Streaming guide: Best new movies and shows on Netflix, Binge and more
Will Ferrell is back in a Christmas movie for the first time since 2003 classic Elf. Does he recapture the magic? These are the best movies to stream in November.
Leigh Paatsch
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Leigh Paatsch runs the rule over the shows and movies streaming on Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Binge and more.
The one where Christmas has come early
SPIRITED (G)
★★★
STREAM via APPLE TV+ from FRIDAY
Consider this a slightly unnecessary, but consistently entertaining re-polishing of that old holiday season chestnut, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The Ghost of Christmas Present is played by Will Ferrell (making his first proper return to the Xmas movie biz since the 2003 classic Elf). The Scrooge-ish curmudgeon who needs to lighten up a bit is a rather confident fellow named Clint, played by Ryan Reynolds. However, once these two get to know each other, just who will prove to be the dominant, do-gooding influence on the other remains something of a mystery until the let’s-all-have-a-hug finale appears in the distance. What keeps this well-made and shrewdly written affair eminently watchable throughout are the sincerely upbeat energy levels Ferrell and Reynolds keep hitting with their roles, and a quality collection of very catchy tunes (penned by the team behind The Greatest Showman) and very cheesy dance routines.
The one in complete clues control
SEE HOW THEY RUN (M)
★★★½
STREAM VIA DISNEY+
A true British crowd-pleasing murder-mystery that would do the great Agatha Christie proud. Leo Kapernick (Adrien Brody) is a rather abrasive Hollywood film director who is in town to develop a movie version of Christie’s legendary play The Mousetrap. After a party celebrating the 100th performance, Leo is found dead in a props room. Scotland Yard sends over one of its most unorthodox detectives, Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) to immediately cross-examine the hot-headed Mousetrap cast and deduce which one of them is a cold-blooded killer. Assisting Stoppard at every twist and turn – much to his dismay – is rookie police officer Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan), a very enthusiastic woman of the law with an unfortunate tendency to think a case is cracked when it most certainly is not. The list of possible perps is too long to go through here, but be assured they are a colourful, highly strung, appropriately theatrical, and genuinely guilty-looking bunch. Thanks to a cleverly constructed screenplay and a dynamic double act in Rockwell and Ronan (who are so good you’d gladly welcome a sequel) See How They Run is sure to both mystify and delight all whodunnit devotees.
The one that won’t deliberate, but will defibrillate
AMBULANCE (M)
★★★
STREAM VIA BINGE, FOXTEL, AMAZON
Action fans distractedly drumming their thumbs on the table, please take note: Ambulance is here to come to your rescue. High on the blam-blam-blam and low on the yak-yak-yak, this is the big-screen barrage of suddenly shattering windows, improbably airborne vehicles and impressively exploding objects you’ve been waiting for. Ex-Marine Will (Yahya Abul-Mateen II) desperately needs 200,000 bucks to get the experimental medical treatment that just might save his sick wife’s life. Will has an adoptive brother, Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), who might have a solution. He is mounting a multi-zillion-dollar assault on a big LA bank, and needs help fleeing the scene of the crime in an ambulance. Would Will be interested in piloting a getaway vehicle? No need to answer that. The ultra-kinetic heist portion of Ambulance is surprisingly well-handled by veteran director Michael Bay, a filmmaker not known for staying silent or still for long.
The one where you grin some, you lose some
SMILE (MA15+)
★★★½
PREMIUM RENTAL (pay no more than $19.99)
Above all else, a good horror movie has just one job to do, and that is to not just occasionally scare, but continually frighten. It does not take long for Smile to declare itself to be a very good horror movie. A trauma psychologist named Rose (Sosie Bacon) is conducting a session with a new patient that suddenly screeches to a dramatic halt. Laura (Caitlin Stasey) has been having visions. She can spot a presence moving through people that will ultimately manifest itself as a single, disturbingly intimidating grin. The simple sight of one of these super-sinister smiles is freaking Laura out. And now she is smiling at Rose. Uh-oh. Without going into too much detail, Rose discovers that being beamed at with pleasure in such a way has passed on a curse which seemingly cannot be broken. And should she break out with one those mega-creepy smiles herself? The answer is something you already know, but truly fear learning all the same. A bone-rattling, brain-flipping chiller sure to be ranked highly by true fans of the genre.
The one with a terrifying bedside manner
THE GOOD NURSE (M)
★★★
STREAM VIA NETFLIX
Yes, The Good Nurse does present a relatively accurate portrait of one of the most prolific serial killers in recent American history. However, this conscientiously crafted movie isn’t just here to recap the sobering stats racked up by its sinister subject. To its credit, The Good Nurse also explores a corporate-controlled health care system that allowed a medically accredited monster like Charles Cullen (played by Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne) to freely kill hospital patients for so long without detection. By the time Cullen’s spree came to an end, authorities were able to link the veteran nurse to the deaths of 29 patients across a 16-year time frame. The phrase “were able to link” is a crucial one here. Such was Cullen’s innate ability to cover his tracks, some experts believe that it is likely he got away with over 350 murders before his capture. Jessica Chastain co-stars as Amy Loughren, the woman destined to take a key role in his delayed, yet deserved downfall.
The one that keeps the fans content
DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA (PG)
★★★
STREAM VIA BINGE, FOXTEL, AMAZON
Downton Abbey fans can rest easy. Though there are slight changes afoot in A New Era – the second movie outing for the Crawley clan and their ever-expanding entourage – everything so beloved about this oh-so-British costume-drama franchise remains exactly the same. The action (if you can call it that!) picks up shortly after we last left the Crawley’s splendid rural estate. The 1920s are almost over, and a big rambling joint like Downton could use a fresh lick of paint to usher in the new decade. Therefore Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery) has decreed that the Abbey swing open its doors to a Hollywood film crew as a plush location for their latest production. A sizeable payday will cover the cost of some urgent repairs. To make room for the movie crew, some of the regular residents – led by Earl Robert (Hugh Bonneville) and his wife Countess Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) – make tracks for the south of France for a summer holiday. The regular switching between the two settings is handled smoothly, and though the storytelling stakes are low, the end results are as highly enjoyable as they have been since the TV series debuted over a decade ago.
The one where life is both a winning score and a losing result
DIEGO MARADONA (M)
★★★★½
STREAM VIA SBS ON DEMAND
On the eve of soccer’s World Cup, a truly superb documentary on a true renegade of the round-ball arts. Breaking with convention to compelling and revealing effect, filmmaker Asif Kapadia (famed for his award-winning – portrait of F1 racing ace Ayrton Senna) zeros in almost exclusively on Maradona’s tumultuous, rewarding and ultimately doomed seven years spearheading the Italian club Napoli. Sportspeople of today who complain of living life in a virtual fishbowl come off as mere whingers when you get a grip on what Maradona went through during this era. Just as miraculous as his instinctive wizardry on the pitch was his appetite for self-destruction off it. An unyielding inability to say no to drugs, sex and dangerous crime bosses is a constant theme here. But so too is Maradona’s ability to preserve his genius with the ball at his feet for an unfathomable number of years, before it all catches up with him. A superior sports doco, not just for fans of “the beautiful game.”
The one where summer is no holiday
THE DAYS OF THE BAGNOLD SUMMER (M)
★★★
STREAM VIA SBS ON DEMAND
There are periods where this low-key coming-of-age comedy seems to have painted itself into a corner. Hang in there, for this deceptively well-assembled movie has a lot on its mind, and a refreshingly blunt way of letting you know it. Earl Cave (son of the legendary Australian singer-songwriter Nick) stars as Daniel, a sullen teenage metalhead not so thrilled to learn his do-nothing dad has scuppered all plans for the summer holidays. So now Daniel is cooped up with his put-upon librarian mum Sue (a wonderful Monica Dolan), and together the pair must find a way to make it through the season the best they can.
The one slowly turning up the heat
BURNING (M)
★★★½
STREAM VIA BINGE, FOXTEL, or RENT
The flight path taken by this ingeniously involving psychological drama glides to such dizzying altitudes across its (very lengthy) running time that it almost does not matter when it runs out of narrative runway upon landing. Jong-soo (Yoo Ah-In) is a young writer who has just moved to the South Korean capital Seoul, and has immediately fallen for a former classmate from his village school. While he barely remembers Haemi (Jun Jong-seo) from back then, she soon becomes all he can think about. Doubly so when she suddenly vanishes without trace. What follows (until a problematic ending) is unworldly, transfixing and often unforgettable stuff.
The one where you won’t die(t) wondering
THE WONDER (M)
★★★½
STREAM via NETFLIX
Welcome to rural Ireland in the early 1860s. Not the kind of place rolling out the welcome mat. Particularly if you hail from England, and have arrived to look into a phenomena that is either a minor miracle or a major fraud. This is the conundrum facing decorated nurse Elizabeth Wright (Florence Pugh), who has been summoned to the region to investigate the strange case of an 11-year-old girl named Anna (Kila Lord Cassidy). According to the more religiously devout of the locals, Anna has managed to live for the past four months without eating. According to everyone else, there is something seriously shonky going on. Anna says she is subsisting on “manna from heaven.” Elizabeth is here to spend a fortnight observing the girl, and trying to determine how Anna can still be enjoying relatively robust health under such unnecessary duress. Based on the novel by Emma Donoghue, this sombre drama capitalises on yet another nuanced and totally convincing performance from Pugh, clearly one of the most imposing acting talents at work today. While the screenplay has some distractingly pretentious inclinations (an ostentatious opening voiceover being the obvious example), it cannot get in the way of a compelling story about the never-ending battle between faith and fact.
Originally published as Streaming guide: Best new movies and shows on Netflix, Binge and more
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