You’ll feel like a kid in a chocolate factory with the selection of streaming releases this week, headlined by the local debut of blockbuster fantasy musical prequel Wonka, Prime Video’s greatly anticipated gaming anthology series Secret Level, and Ella Purnell’s third big TV hit of the year with Sweetpea. Also look out for Channing Tatum/Scarlett Johansson moon-landing caping Fly Me to the Moon, Biblical epic Mary, the VOD debut of Speak No Evil, a very special Jamie Foxx comedy special, and more!
SERIES
The Sticky S1
6 December 2024 – Prime Video
You would be forgiven for having never heard of the “Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist” before or having heard of it and not thinking it to be true. After all, it’s the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist! What part of that doesn’t sound absurd? But back in 2011, over the course of several months, the contents of 9,571 barrels of maple syrup, valued at $18.7 million was actually stolen from a “strategic reserve” storage facility in Quebec. Inspired by that crazy-but-true story, The Sticky, is a new crime comedy series starring Emmy Award-winner Margo Martindale as Ruth Landry, a tough, middle-aged maple syrup farmer who turns to crime when the bureaucratic authorities threaten to take away everything she loves. She teams up with a hot-tempered Bostonian mobster, and a mild-mannered French-Canadian security guard to carry out a multi-million-dollar heist on Quebec’s maple syrup surplus.
Secret Level S1
10 December 2024 – Prime Video
Almost certainly the gaming highlight of the week is Secret Level. Tim Miller, director of Dead Pool and co-creator of Netflix’s Love, Death and Robots, is returning to his gaming roots as his Blur Studios (creators of some of the most iconic video game cutscenes in history) tackles several of the biggest video game franchises in this anthology series. Each episode focuses on either a beloved classic gaming classic franchise or a highly anticipated new titles, which includes Mega Man, Pac-Man, Unreal Tournament, Warhammer, and more. Bring these stories to life is a star-studded voice cast featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Keanu Reeves, Gabriel Luna, Temuera Morrison, Ariana Greenblatt, and Claudia Doumit among others,
Dream Productions S1
11 December 2024 – Disney+
Inside Out 2 currently holds the title as the highest-grossing film of 2024 with just shy of $1.7 billion made globally. It’s also the highest-grossing animated film ever and the biggest debut on Disney+ since 2021’s Encanto. All of which is to say that a lot of you watching this has probably seen it multiple times. However, if you still haven’t had enough of Riley and the voices in her head, Dream Productions is here to continue the adventures. In the four-episode series, when a growing Riley’s memories get all jumbled and need some extra processing, Joy and the rest of the Core Emotions send them to Dream Productions, where acclaimed director Paula Persimmon has directed all Riley’s dreams for years. But now Paula faces a nightmare of her own: trying to create the next hit dream after being paired up with Xeni, a smug daydream director looking to step up into the big leagues of night dreams.
Sweetpea S1
12 December 2024 – Showmax
Between Fallout and Arcane, Ella Purnell is having a hell of a year. The rapidly rising British actress is not done yet, as she also stars in Sweetpea, a “darkly comic coming-of-rage thriller”. Adapted from CJ Skuse’s book of the same name, Sweetpea sees Purnell play Rhiannon, a young lady who, after surviving a childhood of bullying, now lives a quiet, uneventful life with her father and her dog. But when her father passes away, and Rhiannon has a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger, the girl that everyone overlooks realizes that she may just be able to get away with murder. Sweetpea has earned very favourable reviews from critics, and a second season renewal was just announced three days ago.
No Good Deed S1
12 December 2024 – Netflix
Selling or buying a house is often a stressful and dramatic event. Especially when the owners of the house apparently have a deep dark secret about it. In No Good Deed, when Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) and Paul (Ray Romano) decide to move on from their empty nest to forge a new life, they list their gorgeous 1920s Spanish-style villa located in one the most desirable neighborhoods in Los Angeles and the real estate frenzy begins. But as multiple families compete to buy this dream home, Lydia and Paul are forced to confront the nightmare of what it houses. Created by Emmy winner Liz Feldman (Dead to Me), this dark comedy also stars Linda Cardellini, O-T Fagbenle, Abbi Jacobson, Denis Leary, Poppy Liu, Teyonah Parris, and Luke Wilson.
MOVIES
Wonka
6 December 2024 – Netflix
I’m not going to lie, when I first saw the trailer for Wonka it looked rather… weird to me. To be Roald Dahl’s beloved original story was always a bit odd (as was most of his tales), but maybe it was me just not being quite gelling with Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka, or maybe it was the nightmare fuel of Hugh Jackman as a tiny Oompa Loompa. Whatever it was that made me do it, I skipped this Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel in cinemas. Apparently, I was a fool. Not only was Wonka a box office smash, earning very positive reviews, the fantasy-musical telling the origin story of the eponymous chocolatier at the heart of Dahl’s original story was also nominated for Best Film at the BAFTA Awards and Chalamet himself earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. And now I can finally get to see what the fuss was about for myself.
Fly Me to the Moon
6 December 2024 – Apple TV+
Speaking of finally checking out movies… after a delay that felt forever, Apple’s star-studded Fly Me to the Moon is available at last to stream on Apple TV+ without having to rent it. I’m feeling lazy, so I’ll just copy-paste what I wrote about the movie when it made its VOD debut a few months back: Directed by none other Greg Berlanti, co-creator of the CW Arrowverse, this stylish romantic comedy-drama stars fan-favourites Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in a story that is totally fake. Unlike the very real moon landing. Sorry, conspiracy theorists. Set against the backdrop of the historic Apollo 11 mission to put men on the moon for the first time, Johansson plays marketing specialist Kelly Jones, who is brought in to assist Tatum’s NASA launch director Cole Davis in creating a fictionalized version of the mission. This is just in case the actual mission falls apart and the USA have to somehow still save face in the Space Race with Russia.
Mary
6 December 2024 – Netflix
In case you forgot, December is Christmas time, and for many, it’s a time of year about more than just food, presents, and rampant overpriced consumerism. For many Christians, this is the most sacred time of the year as they celebrate the birth of Jesus Chris. And catering to that is Mary, a new religious drama movie on Netflix. This is quite the pivot for director D.J. Caruso who broke into the biz directing episodes of TV series like The Shield and Smallville before making his name with feature film action thrillers like Disturbia, I Am Number Four, and XXX: Return of Xander Cage. A practicing Catholic who wanted to tell this Biblical tale in a “human and relatable” way, Mary sees Caruso doing historical drama for the first time as the film follows the titular young Jewish girl from Nazareth, already preparing to marry Joseph, when she is informed that she will be the mother of Jesus through immaculate conception. This revelation and subsequent birth of Jesus, forces Mary and Joseph to flee all they know and hold dear.
IF
9 December 2024 – Showmax
Speaking of pivoting genres… Following his incredible feature-film directing work on the nail-biting A Quiet Place movies, actor-turned-writer-director John Krasinski is getting imaginative! IF stars young actress Cailey Fleming as Bea, a girl who discovers that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends (aka IFs) after going through a traumatic experience. These IFs have been left behind as their real-life children grew up and no longer needed them. When she meets Cal (Ryan Reynolds), a man who can also see IFs and has been working to match up those left behind with new children in need, Bea embarks on a magical and life-changing adventure. While IF didn’t get as much critical acclaim as Krasinski’s more horrific work, this could make for a lovely family movie.
Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…
10 December 2024 – Netflix
We never really feature comedy specials here on Stream Scene, but this one is slightly different. In April 2023, shocking news broke that Oscar and Grammy-winning actor/musician Jamie Foxx had suddenly been hospitalized and was in a serious condition. What began with just a “bad headache”, according to Foxx himself, would eventually result in him being “gone for 20 days” with no memory of what happened. What did happen though? Up until now, the details of what Foxx underwent has not been disclosed publicly. But staying true his roots in comedy, the actor promised that he would reveal all in the funniest possible when he could. Which brings us to Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, a comedy event that is billed as a celebration of “resilience, humor, and the power of community. In Foxx’s own words, “if he can stay funny, he can stay alive.”
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
Speak No Evil
Purchase: Apple TV – R170
Rental: Apple TV – R45
The latest Blumhouse Productions box office success, Speak No Evil is the work of writer/director James Watkins, who also gave us the fantastic gothic period horror The Woman in Black back in 2012. This one is contemporary though, and stars Scoot McNairy and McKenzie Davis as Ben and Louise Dalton, an American couple vacationing in Italy with their young daughter, who meet and befriend free-spirited British couple Paddy and Clara, played by James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi, and their son Ant. When the charming Paddy and Clara invite the Daltons to spend the weekend at their idyllic country estate in Devon, Britain, it’s a dream holiday come true. But what begins as a dream soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare. Speak No Evil scored strong reviews when it hit cinemas in September and went on to earn $76.8 million off just a $15 million budget. And if you missed it then, you can now check it out at home.