Streaming guide: What to watch this weekend
Jason Momoa has charisma and comic smarts as marine-man-mountain Aquaman, in a movie that stays afloat as a must-see, before its bloated run time turns it into a must-we? Here’s what else to stream this weekend.
Leigh Paatsch
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THE ONE HERE TO MAKE A SPLASH
AQUAMAN (M)
***1/2
FOXTEL NOW, NETFLIX
Meet Aquaman. Swims like a fish strapped to a rocket. Swaggers like a pro wrestler who has never lost a bout. Splits his time between a royal palace on the ocean floor, and a grungy dive bar on dry land.
And the movie which bears his name? It stays afloat for a while as a genuine must-see, until slowly sinking to the depths of a must-we? by the end of 143 waterlogged minutes.
If you feel refreshed in any way by dipping into this middling, muddling blockbuster, there is just one person to thank.
Leading man Jason Momoa has charisma to burn — and great comic smarts, too — and makes a great fit for the marine-man-mountain that is Aquaman.
If you subscribe to the general consensus that DC superhero flicks are never as good as a Marvel-made movie, you won’t see anything to change your mind here.
Then again, this movie grossed a lazy billion-and-a-half in cinemas last summer, so it must have something going for it, right?
Co-stars Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman.
THE ONE WHERE VIDEOGAMES GET REAL
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET (PG)
****
GOOGLE, ITUNES
A quality sequel to the excellent Wreck-It Ralph matches the same high standards, not just in terms of brilliant animation and fresh ideas, but also by retaining the heart and wit of the original.
A dreaded case of “the glitches” means Ralph and Vanellope need to leave their arcade home, and travel via wi-fi router on to the wild terrain of the open internet.
While the surface-level adventure of Ralph and his entourage is as exciting as it is enjoyable, there’s a deeper message in there too about how much time we are all squandering online.
Features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman.
THE ONE WHERE CRIME ALWAYS PAYS
SCARFACE (MA15+)
*****
FOXTEL NOW {EXCLUSIVE}
Derided back in 1983 as trashy, flashy fluff, almost 40 years of hindsight now puts Scarface in a much more flattering light.
The first thing that hits you is the sheer audacity of Al Pacino’s virtuoso performance in the lead role.
He completely loses himself in the character of Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee looking for a fast track to the top of the trees in Florida’s booming cocaine jungle.
The movie itself feels like an opera with a gun licence, hitting many piercing notes as it tracks Tony on his blazing rise and fall.
Virtually every character in the film comes to realise that if you stand in the way of Tony Montana — or his right-hand man Manolo (Steven Bauer) — then “a first-class ticket to the resurrection” awaits.
Perfect bliss for lovers of screen crime with a sting in its tail and a spring in its step.
THE ONE WHICH HAS THE WRITE STUFF
COLETTE (M)
***1/2
AMAZON, FOXTEL NOW
The title character here is played by Keira Knightley, dipping into the rich reserves of angst, desire and defiance she seems to save exclusively for period dramas.
She plays Colette, a legendary literary figure in France in the early 20th century.
Colette struggled to gain the recognition due her talent as her sales boomed, largely because her novels were published under the name of her manipulative older husband (Dominic West). Not for all tastes, but will be relished by those who like a biopic with bite.
Co-stars Denise Gough, Fiona Shaw.
THE ONE WHERE IT’S OK TO CRY
DEAR JOHN (M)
**1/2
NETFLIX, FOXTEL NOW
Another sob story from the world’s winningest writer of weepies, Nicholas Sparks.
Dear John tells of a soldier named John who, at some point during the running time, is sure to be the recipient of a Dear John letter.
Channing Tatum plays the title character, a globetrotting soldier who loses his heart to stay-at-home student Amanda Seyfried.
This old-fashioned glob of gooey hooey will cut through the emotions of serial snifflers like butter. Those with even a slight allergic reaction to chick flicks have been warned.
THE ONE THAT SAVES THE PREZ AND SAVES THE WORLD
OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (MA15+)
***
NETFLIX
Gormless, guilty-pleasure action thriller, best viewed as the Die-Hard-Hits-The-White-House affair it so clearly wants to be. And to its relative credit, just about is.
Gerard Butler is the hard-ass hero of the hour, Mike Banning, a Presidential guard who must come to the rescue when his boss is taken hostage by some despicable North Korean terrorist types.
Runs about 30 minutes too long, and some of the violence is just too over-the-top for words.
Nevertheless, when it is just plain dumb, the overall effect can be just plain entertaining.
As an added bonus, those wanting to make a binge of it can also find the sequels London Has Fallen on Netflix and current box-office hit Angel Has Fallen in cinemas.
THE ONE WHERE MISERY (and MENDO) AWAITS YOUR COMPANY
UNA (M)
****
SBS ON DEMAND
Sorry, but there’s no feel-good night on the box awaiting you here.
However, if you are up to taking Una’s arduous trip across jagged emotional terrain, you will be silenced, stunned and seriously affected by where it intends to take you.
Rooney Mara stars as Una, a woman in her twenties on a mission to confront Ben Mendelsohn’s Ray, the former family friend who sexually abused her at the age of 13.
Both actors astonish with the consistent high calibre and ever-shifting intensity of their performances here.
Mendelsohn zeros in on the stark contradiction of a man who has found a way to live with his actions, but is yet to find a way to explain them.
Meanwhile, in Mara’s Una we meet a woman for whom the consequences of those actions pass through her body and mind every waking hour of the day.
Uncompromising, unforgettable stuff.
Co-stars Riz Ahmed, Ruby Stokes.
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