If you’re into your local series and movies, you’ll be very happy with the next week’s streaming releases, featuring both movies and series, including Showmax’s very first original rom-com series, Troukoors. In fact, rom-com fans are really being spoiled! On the international front though, a pair of hard-acted dramas headline the movies with the Sandra Bullock-led The Unforgivable and Riz Ahmed-led Encounter, while on the series side we kick off the very final season of brilliant space opera The Expanse.
MOVIES
The Unforgivable
Netflix – 10 December 2021
It’s amazing to think that once upon a time, Sandra Bullock was really just known for lighthearted or romantic roles. Now she’s a serious Oscar-winning actress. And it looks like she’s going for another one with The Unforgiveable, a new Netflix drama based on the 2009 British miniseries of the same name, which sees Bullock star as a woman who attempts to rebuild her life after serving time in prison for committing a violent crime.
Encounter
Amazon Prime Video – 10 December 2021
Much like Bullock, Riz Ahmed wasn’t really getting much serious thespian attention in the early part of his character. And then the British-Pakastani broke out with the brilliant one-two punch of Nightcrawler and The Night Of. He’s kept that streak of fantastic performances going since then, and the latest is Encounter in which he plays a marine/father trying to save his two sons from an inhuman threat… but is the threat real or in his head?
No Time to Die
Google Play Movies – 10 December 2021
Daniel Craig’s last hurrah as Bond… James Bond was the first film to dodge out of the way of the COVID pandemic last year, but No Time to Die finally blasted into cinemas just over a month ago to much success. If you missed it then, you can now rent it in 4K at home via Google Play Movies.
The Protege
Google Play Movies – 10 December 2021
James Bond isn’t the only clandestine killer up for rental today, as August’s The Protege has now hit the Google Play Movies store as well. And this one actually has a proper Bond link as it was directed by Martin Campbell, the filmmaker behind both Goldeneye and Casino Royale. That’s where the comparisons end though as The Protege sees Maggie Q as a top assassin, raised in the killing arts by her mentor (Samuel Jackson). When he gets killed though, it leads her on a hunt to find the perpetrators and right into the proximity of Michael Keaton’s criminal gang enforcer. Only problem is, they may just want sleep with each other as much as they want to kill each other!
Tokyo Godfathers
Netflix – 15 December 2021
Looking for a Christmas holiday movie with a difference? Then how about acclaimed writer/director Satoshi Kon’s (Paprika, Perfect Blue) classic 2002 anime film Tokyo Godfathers which has now been added to Netflix. Billed as a “sentimental tragicomedy”, this award-winning offering follows three eclectic homeless people who discover an abandoned newborn baby in the trash and try to track down its parents.
The Hand of God
Netflix – 15 December 2021
If you’ve seen The Young Pope on Showmax, then you know the name of Paolo Sorrentino, the Oscar-winning Italian writer and director behind such other acclaimed films as Il Divo and The Great Beauty. The Hand of God is the acclaimed filmmaker’s latest film, a coming-of-age tale set in the tumultuous Naples of the 1980s, that touches on everything from personal heartache to familial tragedy to sporting legends in the form of Diego Maradonna.
Tshepo
Showmax – 16 December 2021
One of two local Showmax original movies dropping next week, Tshepo is a crime drama that stars Mpho Sebeng as the titular character, young man who becomes a bookkeeper for a notorious gang in order to take care of his family and pregnant girlfriend. But when Tshepo finds himself inadvertently tied up in murderous gang business, he has to go on the run from both criminals and police.
A Safe Bet
Showmax – 16 December 2021
Showmax’s second local original movie could not be more different as A Safe Bet is a rom-com following Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa as thirty-something Pearl, the country’s top attorney. But for all her success in the courtroom, Pearl has just had failures in her love-life… much to her mother’s dismay. That is until a prophecy predicts that she will find and marry a man with the name “Dlamini”. But which Dlamini?
SERIES
The Expanse S6
Amazon Prime Video – 10 December 2021
This is it. The final flight of the “Rocinante” as we have to start saying our goodbyes to the best damn sci-fi show running at the moment. While the book series it is based is only now wrapping up its ninth and final entry, Amazon Prime Video decided to end The Expanse after just six seasons (after previously rescuing it from cancellation). Is that enough time to satisfyingly conclude the story? We’ll have to see over the course of the next six weeks.
How to Ruin Christmas S2
Netflix – 10 December 2021
I never watched the first season of How to Ruin Christmas, so I don’t have much to say here. However, the local rom-com series was popular enough for Netflix to bring it back for more so they must be doing something right!
Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story
Netflix – 10 December 2021
When Tiger King debuted in early 2021, it quickly became a zeitgeist-transforming sensation. When Netflix released the sequel series last month, the reception was a lot more muted, shall we say. Hell, it barely registered a blip and that’s probably because this story was already played out the first time. But Netflix has apparently never met a cow it didn’t want to milk and so now we get a whole other entire show dedicated to Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, one of the other controversial side characters in Tiger King. Somehow, I don’t have much hope of this one recapturing the first show’s success either.
Troukoors S1
Showmax – 13 December 2021
Yes, there’s been a lot of local rom-com on this list already, but wait… there’s more! Troukoors is officially billed as Showmax’s first original rom-com series, and stars Ilse-Lee van Niekerk as Jessica, a wedding planner who’s surrounded by love but struggling to find it for herself. Yep, that definitely sounds like a rom-com to me!
Die Byl S3
Showmax – 13 December 2021
On the opposite end of the local genre spectrum, we also have the return of Die Byl for a third season on Showmax. Inspired by renowned real-life South African detective Piet Byleveld, this crime series follows Waldemar Schultz as brilliant serial killer expert, Colonel Piet van der Bijl, who – along with his team – is left reeling from the traumatic events in the season two… right as a ghost from the past returns!