Streaming guide: Worth conveys gravity of September 11 attacks

This Netflix movie is a worthy way of marking the anniversary of one of the most seismic events of our lifetime. Here are the best new movies to stream on Binge, Disney+ and more.

How can you put a price on life? Worth is a compelling drama about 9/11. Picture: AFP

Leigh Paatsch reviews the latest movies on Binge, Netflix, Disney+ and more.

The one where many names become a single number

WORTH (M)

★★★★

NETFLIX

With this weekend marking the twentieth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, here is a feature film which will convey the gravity of what remains one of the most seismic events of our lifetime. This quietly eloquent and undeniably compelling new drama begins by asking a rather unsavoury question of us all: what is the precise monetary value of a single human life? In the wake of the September 11 tragedy, it came down to one man to privately estimate, and then very publicly declare the financial worth of over 3000 people who died as a result. Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg (expertly played by Michael Keaton) was given the mercilessly thankless task of heading what became known as the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Together with key employees of his small firm, Feinberg had a tight deadline of two years in which to hear the stories of more than 10,000 people who lost someone in the attacks, and then somehow translate this painfully raw anecdotal evidence into an irrefutable final number on a printed page. An affecting tribute to the healing power of listening to those living with stories they fear will never, ever be heard.

Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci in Worth. Picture: Netflix

The one that is much better than number one

THE SUICIDE SQUAD (MA15+)

★★★★

RENT ONLY

This very recent cinema release has now hit all premium rental platforms (do not pay more than the market-average $29.99 price tag). This radical retooling of the 2016 DC Comics debacle Suicide Squad is an infinitely superior experience in all departments. Almost all characters from the original have been cut (save for a select few spearheaded by Margot Robbie’s delightfully demented psychopath Harley Quinn). However, the same storytelling blueprint remains: a motley crew of jailed supervillains must undertake a life-or-death mission for a sinister US surveillance agency. Idris Elba makes a brilliant contribution as Bloodsport, a hyper-skilled assassin who is the Squad’s reluctant new figurehead. En route to an epic end-of-movie smackdown with a self-duplicating creature that defies all description, Bloodsport will be joined by a fellow assassin in a shiny metal hat (John Cena), a young woman with a mystical command of rats (Daniela Melchior), a young man with a mystical command of polka dots (David Dastmalchian), and, umm, a walking, talking shark that sounds like exactly Sylvester Stallone (voiced by the man himself). A non-stop tornado of ideas, energy, imagination, craziness, craft and wit that leaves quite an awesome trail of destruction in its wake.

Margot Robbie in The Suicide Squad.

The one plugging into the power of positive drinking

ANOTHER ROUND (M)

★★★★

SBS ON DEMAND or RENT

News flash for arthouse movie buffs: you can now watch this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar winner for free at SBS! If you missed it in cinemas last summer, let me assure you it is a cracker. Some friends test a controversial theory that humans need a small and constant amount of alcohol in their bloodstream. To begin with, the signs are encouraging. The faint buzz that inflects the group’s behaviour brings improvements across the board. But wouldn’t you just know it? Someone gets the bright idea that increasing the grog intake will further accelerate the upward trend. Spoiler alert: it does not. As odd as it sounds, this is quite a beautiful, melancholy and emotionally astute movie, in ways that will gently take the viewer by surprise. An impressive and committed cast is led from the front by the great Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.

Another Round is this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar winner.

The one about a man of few words … and even fewer books

MY SALINGER YEAR (M)

★★★

FOXTEL or RENT (coming soon to BINGE)

This pleasantly flavoured trifle is based on the true(ish) story of Jo Rakoff, a writer whose first gig in the world of publishing is working as secretary to a well-connected literary agent. Jo (played by Margaret Qualley) finds herself profoundly influenced by her employer’s prize client: the famously reclusive American author J.D. Salinger. Sigourney Weaver sternly plays Jo’s boss as if to get a bit of a Devil Wears Prada vibe going. It doesn’t quite catch on, but it doesn’t really matter.

My Salinger Year is pleasantly flavoured trifle.

The one with (wise)cracks in its glass slippers

CINDERELLA (PG)

★★½

AMAZON PRIME

If you fell hopelessly in love with Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Showman for simply doubling down on the music, the mushy sentiment and the mindless razzamatazz of it all, this “new” adaptation of the greatest old-school fairy tale of them all will keep delivering more (and more, and more!) of the same. In a fair acting debut, popular Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello keeps us on-side with the title character as she looks to lift herself out of her dank basement by becoming a famous dressmaker. En route to making her dreams a reality – and stopping the show with a pre-midnight appearance at the Royal Ball – Cinders might also bag herself a hot young prince (Nicholas Gallitzin) as an added happily-ever-after bonus. But only if a meddling stepmum (Idina Menzel) and a crotchety King (Pierce Brosnan) can be kept in check. While some will find the comic tone a bit scattershot, an equally esoteric songbook (in which a few catchy originals sit alongside covers by the likes of Janet Jackson, The White Stripes and Salt-N-Pepa) actually works in the movie’s favour.

Camila Cabello and Nicholas Galitzine star in Cinderella. Picture: Amazon

The one that goes fast, and goes honourably

RACE (M)

★★★

SBS ON DEMAND

A quality sports biopic centred on the life, times and legacy of one of the greatest sprinters of all time, the legitimately legendary Jesse Owens. As those who know their history would rightly expect, the movie’s principal focus is the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where Owens’ prospects of proving himself the fastest man in the world raises the racist ire of the infamous dictator Adolf Hitler. Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk) makes a good fit for the unusual personality of Owens, as does Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) playing the athlete’s long-time coach and mentor, Larry Snyder.

Stephan James stars as Jesse Owens in Race.

The one keeping everything primitive and proper

EARLY MAN (PG)

★★★½

ABC IVIEW, FOXTEL, BINGE

This stand-alone adventure-comedy from the creators of Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep will not disappoint its target audience in any way. Kids will absolutely love the movie, 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.

Originally published as Streaming guide: Worth conveys gravity of September 11 attacks