Streaming guide: Best new movies to watch on Binge, Netflix, Amazon and more
A tech tycoon’s link to an unsolved murder and his flight from the law is the subject of a bizarre new Netflix documentary. These are the shows and movies you should be streaming.
Leigh Paatsch
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Leigh Paatsch runs the rule over the new shows and movies to stream on Netflix, Binge, Amazon and more.
The one that’s always on the run
RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL: THE WILD WORLD OF JOHN MCAFEE (MA15+)
★★★
STREAM via NETFLIX
The curiosity factor driving this bizarre documentary makes it worth the look-see. After all, it isn’t often you get to join a tech billionaire on the run from the law to avoid facing a murder rap. Back in 2012, anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee was sought for questioning by authorities in the tropical haven of Belize with regard to the mysterious death of his next-door neighbour. Rather than offer authorities his side of the story, McAfee not only took off for nearby Guatemala, but also invited along a film crew to capture his frenzied flight from justice. Paranoid, rambling and devious — and that’s on a good day — McAfee cuts an irrationally intimidating figure that can clearly manipulate anyone who crosses his path. While this does make him an endless fascinating character, his imposing nature also means that gleaning the truth about his role in that unsolved murder is frustratingly unlikely.
The one going back into the danger zone
TOP GUN: MAVERICK (M)
★★★★½
PREMIUM RENTAL ONLY (expect to pay $24.99)
Yes, this mighty sequel is indeed still playing in cinemas, and if push comes to shove, that’s where you should be taking a squiz. No movie in the past few years has filled the frame so thrillingly as this. Sure, all of the elements that strafed audiences of the mid-1980s into a frenzy – dizzy dogfights, fizzy soundtrack cuts, corny catchphrases, a little bromance, a little romance and a lot of Tom Cruise – remain in active play here. However, shrewd scripting measures and ferocious filmmaking instincts reconfigure all of those comfortingly familiar components into something fresh, exciting, funny and genuinely thrilling. As the movie begins, it is clear that a fighting-fit-and-fifty-something Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Cruise) is still feelin’ that fabled need for speed. However, after some regulation disobedience results in the destruction of an expensive prototype plane, Mav is handed one last assignment before he will be locked out of the hangar for good. An unspecified enemy is rapidly ramping up their nuclear aspirations, and could be about to put a hole in the planet unless a uranium enrichment plant is quickly taken out. Co-stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Val Kilmer.
The one where the story stays with you
MOTHERING SUNDAY (M)
STANDARD RENTAL ONLY (expect to pay $5.99)
Advance marketing for this fascinating and unsettling drama suggests we might have a more serious cinematic cousin of a Downton Abbey on our hands here. Nothing could be more further from the truth. With a sophisticated way of traversing varying time frames and a collection of performances uniformly committed to telling a challenging tale, this is a refined and rewarding experience that stays with you for some time after. A number of storylines intersect at the character of Jane (an excellent Odessa Young), a young maid working in the household of a wealthy British couple in the 1920s. Husband Godfrey (Colin Firth) and wife Clarrie (Olivia Colman) have never quite gotten over a personal loss to their family sustained in World War 1. As for Jane, she too is about to experience a loss that haunt her for the rest of her days. A secret affair she has been having with the well-to-do heir (Josh O’Connor) to a neighbouring estate must come to a sudden end. But not before the young lovers meet for one final tryst. The unusual directorial stylings of filmmaker Eva Husson may get on the nerves of some viewers, but her examination of fading memories and long-lasting grief is undeniably effective.
The one that keeps turning the other shriek
SCREAM (MA15+)
STREAM via BINGE, PARAMOUNT+, FOXTEL or RENT
Welcome back to Woodsboro. Population? Getting smaller with each passing day now that yet another Ghostface killer is up and running. (And stabbing. Quite often just above the shoulders. A literal pain in the neck, that Ghostface.) Anyway, while the mysterious masked psychopath teases, torments and terminates a new generation of victims (all of whom have links to casualties from past Screams), this gleefully reckless reboot finds a few justifiable reasons to bring franchise foundation players such as Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette. Like the 1996 original, this ‘re-quel’ (a promo label coined by the filmmakers) has a field day listing, mirroring and mocking a truckload of tropes specific to the horror genre. While you don’t need to have seen any of the earlier instalments to be both suitably enthralled and appalled, a little Screamology 101 will definitely up the fun factor. Of all the recent revivals to hit the market – especially those Matrix and Ghostbusters flicks – this is the best by far. Co-stars Melissa Barerra, Jack Quaid.
The one where Tom Holland must save the day (again)
UNCHARTED (M)
STREAM via BINGE, AMAZON, FOXTEL or RENT
We now have enough data to state unequivocally there will never be a truly great movie adapted from a video game. Expecting even a good movie to happen is often asking too much. All that Uncharted really has working in its favour is the current star power of its leading man Tom Holland. Though he is a mite too young for the lead role here, the incumbent Spider-Man keeps the movie on a roll while his miscast co-star Mark Wahlberg does his best to grind proceedings to a halt. Holland plays Nate, a bartender-cum-pickpocket who pairs up with Wahlberg’s Sully, a globetrotting tomb raider with a clue to the whereabouts of a few billion bucks’ worth of old gold. What follows is not unlike what would happen if you threw an Indiana Jones sequel, the first National Treasure and a car-free Fast and Furious flick in a blender. Holland and Wahlberg never convincingly click as a screen pairing, so action fans would be advised to focus on the production’s hefty helping of audacious stunt sequences, which peak impressively at the finale. Co-stars Antonio Banderas.
The one where Sly might be a superguy
SAMARITAN (M)
STREAM via AMAZON
Though 76-year-old Sylvester Stallone is hardly wanting for money, he remains on active movie duty until one last monster payday arrives (that would be his final assignment as Rocky Balboa, whenever that will be). So to kill time and stay busy, Sly has decided to give the superhero business a go. In this moderately engaging action affair, Stallone plays an old garbageman named Joe who once upon a time might have been a super-powered dude named Samaritan. At least that’s what an imaginative kid in the broken metropolis of Granite City would like to think, anyway. While this young teenager Sam (Euphoria’s Javon Walton) refines his theory further, we learn a little more about Samaritan’s backstory. He had a bad bro called Nemesis. The two of them had a brawl that just about wrecked the whole town. Then they vanished. The action sequences on display are convincing enough, even when a less-than-mobile Stallone is called upon to kick some bad-guy butt. However, the story (which is the most interesting factor in play here) does not get the focused and consistent treatment it deserves. Co-stars Pilou Asbek.
The one where the troubles are brewing
BELFAST (M)
STREAM via BINGE, FOXTEL, AMAZON
After doing great business in cinemas and as a digital rental, one of the best movies of 2022 has now migrated to the streaming world. Though Belfast is filmed in black-and-white, there is nothing remotely monochromatic about its contents. This is as colourful, vivid and textured as a screen memoir can be in the present era. Belfast is an autobiographical passion project for the accomplished actor, writer and director Kenneth Branagh (working exclusively behind the camera here). It is the summer of 1969 in Northern Ireland, and the ever-rising tensions between Protestants and Catholics have escalated to a point where open violence on the streets is now accepted as a matter of fact. This unusual state of affairs is witnessed through the eyes of 9-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill), who lives with his Protestant parents and brother in a working-class neighbourhood of Belfast. Over the course of the movie, the street on which Buddy and his family live – a street where families of both religious persuasions have been able to coexist happily and harmoniously – will devolve gradually into something most would categorise as a war zone. Put this on your must-see list. Co-stars Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench.
The one where a love and a life vanish in a flash
UNTOLD: THE GIRLFRIEND WHO DIDN’T EXIST
STREAM via NETFLIX
The new season of Netflix’s primo doco series Untold is churning out plenty of gold at the moment (and they still haven’t got to the much-awaited episode on Australia’s landmark 1983 America’s Cup triumph). If you’re yet to dip into this deep pool of sports storytelling, make a point of starting with the compelling two-parter The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist. This is the sad, twisted and undeniably fascinating tale of Manti Te’o, the young American football star who rose to national fame after sharing details of a double tragedy with a sympathetic public. According to Te’o, both his beloved grandmother and also his longtime girlfriend passed away within hours of each other, inspiring him to play in their memory as his team’s breakout season reached its climax. There was just one problem. And boy, oh boy, was it a problem. No-one could find a single trace of evidence that Manti’s young lost love had ever existed. He was forced to confess that they had never actually met. Instead, their years-long relationship was conducted over the phone. With revealing anything more about this doco’s contents, it must be stated that it becomes a gripping experience for two telling reasons. Firstly, Te’o bravely participates as an openly honest interviewee. Secondly, the real architect of the hoax also co-operates with the filmmakers (although the honesty of this individual is clearly open to question).
The one where clint hits the road
CRY MACHO (M)
STREAM via NETFLIX or RENT
Clint Eastwood’s unofficial mission to be churning out Hollywood movies when he turns 100 is yet to show any signs of slowing down. The 91-year-old director, producer and lead actor is still completing a polished, more-than-watchable feature every other year. So it would not be wise to bet against ol’ Clint completing his cinematic century when 2030 comes around. And what of his latest, Cry Macho? Well, it’s an ornery opus in a minor key, much like 2019’s The Mule. Clint plays Mike Milo, a washed-up rodeo star so bereft of bucks, he has to drive a few thousand miles down to Mexico City to land a passable job. Mike’s latest gig is to pick up a 13-year-old kid named Rafa (Eduardo Minett) and haul him back to the Texas border, where he can be reunited with his not-so-doting dad Howard (Dwight Yoakam). Being an Eastwood movie, the journey matters more than the destination, so it is the awkward, yet powerful bond that develops between Mike and Rafa on their epic drive that dominates proceedings here. The storytelling stakes may be quite low, but there is still a pay-off to collect that most will find satisfying.
The one where a world war becomes too personal
BLACK BOOK
SBS ON DEMAND
This fascinating and unforgettable gem from 2007 definitely deserves a track-down from those who may have missed it back in the day. During Germany’s occupation of Holland, a young Jewish woman joins the resistance and agrees to seduce a Nazi leader. A genuinely epic war drama that rather brazenly channels both the sorrowful social lament of Schindler’s List and the raw adrenaline of Saving Private Ryan. And yet, the end result is something else entirely thanks to the Ingrid Bergman-like grace and gravity of leading lady Carice van Houten. A powerful, career-best effort from notorious director Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct).
The one where an unrequited love will still find a way
CYRANO
STREAM via AMAZON or RENT
This arresting and unashamedly lavish take on the oft-told tale of Cyrano de Bergerac bravely breaks with tradition. It is no longer Cyrano’s looks that prohibit him from directly wooing his one true love. Instead, it is his physical stature. In short, this Cyrano is short. Very short. This new production’s Cyrano is played by Peter Dinklage, one of the most consistently commanding actors in the game today. Inside the opening quarter hour, we are totally on-side with Dinklage’s Cyrano, an accomplished soldier, a gifted poet and a party-hearty man of the world. Though he can handle himself in both a frenetic fight (in one scene he takes down ten burly blokes in a back alley) and a high-stakes rap battle (death to the loser, no less), Cyrano cannot make his real feelings known to the beguilingly beautiful Roxanne (Haley Bennett). There is just one sticking point that may not totally seal the deal for certain viewers. While this Cyrano embraces the heavier elements of the original story, it also fancies its chances as a light musical. With the exception of one extraordinary hymn-like piece in the final act, the songs sung here are not all that memorable, nor are they warbled all that well (Dinklage’s Auto-Tuned rasp is a bit of an ear-sore after a while).
The one that is always in two minds
LOOK BOTH WAYS
STREAM via NETFLIX
This iffy what-if? affair is a next-gen remix of the old Gwyneth Paltrow hit Sliding Doors. Back then, the twist was tracking two sides of a single story: what would have become of the heroine had she caught or missed a train. The new plot device which will drive the storytelling in two different directions is a pregnancy test. If it goes negative, then the about-to-graduate college major Natalie (Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart) will be making tracks for LA to realise her dream of working in animation. If it reads positive, then Natalie will be forced to back home to live with her parents (Andrea Savage and Luke Wilson) and prepare for motherhood. While always a pleasantly inoffensive viewing experience, the movie (currently No. 1 worldwide on Netflix) doesn’t make the most of its intriguing premise when it should. Reinhart is not the most gifted actor on active duty right now, but she is one of the more naturally appealing. That does help here (as does the lively support work of Wilson).
The one that only has ice for you
THE NORTHMAN
RENT ONLY
Phew. After experiencing The Northman, there is no need to reflect upon it. However, there is every need to recover from it. This brutally violent, yet soaringly lyrical action epic is quite unlike anything captured on screen before. At its most basic foundations, The Northman is adapting the same ancient Viking myth that inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In both works, revenge is a long game played by a mad bloke burning on a short fuse. Otherwise, the similarities end right there. Our hulking, hate-fueled hero goes by the name of Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard). Once upon a time in 9th century Iceland, Amleth was a prince who would one day take over the family’s throne-sitting business. Then the sudden murder of his father the King (Ethan Hawke) exiles Amleth all the way to Russia, where he falls in with a nomadic band of ‘berserkers’: lawless, shirtless dudes who specialise in the pillaging of villages. While we wait for the inevitable smackdown which will close The Northman – a spellbinding sword-and-shield skirmish conducted on the edge of an active volcano – the movie locks into an unworldly storytelling rhythm designed to both captivate and intimidate. Wimps be warned: this is tough, testing stuff. Co-stars Claes Bang, Nicole Kidman.
The one delivering a slap to the faith
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE (M)
STREAM via DISNEY+, FOXTEL OR RENT
This fictionalised rendition of the true story of the disgraced televangelist team of Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker doesn’t quite match the award-winning documentary (of the same name) on which it is based. However, it is still well worth the look if you are unfamiliar with the strange tales it has to tell, As with many a religious money-grubber who flew so high in the 1980s, the Bakkers were certain to crash and burn before the decade was through. So it proved to be for the impossibly folksy Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain) and the undeniably weird Jim (Andrew Garfield), but not before they built an impressive global empire from the funds of easily-duped devotees.
The one with a twist that turns on you
MALIGNANT (R18+)
BINGE, FOXTEL, NETFLIX
A new horror movie from director James Wan (Insidious, Saw, The Conjuring) is always cause for celebration amongst fright-night enthusiasts. However, to begin with at least, even the staunchest fans of his output could be nonplussed by the business-as-ooze-ual nature of proceedings here. Annabelle Wallis stars as Madison, a woman experiencing graphically detailed visions of terrifying murders. All that be can be said to any doubters – without giving too much away – is that you must stick around for the major twist due to arrive in the second half of the picture. It is a whopper. It is a doozy. It is just so audaciously left-field and genuinely unexpected, you have to land in favour of the movie simply for going there.
The one with a cruz in control
PARALLEL MOTHERS
STREAM via BINGE, FOXTEL OR RENT
Arthouse animals of all stripes should know by now where they stand with the work of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar. If you’ve never elected to jump off the bandwagon – and with recent Almodovar films like Pain and Glory and Julieta being so dang fine, why would you? – then rest assured you won’t be disappointed by his latest. Penelope Cruz stars as Janis, a footloose and fancy-free photographer who has just become a mother for the first time. She will be raising the child without a partner, just like Ana (Milena Smit), the young woman who shared a room with Janis at the birthing centre. Being an Almodovar movie, the lives of these two very different women will become knotted in ways that most human minds will find mighty hard to untie. To sweeten the deal, Almodovar fills the screen with a seductive colour palette and a sensual production design that no set of eyes could possibly resist. Not the filmmaker’s greatest by a long shot, but his loyal followers won’t be worried by slight dips in quality and substance.
The one raising the woof
CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG
STREAM via BINGE, FOXTEL, PARAMOUNT+
A genuinely lovely and endearing re-entry into the Clifford universe, wherein once again we learn what it might be like to own a small puppy that inexplicably grows up to become a 4-metre-high pooch. In case you’ve never sampled the delights of the many Clifford books penned by the late Norman Bridwell, you should be made aware that caring for a giant, beetroot-red canine will always be a little bit stressful, moderately chaotic and a hell of a lot of fun. The hook to this new screen adaptation is that Cliffy is a very realistic-looking, special-effects-generated hound who interacts very convincingly with his live-action surrounds. Any child under the age of 8 will love this movie in a heartbeat. Parents assuming they will be bored rigid will be pleasantly surprised at how agreeable the whole spectacle can be. Starring Jack Whitehall, Darby Camp, John Cleese.
The one always on holiday, yet never takes a break
THE RESORT
STREAM via STAN
Unfortunately, at this point in time Stan is the only place you can stream what is rapidly evolving as one of the best limited series of 2022. While the tropical holiday setting dominating key artwork and trailers suggest we have a knock-off of The White Lotus on our hands here, the two productions could not be more different in tone, feel and structure. Crack open the first episode with next to no advance knowledge, and a trippily wild and unpredictable ride awaits. Here’s all you need to know: a vacationing married couple (Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper) stumble upon a mobile phone that has not been used in over a decade. Upon reactivating the device, they discover it once belonged to an American tourist who famously vanished without trace. What follows is a deeply engrossing, deceptively funny and refreshingly shapeshifting affair that brings something new and unforeseen to the table with every new instalment. There’s still episodes left in the series’ 8-part run, so get on board this bandwagon while it’s still passing through town (and word is yet to leak of what is sure to be a cracking finale). Co-stars Nick Offerman, Skyler Gisondo.
Originally published as Streaming guide: Best new movies to watch on Binge, Netflix, Amazon and more
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