle-class family where bickering, banter, and blowups are just another way of saying “I love you.” Set in old Ghaziabad, Bakaiti follows the story of close-knit Kataria Parivaar. Naina (Tanya Sharma), 21, who is ambitious and grounded, is suddenly forced to share her world with her younger brother Bharat (Aditya Shukla), a cricket-crazy teen. As the Kataria family grapples with rising expenses and difficult decisions, tensions flare across generations.
War of the Worlds
Prime Video
This screen-life science-fiction thriller film is based on HG Wells’ 1898 novel The War of the Worlds and directed by Rich Lee. Renowned actress Eva Longoria is joined by iconic rapper and actor Ice Cube, along with Michael O’Neill and Iman Benson, for a thrilling out-of-this-world adventure that is filled with present-day themes of technology, surveillance, and privacy. The film is a retelling of Wells’s fiction about an attempted invasion of Earth aliens.
Code of Silence
Lionsgate Play
At the heart of this new British crime drama is an endearing heroine: Alison Brooks, played by hearing-impaired actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, a working-class deaf canteen worker whose life takes an extraordinary turn when her remarkable lip-reading skills thrust her into a high-stakes police investigation targeting a dangerous criminal gang. As Alison navigates a perilous world of lies, undercover work, and unexpected attachments, including a complicated connection with prime suspect Liam Barlow (Kieron Moore), her life becomes a tangle of danger, deception, and discovery.
Eight Postcards from Utopia
MUBI
This satirical documentary, co-directed by Radu Jude and Christian Ferencz-Flatz, revisits Romanian television commercials from the post-Communist era, blending national nostalgia with sharp cultural critique. In these commercials, “viewers were sold on visions of Romania’s glorious past and gilded future—including get-rich-quick schemes, shiny new toys, and economic shock therapy”.
