Streaming guide: The best new shows and movies on Netflix, Binge, Disney+ and more
We Own This City is one of the best TV shows of 2022 and a crime drama up there with The Wire. These are the best new shows and movies to stream on Netflix, Binge and more.
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The one where the law does not apply to itself
WE OWN THIS CITY (MA15+)
★★★★★
STREAM VIA FOXTEL, BINGE
We’re only a few episodes in, and this astonishing true-crime drama miniseries has already cemented its place as one of the best small-screen works of 2022. This is the relatively fresh and utterly astonishing true story of Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), a supposedly elite police unit which somehow became a perfectly camouflaged flagship for organised crime and corruption. Abusing the impunity they were handed by Baltimore authorities to rid the city of weapons, drugs and dirty money, the GTTF became mobile judges, juries and executioners, often ransacking their own crime scenes for their own profit. If anyone tried to blow the whistle on ’em, the GTTF were also expert in the dark arts of framing and silencing any potential accusers. It is incredible to think this decade-long stretch of government-funded terror ended less than five years ago. This is the work of decorated showrunners David Simon and George Pelecanos, and it is right up there with The Wire as some of the best stuff they will ever do. Highly, heavily recommended. Stars Jon Bernthal.
The one where a masterpiece faces a major crisis
THE OFFER (M)
★★★½
STREAM VIA PARAMOUNT+
A consistently entertaining retelling of the momentous story behind the making of one of the greatest movies of all time. Film buffs are undoubtedly the target audience for this well-assembled miniseries, which dishes on all the trials, tribulations, tantrums and triumphs that were generated during the gestation of The Godfather in 1972. The series frames its funkily fascinating tale through the eyes of its up-and-coming producer Albert Ruddy (Miles Teller), a determined, if deluded young creative who wasn’t expecting such a hard time from hauling Mario Puzo’s epic Mafia novel to the big screen. Squeezing ten whole episodes from the yarn might be a little overambitious, but there is plenty of good stuff happening to keep Godfather tragics riveted. A quality cast includes Dan Fogler as director Francis Ford Coppola, Matthew Good as studio chief Robert Evans, and a scene-stealing Anthony Ippolito as the young, hungry and insecure Al Pacino. Ted Lasso’s Juno Temple co-stars as Ruddy’s redoubtable right-hand woman Bettye McCart.
The one where the ick factor steadily rises
OUR FATHER (M)
★★★½
STREAM VIA NETFLIX
A thoroughly disturbing true-crime doco about a bizarre case that was only resolved in the US a few years ago. In his career prime, Indianapolis doctor Donald Cline enjoyed a nationally respected reputation as a fertility specialist who got the results that desperately childless couples were after. Just exactly how Cline achieved those results might never have been revealed had a woman named Jacoba Ballard not taken an online DNA test in 2014. Jacoba not only discovered she had fiver half-siblings she had never heard of before. A little amateur detective work also uncovered that the group shared the same father: none other than the reprehensible Dr Cline. It gets worse. Much, much worse. By waging a relentless one-woman campaign to find out what the hell was happening, the admirable Jacoba eventually finds proof that Cline used his own samples to secretly father almost 100 offspring of artificially inseminated origin. Though the doco is produced to mirror aspects of a fictional horror movie, it is really the dogged digital paper chase started by Jacoba Ballard that truly saddens, maddens and inspires here. Oh, and stick around for how the US court system decided to deal with Cline. You will be saddened and maddened, but in no way inspired by the final verdict.
The one that pops the question pleasingly
MARRY ME (PG)
★★★
RENT ONLY
It comes as a pleasant surprise to report that this weapons-grade rom-com turns out to be a darn sight better than many will be expecting. While the premise is definitely ridiculous, the manner in which it is depicted somehow comes across as endearingly believable, and is undeniably fun. So what would happen if one of the biggest pop stars in the world decided to marry someone she had never met before? Someone who isn’t even a fan, and just happened to be in the crowd at one of her concerts when she popped the big question? Told you that premise was ridiculous. Nevertheless, starring leads Jennifer Lopez (as Kat Valdez, global superstar) and Owen Wilson (as Charlie Gilbert, maths teacher) sell the situation to viewers in a convincing fashion. The key is the pair’s subtle, laid-back chemistry, which clicks into place from the first scenes, and has you urging them to stay together as the finale looms. Sure, this isn’t challenging, groundbreaking stuff. It’s a rom-com, remember? However, in terms of putting smiles on dials and lovey-dovey thoughts in heads, the mission is well and truly accomplished here. A quality support cast includes Sarah Silverman (Charlie’s best bud) and Colombian pop star Maluma (Kat’s conniving ex).
The one that holds you near, and not so deer
ANTLERS (MA15+)
★★★½
STREAM via DISNEY+, FOXTEL
A genuinely haunting horror movie which revels in the slightly suggested, rather than the directly depicted. That old saying about what you can’t see won’t hurt you? It counts for nothing here. In a small, drug-ravaged town in America’s mid-west, a young boy named Lucas (played by Jeremy T. Thomas) is showing up at school on a daily basis clearly the worse for wear. No one seems to notice the bad way this child is in, with the exception of a newly arrived teacher, Julia (Keri Russell). The child’s deteriorating physical state – and a series of disturbing drawings he is working on – leads Julia to assume some kind of domestic abuse scenario is unfolding at Lucas’s home. There is definitely something going wrong at this kid’s address, but the truth is a world away from Julia’s first assumptions. A restrained and subtle movie such as Antlers walks a fine line between blowing away an audience, and boring them rigid. Thankfully, this is where the dramatic and technical excellence of the picture truly comes to the fore. The anchoring work of Russell as Julia – along with the key support she offers to her impressive young co-star Thomas – is first-class all the way.
The one where all futures lead to the past
REMINISCENCE (M)
★★★
STREAM via BINGE, FOXTEL or RENT
An ambitious combo of science fiction and film noir, sure to turn heads on account of its skilful manipulation of time and place. Let’s deal with the setting first: a futuristic Miami already mostly underwater, an American Venice controlled by literal land barons. As for time in Reminiscence, well, it is as fluid a commodity as the tides that slosh up against doorsteps on a daily basis. Just ask Nick (Hugh Jackman). He’s a private detective whose work trades in nothing but time, having mastered a technology that allows clients to travel back to key moments in their past. Jackman’s gritty gumshoe Nick is such a hard case, you just know he is going to get softened up by the first femme fatale who sashays through his door. In rapid-fire succession, sultry nightclub siren Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) serenades, seduces, loves and leaves the fella. So Nick breaks the rules and enters his own past in search of clues with which to find her. This movie can plod at times due to its flashback-driven structure. However, the unusual setting and the ever-reliable Jackman keeps things moving when absolutely necessary.
The one where tom holland must save the day (again)
UNCHARTED (M)
★★½
RENT ONLY
We now have enough data to state unequivocally there will never be a truly great movie adapted from a video game. Expecting even a good movie to happen is often asking too much. All that Uncharted really has working in its favour is the current star power of its leading man Tom Holland. Though he is a mite too young for the lead role here, the incumbent Spider-Man keeps the movie on a roll while his miscast co-star Mark Wahlberg does his best to grind proceedings to a halt. Holland plays Nate, a bartender-cum-pickpocket who pairs up with Wahlberg’s Sully, a globetrotting tomb raider with a clue to the whereabouts of a few billion bucks’ worth of old gold. What follows is not unlike what would happen if you threw an Indiana Jones sequel, the first National Treasure and a car-free Fast and Furious flick in a blender. Holland and Wahlberg never convincingly click as a screen pairing, so action fans would be advised to focus on the production’s hefty helping of audacious stunt sequences, which peak impressively at the finale. Co-stars Antonio Banderas.
The one where growing up goes both ways
C’MON C’MON (M)
★★★★
RENT ONLY
C’mon C’mon colourfully details one of the great paradoxes of parenting. By the time most adults get around to raising children, they have all but forgotten what it is like to be a child themselves. No crime in that. No logic, either. Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) is not a father himself. He is merely an uncle – the only relative, in fact – of a precocious nine-year-old named Jesse (Woody Norman). Johnny has no experience whatsoever when it comes to advising, protecting or nurturing someone his junior. Jesse has been without a father figure just long enough to forget he truly needs one. The catalyst for the movie magic so casually deployed here is the unforced, natural and fascinating chemistry shared between Joaquin Phoenix and his young co-star, Woody Norman. Leaving aside the vast disparity in their ages, it is incredibly rare to witness two people connecting on a conversational level on screen in the way this pair do. Phoenix can often be a mercurial and intimidating actor, but here he turns all of that down so that the rookie Norman can come out of his shell to speak and move freely. A serenely calming, warm and wise movie shot in black and white.
The one that is much better than No.1
THE SUICIDE SQUAD (MA15+)
★★★★
STREAM via NETFLIX, BINGE, FOXTEL
A radical re-tooling of the 2016 DC Comics debacle Suicide Squad is an infinitely superior experience in all departments. Almost all characters from the original have been cut (save for a select few spearheaded by Margot Robbie’s delightfully demented psychopath Harley Quinn). However, the same storytelling blueprint remains: a motley crew of jailed supervillains must undertake a life-or-death mission for a sinister US surveillance agency. Idris Elba makes a brilliant contribution as Bloodsport, a hyper-skilled assassin who is the Squad’s reluctant new figurehead. En route to an epic end-of-movie smackdown with a self-duplicating creature that defies all description, Bloodsport will be joined by a fellow assassin in a shiny metal hat (John Cena), a young woman with a mystical command of rats (Daniela Melchior), a young man with a mystical command of polka dots (David Dastmalchian), and, umm, a walking, talking shark that sounds like exactly Sylvester Stallone (voiced by the man himself). A non-stop tornado of ideas, energy, imagination, craziness, craft and wit that leaves quite an awesome trail of destruction in its wake.
The one always going in for the chill
HOLD YOUR BREATH: THE ICE DIVE (PG)
★★★½
STREAM via NETFLIX
This transfixing little doco is run and done inside 40 minutes, and is well worth the time should the topic be of interest. The events chronicled here centre on Johanna Nordblad, a 46-year-old free diver from Finland making a considered assault on an unusual world record. For very personal reasons, Nordblad is obsessed with setting a new mark for the amount of distance travelled beneath frozen ice in the space of a single breath. The dangers associated with such a project are never taken for granted by Nordblad and her small support team, and the gravity of such risks is never lost on the viewer.
The one that thinks big in small ways
THE IRON GIANT (G)
★★★★½
STREAM via FOXTEL, STAN or RENT
This cartoon classic from the late 1990s is one of the greatest kids’ movies most kids have never seen. This story of a young boy and his pet, a 50m-high robot from outer space, offers a fantastic voyage for young and old alike. The characters are far more complex than most animated fare. When was the last time you saw a beatnik who talks just like James Dean in a cartoon? Or a single mother struggling to make ends meet in a fleapit diner? Or a square-jawed FBI investigator all too willing to do the government’s dirty work? Magnificent stuff from the writer-director Brad Bird, who soon moved on to give the world The Incredibles, and later became the visionary live-action shots-caller for the Mission: Impossible franchise.
The one with a great performance
CAIRO TIME
★★★½
STREAM via SBS ON DEMAND
This unfashionably minimalist romantic drama is all about a stunning performance from the great Patricia Clarkson (Easy A, The Station Agent). She plays Juliette, a married woman stranded in Egypt, waiting to be reunited with her husband. The film’s cryptically teasing storyline is well worth losing yourself in. As is the work of Clarkson, whose acting here transcends the mere speaking of lines and hitting of marks.
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