Streaming guide: What to watch this weekend
It’s supposed to be a comedy but this dim, grim and irritating farce is on a two-hour search-and-destroy mission for your sense of humour. But don’t worry, here are six other movies worth a stream.
Weekly Guide
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THE ONE WHERE THE HORROR WON’T TAKE A HOLD
US (MA15+)
****
FOXTEL GO
This trippy exercise in enigmatic terror is the second feature from American writer-director Jordan Peele, whose unheralded debut Get Out was a global box-office sensation in 2017.
Like that unforgettably eerie movie, Us is best classified as horror with a lot more on its mind than merely scaring you.
However, this time around, Peele’s approach is not as linear.
His new work drifts in and out of conscious coherency, almost lulling us to sleep for one reason, then jolting us awake with another.
Whatever you do, don’t come armed with much advance knowledge. The woozy, disturbing spell cast by Us loses power if you know what’s coming.
The basic plot involves a family of four taking a long weekend at the coast. The mother, Adelaide (a wonderful Lupita Nyong’o), doesn’t like the location, as she stayed there unhappily as a child.
Adelaide’s misgivings multiply when paid a surprise visit by a family too much like her own for anyone’s comfort.
A movie that plays a winning mind game, even if you’re never sure of the rules.
THE ONE WITH MANY MEN OF STEAL
DEN OF THIEVES (MA15+)
***
NETFLIX
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 art house movies.
Then there is leading man Gerard Butler, still living down 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 ONE WITH THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
DUMBO (PG)
***1/2
DISNEY PLUS
This live-action adaptation of the classic 1941 Disney cartoon about a big-eared little circus elephant with amazing aerial skills does make some significant changes to the original story to accommodate its real-world setting.
Thankfully, the superb direction of Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland) and the acting of a well-cast ensemble both fit the bill perfectly.
More importantly, the special-effects work pulls off the crucial feat of having us believe an elephant can swoop, glide and soar like a falcon.
Stars Colin Farrell, Eva Green, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito.
THE ONE WHERE LIFE IS LIKE A BOARD GAME
SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER (M)
***
FOXTEL GO, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
An unusual drama-comedy starring the great Bill Nighy as Alan, a professional tailor and lifelong Scrabble devotee looking high and low for his missing son Michael.
An eccentric chap who uses his mastery of words and his expertise in Scrabble to keep the world at a distance, Alan proves to be an enduring source of frustration to what remains of his family.
This quiet, yet eloquent affair trades in contrasting lines of whimsy and sorrow that could have some viewers losing their way.
Luckily, an experienced hand like Nighy is there to guide you to the right place.
THE ONE DOING IT THE BARD WAY
MACBETH (MA15+)
****
SBS ON DEMAND
An onslaught of blood, sin and vengeance remains inevitable throughout Australian director Justin Kurzel’s superb reading of Macbeth.
This arresting adaptation of the most cinematic of Shakespeare’s plays is as near to definitive as Roman Polanski’s celebrated 1971 version.
Michael Fassbender excels in the title role, but not in the showy, outwardly theatrical manner many might envisage. A testing, yet well-earned triumph for all involved.
Co-stars Marion Cotillard, David Thewlis.
THE ONE THAT WILL HAVE YOU MISTING UP
MISS YOU ALREADY (M)
***
iTUNES
How can you be best friends forever when there is only a year of that forever left?
Milly (Toni Collette) and Jess (Drew Barrymore) must find an answer when the former is diagnosed with advanced breast cancer just as the latter has fallen pregnant.
The way in which lives can both fall apart and come together in the shadow of a terrible disease is often captured powerfully here.
Just beware of occasional misjudged comic moments.
THE ONE YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEE
WHAT MEN WANT (M)
*
FOXTEL GO, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
A dim, grim and irritating farce, on a two-hour search-and-destroy mission for your sense of humour.
Taraji P. Henson plays Ali, who acquires an ability to read all male minds after sustaining a sudden knock to the head.
After much mugging, huffing, puffing and yelling – Henson’s rambunctious performance will not provoke chuckles, but it could end comas – Ali targets her secret talent at scoring a better salary at the blokey place she works.
No #timesup here then, folks. Just #whyus?
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