Leigh Paatsch’s guide on what to stream this weekend
One of the biggest hits of the past year leads a fresh crop of films and docos you can stream this weekend. Check out Leigh Paatsch’s guide.
Leigh Paatsch
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It took the box office by storm and now Bradley Cooper’s and Lady Gaga’s smash hit can be watched from the comfort of your couch.
Here’s your guide to what’s on offer across the streaming services this weekend.
THE ONE TO GET YOU GOING GAGA
A STAR IS BORN (M) ****1/2
FOXTEL STORE, ITUNES
Now available to rent at home, one of the great all-round movie experiences of the past year.
It might be the fourth time Hollywood has cracked this melodramatic chestnut, but this is no mere modern cover version humming the same old tune.
LEIGH PAATSCH FILM REVIEWS:
COLD PURSUIT STARRING LIAM NEESON
RUTH BADER GINSBERG BIOPIC ON THE BASIS OF SEX
HUGH JACKMAN IN THE FRONTRUNNER
Making a brilliant debut as director, Bradley Cooper has rearranged a well-known melody into a fresh, exciting and moving new composition.
There is one voice above all else emitting a sound so sweet, sorrowful and soulful that resistance is all but impossible.
It is that of famous pop diva Lady Gaga, making an astonishing feature lead acting debut in the role of Ally, an aspiring singer-songwriter who catches the ear and heart of a troubled roots rock musician (Cooper again).
While Gaga’s uncharacteristically raw musical performances here are first class, her dramatic performance is just as impressive.
The first-timer exudes a natural warmth and unforced emotional authenticity that would be beyond the grasp of most seasoned pros. A resolute triumph in all departments.
THE ONE WITH POWER … AND PASSION
MIDNIGHT OIL 1984 (M) ****
STAN
For the seminal Australian rock band Midnight Oil, the year of 1984 was at once a turning point, a launch pad and a broadening of ambition.
In this exciting new documentary, we are catapulted in a rough-and-ready time machine to the era in the Oils’ vibrant history where they were already at the height of their powers.
While definitely one of the most electrifying and incendiary live acts on the planet, we here in Australia still had them all to ourselves.
The world would later catch on to the band’s unique sound — a potent blend of dynamics and doctrines — and buy their records in the millions.
For now, however, the Sydney-based five-piece were big fish in a small pond, fiercely determined to make a splash on their terms, by their own rules.
The rabble-rousing ripple effect issued by the Oils in full flight is captured starkly by the doco, channelling that supercharged command only Midnight Oil could summon and hold over every crowd they played for in 1984.
THE ONE THAT GOES FULL THROTTLE
THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS (M) ***1/2
FOXTEL NOW, NETFLIX
Dom (Vin Diesel) has abandoned Team Toretto for a sinister computer hacker. Some dangerous gadgets will fall in and out of the wrong hands.
The future of the planet will be called into question. And a lot of stuff will be blown up. Or sent to the panel beaters.
Best of all, the showpiece action sequences (ever seen a car chase which includes a nuclear sub?) keep switching from incredible to insane with ridiculous ease. Co-stars Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham.
THE ONE WHERE THE WAR IS NEVER QUITE OVER
BEIRUT (MA15+) ***
FOXTEL NOW, STAN
This well-written (if messily staged) political thriller is a tale of one city in two very different guises.
First up, there is the laid-back bohemian splendour of Beirut in 1972. Life in this beautiful Lebanese city is relished to the hilt by Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm), an American diplomat seemingly born to host cocktail parties at sunset on an embassy balcony.
One tragic terrorist attack and a deep dive inside the bottle later, and the year is suddenly 1982.
A war-torn Beirut is no longer recognisable, and the same goes for a burnt-out Skiles.
Having vowed he would never return to Lebanon, Stiles reluctantly changes his mind when forced to take the lead in defusing an explosive hostage situation that could set the Middle East alight. Co-stars Rosamund Pike.
THE ONE WITH NAZIS, BOOKS … AND SPUDS
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY (M) **1/2
FOXTEL NOW
A perfectly pleasant ball of period-era fluff which drifts attractively across the screen, but may not be landing in your memory for long.
The year is 1946, and the dainty little Channel Island of Guernsey is back under British rule after German occupation during WWII.
Meanwhile, in London, an author of dainty little books wishes to write something of substance.
Juliet Ashton (Lily James) is poised to become the J.K. Rowling of her day until, against the advice of her publisher, she suddenly makes tracks for Guernsey to research a story near, dear and painfully tender to a small community there. Co-stars Matthew Goode, Penelope Wilton.
THE ONE THAT DEMANDS JUSTICE
THE TALL MAN (M) ***1/2
SBS ON DEMAND
A brilliant and absorbing documentary based on the award-winning book by Chloe Hooper.
The film takes a long, hard and often worrying look at an indigenous death in custody that dominated headlines in Queensland for several years.
What exactly happened to the late Cameron Doomadgee for the 45 minutes he was under police arrest on Palm Island remains a mystery to this day.
However, the impact of his tragic death and what it continues to say about race relations in this country is driven home powerfully by director Tony Krawitz.
Many directly involved with the case — with the all-too-notable exception of local police — speak their minds with disarming frankness.
THE ONE THAT DEMANDS YOU SWITCH OFF IMMEDIATELY
VELVET BUZZSAW (M) **
NETFLIX
One of those productions that should work because of the sheer level of talent involved, but does not because that talent is never put to the right use.
A weird, wordy and wonky hybrid of contemporary art satire and horror-movie hack-’em-up, Velvet Buzzsaw was right to stack the deck with proven players such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Toni Collette, John Malkovich and Rene Russo.
However, filmmaker Dan Gilroy (reteaming with Gyllenhaal and Russo after their brilliant Nightcrawler collaboration in 2014) keeps steering his cast in the wrong direction. The parody of pretentious arty types is too arch, and not all that original.
As for the horror stuff, again too arch, and not all that scary. Gyllenhaal plays a much-feared critic who thinks he has stumbled upon one of the great undiscovered painters of the modern era.
Collette and Russo are cynical dealers who also want a cut of the action while the hype is still heating up.
After the haggling commences, so too does a series of murders involving anyone wanting in on the deals. Disappointing.
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