What to watch over the Grand Final weekend on Foxtel Now, Netflix, SBS on Demand

IT might be all about the footy this weekend but over on the Foxtel Now, Netflix and other streaming platforms there’s plenty of non-AFL viewing to get stuck into.

True story Miracles From Heaven is on Netflix.

IT might be all about the footy this weekend but over on the streaming platforms, there is plenty of non-AFL viewing to get stuck into.

Like the fresh acting brilliance from an incredible Aussie actor, and one of the greatest movies of the past few years.

MORE MOVIE REVIEWS

MOVIES TO WATCH ABOUT SCHOOL

NIGHT SCHOOL REVIEW: NEEDS REVISION

The one you might have missed you shouldn’t miss

HELL OR HIGH WATER (MA15+)

****1/2

SBS On Demand

Ben Foster and Chris Pine as outlaw brothers Tanner and Toby Howard.

If you have never seen this recent classic (one of the best movies of 2016), then get across to SBS On Demand and witness its brilliance for free ASAP. On first appearances, Hell or High Water appears to be working with basic storytelling elements too tried and tested to carry our full attention for long. The setting is the far west of Texas, a dustbowl of dashed hopes and dirty back roads.

The featured characters are two brothers (Ben Foster and Chris Pine) starting a career in armed robbery, and a veteran cop (a majestic Jeff Bridges) weeks away from retirement. And yet, in just minutes, a dynamic, transfixing spell is cast here that will not be broken. All by merely clearing a corner of the world that is not just there to be looked at, but lived in. Once lured there, you will regret ever having to leave. The relaxed redneck spirit of rural Texas so famously captured by No Country for Old Men is at work in a decidedly different and totally engrossing way here. Highly recommended.

The one that comes to the rescue … 75 times.

HACKSAW RIDGE (MA15+)

****

Foxtel Now

A harrowing and highly impacting war drama directed by Mel Gibson. The central focus is on the 1945 Battle of Okinawa at the close of WWII, where US army medic Desmond Doss (played by Andrew Garfield) famously survived a punishing two-day period at the height of fighting without once picking up a weapon to defend himself. Instead, this devoutly religious conscientious objector single-handedly carried 75 wounded men from his company to safety, miraculously avoiding unrelenting attacks from the enemy.

The one that reminds us of the magnificence of mendo

THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS (MA15+)

***1/2

Netflix

Ben Mendelsohn in Netflix drama The Land Of Steady Habits. Picture: Supplied/Netflix

The skill set of Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn has expanded at a steadily widening rate this decade. It all started with that devastatingly menacing entrance into Animal Kingdom, and Mendo just hasn’t put a foot wrong on the world film stage since. And yet, for all that fine work, Mendelsohn is yet to find the definitive breakthrough role that his immense talent keeps hinting is just around the corner. His performance is flawless once again in The Land of Steady Habits, a low-key, yet beautifully realised adaptation of the Ted Thompson novel that recently premiered to great notices at the Toronto International Film Festival. Mendo plays Anders Hill, a 50-year-old financier who suddenly ditches his job, his wife and a much-cherished designer house for a complete change of life. However, once Anders clears the decks of all former obligations, he slowly discovers that there is precious little in the way of opportunities to fill what is a very empty void. Quiet, but telling stuff. Co-stars Edie Falco, Connie Britton, Thomas Mann.

The one where the best bits are reese’s pieces

HOME AGAIN (M)

***

Foxtel Now

This eager-to-please rom-com depicts a situation incredibly hard to believe, yet very easy to sit back and take in. This is where the proven work ethic and endearing presence of Reese Witherspoon comes palpably into play here. She stars as Alice, a newly separated mother of two who has moved back to her home town of LA, and into the lavish house of her late father, a famous director. After a big night bemoaning her turning 40, Alice takes in three young aspiring filmmakers as lodgers. Wouldn’t you just know it? The combined traits of this well-behaved pack of guy-candy amount to everything her ex-husband (Michael Sheen) should have been. Co-stars Candice Bergen.

The one that thumps hard, but doesn’t leave much of a mark

CONOR MCGREGOR: NOTORIOUS (M)

**1/2

Google, iTunes

Connor McGregor in 2017 movie Notorious.

This flashy sports doco gets you up close and impersonal with mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor. As can often be the case when the subject of a doco is also a producer, the film is very selective with what chooses to reveal and hide. The controversial Irish fighter’s improbable rise from lowly plumber’s apprentice to high-flying UFC champ is definitely a story worth telling, and when the filmmakers stick to the key facts and crucial fights, it makes for riveting viewing. However, an unseemly proportion of running time is given over to feeding McGregor’s monstrous ego. The man’s incessant need to remind everyone of his ability to crush opponents and make the big bucks is tiresome beyond belief.

The one where gentliness is next to godliness

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN (PG)

***

Netflix

Based on a well-known book by Christy Beams, this low-key production tells the true story of an everyday American Christian family whose faith is put to the test by an intensely personal crisis. Jennifer Garner plays a devoted mother whose 8-year-old daughter has contracted a terminal condition. The movie can get corny at times, and definitively could have done with a fierce edit (the God-rock numbers sung down at the local church, in particular). Nevertheless, thanks largely to the anchoring presence of Garner — who excels when it comes to portraying what a parent will do to save a child — the job gets done with a modesty and dignity you don’t see much these days.

The one your kids may kinda like, but only if the choices of few

TROLLS (G)

**

Google, iTunes

Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and her mates in a scene from DreamWorks Trolls.

Can’t help but feel an opportunity might have been missed here. Now that the world’s biggest troll is the President of the United States, what better time could there be for a film about those angry and confused misanthropes pumping bile and bad vibes into the internet 24/7? Instead, what we get is a boilerplate animated adventure for kiddlywinks, starring a bunch of neon-hued, scary-haired little dolls that once sold like hot cakes in the 1960s and 70s. (You’ve seen ‘em around. Just imagine a better-dressed, weirder-looking Smurf.) This inoffensive, highly formulaic affair differs only from other average ‘toons in that it merrily pours on the audiovisual sugar (perky pop songs all over the soundtrack, and a hi-vis colour scheme you can see from the moon) to overload proportions. Anna Kendrick voices the chipper Troll princess who joins forces with village grouch Justin Timberlake to save her people from a horde of monsters that wish to eat them.