Six movies to watch this week on Netflix, Foxtel Now, Stan and more
IT’S as close to a four-day weekend as you can get. So what better time to catch up on some of the best movies on Foxtel Now, Netflix, Stan, SBS on Demand and Amazon Prime.
Leigh Paatsch
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IT’S as close to a four-day weekend as you can get.
So what better time to catch up on some of the best offerings on Foxtel Now, Netflix, Stan, SBS on Demand and Amazon Prime — including a trashy but ripping heist flick, a wonderful alien sci-fi drama and memorable anime feature that’s not just for kids.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
ARRIVAL (M)
The one worth opening a door to
4/5
Stan, Netflix
Though stacked with visitors from another universe, don’t be arriving at Arrival expecting an alien invasion movie. For this is actually an alien translation movie.
These intergalactic interlopers are not here to overpower us. They are here to be understood by us. This rather wonderful science-fiction drama is very much a next-century companion piece to Steven Spielberg’s 1977 classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
For those with adventurous tastes or open minds, this should be recommendation enough to book a ticket at warp speed. Such people will not be disappointed in any way.
The story unfolds in the present day. A dozen alien craft have appeared at random locations around the globe. The Americans take the lead and board the vessel on their turf, appointing a linguistics expert (Amy Adams) and physicist (Jeremy Renner) to interpret what the visitors have to say.
Directed by in-form French Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Blade Runner 2049).
DEN OF THIEVES (MA15+)
The one which shouldn’t work, but does
3/5
Foxtel Now
Do the initial math on Den of Thieves, and there is no chance it will compute. At a duration of 140 minutes. this trashy, splashy heist thriller runs longer than most prestige arthouse movies.
Then there is leading man Gerard Butler, fresh from one of the stalest, stupidest event films in recent history, Geostorm. Factor in a first-time director, and a support cast comprised of relative unknowns (O’Shea Jackson Jr. from Straight Outta Compton might ring a faint bell), complete unknowns, and rapper 50 Cent, and there seems to be no chance this could possibly add up. And yet, it does. Sometimes in a fine, forceful style indeed.
While there are plenty of ear-shattering shootouts and bone-breaking fight scenes to give hardcore action fans the rush they demand, there is also a twisty, turny story, many well-defined characters and a ripping final-act bank robbery sequence to delve into should the mood take you. Butler plays an unorthodox and under-the-weather cop at loggerheads with the best crook in Los Angeles.
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (MA15+)
T he one that will make your day
4.5/5
Foxtel Now
Shot on a low budget with a (mostly) no-name cast, this beautiful, moving and unassumingly absorbing drama got lost inside a blizzard of great releases last summer. It was undoubtedly one of the best releases of 2017, and should be tracked down now you have the chance. The story unfolds over the first weeks of summer in Orlando, Florida, amid a ragged collection of rundown budget motels that flank the famous Walt Disney World theme park. At the ironically named Magic Castle, precocious 6-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince, a truly astonishing performance from one so young) is being raised to fend for herself by her struggling single mother, Halley (Bria Vinalte). Keeping what passes for a protective eye in this everyone-for-themselves part of the world is the property’s manager, Bobby (an Oscar-nominated Willem Dafoe). Your abiding memory here will be that of little Moonee, still finding a way to happily float through childhood, even if the river ahead through life looks like running dry.
YOUR NAME (PG)
The one that reveals a new anime master
4/5
Netflix
The name of Japanese animator Makoto Shinkai has been touted as the heir apparent to the retired Studio Ghibli master Hayao Miyazaki.
If Shinkai’s latest glorious feature is anything to go by, his expected elevation to such lofty heights is virtually complete. An oddly-affecting body-swap adventure — imagine Freaky Friday passing through the spectral filter of Miyazaki’s classic Spirited Away — sees a rural teenage girl and a Tokyo boy inexplicably taking over each other’s beings on certain days.
THE WALL (MA15+)
The one that holds up under heavy fire
3.5/5
Amazon Prime
Here is a war movie every bit as different as the great Dunkirk, reduced to the most minimal scale possible. While The Wall is not in the same league as Dunkirk, it is not without its unique merits considering its brutally simple approach. In 2007, America’s war on terror in Iraq has been announced as officially over. However, many highly militant, heavily armed holdouts are yet to get the memo, and are merrily attacking US troops at random.
In a remote stretch of desert, two US soldiers have become target practice for a rogue Iraqi sniper. The marksman (John Cena) of the duo has already been hit, and is lying exposed in the blistering heat. His spotter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has cover behind the remnants of a brick wall, and limited means with which to turn the tables on the hidden enemy. Short, sharp and shocking stuff, with an unexpected ending well worth sticking around for. Directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity).
I, DANIEL BLAKE (M)
The one that puts a black line through red tape
4.5/5
Sbs on Demand
From Britain, a socially astute and incisive comedy-drama that can go from uplifting to gut-wrenching in the blink of an eye.
As he has always done, master filmmaker Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) simply sticks to carving off a slice of life as authentically as he possibly can, and then lets the remarkably realistic results speak for themselves. The title character is a 59-year-old Newcastle carpenter sidelined by a recent heart attack. Though his doctor has advised him to wait a few months before returning to duty, an absurd loophole in the benefits system forces Daniel (played to perfection by stand-up comic Dave Johns) to spend his days hustling for jobs his severe condition will not allow him to accept.
… and the one that should come with an antidote
MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE (M)
1.5/5
Foxtel Now
This trilogy-closer for author James Dashner’s Maze Runner saga takes almost two and a half hours to wrap up a turgid tale of fugitive ‘teens’ (mostly played by actors well into their twenties) scurrying from both the long arm of an evil corporation and the limb-loosening ravages of a zombie virus.
With all that time at their disposal, it comes as a complete surprise (and inconvenience) that the filmmakers don’t even bother to remind viewers where the story left off.
Stars Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario.
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