Streaming guide: New movies and shows on Netflix, Binge and more

Here’s what happens when Netflix gives the team behind Avengers: Endgame a $200 million budget and a pair of major stars. Leigh Paatsch rates the latest movies to stream.

Leigh Paatch runs the rule over the new shows and movies on Netflix, Binge, Amazon Prime and more.

The one that’s anything but black-and-white

THE GRAY MAN (MA15+)

★★★

STREAM via NETFLIX

Here’s what happens when Netflix gives the filmmaking team behind Avengers: Endgame (brothers Anthony and Joe Russo) a 200-million-plus budget, and the blessing to do as they please. Turns out they wouldn’t mind making a bombastically over-the-top action movie, and to make a good thing of it, have coaxed the hard-to-get Ryan Gosling out of semi-retirement to spearhead the thing. While The Gray Man is decidedly disposable fare, it does not mean certain scenes won’t be lodging themselves in your memory for some time to come. In fact, the set-piece action sequences are as audacious and exciting as it gets these days (the absolute standouts are an extended chase-fight routine aboard a commuter tram, and a dazzling combat scene aboard a plane about to crash). Plot-wise, a muddled yet pleasing set-up pitches Gosling as Six, a Jason Bourne-ish black-ops specialist who is increasingly on the outs with a government agency that once loved his work. All narrative tangents will collide at a climactic showdown between Six and his mortifying polar opposite, a private-contractor killer named Lloyd (Chris Evans in fine, scene-thieving form). Forgive the movie for occasionally crossing the too-violent line, and a gripping good time is to be had here. Co-stars Ana de Armas, Billy Bob Thornton.

Ryan Gosling as Six in The Gray Man. Picture: Netflix

The one with peak Peter Parker

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (M)

★★★★½

STREAM via BINGE, FOXTEL, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO; or RENT

After a booming run in cinemas and as a premium rental, one of the finer Marvel-made movies of the past decade is now finally migrating to regular streaming services. The ultra-arresting initial premise of the No Way Home plot was forged back at the dramatic conclusion of 2019’s Far from Home. The whole world is now completely and utterly aware of Spider-Man’s true identity. Which means what little was normal about Peter Parker’s life has been shredded by the instant notoriety and public furore. While the good Doctor does have a mystic trick up his sleeves that stands a chance of wiping the world’s memory of an unmasked Spider-Man, it also unlocks a few doorways to alternate dimensions through which will step some familiar, yet highly unwelcome figures. You think you already have a Ph.D. in all things Peter Parker and Spider-Man? A few shock twists and some sobering turns in No Way Home will have you questioning your credentials in the best possible way.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of the best Marvel movies in a decade.

The one going crazy on the phone

UNSANE (MA15+)

★★★½

STREAM via NETFLIX or RENT

An attention-grabbing thriller boasting both one hell of a gimmick (it was shot entirely on an iPhone) and one hellish premise (the nightmare of not being able to leave somewhere you never should have been). Claire Foy (star of the Netflix series The Crown) stars as Sawyer, a nervy young woman still reeling from a bad experience with a stalker. While in search of a new therapist to treat an ongoing trauma, Sawyer finds herself accidentally committed to a private psychiatric facility. The more she protests her predicament, the longer her unsympathetic handlers extend her stay. Can it get any worse? Well, there’s a new male nurse on staff who Sawyer believes is her stalker. Then again, it could just be a figment of the potent medication pumped into her. The rustic, stressfully up-close shooting style of director Steven Soderbergh (Logan Lucky) does work over the viewer good and proper. Whether it papers over some rather large holes in the plot will be the maker or breaker for some, however.

Unsane was shot entirely on an iPhone.

The one where the ‘busters make a proper return

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE (PG)

★★★

STREAM via BINGE, FOXTEL from Sat July 30; or RENT

Forget all about that ropey reboot from 2016 with Melissa McCarthy. All that is needed here is the faintest working knowledge of the 1980s box-office blockbusters Ghostbusters I and II. Does that mean there will be sightings of original franchise superstars such as Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd? Yes, there will. However, to plug into the plentiful supply of nostalgia Afterlife is guaranteed to generate, there is a modernised plot to move past. Think of the updated storyline as vegetables that must be consumed so you can get to the dessert, and all will be fine. The movie commences in the wake of the passing of original ‘Buster Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis). His estranged daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) has journeyed to his Oklahoma farm to settle his estate, aided by her teenage kids Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard). Local science teacher Chad Grooberson (Paul Rudd) takes an interest in both Callie and the Ghostbuster gizmos her kids have found, just in time for everyone (and I mean, everyone) to engage in a supernatural battle with a spectral presence that wants to end the world. File away all you see here as ‘fun at the time and forgotten tomorrow.

Mckenna Grace and Podcast Logan Kim in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Picture: Columbia Pictures

The one that’s different to every other one

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (MA15+)

★★★½

RENT only

This hyper-innovative thrill-ride of a movie enjoyed a longer-than-expected run in Australian cinemas recently, purely based on an overwhelmingly positive word-of-mouth. Now audiences at home can check out what all the fuss is about. As many pundits have had to admit, this maverick production is near impossible to accurately describe. Let’s just agree it draws elements of science fiction, martial arts, family values and that ever-expanding storytelling device known as the multiverse, and then throws the whole lot in a blender. It all starts with Michelle Yeoh as a housewife struggling to save her family and career, and later, tasks her with saving the entire world. Wild, wired stuff. (Pay no more than $5.99 on your preferred rental platform.)

Everything Everywhere All At Once is a hyper-innovative thrill-ride.

The one to stay well away from

THE MAN FROM TORONTO (M)

★½

STREAM via NETFLIX

A feeble action comedy which at best summons a semi-tedious vibe that may send some late-night viewers straight to sleep. At worst, the whole this is a yappy, crappy car crash that fails to get any lasting laughs from a leading man here for the pay cheque (Kevin Hart) or a co-star who couldn’t care less (Woody Harrelson was cast a the last minute to replace Jason Statham). All you need to know is that there will be not much mistaken-identity mirth to be had from a set-up where a failing salesman (Hart) keeps crossing paths with an elite hitman (Harrelson). Filmed way back in 2019, and there’s good reason why it’s taken this long to see the light of day: it’s simply no good.