Thanks to an unexpected overlap of post-festive season vacation breaks, there was nobody around last week to do the Stream Scene. So before we get to this coming week’s new streaming releases, here’s a heads up of the titles you may have missed: On the movies front, Jonathan Majors’ Korean War fighter-pilot drama Devotion dropped on Amazon Prime Video, South Korean sci-fi action-adventure Jung_E popped up on Netflix, recent six-time Oscar-nominee and 2022 box-office behemoth Top Gun: Maverick blasted its way onto Showmax, and Blade of the 47 Ronin – a future-set sequel to 2013’s 47 Ronin starring Mark Dacascos and Dustin Nguyen among others – is now available for rental on Apple TV and Google Play Movie. For series, the fourth and final season of crime drama The Sinner finally debuted locally on Netflix, while animated adventure comedy The Legend of Vox Machina kicked off its sophomore season on Amazon Prime Video.
And now onto this week’s releases, which sees Marvel’s Oscar-nominated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debut on Disney+, while Eddie Murphy continues his recent career resurgence as he gives Jonah Hill hell for wanting to marry his daughter in culture-clash comedy You People, and we get the debut of Joe “Attack the Block” Cornish’s teen fantasy series Lockwood & Co., among others!
MOVIES
You People
Netflix – 27 January 2022
From writer/director Kenya Barris (Black-ish, BlackAF) comes this new comedy that sees Jonah Hill’s single thirty-something loser Ezra finally meeting a girl, Lauren (Amira Mohammed), who he falls in love with and wants to marry. Just one problem: Ezra is very much white and Jewish, while Lauren is very much black and Muslim. Cue a huge clash of cultures led in particular by Lauren’s no-nonsense father Akbar played by Eddie Murphy, with Nia Long, Julia Louid-Dreyfus and David Duchovny rounding out the cast of disapproving parents on both sides.
Darby and the Dead
Disney+ – 27 January 2022
Well, this is a new spin on the old “popular high schooler takes the loser loner under her wing for selfish reasons” trope. Darby and the Dead follows the eponymous young girl who is capable of seeing dead people, the latter of which includes recently deceased head-cheerleader – and Darby’s own personal bully – Capri after a freak hairstyling accident. Unfortunately, for Darby, Capri is still a vain party girl and is not going to let a silly little thing like dying stop her from throwing her long-planned “Sweet 17” party. She just needs to help Darby get popular enough so that the latter can throw it on her behalf… even if takes a good haunting or two.
Together
Showmax – 30 January 2022
Looking for something a bit less… teen, then look no further than romantic dramedy Together starring James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan as a married couple forced into doing some serious relationship introspection during the COVID-19 lockdown. Directed by three-time Oscar nominee Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) and written by BAFTA winner Dennis Kelly (Utopia), Together added to the pair’s collection of silverware when it won the BAFTA for Best Single Drama last year, while McAvoy picked up Scottish BAFTA award for Best Actor as well.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Disney+ – 1 February 2022
Easily one of the best blockbusters of 2022, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now also a six-time Oscar-nominee. If you somehow missed Marvel’s most recent movie in cinemas and are wondering what the fuss is about – particularly, how Marvel and writer/director Ryan Coogler dealt with the untimely loss of franchise star Chadwick Boseman – you can now finally scratch that itch at home as Wakanda Forever will be debuting on Disney+. Just a warning though: Keep the box of tissues handy. This may be another comic book movie, but it’s packed with an insane amount of emotion, with incredible dramatic performances led by Letitia Wright, Best Supporting Actress nominee (and favourite) Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, and a massive breakout performance by Tenoch Huerta as Namor.
SERIES
Lockwood & Co. S1
Netflix – 27 January 2022
Looking for your next teen fantasy binge-watch? Lockwood & Co. may just be it, directed by Attack the Block’s Joe Cornish (which is actually all the reason I need to check it out) and adapted Jonathan Stroud’s book series, this upcoming British series follows three teens who make up the titular agency, a small independent startup in a sea of adult-staffed corporate peers who all hunt ghosts throughout London. There are no proton packs and hot-dog munching balls of ectoplasm here though. Instead, it’s good old sword fighting, psychic powers, and an army of spooky nasties who want to change the course of history!
Shrinking S1
Apple TV+ – 27 January 2022
It’s a therapist’s job to listen to and help sort out other people’s mental issues, but what happens when the therapist is the one with the issues? Jason Segel leads a star-studded cast (which includes Harrison Ford, Christa Miller, and Jessica Williams) in this new comedy-drama series about a grieving therapist who decides to break the rules of his profession by telling his patients exactly what he thinks, ethics be damned, with his unorthodox approach leading to tumultuous changes in the lives of his patients as well as his own.
Gunther’s Millions S1
Netflix – 1 February 2022
It’s often joked that some people treat their dogs better than they do their fellow humans. That was no joke when in 1992, wealthy German Countess Karlotta Liebenstein, after the passing of her son years before, left her entire fortune to Gunther, her dog. Thus kicked off the insane story of how Gunther VI became the world’s richest canine, with the German Shepherd’s fortune said to be sitting around $400 million today. The ludicrous figure was accumulated through a vast global empire of investments, mansions, and even a pop music group. So how does a dog do this? Simple. It doesn’t. Instead, it’s the work of Maurizio Mian, Gunther VI’s “eccentric handler”, who – thanks to his canine charge – has led a wild life full of lavish parties, beautiful people, and some weird cult-like behaviour. And that absurdity is unpacked in this new documentary series that dives deep into just how Gunther became the world’s richest dog, surrounding by staff and attendees, waiting on him paw and paw.