What to watch on Netflix, Foxtel, Stan this weekend

Make a beeline for surprisingly inventive slasher flick Cabin in the Woods now it has finally surfaced on home streaming after a spell in exile — it’s got Hemsworth, horror and one heck of a twist. Here’s the best of streaming this weekend.

Chris Hemsworth and Anna Hutchison in the 2011 film Cabin In The Woods.

BAD MOMS 2 (MA15+)

*** (three stars)

The one with plenty of maternal misbehaviour

NETFLIX, STAN

Surprisingly, this swiftly assembled sequel earns its keep as a crowd-pleasing comedy for two telling reasons. Firstly, the hit-to-miss joke ratio is moderately high.

When the big laughs do come, they do so with gusto. Secondly, Bad Moms 2 refreshes the proven formula of the original by doubling the number of misbehaving mothers in play.

This time around, the foundation trio of Bad Moms — Amy (Mila Kunis), Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) — must go head-to-head with their own bad mothers.

As it is Christmas, a period which brings the worst out of most families, Amy’s control-freak mom Ruth (Christine Baranski), Kiki’s clingy mom Sandy (Cheryl Hines) and Carla’s trailer-trash mom Isis (Susan Sarandon) will be doing their best to ruin this hallowed holiday for all.

MIDNIGHT OIL 1984 (M)

****

The one with power … and passion

FOXTEL NOW

For the seminal Australian rock band Midnight Oil, the year of 1984 was at once a turning point, a launch pad and a broadening of ambition. In this exciting new documentary, we are catapulted in a rough-and-ready time machine to the era in the Oils’ vibrant history where they were already at the height of their powers.

While definitely one of the most electrifying and incendiary live acts on the planet, we here in Australia still had them all to ourselves. The world would later catch on to the band’s unique sound — a potent blend of dynamics and doctrines — and buy their records in the millions. For now, however, the Sydney-based five-piece were big fish in a small pond, fiercely determined to make a splash on their terms, by their own rules.

The rabble-rousing ripple effect issued by the Oils in full flight is captured starkly by the doco, channelling that supercharged command only Midnight Oil could summon and hold over every crowd they played for in 1984.

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (MA15+)

***1/2

The one that keeps going in for the chill

NETFLIX

Fans of quality modern horror should make a beeline for this surprisingly inventive slasher flick now it has finally surfaced on home streaming after a spell in exile.

You won’t see it coming.

Yes, there is a cabin. Yes, it is located in the woods. And yes, a collection of shopping-catalogue-model teens is destined to be selectively ripped to shreds.

But that is only half the picture of a much bigger picture, and I’m not going to be the one to spoil the real fun on offer here. If you trust in all things Joss Whedon (director of the first Avengers movie and creator of TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer), then mere mention of his skilful and inventive co-scripting collaboration with talented Drew Goddard (The Martian) will be recommendation enough. Stars Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly, Bradley Whitford.

THE GREAT HACK (M)
***1/2

The one where’s there’s a lot to (un) like

NETFLIX

Should you be looking for a definitive final straw that will get you logging off Facebook once and for all, you’re bound to find it inside this unsettling new documentary about the shadowy science of data mining. It doesn’t stop at an advertising algorithm looking to alter everyday spending choices.

Entire political regimes can now be built from the ground up — or conversely, dismantled from the top down — if the right personal information is interpreted correctly.

At the core of the documentary is an investigation of the powerful data-mining practices developed and exploited by the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

The fortunes of this dodgy mob peaked during the 2016 US Presidential Election, where personal information made available by Facebook was skilfully used to target a distinct type of voter (known as “persuadables”) whose choice would ultimately decide the final result. Donald Trump hired ‘em, and the rest is the history you’re living in right now.

MAGIC MIKE (MA15+)

****

The one always ready for takeoff

NETFLIX

As should be the case for a film about the fine art of choreographed clothes removal, this is a work of layers. Those with an eye for the guy candy will be perfectly happy with what they see. (And also, almost see.)

Strip back those layers in Magic Mike.

However, if you go a little deeper, the movie engages and fascinates beyond a strictly physical reaction. Channing Tatum plays the title character, a male stripper in his late 20s who can sense there must be more to life than shaking his moneymaker every night. Double down on the sequel Magic Mike XXL if you’re really keen.

INGRID GOES WEST (MA15+)

***1/2

The one that walks the walk … and stalks the stalk

FOXTEL NOW

A stinging little dose of social (media) commentary. Ingrid (played by Aubrey Plaza of TV’s Parks and Recreation) is a disturbed young woman deeply distracted by anything and everything that passes through her Instagram feed.

Upon the death of her mother, Ingrid channels a small inheritance into a big mistake, moving to California to infiltrate the life of her latest online obsession. Social media celeb Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) is blissfully unaware that the shy follower she has just befriended will soon become a shameless stalker. What follows is a cautionary tale of what can happen when adding virtual windows into your world: leave one open too wide for too long, and someone may misinterpret it as an invitation to climb on through.

Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza in Ingrid Goes West.

MORE LEIGH PAATSCH REVIEWS

LAND OF MINE (MA15+)

The one where the war is over but the battle is not

***1/2

SBS ON DEMAND

An overwhelmingly tense military drama (and 2016 Best Foreign Film Oscar nominee) based on a remarkable series of true events. During its WWII occupation by German forces, Denmark was studded with over two million landmines.

The unwanted clean-up job went to German POWs with no experience in the field of bomb defusal.

Filmmaker Martin Zandvliet zeros in on one common trait to each of the frazzled soldiers crawling along the beach and gingerly poking metal rods into the sand: they are all in their teens. This stark, no-frills affair is guaranteed to put a viewer through the emotional wringer purely by virtue of its crushing subject matter.