We get a lot of star power in streaming releases this week with Die Hart with Kevin Hart and John Travolta, We Have a Ghost with Anthony Mackie and David Harbour, The Consultant with Christoph Waltz, Liaison with Eva Green and Vincent Cassell, and, of course, all the superstar personalities (and egos) Formula 1: Drive to Survive! But all of them pale against the star power (Star Wars power?) of a certain armoured gunslinger and his cute green companion as The Mandalorian blasts back onto our screens for a third season!
MOVIES
Die Hart
Amazon Prime Video – 24 February 2023
If his recent blockbuster live comedy show has left you wanting more Kevin Hart, you’re in luck. Getting a rare (at least locally) simultaneous cinema and streaming release is Die Hart, a new action-comedy that sees the motormouth comedian playing a fictionalized version of himself. This Kevin Hart is desperate to become an action movie star and thus enrolls in a special action hero school run John Travolta’s unhinged Ron Wilcox. If you’re a Hart fan (I’m unfortunately not), this looks like more of the manic comedy stylings he’s become known for.
We Have a Ghost
Netflix – 24 February 2023
Netflix’s new family-friendly supernatural comedy follows Anthony Mackie’s Kevin, who moves into a new house with his family, only to discover it’s haunted. This is no poltergeist horror story though, despite the attempts at scaring the family off by said ghost, Ernest, played by David Harbour. As Kevin and his family dig into Ernest’s past, they uncover secrets that make them the target of the CIA. Luckily, Ernest is willing to lend a spectral hand. So yes, n paper, We Have a Ghost sounds very silly… and that’s because it is. But it is directed and co-written by Christopher Landon, the filmmaker behind the very entertaining Happy Death Day movies, so I’m hoping he can surprise us once again.
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Google Play Movies – 24 February 2023
If you’ve ever watched videos of wealthy young people living it up in a life of debaucherous partying and wished them harm out of jealousy… well, you probably need to speak to somebody about that. But also, your wish has been granted! At least on film, that is. Bodies Bodies Bodies stars Amandla Stenberg and Borat breakout Maria Bakalova as part of a group of stinking rich twenty-somethings who have a wild party at a remote mansion when a game of Bodies Bodies Bodies is suggested. Except, the game of murder-mystery make-believe soon turns very real… and pretty absurd in a very Gen Z way. Bodies Bodies Bodies released in cinemas late last year, but if you missed the critically acclaimed comedy-horror then, you can now rent it on Google Play Movies.
SERIES
The Consultant S1
Amazon Prime Video – 24 February 2023
As is no surprise, we love video games around here. The video games industry though? That’s a whole other toxic and twisted kettle of fish. Dev studios often appear to be run by brutal sociopaths, and in The Consultant that may just be a very literal assessment. The always-brilliant Christoph Waltz plays the titular character, a mysterious consultant sent in to right the ship at a major games developer after its CEO commits suicide. But as the employees soon realize, the consultant’s methods are beyond extreme!
Liaison S1
Apple TV+ – 24 February 2023
Liaison is a new thriller series starring Eva Green and Vincent Cassell as spies on opposite teams – as well as former lovers who burnt each other – forced to work together to combat an international cyberattack. Really, that’s all you need to know about this show. Not because I’m afraid of spoilers or anything, but because it’s Eva Green and Vincent Cassell as spies who were lovers! I can’t think of any more compelling way to sell this show to anybody with eyes and ears.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive S5
Netflix – 24 February 2023
Netflix has recently tried to launch documentary series focusing respectively on the sports of tennis and golf, but unfortunately, neither show has managed to come close to capturing the hearts and minds of sports fans quite like original genre breakout Drive to Survive. The behind-the-scenes Formula 1 show’s mix of giant personalities and heart-stopping drama (a bit too dramatic, some would criticize) has been a lightning-in-a-bottle success story for both Netflix and F1 in general, pushing viewership of the actual races to new stratospheric highs. And now, it’s back. Season 5 of Drive to Survive covers last year’s racing calendar year, which was packed full of so many twists and turns, and now we get to see how it all unfolded from the other side of the paddock.
Julia S1
Showmax – 24 February 2023
As somewhat of a foodie myself (a term I cringe to use after watching The Menu), of course I know of Julia Child. But you needn’t be a self-proclaimed gastronome to be familiar with the trailblazing American cook and media personality. Child’s life has been brought to life on-screen before (most famously in the Oscar-nominated Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep), but now a new biographical spin is being put on things with HBO Max series Julia. British actress Sarah Lancashire takes on the role of the iconic cook in this new drama series which has already been renewed for a second season.
Let the Right One In S1
Showmax – 27 February 2023
And talking of new adaptations of familiar material… Let the Right One In is the new American horror-drama TV series adaptation of the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The Swedish author’s story about a centuries-old vampire, stuck in the body of a 12-year-old girl, who befriends a young boy, was already adapted for the screen as Tomas Alfredson’s Swedish feature film Let the Right One In, and an English-language Hollywood version titled Let Me In, by a then relatively unknown Matt Reeves. Both films were superb in their own right, but apparently the Powers That Be felt we needed another retelling of this story, this time as a TV series which switches things up a bit as it focuses on Demián Bichir’s Mark Kane, a single father who is just struggling to protect his young daughter, as any good father would. Except, his teenage-looking daughter has been a vampire for the past decade, forcing them into a life of hiding and running. That all changes when a potential cure – and a potential friend for the girl – both appear on the horizon.
The Mandalorian S3
Disney+ – 1 March 2023
Yes, we saved the best for last today! Following his detour in The Book of Boba Fett – in which he pretty much took over – the Mandalorian is back to headlining his own show. The much-anticipated third season of the Star Wars smash hit series will be hitting screens on Wednesday, 1 March, continuing the story of Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarrin and the adorable Grogu. Following Din’s pivotal last meeting with the extremist sect that raised him, the action will now be taking us the planet Mandalore as well as furthering the drama surrounding the Darksaber and all those who covet it. The show is looking every bit as fantastic as the previous seasons and I’m positively buzzing with excitement. This is the way!