Streaming guide: What to watch this weekend
All you’ll see in The Guilty is a man, a headset, and on occasion a computer. All you’ll hear are phone calls taken and made by a Constable working the triple-0 line in Copenhagen. And it is gripping. Here’s what else to watch this weekend.
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THE ONE THAT’S SO SIMPLE … AND SO EFFECTIVE
THE GUILTY (M)
****1/2
SBS ON DEMAND
Mark this down as a total must-see. This consummately riveting Danish thriller puts you on hold, then puts you in a hold.
It won’t be letting go until its short, sharp and nerve-shredding 80 minutes are up. Intriguingly, the more this gripping movie takes off the storytelling table, the higher the spike in tension levels.
All you will see in The Guilty is a man, a headset, and on occasion, a computer monitor.
All you will hear is a sequence of phone calls both taken and made by Constable Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren), a street cop demoted to working the triple-0 line in a Copenhagen crisis response centre.
There is a woman being held against her will in a white transit van. It is speeding through the rainy night in an outer suburb, and eluding Highway Patrol cars at every turn. At the wheel is her estranged husband. At home, alone, are her two children.
If Asger reads the situation right, everyone just might make it through the night unscathed. If he gets it wrong, a terrifying tragedy could unfold.
A deceptively devastating viewing (and listening) experience.
THE ONE THAT WORKS BLUE, GETS BIG LAUGHS
BLOCKERS (MA15+)
***1/2
NETFLIX
What gives Blockers a consistent, winning ability to amuse is both a refreshing new take on the teen sex comedy, and its obvious accessibility.
The three BFFs (Kathryn Newton, Gideon Adlon, Geraldine Viswanathan) making a pact to lose their virginity on prom night are sensible, smart and female.
Throughout movie history, that job has traditionally gone to males with low IQs and high libidos.
Meanwhile, the three parents (Leslie Mann, John Cena, Ike Barinholtz) making it their business to lose their mind represent just about every adult with a teenage daughter in their family.
OK, so it ain’t Shakespeare by any stretch. However, when the gags get on a roll, Blockers is as funny as any mainstream comedy released in the past few years. (As an added bonus, it is also slightly cleverer than its trailer is letting on, too.)
There are some out-there sequences that do earn the movie its MA15+ rating, but nothing an endearingly game cast can’t ultimately sell to doubters with ease.
THE ONE WHERE SLY SLAYS ALL DAY … AND ALL NIGHT
THE RAMBO COLLECTION (MA15+)
***
FOXTEL GO
With the action sequel Rambo: Last Blood now in cinemas, the good folk at Foxtel have gone and rounded up every feature racked up by Sly Stallone’s veteran vengeance machine.
The ones hailing from the 1980s are relatively polite compared to the rough stuff later to come.
From movie to movie, Stallone keeps reaching for more boot nugget to smear under the eyes, and more baby oil to slather on those steroid-assisted guns.
Feel free to binge away if this happens to be your thing.
We won’t judge. Promise.
THE ONE THAT ISN’T GOING TO PLAY NICE
CHILD’S PLAY (MA15+)
***
GOOGLE, ITUNES, YOUTUBE MOVIES
Firstly, some (haunted) housekeeping — this is not a remake, reboot nor reimagining of the classic 1989 horror thriller.
No, this is a reincarnation: the summoning of an evil little figure many of us were secretly hoping to never see again.
So say hello once more to the one and only Chucky, the toy doll with a temperament that makes Pennywise the clown of It infamy look like a reasonable, well-balanced kinda dude.
In a production most horror fans will find eminently disposable, yet undeniably enjoyable, the Chuckster is still as old-fashioned a demented doll as ever, but for a thoroughly modern reason.
He’s now a ‘smart toy’, an internet-connected plaything designed to befriend and babysit kids at the same time.
What could possibly go wrong with that kind of arrangement? Well, once a disgruntled programmer removes a few lines of Chucky’s code, just about everything.
Be aware the body count is moderate, but the methods used to rack up those numbers are enough to make a butcher turn vegan.
THE ONE THAT IS GOING TO PLAY NICE
CHARLOTTE’S WEB (G)
***
NETFLIX, STAN
The touching story of an unlikely friendship between a naive young pig named Wilbur (voiced by youngster Dominic Scott Kay) and the motherly older spider Charlotte (Julia Roberts).
This belated live-action adaptation of the classic children’s book by E.B. White goes best when there’s minimum interference from the human cast.
Kids under 10 will love almost every minute of it.
THE ONE THAT’SA ROUGH GEM FOR LEO
BLOOD DIAMOND (MA15+)
***1/2
FOXTEL GO
Some old-school Leo DiCaprio for those jonesing for more of the baby-faced wonder after his brilliant display in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This compellingly confronting action pic set at the height of the 1999 civil war in the West African nation of Sierra Leone.
It is here a Zimbabwean soldier of fortune (DiCaprio) makes an uneasy pact with a local fisherman (Djimon Hounsou) to find a precious jewel that offers both a chance at a better life.
The movie sometimes revels too much in the chaos and carnage of its setting, but superior writing and acting pricks the conscience exactly when needed.
Co-stars Jennifer Connelly.
THE ONE WHERE THE ACTION IS THE ATTRACTION
JOHN WICK CHAPTER 3 (MA15+)
***1/2
GOOGLE, ITUNES, YOUTUBE MOVIES
The John Wick franchise will never be down for the count as long as it keeps upping the ante. Just as movie number two in the Keanu Reeves-starring series of revenge thrillers bested the original, number three takes higher aim than its predecessors and hits a bullseye.
The new instalment picks up where we left off last time, with Mr Wick making the most of a one-hour head start he has been granted from a horde of contract assassins on his trail.
Joyless Johnny violated a code of conduct so precious to his hitmen brethren that there is now a $14 million bounty on his head.
What follows is yet another stunning collection of action set pieces for which the franchise has become renowned, every one of them intricately choreographed to the last millimetre. Some sequences are flat-out insane, such as an all-in brawl staged in Morocco where the most dangerous fighters turn out to be a pair of comically combative canines.
The unworldly shot composition of unheralded director Chad Stahelski continues to astonish, too.
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