What to stream on Netflix, Foxtel Now and Stan this week
THERE might be a giant footy-sized hole in your weekend, but there’s a wealth of great movies to fill the gap. Leigh Paatsch runs the rule over the new movies to stream this week.
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THERE might be a giant footy-sized hole in your weekend, but there’s a wealth of great movies to stream.
So don’t wander aimlessly around Netflix or Foxtel Now looking for something to watch. Here are the best (and worst) new movies to stream this week.
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The one so good about a movie so bad
THE DISASTER ARTIST (M) ****
NETFLIX, FOXTEL NOW
Not so much a biopic as a why?-opic — and all the funnier for it — this is the true story of the most successful failed filmmaker of all time, Mr Tommy Wiseau. If that name rings a bell, it could only be because of his notorious 2003 debut feature The Room, a bizarre vanity project which Wiseau wrote, directed, produced, starred in and personally financed (for a sum believed to be in excess of six million dollars).
The end result was an incoherent shambles, which grossed less than $2000 at the box-office and swiftly disappeared. Make that almost disappeared. The Room slowly but surely found a following as “the Citizen Kane of bad movies” and has since become a staple of late-night cult cinema programming across the globe. While little more than a genial re-staging of how Wiseau (played by James Franco, who also directs here) accidentally constructed The Room into a classic clunker, the big laughs and bad decisions never let up. Co-stars Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Alison Brie.
The ones that keep pulse rates up … and never let you down
THE MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE COLLECTION (M) ****
FOXTEL NOW
One of the biggest surprises in the world of movies in 2018 has been that the latest Mission: Impossible adventure would turn out to be one of the best releases of the year. However, if you take a closer look at Tom Cruise’s long-running action franchise, you will acknowledge it has maintained impressive standards from start to finish. Foxtel has now become the home for all thing M:I, rounding up all instalments (with the exception of the recent box-office hit Fallout) for closer inspection. The 1996 series opener has held up very well, while 2011’s Ghost Protocol is arguably every bit as great as Fallout. The only real dud on the books is Mission: Impossible II (shamefully, the one where the franchise came to Australia).
The one that proves this Jane was never plain
JANE FONDA IN FIVE ACTS (M) ****1/2
FOXTEL NOW
Now 80 years of age, Jane Fonda has both enjoyed and endured a life of so many distinct phases that dividing her biography into a mere five sections doesn’t quite seem adequate. Nevertheless, this deep-digging documentary produced by HBO does deliver a clear and unapologetically honest portrait of Fonda that has been long overdue. It is vital to note — especially if you are a fan of her movies — that the doco is principally focusing on the person, not the performer. Therefore mentions of her finest acting works are fleeting, rushed even. However, there has always been so much going on in Fonda’s world away from the movies that a muted celebration of her talent barely matters. The doco is particularly strong at evoking Fonda’s difficult relationship with her iconic father Henry, her regrets over how she handled her activism against the Vietnam War, her unforeseen reign as the queen of home-video fitness, and the many powerful men that kept trying to possess and silence her. Two hours of your time very well spent.
The one that takes a swing … and connects
SOUTHPAW (MA15+) ***
GOOGLE, ITUNES
Boxing movies have been around so long that everyone accepts they are not honour-bound to re-invent any wheels. But they must do everything in their power to keep those wheels spinning. If Southpaw gets that job done while completing a familiar riches-to-rags-to-redemption trajectory, it is all because of its lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal. His is a heavyweight performance in an otherwise junior-middleweight affair. Gyllenhaal plays Billy Hope, a former undefeated champ who loses more than just his perfect record in the troubled twilight of his career. The obligatory final-act comeback from oblivion does not turn out to matter nearly as much as the small mercies Billy learns to appreciate while lifting himself off life’s canvas once again. Co-stars Rachel McAdams, 50 Cent, Forest Whitaker.
The one that thinks small and looms large
DOWNSIZING (M) ****
FOXTEL NOW, ITUNES
An unconventional, yet accessible movie experience founded, quite literally, upon a little idea writ large. A spellbinding first act lays down the ground rules of a fascinating concept: to solve the planet’s overpopulation problem, people can volunteer to be medically miniaturised to a size of 12cm. Those who sign up to join this new world of mass reduction get to live out their days in absolute luxury on special microscopic housing estates. As with any promise of all mod cons, there must be some hidden cons buried somewhere in the fine print, right? The fella positioned to find this out on our behalf is a regular working Joe named Paul (Matt Damon). Though Downsizing has been described in some quarters as a satirical comedy, that is, dare I say, selling the whole thing short. The pure ambition of the story — and the inquisitive and contemplative manner in which it is told — is laced with a sincerity that is rare in a Hollywood production. Co-stars Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz. Written and directed by Alexander Payne (Nebraska, Sideways).
The one that unwraps its presents early
THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS (PG) ***
FOXTEL NOW, GOOGLE
Is it too early to be settling in for a Christmas movie already? Well, at least make a point of bookmarking this pleasant Yuletide yarn for viewing closer to the big day. It is 1843, and legendary British author Charles Dickens (played by Dan Stevens) is enduring the worst slump of his prolific career. Against all advice, Dickens decides his next work will be an old-fashioned Christmas story. The end result, of course, will be one of Dickens’ greatest works, A Christmas Carol. However, with a deadline looming and distractions everywhere, Dickens’ nightly struggles with a deathly case of writer’s block sees him painfully drawing on personal experience for inspiration more than ever before. Co-stars Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce.
The one that loads up on style and leaves out the substance
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (M) **1/2
GOOGLE, ITUNES
Hollywood has never been able to resist making a pass at any old TV show. There is rarely much true love in the room for the end result. Inevitably, the tryst ends in tears. Or yawns. So here we have on-again-off-his-rocker-again filmmaker Guy Ritchie (coming off a few good Sherlock Holmes flicks) reheating a Cold War concept that rated its socks off on the box over 50 years ago. While this is a very attractively designed action movie, those good looks aren’t enough to stop you noticing your pulse rate isn’t exactly rising in a hurry. The setting sits smack-bang in the middle of the 1960s, where super-suave US secret agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) joins forces with his uncool-and-unhinged KGB counterpart Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) to clean up some bad business involving dirty nukes. Meanwhile, a beautiful East German motor mechanic (Alicia Vikander) stands idly by in some spectacularly groovy retro outfits. Select action sequences are sublimely executed, but there’s too few of ‘em, really.
Originally published as What to stream on Netflix, Foxtel Now and Stan this week
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