BROS (Cert 15, 115 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, available from January 16 on Amazon/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from February 6 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99, Comedy/Romance)
Starring: Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Diaz, Guy Branum, Ryan Faucett, Debra Messing.
SARDONIC podcaster Bobby Lieber (Billy Eichner) wholeheartedly embraces his role as curator of the first National LGBTQ+ History Museum in America, which requires an investment of five million dollars to open.
Away from fundraising, he wears his single status like a badge of honour to the chagrin of a close circle of friends that includes married couple Tina (Monica Raymund) and Edgar (Guillermo Diaz).
During the launch party of a new gay dating app called Zellweger, where men chat about their favourite actresses before they hook up, Bobby locks eyes with handsome jock Aaron Shepard (Luke Macfarlane), whose masculine energy is intimidating.
Despite obvious differences, the two men awkwardly navigate a no-strings relationship that is complicated when Aaron's soon-to-be-married high school crush (Ryan Faucett) unexpectedly breaks off his engagement and comes out of the closet.
Billed as the first gay romantic comedy released by a major Hollywood studio with a predominantly LGBTQ+ cast, Bros is an effervescent and effortlessly charming treat that wears its heart on its sleeve next to a rainbow pride enamel pin.
The script, co-written by Eichner and director Nicholas Stoller, is delightfully self-aware and mines universally appealing humour from key talking points in gay culture – straight acting vs feminine, monogamy vs open relationship – without artificially sweetening or sanitising on-screen behaviour.
The first hour is noticeably funnier and spikier before Stoller lays the groundwork for a grand romantic gesture that unabashedly plucks heartstrings.
Eichner and co-star Macfarlane catalyse winning chemistry from their first lingering glance across a nightclub dancefloor.
Rating: 4/5
THE LAST OF US (9 episodes, starts streaming from January 16 exclusively on Now, Thriller/Horror/Action/Romance)
FIRST released in 2013 exclusively on PlayStation 3, third-person adventure game The Last Of Us became one of the year's best-selling titles and garnered numerous accolades including top prize at the British Academy Video Games Awards.
Sky Atlantic premieres episodes of the eagerly anticipated TV series based on the game at 2am each week, simultaneous with transmission on HBO in America.
In a post-apocalyptic United States, 20 years have passed since a mutant fungus transformed the infected into tenacious predators.
Modern civilisation has been decimated and survivors of the outbreak are confined to quarantine zones under totalitarian rule.
Joel (Pedro Pascal) escaped infection, along with his younger brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna), and he works as a smuggler with partner Tess (Anna Torv) in Boston, Massachusetts.
They are hired by Marlene (Merle Dandridge), leader of a rebel militia called the Fireflies, to smuggle 14-year-old girl Ellie (Bella Ramsey) out of a quarantine zone.
The teenager may hold the key to engineering a cure and restoring mankind.
