It may be Friday the 13th, but you’re in luck with a massive variety of new streaming titles including the premiere of Marvel’s Agatha All Along, the VOD debut of Trap, Zack Snyder’s Twilight of the Gods, and much more.
SERIES
In Vogue: The 90s
13 September 2024 – Disney+
The 90s. The decade of the supermodel. And few institutions helped birth the rise of such fashion icons as much as Vogue. In Vogue is a new six-episode documentary series, with the first three – subtitled The 90s” – releasing today with another three episodes hitting next week. This first batch details the “inside story of the decade that made celebrities out of supermodels and style icons out of music moguls”. Legendary Vogue editors Anna Wintour, Edward Enninful, Tonne Goodman, Hamish Bowles, and an A-list cast including Kate Moss, Kim Kardashian, Victoria Beckham, and Mary J. Blige guide viewers through the defining moments that changed fashion forever.
The Grand Tour: One for the Road
Prime Video – 13 September 2024
This is it. The last hurrah! Motoring legends/lovable buffoons Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May are setting out on one final adventure in the brilliant Grand Tour series. This swan song sees the trio heading to Zimbabwe in three cars they’ve always wanted to own, a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre, and a Triumph Stag, for a road trip through beautiful and sometimes challenging landscapes.
Agatha All Along S1
19 September 2024 – Disney+
Marvel’s WandaVision was a groundbreaking TV series for the comic book studio and also led to a massively successful introduction of Kathryn Hahn to the MCU as Agatha Harkness. As she spent most of the series brilliantly in disguise though, we didn’t get to spend too much time with the real Agatha. That all changes now with her own spinoff series, Agatha All Along. Set after the events of WandaVision, the series follows Agatha as she sets out to escape the town of Westview, where she was imprisoned, and regain the magical powers she’s lost.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
19 September 2024 – Netflix
Released in 2022, true-crime anthology series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was a huge hit for Netflix, becoming the streamer’s second most-watched English-language series of all time within 28 days, and only the third Netflix series to pass 1 billion hours viewed in 60 days. With those kinds of numbers, you damn well knew there would be more. This time creator Ryan Murphy is stepping away from cannibals and focusing on the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, the two brothers who shot to infamy in 1989 for murdering their wealthy parents. The brothers claimed that the committed the murders out of fear their father would kill them for exposing years of parental abuse, while others say they did it to get their hands on their parents’ money. What really happened though?
Twilight of the Gods S1
19 September 2024 – Netflix
After the two dreadful Rebel Moon farming porn movies, you may feel you’re done with filmmaker Zack Snyder and stories about assembling ragtag teams to take on powerful oppressive enemies. But wait! There’s more! To be fair, Twilight of the Gods, is not only an animated series based on Norse mythology rather than sci-fi or comic books, but Snyder also co-developed Jay Oliva and Eric Carrasco. The latter was a longtime writer on The CW’s Supergirl series, while Jay Oliva is the fan-favourite filmmaker behind most of the massively acclaimed DC Comics animated movies. To tell this tale of the marriage between fearless warrior Sigrid and noble king Leif and how their nuptials started a war with the gods, Snyder and co also assembled one hell of a voice cast including Sylvia Hoeks, Rahul Koli, Pilou Asbæk, Kristofer Hivju, John Noble, Peter Stormare, and more. All of which is to say that maybe I’m willing to give Snyder another chance here.
Uglies
13 September 2024 – Netflix
There was a time in the early 2010s where you couldn’t swing a cat in a room without hitting some new YA big screen adaptation about a future world built around some absurd social premise. While the genre has fallen out of popularity a bit as of Iate, it’s not dead. And thus, we now have Uglies, director McG’s adaptation of Scott Westerfield’s 2005 novel of the same name. Joey King stars as Tally, an “ugly” teen in a futuristic world that imposes a cosmetic surgery at 16 to become “Pretty” and be able to fully join the rest of society. But when a friend runs away, Tally instead has to abandon everything she thought she wanted – and which society tells her she must have – to save what’s really important to her.
Officer Black Belt
13 September 2024 – Netflix
If you’re not in the food for dystopian teens and commentary on impossible social standards, then how about some classic kicking and punching? The hilariously badly named Officer Black Belt is a new South Korean action film that follows a talented martial artist with an unflappable desire to help those in need as he unites with a probation officer to fight and prevent crime. That’s it. Nice and simple.
Bob Marley: One Love
16 September 2024 – Showmax
Bob Marley was one of the greatest musicians of our time and a pioneer of reggae who helped popularize the genre global and would become a Rastafarian icon. He used his music to not only talk about spirituality but also voice his opinions on politics, which even resulted in a failed assassination attempt on his life. And in musical biopic Bob Marley: One Love, Kingsley Ben-Adir brings to life the legendary musician as the film details his origin story, as he rose to fame in the mid-1970s, the troubles and successes in both his personal and professional lives, up until his untimely death in 1981.
Grave of the Fireflies
16 September 2024 – Netflix
It’s not often we feature movies on here that are 36-years-old, but few movies are Grave of the Fireflies. Produced by the legendary Studio Ghibli, this critically acclaimed award-winning semi-autobiographical drama tells the story of orphaned siblings Seita and Setsuko as they fight to survive in a harsh post-WWII Japan where there is scarcely enough food to go around. And if that sounds bleak, it’s because it is. Grave of the Fireflies is gruelingly emotional experience, but it’s also one of the greatest war films ever made. And now it’s finally being made widely available for streaming so more people can experience it. Just keep the tissues handy.
The Holdovers
16 September 2024 – Showmax
Despite being nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, and eventually walking away with the Best Supporting Actress statue for Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers has seemingly just flown under the social radar. Directed by Alexander Payne (who won an Oscar each for previous films, Sideways and The Descendants), this Christmas comedy drama stars Paul Giamatti as a cranky prep school history teacher who, after a minor fallout, is ordered to remain on campus over the holidays with the school’s cafeteria manager (Randolph), to oversee a group of students who have no place to go during the break. These “holdovers” includes brainy student Angus (Dominic Sessa) who struggles with authority.
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
Trap
Purchase: Apple TV – R200
Rental: Apple TV – R170
M. Night Shyamalan’s career has had more plot twists than his movies and you never seem to know if his offerings will be great or duds. Critical consensus seems to fall somewhere in the middle for his latest offering, Trap, but it sure is an intriguing premise though. None of which I will give away here as I think going into this one completely fresh will benefit it more. At least at it’s worth the price of admission just for Josh Hartnett’s committed performance, which has been universally praised. And if you missed it most recently in cinemas, Trap is already out for rental and purchase at home.