The VOD debut of A Quiet Place prequel, Jeremy Saulnier’s action thriller Rebel Ridge, and Ewan McGregor’s A Gentleman in Moscow lead a relatively low-key streaming release schedule this week.
SERIES
A Gentleman in Moscow S1
Showmax – 9 September 2024
Hello there, comrade! An adaptation of Amor Towles’ internationally best-selling novel of the same name, A Gentleman in Moscow sees Ewan McGregor starring in this eight-episode historical drama as Count Alexander Rostov. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the Soviet aristocrat finds that his gilded past has placed him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Bolshevik tribunal to an attic room in a grand Moscow hotel and threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov is forced to build a new life for himself within the walls of the hotel. McGregor’s real-life wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead co-stars.
Hit-Monkey S2
Disney+ – 9 September 2024
Probably the most unexpected Marvel adaptation of recent times, the first season of Hit-Monkey flew under the radar for many when it debuted in 2021 (the global pandemic probably didn’t help). But the absurd tale of a Japanese macaque who is mentored by the ghost of an American assassin so that he can take revenge on the Tokyo underworld had enough of an audience to warrant a second season. And now that sophomore showing is here as Hit-Monkey and Bryce are back, and this time they’re taking their gun for hire expertise to New York City… to make a deal with the devil. Literally. Jason Sudeikis is back as the voice of Bryce, while season two also sees the addition of Leslie Jones, Keith David, Stephanie Beatriz, Rob Cordry, Jim Gaffigan, and more.
MOVIES
Rebel Ridge
Netflix – 6 September 2024
I’ve been a huge fan of writer/director Jeremy Saulnier ever since he burst onto the scene with gripping revenge thriller Blue Ruin and then followed that up with the brutal and breathless Green Room. Even as he dabbled in other streaming and TV projects, his work was always complex and layered. Which is why it was so surprising to see his name pop up in the trailer for Rebel Ridge, a movie which, based on its concept (ex-Special Forces drifter runs afoul of corrupt cops in a small town and has to kick their butts) feels like it could be at home in an eTV Friday Action Night slot. But I should have had faith, because according to the 97% positive reception on Rotten Tomatoes, Saulnier and lead actor Aaron Pierre – who turns in a star-making performance – have knocked this one out of the park, giving a new generation of filmgoers their own First Blood.
Die Bloedhonde
Showmax – 6 September 2024
Written and directed by Stiaan Smith, SAFTA-winning co-creator of Hotel, Die Bloedhonde is quite a departure from his previous award-winning mockumentary work. SAFTA nominees Elani Dekker and Tobie Cronjé star in this murder mystery drama, which follows a young woman, Katrien, who starts to suspect that the beloved local dominee might be responsible for an apparent suicide at the resort where she’s holidaying with her family. With a middle-aged drifter as her only ally, Katrien throws everything into the battle to prove the church, the community and her own family wrong.
LaRoy, Texas
Showmax – 12 September 2024
There’s a good chance you’ve probably never heard of LaRoy, Texas before now as the indie crime comedy flew in under the radar this year without a wide cinematic release. And yet, Rotten Tomatoes currently has it listed in third place on their Best Movies of 2024 list, with a rare 100% critics’ rating. With a tone that is reportedly very much in the vein of the Coen Brothers work, LaRoy, Texas stars John Magaro and Emmy nominees Steve Zahn and Dylan Baker, and tells the story of Ray, who decides he’s going to kill himself after discovering that his wife is cheating on him. But his plans suddenly change when a stranger mistakes him for a low-rent hitman.
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
A Quiet Place: Day One
Purchase: Apple TV – R170
Rental: [TBA]
A Quiet Place was a tour-de-force directorial debut for John Krasinski in 2018, breathing new life into the post-apocalyptic horror genre with its tense tale of a world overrun by extra-terrestrials that hunt by sound. It somehow even managed to produce a fantastic sequel, which hinted in its opening frame of how that invasion initially takes place. Prequel/spinoff A Quiet Place: Day One now expands on those hints to tell the full story of the alien invasion, but this time from the POV of Lupita Nyong’o’s Samira, a new character to the franchise who finds herself in New York City with her service cat Frodo in New York City on the day the world as she knows it comes to an end. Supported by Joseph Quinn and Nat Wolff, Nyong’s Sam has a much more character-driven story, resulting in a film that is not quite as scary as its predecessors. But as Noelle says in her 8/10 review, “thanks to emotive, likeable performances and a “show don’t tell” approach to world-building, Day One still emerges as a smart and (mostly) satisfying blockbuster for people who prefer something a bit more intimate and heartening mixed in with the apocalyptic gloom.”