The Kilkenny Observer Friday 24 December 2021
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kilkennyobserver.ie
TV & Streaming
12
movies to stream over the festive season
Here are our selections for for streaming in those hazy, lazy days between Christmas and the New Year.. If you ever wondered what one of the directors of Crank was up to now (as we all do), well he’s making cracking TV in the form of Happy. This rather violent, blacker than black comedy series focuses on Christopher Meloni as a hitman who starts to see his daughter’s imaginary friend, which just happens to be an animated blue unicorn (voiced by Patton Oswalt). Annoyingly it was cancelled after just two seasons but, even though it leaves you hanging a little, it’s still well worth a watch.
You like Turner and Hooch, right? Of course you do. Tom Hanks + a dog = good ’80s movie. Okay, well, what if Turner and Hooch was set in the post-apocalyptic future... and instead of working as a cop, Tom Hanks is one of the last people on Earth and he travels the planet with his dog and a robot... and the movie was directed by the guy who did the awesome Hardhome and Battle Of The Bastards episodes of Game Of Thrones. It’s Finch time.
Jeymes Samuel’s slick, stylish Netflix Western is a ‘pick your fighter’ lineup of gun-slinging, swag-dripping Black cowboys ready to dust off the history books and give us a more accurate, diverse representation of the Old West. Jonathan Majors is having a hell of a year and here, he imbues the deadly Nat Love with some impressive comedic beats that make it easy to root for the vengeance-minded outlaw. Idris Elba, LaKeith Stanfield, and Zazie Beetz round out the main cast members with the most things to do on screen and all of the shoot-outs and train robberies and saloon fights are timed perfectly to an eclectic mix of Reggae/Dancehall bangers produced by Samuel and collaborator Jay-Z. This ain’t your grandad’s Western, and really, that’s kind of the point.
Andrew Garfield is giving us a musical-thirst-trap performance in this LinManuel Miranda-directed biopic that pays tribute to Jonathan Larson, the artistic genius who changed Broadway with his seminal musical Rent. This film examines Larson’s life before fans were belting out Season of Love though, with Garfield giving an award-worthy turn as a restless visionary who feels the suffocating deadline of turning 30 without having produced a great show. The supporting cast is terrific, Garfield is doing his best work, and Miranda infuses everything with a genuine sense of love and admiration that makes it hard not to root for this one.
Berry makes her directorial debut and stars as a disgraced fighter named Jackie Justice (Jackie Justice!) who is back in the cage to deal with various personal demons. It’s Halle Berry’s movie! The reviews are pretty good!
You might be wondering that there are already nine million books and documentaries and academic studies about the Beatles out there. Do we really need The Beatles: Get Back? Yes, we do. The three-part documentary comes from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and includes never-before-seen footage of John, Paul, George, and Ringo in the studio recording their final masterpiece. You’ll like it.
Oscar-nominee Riz Ahmed likes to make the kind of movies you wouldn’t expect him to. In 2019, he played a rock n roll drummer slowly losing his hearing and having to upend his life because of it. This year, well ... he’s surviving an alien invasion. Sort of. Encounter is one of those streaming movies that quietly sneak onto a platform – this time it’s Amazon Prime Video – and usually stay buried under all the other content the algorithm prioritises. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen here though because Ahmed is a force on screen, playing a disturbed man and desperate father who believes he’s saving his two sons from an extra-terrestrial invasion that no one else knows is happening.
Academy Award winner Paulo Sorrentino (The Young Pope) returns with this story of tragedy and unexpected joys, along with how fates intertwine. It’s a story about young Fabietto Schisa and the arrival of a football legend on the scene. Ultimately though, Sorerentino’s telling this story from his own hometown (Naples), so expect a deeply personal (and of course, achingly beautiful) experience.
Well, it’s Sandra Bullock as a recently released violent felon who is trying to reintegrate into society after a number of years in prison and dealing with the various hurdles and stigmas attached to... all that. It sounds interesting and important, even if it’s not, like, the type of light holiday viewing you might be looking for this time of the year. Worth giving it a run at some point.
Benedict Cumberbatch gives a villainous performance for the ages in The Power Of The Dog, the first film in 12 years from director Jane Campion. The western is expected (and deserves) to be an Oscars frontrunner, so hop on the horse-drawn bandwagon now.
Set in the near future, Swan Song stars two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as a husband and father who’s dying from a terminal illness. To spare his family from unimaginable grief, he secretly agrees to undergo an experimental treatment where his memories will be transported into an exact healthy duplicate. Swan Song examines how far we’re willing to go to protect the ones we love. It’s science-fiction at its most melancholy.
This is a surprisingly star-studded — Ellie Kemper! Rob Delaney! Kenan Thompson! — addition to the Home Alone franchise, written by SNL veterans Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell. The plot remains the same: A 10-year-old boy gets left behind when his parents head off to Tokyo and he has to defend his house from various bumbling criminals. The reviews so far are... not great, but it might be worth a go if you’re looking for a nostalgia blast to the face or something to watch with younger children.
