Welcome to Stream Scene, where we highlight any noteworthy new movies and series hitting online streaming services.
It’s a long weekend in SA, which means plenty of time to watch stuff. And there a a couple of BIG choices in Netflix’s massively anticipated new horror series Midnight Mass, as well as the start of Apple TV+’s big-budget Isaac Asimov sci-fi adaptation Foundation. Along with those, we also get a new Britney Spears documentary, Melissa McCarthy’s latest film offering, the second season of local crime drama Blood & Water, and more.
SERIES
Midnight Mass
Netflix (SA) – 24 September 2021
With his work on Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House, and The Haunting of Bly Manor, writer/director Mike Flanagan has established himself as arguably the preeminent horror auteur in Hollywood right now. But despite how soaring his past successes have been, his latest series offering, Midnight Mass, seemingly tops even those by a good margin as the best work of Flanagan’s career. That’s the word from just about everybody who has seen the series, including horror maestro Stephen King himself!
Foundation
Apple TV+ (SA) – 24 September 2021
Legendary writer Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series is one of the cornerstones of sci-fi literature. So… no pressure, Apple TV+ in adapting this epic for the screen! At least Apple is wasting no expense in telling this galaxy-spanning tale that kicks off when a mathematician develops a new theory; one that predicts the total and almost unavoidable collapse of the entire human Galactic Empire stretching across the Milky Way.
Blood and Water S2
Netflix (SA) – 24 September 2021
I haven’t seen the first season of Blood and Water yet, but based on reactions on social media, this South African crime drama has quite the rabid following. Season 1 introduced us to Puleng, a young high school girl who starts to suspect that the popular wealthy girl she meets at a party may just be her missing sister, kidnapped shortly after birth. Unfortunately for Puleng, potential lost siblings was just the tip of the familial secrets iceberg.
Ganglands
Netflix (SA) – 24 September 2021
Already blazed through the recent episodes of Money Heist and looking for a new explosive foreign-language criminal caper to get wrapped up in? Well, then French offering Ganglands may just be right up your alley.
The Chestnut Man
Netflix (SA) – 29 September 2021
If you like your crime series a bit more cerebral and chilling, then check out The Chestnut Man, the latest offering from Danish writer/producer Søren Sveistrup, the creator of the original The Killing TV series. This one is adapted from Sveistrup’s own hit debut novel about the grisly killing of a young woman, which may be linked to the disappearance of another girl one year earlier. The only clue: an eerie little figure made out of chestnuts.
MOVIES
The Starling
Netflix (SA) – 24 September 2021
Melissa McCarthy is known for her silly or over-the-top comedies, but the Hollywood star dials things back a bit for The Starling, which combines charming comedy with some properly dramatic heartbreak. Keep the tissues handy.
Britney vs Spears
Netflix (SA) – 28 September 2021
Once the princess of pop who ruled the charts, Britney Spears has instead spent the last 13 years in a crippling conservatorship that has stripped away many of her freedoms. Following her recent legal battles against this conservatorship, and spurred on by a very vocal online fan campaign, this documentary looks at exactly what has happened to the chart-topping singer.
No One Gets Out Alive
Netflix (SA) – 29 September 2021
If Midnight Mass didn’t quite fill up your horror quota yet (weirdo!), then No One Gets Out Alive might just do the trick as it follows a young Mexican immigrant in search of the American dream. Instead, she finds a horrific nightmare in the gothic house she moves into.