Streaming guide: What to watch this weekend
Joaquin Phoenix is a revelation in Joker, cinema’s greatest living everyman Tom Hanks will have you buckling up in Sully, and gripping World War II drama 13 Minutes will keep you on the edge of your seats. See what’s worth streaming this weekend.
Leigh Paatsch
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THE ONE WITH A PERFORMANCE YOU WILL NEVER FORGET
JOKER (MA15+)
*****
FOXTEL, AMAZON
One of the most significant, original and searingly divisive releases of the past year draws its electrifying power from one of the great transformative performances of this current decade. Even if you believe acclaimed past interpretations of The Joker by Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson have completely filled in all blanks of this iconic, irredeemably insane character, Joaquin Phoenix’s incredible portrayal will still come as a revelation. Phoenix isolates a void in The Joker between the breaking of the man and the making of a menace to society. What he finds there will rattle you incessantly, no matter how comfy your seat. As for the movie housing this breathtaking acting feat, it is both an origin story for The Joker, and an original story with no ties to any Batman-badged production you have seen before. If anything, first-wave films of Martin Scorsese such as Taxi Driver and King of Comedy are the lasting influence on a chilling descent into madness set in a grotty Gotham City of the early 1980s. Stunning stuff. Co-stars Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz.
THE ONE WHERE THERE’S A WILL, BUT NOT ALWAYS A WAY
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA (PG)
**1/2
NETFLIX
It has been a long, long time since prolific US funnyman Will Ferrell gave us a comedy that delivered on all fronts. In fact, it would not be unfair to assume the big fella’s best is well and truly behind him. His latest effort goes OK when it merely echoes the wanton weirdness and absurdity of Ferrell classics such as Anchorman and Talladega Nights. As the title here indicates, this comedy takes place in the alternate entertainment reality of the Eurovision Song Contest (which co-operated with Ferrell’s production company to get this big-budget love letter to the event made). Ferrell and a well-cast Rachel McAdams plays Lars and Sigrit, a hapless musical duo who accidentally become Iceland’s official Eurovision entry. The real, genuine laughs are widely spaced here, and the musical sequences never quite amuse or entertain like an actual Eurovision oddity might. Overall, a nice enough effort, but hardly necessary. Co-stars Pierce Brosnan.
THE ONE WHERE TOM HANKS SAVES THE DAY
SULLY (M) ***1/2
NETFLIX, STAN
Obey those seat belt lights overhead, and buckle up for one of the great moments in aviation history. If not for the quick thinking of veteran American pilot Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, it would definitely have been one of the worst moments. On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 completed a regulation takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Just six minutes later, the Airbus A320 carrying 155 passengers and crew had come to a standstill in the middle of the Hudson River. Incredibly, all aboard survived. While director Clint Eastwood has a great story to work with in terms of pure quality, quantity could have been a problem (Sullenberger only had three minutes to put the bird in the drink). Luckily, the filmmaker was smart enough to cast Tom Hanks, cinema’s greatest living everyman, as the modest and unassuming Sully. A no-frills, low-thrills tale of heroism that quietly draws just the right levels of admiration and inspiration from the viewer.
THE ONE THAT’S PREHISTORICALLY HYSTERICAL
EARLY MAN (PG) ***1/2
FOXTEL NOW, NETFLIX
Kids will absolutely love this clay-mated comedy from the creators of Shaun the Sheep, which jams both cleverness and silliness into every frame. An unashamedly madcap (but never too manic) story tracks the heroic exploits of Dug (voiced by Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne), a primitive hunter-gatherer who will need to become mankind’s first soccer star if he is to save his village from destruction. Historically, the movie is all over the shop, mixing and matching its Stone Ages, Bronze Ages and significant prehistoric milestones (including the invention of, err, sliced bread) to suit itself. Hysterically, the whole thing makes perfectly imperfect sense. Co-stars Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams.
THE ONE WITH A GIFT THAT SHOULD BE CAREFULLY UNWRAPPED
BLACK CHRISTMAS (M)
***
RENT VIA FOXTEL STORE, GOOGLE PLAY, APPLE TV, YOUTUBE MOVIES
The setting is an American college campus, largely vacated due to the Christmas break. Within the walls of an all-female sorority house, the residents gradually notice their slender numbers are being further reduced by an unknown menace. Is it one of the boys from one of the rambunctious frats down the street? Or might it be a serial killer with no real motive other than a pronounced dislike of smart young women? A clever fusing of regulation horror tropes with contemporary #MeToo and #TimesUp themes keeps you thinking while your pulse is pounding. Stars Imogen Poots.
THE ONE THAT COULD HAVE STOPPED WORLD WAR 2
13 MINUTES
***
SBS ON DEMAND
The title is of the utmost significance in this intermittently compelling German factual drama. In 1939, Georg Elser (Christian Friedel) had the opportunity to powerfully change the course of 20th history. However, the bomb he had rigged to kill Adolf Hitler did not detonate until after the Nazi dictator had left the building. The film focuses largely on the torrid interrogation of Elser by the Gestapo, who refuse to believe this unremarkable clockmaker could have acted alone.
THE ONE THAT THAT CAN’T CAPITALISE ON A NOVEL IDEA
THE GOLDFINCH (M)
*1/2
NETFLIX and other selected services.
A dreary, deep and meaningless adaptation of Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Makes its audience work too hard for too little return, with static performances and unnecessarily coded scripting further compounding the frustration of the book’s many admirers. The story begins with the bombing of an art gallery, an event which continues to ruin and reshape the fortunes of a young man who survived the ordeal. Watch out for that bum-numbing running time of 150 minutes! Stars Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Luke Wilson, Finn Wolfhard.
Originally published as Streaming guide: What to watch this weekend