The Michael B. Jordan movie worth streaming this weekend
This powerhouse drama, based on an actual tragic event, is where it all started for rising star Michael B. Jordan. It was highly criticised in the U.S, which is what makes it a must-watch this weekend.
Leigh Paatsch
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A nifty thriller that plays upon our fears from our deeply connected world, the end to the most trouser-troubling trilogy in motion-picture history or a powerhouse drama that put Michael B Jordan on the map.
This week’s streaming guide from Leigh Paatsch has it all.
THE ONE THAT SEEKS YOU, FINDS YOU
SEARCHING (M)
***1/2
AMAZON
Feel free to come at Searching as a nifty whodunit thriller, or a nagging where-is-she? crime procedural.
Just don’t make the mistake of attending safe in the knowledge you have seen it all before. The secret weapon in this unusually gripping experience is one of perspective. The entire movie is seen through the same virtual windows with which so many of us now view the world today: via smartphones, webcams, social media posts, chat rooms, instant messaging apps and viral video clips.
A tension-riddled story tracks the efforts of a worried father (John Cho) to find his absent daughter (Michelle La) before authorities switch the handling of her case from Missing Persons to Homicide.
With the police hitting dead ends everywhere, the devastated dad scrounges and scours every hard drive and handset he can find for that one elusive vital clue.
While the movie’s visual structure does impress, it is the screenplay’s efficiency in playing upon our deepest fears of today’s connected world that truly impacts: drawing you in, grinding you down and getting you worried.
THE ONE THAT SPANKS YOU VERY MUCH
FIFTY SHADES FREED (MA15+)
*1/2
FOXTEL NOW
For those who just had to collect the set: the end to the most trouser-troubling trilogy in motion-picture history.
If you were seduced in any way by the first two blockbuster kink-a-thons from the pen of author EL James, Fifty Shades Freed is here to zip up, give you a quick peck on the cheek, and disappear.
The whole experience has been like a bad Tinder date that lasted three whole movies.
The only redeeming feature? The lasting relief of knowing the franchise won’t ever be calling for another hook-up.
For those coming late to the party: dashing dominant doofus Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) is still a mopey moneybags with mummy issues, while ditzy doormat Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) is still there to be walked all over.
Any fresh developments? Well, Christian and Ana are now husband and wife. However, the heavy breathing honeymoon for the sadomasochistic spouses is noticeably short-lived.
And not just because Ana has sprung the surprise she is pregnant. Or that Christian pettily reacts to the news as if someone stole his favourite pair of studded leather undies.
THE ONE WITH EMOTION OUT ON THE OCEAN
ADRIFT (M)
***
STAN
Ordeal? Or no ordeal? These are your only choices here, as you get to experience 41 days’ worth of being hopelessly marooned on a half-wrecked boat in just 95 minutes.
In 1983, American tourist Tami Oldham Ashcraft (well played by Shailene Woodley) and her British fiancee Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin) set sail on a 6500-kilometre journey from Tahiti to San Diego.
Mid-voyage, the couple were rag-dolled by a rampant hurricane.
The extreme damage done to the vessel - and a remote location far from the nearest shipping lanes - left no choice but to float along on oceanic currents in a vague hope of colliding with dry land.
THE ONE TO TRY IF YOU WANNA CRY
FIVE FEET APART (M)
***
GOOGLE, ITUNES
This teary teen drama wants its audience weeping ASAP, and will stop at nothing to get eyeballs leaking.
The disease in play is cystic fibrosis, a devastatingly destructive affliction that pits a body against its own respiratory system.
The movie does a commendable job of conveying the immense of gravity of living with CF, particularly for those sufferers for whom a hospital ward is considered a second home.
It is in one such specialist-care facility that we meet Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) and Will (Cole Sprouse), mutually attracted teens unable to take their relationship to a tactile level for fear of transmitting highly contagious (fatal, even) bacteria.
THE ONE THAT GETS MAD, BUT DOESN’T GET EVEN
DEATH WISH (R18+)
*1/2
FOXTEL NOW, STAN
They killed his wife, and now they’re gonna pay. They also left his daughter in a coma, so now everyone is really gonna pay.
Who did what - and who must make reparations - is of little consequence to Death Wish.
This is supposed to be a remake of the 1974 revenge thriller starring Charles Bronson, a brutal affair that spawned a further four, increasingly awful instalments.
However, all this update can do is sullenly recapture the grim mood of the original movie, albeit only for a few minutes at a time.
A lethargic Bruce Willis steps into the shoes of Bronson with all the enthusiasm of someone who may have taken the role only because a beloved household pet is being held hostage by filmmakers.
THE ONE WHERE A STAR WAS BORN
FRUITVALE STATION (MA15+)
****
STAN
This powerhouse drama (based on a tragic actual event) is where it all started for rising star Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther).
On New Year’s Day 2009, a young African-American was shot dead by a police officer on a train station platform.
Oscar Grant (Jordan) was unarmed, and posing no visible threat to those nearby.
Such sad outcomes are all too commonplace in the United States, and this simple, stridently moving film drives home the pointlessness of a life lost for no reason.
Director Ryan Coogler zeros-in on the final 24 hours of Grant’s life, a time that becomes all the more poignant as we know what lies ahead.
The film has been criticised in the US for blatantly making a martyr out of Grant. Rather, it saves him from becoming just another statistic.
Co-stars Octavia Spencer.
THE ONE WHERE FAMILY IS ALL THAT COUNTS
INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (M)
***
SBS ON DEMAND
A family film with a difference, based on director Maya Forbes’ experiences growing up in unusual circumstances in the 1970s.
Mark Ruffalo has the lead role of Cameron, a man with a bipolar disorder who has just emerged from a mental institution.
With his wife (Zoe Saldana) forced to leave town to complete her studies, Cameron must transcend his condition to look after his two young daughters on a daily basis.
The tone of the film is light and often gently funny, but not to the extent of trivialising the difficulties facing Cameron and his perpetually exasperated (and just as often, embarrassed) offspring.
Might have been a very different and far-inferior outcome if not for the casting of a superb Ruffalo.
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