It’s all about the stars on this week’s streaming schedule, as big-time talent leads the likes of Jon Watts’ Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Keira Knightley spy series Black Doves, John Woo’s The Killer remake, and more.

SERIES

Senna S1

29 November 2024 – Netflix

Considered to be one of the greatest drivers to ever climb into a Formula 1 car, three-time world champion Ayrton Senna was set to establish a timeless legacy in motorsport. Instead, at the San Marino Grand Prix in May 1994, the Brazilian driver’s story – and life – came to a tragic end on track. Senna is a new six-part scripted drama series starring Gabriel Leone as the legendary F1 star, following Senna’s story from the beginning of his racing career when he moved to England to compete in Formula Ford, all the way to the tragic accident in Imola, Italy, that would claim his life.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew S1

2 December 2024 – Disney+

There’s no way to sugar coat it. The Star Wars franchise has had a few rough years. For every widely beloved Andor, there was a divisive The Acolyte. And it doesn’t help that the most vocal portion of the fandom is often the internet equivalent of a rusted sewerage outlet pipe. All that is to say that Star Wars really needs some wholesome feel-good sci-fi adventuring right now, which is exactly what Skeleton Crew looks to be delivering. Co-created by fan-favourite filmmaker Jon Watts (Marvel’s Spider-Man Trilogy) and frequent collaborator Christopher Ford, this new series appears to be pulling heavily on those beloved Amblin coming-of-age stories of yesteryear as it “follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy”. Alongside the young cast, Jude Law stars as Jod Na Nawood, a mysterious Force-user who meets the intrepid youths on their adventure as they try to find their way home. The show boasts a whole lot more talent behind the scenes though, with its eight episodes directed by such Hollywood A-listers as Watts himself, Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, The Mandalorian), David Lowery (The Green Knight, Ghost Story), the Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Lee Isaac Chung (Minari, Twisters), and Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*). And if you can’t wait for Skeleton Crew, you’re in luck as Disney announced earlier this week that the show’s two-episode premiere date has been moved forward by one day to 2 December.

Black Doves S1

5 December 2024 – Netflix

Every year around this time, a single question has families at each other’s throats: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Well, it is. Clearly. And if you’re looking to distract those naysayers who can’t accept how wrong they are, then maybe try on Black Doves, a new six-part action series that is actually being officially billed as a “Christmas spy thriller”, leaving no room for future debate. Keira Knightley stars as Helen Webb, a top spy in the secret Black Doves organization, who has been living undercover for 10 years as a dutiful mother and loving wife to a top politician whose secrets she’s been passing on to her handlers. When her secret lover (Andrew Koji) is assassinated though, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw) to keep her safe and help uncover the vast, interconnected conspiracy linking the murky London underworld to a looming geopolitical crisis.

MOVIES

The Killer

2 December 2024 – Showmax

1998’s The Killer is one of several classic collaborations between star Chow Yun Fat and director John Woo that cemented their respective places in the Hong Kong action movie pantheon and became a pivotal steppingstone for Woo’s transition to Hollywood. Hell, even acclaimed filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez have declared it one of the best action movies ever made. Remaking such a celebrated film would be a daunting task… unless you were the one who made it in the first place, I guess? Woo is back with this English version of his original tale, transplanting the action to Paris. Game of Thrones’ Nathalie Emmanuel stars as Zee, a mysterious mob assassin planning to retire after one last job. However, when things go awry on said job, it draws Zee into a deep conspiracy that ties into her troubled past. Omar Sy co-stars.

Eileen

2 December 2024 – Showmax

We mentioned Eileen back in July when it made its VOD debut, but if you didn’t want to fork out cash for it, the psychological thriller two-hander starring Oscar winner Anne Hathaway and Jojo Rabbit’s Thomasin McKenzie hits Showmax next week. Adapted by screenwriter Ottessa Moshfegh from her own award-winning 2015 novel, the film is set in 1960s America and follows two women working at a juvenile detention facility in Massachusetts. Eileen Dunlop (McKenzie) is a social outcast loner living with her alcoholic father, who frequently has suicidal tendencies. When new psychologist Rebecca Saint John (Hathaway) joins the staff at the facility, Eileen is drawn to the polished and glamorous Rebecca. And much to the younger woman’s surprise, a friendship quickly develops. But just as Eileen’s life finally starts looking up, their situation takes a dark and twisted turn.

That Christmas

4 December 2024 – Netflix

Here’s something I just learned. Did you know that Richard Curtis, the multiple award-winning filmmaker behind such romantic classics like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, About Time, Love Actually, and more, also wrote a best-selling trilogy of children’s books about Christmas? Well, now Curtis is bringing that story to life on screen in That Christmas, a new animated family film directed by Simon Otto off Curtis’ own screenplay. According to the official blurb, That Christmas “follows a series of entwined tales about family and friends, love and loneliness, and Santa Claus making a big mistake – not to mention an enormous number of turkeys!”. The film features the voices of well-known British talents like Brian Cox, Bill Nighy, Jodie Whittaker, Fiona Shaw, and more.

VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES

The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:

Greedy People

Purchase: Apple TV – R170

Rental: Apple TV – R45

What would you do if you had to stumble upon $1 million in cash at a crime scene? If you’re a cop, you would probably turn it in as evidence, right? Then again, we live in a country when all it takes for a cop to break a few laws is a R200 “cold drink”. So, for small-town rookie cop Will (Himesh Patel) and his rogue partner Terry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the temptation proves a bit too much in the new dark comedy thriller Greedy People. But the duo’s decision to keep the money for themselves sets off a chain of events that becomes a combination of both deadly and absurd as the local weirdos start coming out of the woodwork for their own piece of the loot. Greedy People also co-stars the always superb Lily James, Tim Blake Nelson, Uzo Aduba, and Simon Rex.