Streaming guide: What to watch this weekend
Robert Redford stars in a laidback caper flick based on a true story, while a gripping WWII drama features Tom Hanks, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton team up to kick some ass. There’s action, comedy, horror and more among the top flicks to steam this weekend.
Leigh Paatsch
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In need of something to watch this weekend?
Robert Redford playing an elderly bank robber in his final big screen appearance does not disappoint.
Or Greyhound offers a meaningful and gripping film about World War II.
Or perhaps a highly entertaining horror comedy about surviving a wedding ritual.
Whatever you’re in the mood for, Leigh Paatsch has you sorted with his streaming guide for what to watch this weekend.
THE ONE WHERE TOM MUST WIN A WATERY WAR
GREYHOUND (M)
***1/2
APPLE TV+
A lean and meaningful war picture which turns out to be everything the similarly themed recent cinema hit Midway was not. It is the height of WW2, and in a stretch of the North Atlantic known as the Black Pit, a convoy of American naval supply ships is being stalked by a sizeable pack of German U-Boats. The only protection the Allied vessels can hope for comes from destroyers such as the USS Keeling, which just happens to be under the command of a rookie skipper on his first assignment in combat conditions. The movie sticks close to the stressed, yet clear-thinking strategic perspective of Commander Ernest Krause (compellingly played by Tom Hanks, for whom this is a long-standing passion project). This gripping production will definitely appeal to military buffs, but its ability to grip a viewer and not let go is deceptively wide-ranging. Sequences where Krause is on the attack against an enemy he literally never sees are what really stick in the mind here. Another big plus: it’s all over inside 90 minutes (a rarity these days!).
THE ONE WHERE THE HONEYMOON IS OVER VERY EARLY
READY OR NOT (MA15+)
***1/2
FOXTEL, OR RENT VIA VARIOUS SERVICES
People who speak of the wedding ritual as something to be survived will never speak so flippantly again after this highly strung and highly entertaining horror comedy is done with them. Young bride Grace (Australian rising star Samara Weaving, a standout here) thinks marrying into the posh Le Domas clan will give her the family she never had. Then comes the news from new husband Alex (Mark O’Brien) that gives her both the heebies and the jeebies. Anyone intending to enter the Le Domas inner circle must first endure a disturbing family tradition that goes back several generations. Therefore Grace must live through a wedding night in which her devilishly inclined in-laws will be hunting her down with every sharp and blunt instrument at their disposal. So out come the knives, axes, spear guns and what have you. And off bolts Grace, still in her bridal gown and improvising modes of defence and retaliation that would make Johns Rambo and Wick feel queasy. Nutty, nerve-shredding and fiendish fast-paced fun throughout. ***1/2
THE ONE THAT GOES OUT WITH A BANG
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN (M)
***1/2
NETFLIX
In this funky, laidback caper flick based on a true story, Robert Redford stars as Forrest Tucker, an elderly bank robber with more than 80 stick-ups and 16 prison escapes to his name. It is too late to teach this old dog any new tricks. He’ll be politely pointing pistols at tellers until the day he dies. In the midst of a multi-state robbery spree, Tucker and his creaky cohorts (played by Danny Glover and singer Tom Waits) attract the attention of both a Texan police detective (Casey Affleck) and an adoring general public. In his final screen outing, Redford effortlessly has us fall for this lovable rogue, whose heart has stayed in the right place in spite of a lifetime running on the wrong side of the law.
THE ONE WITH A SPRING IN ITS STEP(S)
FINDING YOUR FEET (M)
**1/2
NETFLIX, OR RENT VIA VARIOUS SERVICES
A very middle-of-the-road British comedy-drama, making tracks for the same mature-age crowd that loves their Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movies, and wish there were more of them. No shame in that, really, if all you’re wanting is a simple laugh, a quiet sniffle and a little feelgood uplift to linger in the air afterwards. Imelda Staunton stars as Sandra, a snobby socialite wife brought down a peg or two when she discovers her husband has been having an affair with her best friend. With her dreams of a cosy retirement with her spouse now a nightmare, Sandra is forced to throw herself on the mercy of her eccentric and estranged sister Bif (Celia Imrie). Long-dormant tensions and frustrations subside when Sandra joins a weekly dance class frequented by Bif’s colourful circle of friends (among them Joanna Lumley and Timothy Spall).
THE ONE THAT’S A SEQUEL SURPRISE
TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (MA15+)
***1/2
RENT VIA FOXTEL STORE, GOOGLE, ITUNES, YOUTUBE MOVIES
True Terminator fans will immediately recognise just how good this sixth instalment in the 35-year-old saga can be when it truly hits its stride. All the contradictions, paradoxes and clangers sounded out by the latter-day sequels are silenced once and for all, with the story only really acknowledging developments logged in the first two movies as relevant reference points. The action sequences kick ass repeatedly, the new characters rock, and the old-school reunion of Terminator icons Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton — together again on screen for the first time in almost three decades — hits it right out of the park.
THE ONE WHERE BUDDIES GO AFTER THE MONEY
DA 5 BLOODS (MA15+)
****
NETFLIX
Just like with his last movie, 2018’s Blackkklansman, decorated filmmaker Spike Lee sneaks in a hard-hitting history lesson behind a seemingly conventional adventure yarn. Delroy Lindo spearheads a quartet of African-American ex-soldiers who return to Vietnam to sort out some unfinished business. While out to honour the memory of a fallen comrade (Chadwick Boseman), the fellas also have a heads-up on some missing treasure that just might make up for the many missed chances in their respective lives. Be patient during a plodding mid-section, because the exciting finale is well worth sticking around for.
THE ONE THAT’S AN ENJOYABLE ENIGMA
INCEPTION (M)
****
BINGE, FOXTEL
Currently celebrating its 10th anniversary. Along with Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy is a key figure in this convoluted tale of dreams within dreams, and burglary of the subconscious. In some scenes, the mind-bending innovation on display suggests it is about to break open into a full-blown classic. Other scenes are so mind-numbingly hard to follow that a collapse into grand folly seems imminent. One of the most divisive must-sees of our time.