Among the many streaming services, Apple TV+ often gets lost, but several of its shows are among the best. One of my current favorites is “For All Mankind,” which poses the question: What if the Soviet Union had won the space race, reaching the moon before the United States?

Created by Ronald D. Moore (“Star Trek,” “Battlestar Galactica”), it’s a sprawling story, beginning in 1969, presenting an alternative historical reality in which the United States is struggling to keep up with the USSR in space exploration, interweaving cleverly ‘fictionalized’ real-life characters.

At NASA headquarters in Houston, the plot revolves around astronauts Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman) who were piloting Apollo 10 but ordered not to land on the moon.  That decision enabled a Russian cosmonaut to arrive first, infuriating then-President Nixon.

With NASA in turmoil, tempers flare. There’s scientist Wernher von Braun (Colm Feore) clashing with Deke Slayton (Chris Bauer), who heads the astronaut program, and Gene Kranz (Eric Ladin), the flight director who runs Mission Control.

A confidante of Von Braun, Margo Madison (Wrenn Smith) is the first woman at Mission Control, while Gordo’s restless test-pilot wife Tracy Stevens (Sarah Jones) becomes one of the first female astronauts, and Karen Baldwin (Shantel VanSanten, who bears a disconcerting resemblance to Julia Roberts) embodies Ed’s stoic wife.

There are also intriguing subplots: one involves a Mexican teenager (Olivia Trujillo) who immigrates to Texas, yearning to be part of NASA, another profiles Ellen Waverly (Jodi Balfour), a closeted lesbian astronaut.

Plus there’s ornery veteran test pilot Molly Cobb (Sonya Walger) with her artist husband Wayne (Lenny Jacobson) and determined Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall), the first black female astronaut.

What distinguishes this compelling series is how these complicated, conflicted characters are deftly delineated against a background of ruthless political turmoil, prejudice, sexism and “patriotism.”

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “For All Mankind” is an enigmatic 8. The second season is even better than the first, and season three is already confirmed.

Playing in theaters and debuting on Amazon on August 20, “Annette” is an eccentric, hallucinatory rock opera about love, passion and celebrity, set in Los Angeles.

It begins as a voiceover cautions viewers not to “sing, laugh, clap, cry, yawn, boo or fart,” adding “breathing will not be tolerated during the show so, please, take a deep last breath right now.”

Megalomaniacal Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) is a charismatic provocateur/performance artist, known as ‘The Ape of God.’ He’s madly, desperately in love with Ann Desfranous (Marion Cotillard), a coloratura soprano.

Henry’s career is at its zenith. Playing to sold-out crowds at the Orpheum Theater, he bursts on-stage in a hooded bathrobe – like a hulking boxer – which he strips off to reveal a taut torso clad only tight boxer briefs. His defiantly angry monologue is filled with loathsome confessions and utter contempt, which audiences seem to adore.

When Henry picks Ann up on his motorcycle at Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, she asks: “How did it go?”

“I killed – murdered them. Destroyed them,” Henry replies.

“I saved them,” Ann murmurs, climbing behind him before they careen into the darkness.

Initially, Ann is not as famous, but she dazzles her devoted former accompanist / conductor (Simon Helberg) as her career ascends while Henry’s descends. Shades of “A Star is Born.”

Breathlessly chronicled on a ‘showbiz’ TV channel, Henry and Ann marry and their daughter is named Annette. Only she’s not real. She’s a wooden puppet/doll that somewhat resembles ‘Chuckie.’

Written by Ron and Russell Mael – better known as the pop duo Sparks – and directed by Leos Carax  (“Pola X,” “Holy Motors”) – making his audacious English-language film debut – it’s cerebral, complex and bizarrely compelling.

The characters half-talk, half-sing their thoughts and feelings, a stylized, surreal device that stretches to absurdity as Henry is having oral sex with Ann. “We love each other so much” is a phrase used repeatedly.

On the Granger Gauge, “Annette” is an incoherent, ephemeral 4 – tedious, pretentious poppycock!

The action/adventure/comedy “The Suicide Squad” is perhaps a quasi-sequel to 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” as writer/director James Gunn (MCU’s “Guardians of the Galaxy”) ventures into the DC Extended Universe, totally re-envisioning the super-villain franchise.

It begins as ruthless government operative Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) recruits a bizarrely diverse group of expendable convicts to infiltrate the South American island of Corto Maltese and destroy Jotunheim, a secret laboratory where Thinker (Peter Capaldi) holds Starro, a giant alien starfish. (Starro debuted in “Brave and the Bold #28 comics: March, 1960)

There’s Bloodsport (Idris Elba), the mercenary who shot Superman with a Kryptonite bullet. He agrees to lead Task Force X to prevent his teenage daughter (Storm Reid) from going to prison for a petty crime.

He’s joined by Peacemaker (John Cena), a psychotic, chrome-helmeted pacifist who doesn’t hesitate to kill anyone who threatens to disrupt peace. Ratcatcher 2, Cleo Cazo (Portuguese actress Daniela Melchoir), is the daughter of the original Ratcatcher (Taika Waititi) who trained rats to attack and kill his enemies.

Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian) suffers from a virus that causes deadly polka dots to grow inside his body, and he has serious ‘mother’ issues: “I don’t like to kill people,” he says, “but if I pretend they’re my mom, it’s easy.”

Ravenous King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) is a digitized human/shark hybrid, and cross-eyed Weasel (Sean Gunn) is another human/animal, quickly killed off during the first skirmish.

They’re joined by veterans Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Col. Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), T.D.K. (Nathan Fillion), Savant (Michael Rooker), Blackguard (Pete Davidson) and Javelin (Flula Borg).

Problem is: with little exposition and no character development, there’s no emotional resonance, making it more of a grotesque, R-rated comic-book-turned-video game than a movie.

FYI: In the closing credits there’s a glimpse of Weasel waking up and scampering into the jungle. So he isn’t dead, after all.

On the Granger Gauge, “The Suicide Squad” stumbles to an absurdist 3, playing in local theaters and streaming on HBO Max.