Best movie of the year contender perfect lockdown viewing

Emma Stone as Cruella stands as one of the best films of the year so far and lockdown is the perfect time to watch it. Here are the best new movies to stream.

A best film of the year contender from Disney, a dystopian juggernaut on Binge or a documentary decoding an acting enigma – these are just some of your options to stream during lockdown.

The one that looks the goods and delivers the goods

CRUELLA (PG)

★★★★

DISNEY+ or RENT

If you have Disney+, please note you no longer have to pay a premium surcharge of thirty bucks or so (however, if you’re renting on another platform, the big sting still applies).

Visually striking, fashionably astute and all-embracingly entertaining, this dynamic production stands as one of the finest pieces of mainstream filmmaking of the year so far.

In a clever new expansion of her backstory, the legendary 101 dalmatians diva Cruella DeVil (played to perfection by Emma Stone) is introduced in the mid-1960s as the linchpin of a young gang of London pickpockets.

A decade later, Cruella seizes an unlikely chance to go legit when her fascination with fashion design lands her a level-entry gig with the hottest clothing label in town.

As fate would have it, the head of this prestige house of couture, the impossibly imperious Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson), also had a hand in causing the tragic death of Cruella’s mother.

The best point of comparison for the level of excellence Cruella holds and maintains as a movie is the high standard set by the Paddington pictures from a few years back. Great stuff.

Val Kilmer in VAL.

The one that decodes an acting enigma

VAL (M)

★★★½

AMAZON

This unique and unexpectedly moving documentary portrait of actor Val Kilmer has been painted by the subject himself.

Not in that he directed the doco, or leaned on some friends to say the right things. No, Kilmer fastidiously recorded and hoarded everything he ever did as a performer.

From his teenage years as a star in the making to his twilight years as a man in decline, there has always been a camera of some kind rolling in the background as Kilmer lived his life.

Now that he can no longer use his voice (the result of a recent battle with throat cancer), all that video footage taken on the fly must now do all the talking for Val Kilmer.

And as he looks back over his life, it is clear that there is some explaining to be done.

At several junctures in his career – such as just after Top Gun, or just before Batman Forever – Kilmer was poised to join Hollywood’s elite as a true superstar. However, a famously ‘difficult’ personality, some strange role choices and an obsession with exploring the outer limits of his craft dashed all hope of hitting the big time.

So in many ways, this raw and revelatory doco is an accounting of how Kilmer exploited his considerable natural talent: how much of it was realised, and how much of it was wasted.

The one where getting old means getting square

HONEST THIEF (M)

★★★

FOXTEL OR RENT

And there you were thinking a pesky little something like a global pandemic was going to break the supply chain of Liam Neeson revenge thrillers.

Not going to happen in this lifetime.

This latest one doesn’t rack up the body count of say, a Taken sequel. Nor does it simply play to Mr Neeson’s particular set of skills when it comes to looking overstressed, overtired and over 60.

Old Liam plays Tom Dolan, a celebrated bank robber known for much of his career as ‘The In and Out Burglar’.

Having found the love of a good woman, Annie (Kate Walsh), Tom finds himself striking a deal with the feds to go legit.

Bureau chief Sam Baker (Robert Patrick) puts two of his best men on the case to sort out the finer details. And he could not have made two worse choices: Agents Nevins (Jai Courtney) and Hall (Anthony Ramos) need a stooge to frame for murder, and a career con like Tom fits the bill perfectly.

What follows is punchy, crunchy, mid-strength pulp which doesn’t take itself all that seriously, and is all the better for it.

The entire collection of The Hunger Games movies are available to stream on Binge.

The one that’s got the dystopian lot

THE HUNGER GAMES COLLECTION (M)

★★★½

BINGE

Binge has now rounded up all instalments of a compelling action series depicting a future where poverty-stricken youth must battle to the death as televised entertainment for the rich. Jennifer Lawrence’s portrayal of renegade teen heroine Katniss Everdeen is the reason why this franchise remains a monster.

You will follow her every hurried, hunted and haunted step of the way.

Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen in Long Shot.

The one where an odd couple makes sense

LONG SHOT (M)

★★★

FOXTEL or RENT

Charlize Theron is an elite US politician poised to become the first female President, and Seth Rogen is the hoodie-wearing huffer of hooch inexplicably fated to be her next boyfriend.

Somehow, this unlikely rom-com set-up snatches real and lasting laughs from the jaws of improbability on a consistent basis.

Largely thanks to the strong, opposites-attract chemistry of the two leads.

Toni Collette and Di Botcher in Dream Horse.

The one that hits the winning post with a smile

DREAM HORSE (PG)

★★★

RENTAL (premium surcharge)

This unapologetically uplifting feel-good flick is a clever combo of the only-at-the-races and the only-in-the-movies.

Based on a true story that still has thoroughbred racing fans scratching their heads, Dream Horse follows a remarkable Welsh woman named Jan Vokes (a delightful Toni Collette).

Despite her experience of any type of racing being confined solely to homing pigeons, Jan decides she will conquer the turf with a noble steed she will breed herself.

From this small beginning, a big plan is hatched, and virtually everybody in Jan’s home village comes along for a ride that will take them all the way to finish line of the Grand National Hurdle.

Co-stars Damian Lewis.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at special screening of The Beatles Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years. Picture: AFP

The one that loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah

THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK – THE TOURING YEARS (M)

★★★

SBS ON DEMAND

A quality doco covering the first half of The Beatles’ hit-making, youth-quaking career.

Gently tapping the sides of a cast-iron chronology familiar to even casual Fab Four fans, the film starts with the global outbreak of incurable Beatlemania (circa 1962), and ends with the decision to never set foot on a stadium stage again (1966).

The must-see factor here is the rare (and top-notch) performance footage, further boosted by better sound mixing and syncing than experienced before.