What to watch on Binge, Netflix, Google this weekend

From horror, adventure, comedy and docos, Leigh Paatsch reviews the new offerings on Binge, Netflix, Google and more.

The one where the darkness is blinding

MIDSOMMAR (R18+)

Stream via AMAZON; rent via GOOGLE PLAY, APPLE TV+, FOXTEL STORE

A dead-set one-of-a-kind horror movie, taking a very slow, very scenic and incongruously sunny route to a terrifying final destination. This cravenly creepy thing is out to both haunt you, and heave you into a bottomless abyss of confusion and conjecture. That R18+ listed above is not just a censors’ rating. It is also a health warning. The setting seems pleasant enough: a beautiful communal meadow in rural Sweden at that time of the year where the sun is out 24/7. Four American students are here to observe a fortnight-long festival rife with ancient rituals and cryptic symbolism. The scheduling seems pleasant enough: until it suddenly and irreversibly is not. This mind-wringing, sense-zinging threat to the psyche marks just the second work of filmmaking prodigy Ari Aster. His first (last year’s Hereditary) summoned a calibre of dread as disorienting as it was disturbing. Nothing has changed here. Those hailing Aster as a 21st century Hitchcock might be selling him short. A worrying, withering wow. Stars Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor.

A scene from Midsommar. Picture: Roadshow Films

The one where it’s like the 90s never finished

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC (PG)

★★★½

Rent via GOOGLE PLAY, APPLE TV+, FOXTEL STORE

Did there really have to be a third Bill & Ted movie? No. Is there any reason, then, to see the third Bill & Ted movie? Yes, quite a few, actually. This big-hearted, dumb lug of a movie simply gets you wrapped up in a sincerely warm bro-hug from the moment it starts, and doesn’t let go until the credits roll. As the story begins, Ted (Keanu Reeves) and Bill (Alex Winter) are middle-aged hack-muso dads staring down the mother of all mid-life crises. This dynamically distracted duo have just over an hour to write the song that will save the world. Which is not enough time. And because this is a Bill & Ted movie, the pair ultimately elect to paradoxically travel into the future to steal the song from themselves. Of course, it does not make a lick of sense. But this is a screen universe where logic, the laws of physics and the books of history will only wipe that dopey grin on your face. File this under ‘minor movie miracle’ : Bill and Ted have actually improved with age.

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in Bill and Ted Face the Music.

The one where the hero is treated like a zero

RICHARD JEWELL (M)

★★★

BINGE, FOXTEL

During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, security guard Richard Jewell went from celebrated hero to prime suspect after discovering a hidden bomb in a busy public space. The media feeding frenzy that followed is clearly what has drawn a high-profile filmmaker like Clint Eastwood to revisit this chilling, cautionary tale. However, it is actor Paul Walter Hauser’s natural, understated portrayal of Jewell that humanises and elevates this feisty production. Long an actor’s director, Eastwood also draws great support work from Sam Rockwell (as Jewell’s crusading lawyer) and Kathy Bates (his heartbroken mother).

Sam Rockwell and Paul Walter Hauser in Richard Jewell. Picture: Roadshow Films

The one that has guns, fun and a man on the run

AMERICAN MADE (MA15+)

★★★½

BINGE

Tom Cruise (delivering his best work in ages) plays Barry Seal, a smalltime airline pilot recruited by the CIA to conduct top-secret surveillance flights across Latin America in the late 1970s. Seal also made a sneaky fortune running cocaine for notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. Smith’s operations later expanded to delivering guns to rebel militia in Nicaragua, again with the covert support of US authorities (who even bought him a private airport and a fleet of planes). It must be said that the movie is much more effective at making light of Seal’s dangerously strange predicament than making sense of it. Nevertheless, the knowledge this actually happened - and could surely never happen again - keeps the vibe both fascinating and recklessly upbeat.

Tom Cruise for American Made.

The one that keeps to the beat on the street

DOPE (MA15+)

★★★★

SBS ON DEMAND

This vibrant, hip-hop-infused American indie was one of the hidden gems of the year upon its original release in 2015, and has just dropped on SBS for a free look-see after a long spell on Netflix. A funny, yet compelling geek-goes-gangsta plot centres on Malcolm (Shameik Moore), a conscientious Los Angeles student forced by a drug dealer to push his product or face the consequences. Every aspect of the production pulses with a loopy, anything-goes energy missing from a lot of movies with better casts and bigger budgets. Writer-director Rick Famuyiwa is a talent to keep tabs on.

A scene from Dope. Picture: Sony

The one speeding down Devil Gate Drive

SUZI Q (M)

★★★

STREAM via STAN; or RENT via various platforms.

A delightfully engaging documentary on the life and times of pioneering American rock star Suzi Quatro. Not one of the essential bullet points in the Quatro biography is left off the list, with equal prominence given to the significant periods of development and self-discovery either side of Suzi’s leather-clad prime on the pop charts. Quatro herself is present as an open-hearted and honest contributor to her own story, as are family, friends, fans, a former husband and ex-bandmates. Quatro has always been an individual living life on her own terms, and this admirable trait keeps coming through loud and clear. The only real drawback here is that the doco goes too close to outstaying its welcome, reaching awkwardly for an inspirational ending that just isn’t there.

A scene from A Guide To Second Date Sex. Picture: Icon Films

The one in danger of going to bed early

A GUIDE TO SECOND DATE SEX (M)

★★½

STREAM via FOXTEL; or RENT via various platforms.

A middle-of-the-road British rom-com in a minor key, albeit with a major name at the top of the credits. That would be rising star George MacKay, currently everywhere courtesy of his brilliant work in the acclaimed 1917 and his not-so-brilliant work in the not-so-acclaimed True History of the Kelly Gang. MacKay plays Ryan, a typical mid-twentysomething male yet to find a reliably open line of communication with the opposite sex. Alexandra Roach is Laura, an amiable young woman having the same difficulty when meeting men. The pair cross paths one evening at a local nightclub, and there is definitely a spark between them. Enough for both to assume a second date might be in order. The many missed cues and misread intentions to follow are pleasingly handled by the two young leads, both of whom are destined for bigger things.