Streaming guide: What to watch this weekend
There are plenty of animated adventures to be had this weekend, starting with Pixar’s most recent ray of cinematic sunshine Onward, along with the perpetually pleasant Abominable and Will Smith’s action animation flick Spies in Disguise.
Weekly Guide
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THE ONE WITH A LITTLE PIXAR MAGIC
ONWARD (PG)
***1/2
DISNEY+, or rent via GOOGLE, ITUNES, YOUTUBE MOVIES
Here is an encouraging ray of sunshine in an ever-darkening time for movie lovers everywhere: a new release from the best in the animation business, Pixar. While the action-adventure fantasy Onward will not go down as one of Pixar’s greatest productions – it is a distinct comedown after the heights scaled by last year’s superb Toy Story 4 – the end results are still overwhelmingly positive. The setting is a magical realm where teenage elves Ian and Barley Lightfoot (voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt) have a chance to be briefly reunited with the father they lost as infants. However, the magic spell they use to bring him back doesn’t quite work. Only their dad’s legs materialise. Now Ian and Barley have only 12 hours left to find the rest of him before he vanishes forever. While Pratt and Holland take a little while to click as a vocal duo, once they do, Onward pushes forth towards the hard-earned emotional pay-off for which Pixar is renowned.
THE ONE WITH COSTUMES … AND DRAMA!
DOWNTON ABBEY (PG)
***
FOXTEL, AMAZON
After six sumptuous seasons and then a four-year hiatus, the 21st century’s most popular costume drama – well, until The Crown came along, anyway – returned last year for a shot at the big-screen big-time. If you are a Downton fan, you will be happy to know that creator Julian Fellowes and his cast of regulars are in all the kind of form that ensures this lavish production is on-target throughout. Fellowes has packed enough plots, subplots and side details into the movie to fill an entire season in its own right. If anything, Abbey addicts will feel the whole thing whooshes by too quickly. Without giving too much away, this stand-alone story is set in 1927, with the Crawley family and their loyal staff all in a flap over the news their beautiful estate will host an official royal visit from King George V and Queen Mary. The emphasis here is more on catching up with old friends and favourites than shock developments, but for almost everyone, that’ll do just nicely. Stars Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter.
THE ONE SHOWING YOU THE BEY
HOMECOMING … A FILM BY BEYONCE (PG)
****
NETFLIX
Come for the documentary, stay for the concert movie. That’s the takeaway from Homecoming, an epic 150-minute chronicle of Beyonce’s landmark live set at the Coachella Festival in 2018. Beyonce could have just shown up for her headline slot – twice postponed in 2016 and 2017 – and just crushed an adoring crowd with an avalanche of hits. Instead, she poured eight months of planning and rehearsals into a career-defining statement on her art, her life and her view of an America in an unprecedented state of political and cultural turmoil. The behind-the-scenes stuff is indeed fascinating, but no match for the revelatory experience of Beyonce’s performance itself, which lives up to everything you may have heard.
THE ONE THAT DOESN’T MOVE OFF ITS LINE
THE KEEPER (M)
***
FOXTEL
A dramatised biopic of German goalkeeper Bert Trautmann, whose heroics for Manchester City in the 1956 FA Cup Final remain the stuff of legend. How so? Well, for the last 17 minutes of that epic encounter, an injured Trautmann fended off the opposition’s forward attacks while nursing what turned out to be a broken neck. However, it must be pointed out this is not really a sports film, nor a celebration of Trautmann’s near-fatal exploits in a single famous match. Instead, the movie is essentially a familiar type of romantic drama that also touches on tensions between the Britain and Germany in the years after World War 2. Trautmann (played by David Kross) first entered the UK as a prisoner of war, having served as a decorated paratrooper for the Luftwaffe before his capture in 1945. The goalie’s path to redemption and respect in the eyes of a hostile British public is a rocky one, with many obstacles cleared by the love of a good woman (Freya Mavor) and a steely determination to prove himself.
THE ONE SAVING THE WORLD WHILE WINGING IT
SPIES IN DISGUISE (PG)
***
rent via GOOGLE, ITUNES, YOUTUBE MOVIES
A pleasing animated adventure. A young inventor working for a top-secret agency accidentally turns his employer’s best super-spy, Lance Sterling (Will Smith), into a pigeon. Fast-paced and easy to follow, this solid effort comes off as a semi-engaging mix of a Mission: Impossible adventure and a James Bond flick by way of The Incredibles.
THE ONE READY TO AIM AND FIRE
AMERICAN SNIPER (MA15+)
***
FOXTEL, NETFLIX, STAN
The true story of Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), the Navy SEAL ranked as the most effective wartime sniper in US military history. During four tours to Iraq, Kyle sent an estimated 160 enemy militiamen to their deaths. While the movie is no way a wanton celebration of killing in the line of the duty, there is a proudly patriotic streak to Eastwood’s approach that some viewers may find worryingly simplistic.
THE ONE THAT’S ALL SNOWBIZ
ABOMINABLE (G)
**1/2
FOXTEL, AMAZON
Viewers under the age of 10 will have few quibbles with this perpetually pleasant, animated adventure about the cross-China odyssey of a troubled tomboy and her pet yeti. You certainly cannot fault the eye-catching settings in play throughout for a story which begins amid the hustle and bustle of modern Shanghai, and ends embedded in the timeless charm and calm of the Himalayas. The two intrepid travellers leading a chipper, child-friendly expedition to the world’s most massive mountains are the reckless, yet resourceful Yi (voiced by Chloe Bennet), and a towering, tender-hearted magic beast named Everest.
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