Genre fans are eating good this week with the new Scott Pilgrim anime, Godzilla prequel series Monarch, and the VOD debut of Gareth Edwards’ The Creator headlining streaming releases. Also featured is the Squid Game reality TV series, The Pope’s Exorcist, and more!
SERIES
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off S1
17 November 2023 – Netflix
The fact that Edgar Wright’s 2010 live-action comic book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was a huge box office flop is one of the most unfair results in the Hollywood modern age. Wright and his star-studded cast brought creator Brian Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel to life so incredibly well, that they deserved to tell more of the titular Scott Pilgrim’s stories. Well, fast-forward a dozen years and several editorials later and they’re actually getting their chance! But differently! Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a new animated series adaptation developed by Wright, O’Malley, and BenDavid Grabinski that sees the entire cast of the 2010 lending their voices to the now-animated counterparts. And it looks incredible!
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S1
17 November 2023 – AppleTV+
Although they have varied in quality, I’ve had a kaiju-sized soft spot for Legendary’s Monsterverse movies. and can’t wait for next year’s franchise culmination Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. If April 2024 is too far off though, and you, like me, have a gigantic itch only a skyscraper-sized monster can scratch, Apple TV+ has got you covered. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is the new big-budget prequel/sequel series that both tells the origin story of the titular secret monster watchdog organization as well as picking up the pieces after the titanic battle of San Francisco in 2014’s Godzilla in which the world learned that kaiju are real. The show will be hopping back and forth between 2014 and the 1950s as long buried secrets are uncovered, leading to more shocking truths. And in a genius bit of casting, Kurt Russell and his real-life son Wyatt Russell will both be leading the showing as older and younger versions of the same character.
A Spy Among Friends S1
17 November 2023 – Showmax
I will admit that I hadn’t heard of A Spy Among Friends before this week, but glancing over the BAFTA-nominated miniseries’ blurb, it already had me at Damien Lewis, Guy Pearce, and Cold War spy thriller. This six-part series depicts the real-life events in 1963 that resulted in one of the most infamous espionage scandals in UK history. Lewis plays British intelligence office Nicholas Elliot, who makes the stunning discovery that his long-time colleague and best friend Kim Philby (Pearce) is secretly a KGB double agent with plans to defect to the Soviet Union.
Squid Game: The Challenge S1
22 November 2023 – Netflix
You have to wonder if the people who decided to adapt South Korean drama series breakout Squid Game into a reality TV series actually bothered to watch Squid Game. The entire concept of people’s poverty and fiscal desperation being exploited – to deadly result – for the vapid entertainment of detached viewers, being turned into a show that does just that, minus the excessively brutal deaths (we hope), seems rather tasteless. However, you can be damn sure people will tune in, which is exactly what Netflix is hoping for. And I’ll probably be one of them.
MOVIES
The Pope’s Exorcist
14 November 2023 – Netflix
October is usually the spooky month, but if you’re still looking for some horror in your life (although we already had plenty with yesterday’s cricket), then Netflix has landed The Pope’s Exorcist, which debuted in cinemas earlier this year. The horror-thriller stars Russell Crowe as real-life Italian Catholic priest and exorcist for the Diocese of Rome, Father Gabriele Amorth. Yes, this is one of those “based on a ‘true’ story” horror movies. This one draws its inspiration from a pair of books published by Amorth in the early 1990s, detailing his investigation into a young boy’s alleged demonic possession, leading to him uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy.
Rustin
17 November 2023 – Netflix
Almost everybody has heard of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, but there would have been no speech without the 1963 Great March on Washington that preceded it. And there would have been no Great March on Washington without Bayard Rustin. An icon of the US Civil Rights movement, the outspoken activist never backed down or apologized for what he believed in or who he was, and as a result, his position in history was often overlooked or ignored. Directed by the acclaimed George C. Wolfe and starring Emmy Award winner Colman Domingo in the titular role, Rustin is the long overdue story of this remarkable man who helped to change the world. Based on the early buzz from the Telluride Film Festival where Rustin made its debut, don’t be surprised to hear Domingo’s name thrown about quite a bit in awards season for his work here.
Exmas
17 November 2023 – Prime Video
If you’re looking for some COMPLETELY different, then how about Christmas rom-com EXmas starring Leighton Meester and Robbie Amell. And honestly, I don’t even think I need to bother with giving a synopsis here, because Christmas movie fans and rom-com fans know exactly the type of predictable formula they’re getting themselves into with these affairs, and they’ll click play anyway!
Leo
21 November 2023 – Netflix
I’m not much of an Adam Sandler fan, but I am looking forward to this new animated comedy musical which sees the alleged funnyman voicing Leo, a 74-year-old lizard who spent his entire life in a single Florida classroom, watching decades of children passing through. Realizing he doesn’t have long to live, Leo decides to break the routine, accidentally revealing to the youngsters around him that he can actually talk. Luckily, with all his septuagenarian wisdom, Leo actually has a lot of valuable lessons to teach the next generation.
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
The Wrath of Becky
Purchase: Apple TV / Google Play Movies – R130 / R173
Rental: Google Play Movies – R40
When action thriller Becky released in 2020, it was most notable for casting usually schlubby funny guy Kevin James as the film’s villain, a terrifying neo-nazi escaped prisoner, who takes thirteen-year-old Becky’s family hostage, leaving her to gruesomely fight her way through a group hardened criminals. While it got solid reviews, the film released at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning almost nobody saw it in cinema. However, a slowly but steadily growing VOD audience kept its numbers ticking along over the years. Enough, apparently, that we’ve now got ourselves a sequel! The painfully titled The Wrath of Becky sees Lulu Wilson – who admittedly got a lot of praise for original performance – as the titular heroine. Set three years after the events of the first film, Becky is living off the grid, honing her survival skills, her experiences having hardened her way beyond her sixteen years. When she has an altercation with a group of men, secretly a domestic extremist terrorist cell, at the diner where she works, it kicks off a series of escalating events that sees Becky needing to put her grisly experience to use again.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Purchase: Google Play Movies – R151
Rental: Google Play Movies – R35
The Pope’s Exorcist above not satisfying your need for some chills? Then why don’t you take a bit out of The Last Voyage of the Demeter? This supernatural horror feature is an adaptation of a single chapter from Bram Stoker’s iconic original gothic horror classic Dracula, as it regales the tale of the ill-fated merchant ship Demeter and her crew, who unknowingly transported the monstrous titular vampire from Transylvania to London. Following a mixed critical reception, The Last Voyage of the Demeter was barely seen in cinemas when it released a few months ago, but for just R35 for rental, it could do nicely for some grisly entertainment.
The Creator
Purchase: Apple TV / Google Play Movies – R130 / R146
There are always deriding cries about Hollywood just living on franchises instead of original works. This is on top of criticisms about blockbuster productions boasting ridiculously engorged budgets. So earlier this year, when writer/director Gareth Edwards’ unveiled The Creator, a stunning looking original sci-fi action film that just cost a svelte $80 million to make, you would have thought it was the perfect recipe for box office success. Instead, despite it being a really great movie with incredible VFX, worldbuilding, and action spectacle (although its character beats do get a little tropey in places), The Creator was a massive commercial flop. Whether you blame it on a puzzlingly bare-bones promotional campaign or something else, it was still insanely disappointing to see how few people turned up to watch it. Well, if you were one of those who missed The Creator on the big screen (particularly on IMAX, where it shone!), you can now correct that at home as The Creator has debuted on VOD. Currently, it’s only available for purchase (for barely the price of one IMAX ticket) but rental options should appear in the coming week or two.