It’s a long weekend and the start of the December holidays for many. If you’re taking time off, you can get comfy on your couch and enjoy the return of both Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and Alice in Borderland, the Noah Centineo-led spy caper The Recruit, Oscar-winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s trippy new film, Bardo, and more in this week’s streaming lineup!
MOVIES
Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Netflix – 16 December 2022
If you spend time on “Film Twitter” or follow news out of the film festival circuit, you would have heard mention of Bardo, the latest effort from Oscar-winning Birdman director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Written, produced, edited, and directed by the acclaimed filmmaker, the film follows a Mexican journalist/documentarian who suffers an existential crisis following a personal tragedy while living in Los Angeles, triggering visions that bleed reality into fantasy. With its trippy visuals and esoteric storytelling, Bardo has polarized critics, with some calling it boldly brilliant while others dismiss it as self-indulgent navel-gazing. You can decide for yourself who is right!
Nanny
Amazon Prime Video – 16 December 2022
The holidays are a time for family, and nothing says family time quite like a psychological horror… wait what? Titans’ Anna Diop stars as Aisha, a recently emigrated Senegalese woman hired as the carer for the daughter of a wealthy New York couple. Still haunted by the son she was forced to leave behind in her home country, Aisha uncovers a new haunting though when a violent presence begins to invade both her dreams and her reality.
If These Walls Could Sing
Disney+ – 16 December 2022
London’s Abbey Road Studios has a firm spot in music history as the longest-running and one of the most famous music recording studios in the world. Catapulted into global icon status in the 1960s by its most famous clients, The Beatles, the studio has seen a who’s who of musical greats over the years. And this feature-film documentary, directed with a personal flair by Mary McCartney, daughter of Beatles front man Paul McCartney, details the epic, and oftentimes turbulent, 91-year history of this musical mainstay.
Respect
Showmax – 22 December 2022
Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson leads a star-studded cast in this biopic detailing the life of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Directed by South African-born filmmaker Liesl Tommy, this biopic covers the first three decades of the acclaimed for history-making singer, as she went from musical child prodigy to abused wife, all while climbing the ranks to global superstardom.
SERIES
The Recruit S1
Netflix – 16 December 2022
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed that Noah Centineo is slowly being groomed from teenage heartthrob to charming Hollywood leading man and arguably the biggest step on that journey is The Recruit. Created by The Rookie’s Alexi Hawley and produced partially directed by The Bourne Identity’s Doug Liman, this spy action adventure sees Centineo as a fledgling paper-pushing CIA lawyer who gets thrown way into the espionage deep-end when a run-of-the-mill task reveals an agency asset threatening to expose a high-ranking conspiracy. Expect lots of quips and thrilling action here.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan S3
Amazon Prime Video – 21 December 2022
From one buff handsome spy to another, but Johan Krasinski’s Jack Ryan is a very different covert animal. The literary hero CIA analyst is back for a third season, and this time he’s on the other side of the legal line as he goes rogue and on the run after his investigation into a far-reaching conspiracy involving the President of Venezuela triggers an international incident.
Alice in Borderland S2
Netflix – 22 December 2022
It’s been over two years since the nail-biting first season of Japanese manga-adaptation Alice in Borderland introduced us to Ryohei Arisu and the rest of the people mysteriously transported to an alternate abandoned Tokyo, forced to play deadly games to survive. There were so many twists and turns in that first season that it’s impossible to summarize here. Just know that it was incredible, and I’m beyond stoked for more!