Tomorrow may be Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!) but there’s a wide variety of releases to pick from this week… which of course includes Star Wars with Tales of the Empire, but also Oscar-winning giant Oppenheimer, Jerry Seinfeld’s Unfrosted, recent cinema releases The Holdovers and Bob Marley: One Love making their VOD debuts, and more!
SERIES
Clarkson’s Farm S3
3 May 2024 – Prime Video
If there was ever a show I would never have thought would work, it’s Clarkson’s Farm. But divisive motoring journalist/professional buffoon Jeremy Clarkson documenting how he ran a farm when he knew nothing about running a farm turned into a surprisingly endearing and charming tale filled with drama, shenanigans, and unforgettable characters. And now the third season is here as Clarkson and local farm boy Kaleb face new troubles, often not helped by Clarkson’s “genius” ideas. The first four episodes of Season 3 drops today while the remaining four releases next Friday.
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire S1
4 May 2024 – Disney+
While the Star Wars franchise has proven to be massively divisive on the big screen, when it comes to small screen animated works, it just seems to never miss. And the latest entry to get us fans feeling the force is Tales of the Empire, a follow-up to last year’s Tales of the Jedi, this time focusing on the Dark Side. The show focuses on “two warriors on divergent paths, set during different eras”: Morgan Elsbeth, former magistrate and Nightsister (voiced by Diana Lee Inosanto who first portrayed the character in live-action in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka), and former Jedi Barriss Offee, who fell to the Dark Side during the Clone Wars.
Bodkin
9 May 2024 – Netflix
I must admit I know next to nothing about Bodkin, but it’s Will Forte so it deserves a click! Billed as a “darkly comedic thriller”, this series follows a trio of American true crime podcasters who travel to the seemingly idyllic Irish coastal town of Bodkin to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers. As the poke their noses into affairs, much to the dismay of the locals, they discover a story much bigger and weirder than they could have ever imagined.
MOVIES
The Bricklayer
1 May 2024 – Prime Video
With the public holiday on Wednesday, it seems we missed this one dropping on Prime Video. And that’s a pity because what would have been more fitting on Worker’s Day than watching a movie about a blue-collar worker… who happens to be a retired CIA operative that can kill people with a set of handyman tools?! Aaron Eckhart stars as the titular Bricklayer in this “dad-action” movie that shockingly does not share a cinematic universe with Jason Statham’s The Beekeeper and The Mechanic, which is just one massive, missed opportunity, if you ask me.
Unfrosted
3 May 2024 – Netflix
I’m going to hazard a guess that if you’re a South African reading this, you’ve probably never had a pop-tart. The stupidly sweet breakfast pastry is practically an institution in the USA though, which is why Netflix didn’t just give comedian Jerry Seinfeld a bunch of money to write/direct/star in a film about the 1960s war between cereal giants Kellogg’s and Post to be the first to launch their own breakfast pastry, but somehow managed to put together the most star-studded cast of any Netflix production I have ever seen! Being Seinfeld though, don’t expect this to be some kind of dry history lesson though, as all the drama has been exaggerated to the silliest degree for a rather over the top look at what happened.
Oppenheimer
6 May 2024 – Showmax
And speaking of insane casts and important American history… I think I’ve said everything I could possibly say about the cinematic masterpiece that is Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer when I gave it an ultra-rare 10/10 score in my review. And if I somehow needed some vindication of my opinion, the film went on to earn just shy of a billion dollars at the box office and sweep this year Oscars with seven awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy in the title role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the divisive scientist who headed the Manhattan Project, America’s WWII thinktank tasked with creating the first atomic bomb before anybody else does. The film was an especially staggering experience in IMAX but for those of you who missed it in cinemas, you can now watch it at home thanks to Showmax. Just make sure you have the best sound system possible to take advantage of the incredible sound design. Neighbours be damned!
PS: As a nice addition, Showmax will also be dropping Nolan’s Inception, Dunkirk, and Interstellar, on the same day.
Let it Be
8 May 2024 – Disney+
Beatlemaniacs, rejoice! Containing the very last public performance of the iconic band together, Micheal Lindsay-Hogg’s Oscar-winning 1970 feature-length documentary about The Beatles’ recording of their final studio album was always a must-see for fans. Unfortunately, that’s been rather difficult to do since it’s not been available anywhere since the 1980s. However, a new remastered version is now finally releasing on Disney+, fully restored to its original glory.
Mother of the Bride
9 May 2024 – Netflix
It’s coming up on Mother’s Day in just a little over a week’s time. If you want to get a jumpstart on watching something light with your mom, have a look at Mother of the Bride. Brooke Shield stars as single mother Lana whose daughter Emma returns from abroad to drop the bombshell that she’s getting married in just a month and it’s in Thailand. But the surprises don’t stop there as Lana is shocked to discover that Emma’s fiancé is the son of Will (Benjamin Bratt), an ex from college who broke Lana’s heart after she fell head-over-heels for him. Only one thing to do in a situation like that: Make him regret what he threw away all those years ago.
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
The Holdovers
Purchase: Apple TV – R170 / Google TV – R171
Rental: Apple TV – R45 / Google TV – R46
Oppenheimer and Let it Be aren’t the only Oscar winners mentioned today. Acclaimed director Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers saw itself nominated for five Oscars this year, taking home the Best Supporting Actress statue for Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s breakout performance. The film stars Paul Giamatti (who was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and also won the category at the Golden Globes) as a cranky history teacher at a New England boarding school who is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with the school’s grieving cafeteria manager (Randolph) to chaperone students with nowhere to go on Christmas break.
Bob Marley: One Love
Purchase: Apple TV – R170 / Google TV – R253
Rental: Apple TV – R45 / Google TV – R45
Bob Marley is one of the most iconic musicians of all time, pioneering and popularizing reggae globally like few others in the genre. His music wasn’t just catchy but also carried strong social and political messages, born from his troubled upbringing in Jamaica. And now that story of how a young boy from Trenchtown went on to become one of the best-selling artists of all time is told in Bob Marley: One Love. The biopic stars Kingsley Ben-Adir, depicting Marley’s life from his rise to fame in the 1970s to his tragic death in 1981 due to cancer.