After last week’s stacked star-studded release schedule, we get a relatively quiet week on the streaming front. There’s a new Chris Pine/Thandiwe Newtown spy-thriller, a headbanging coming-of-age story, some romantic-drama-fantasy, dry British humour, a presidential nature documentary, and big screen movie reboot.
MOVIES
All the Old Knives
Amazon Prime Video – 8 April 2022
I have to admit, I somehow knew nothing about this movie up until yesterday. Which is surprising given the A-list talent attached here. Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newtown star as two CIA agents/ex-lovers who get intimately reacquainted years after a botched assignment saw them go their separate ways. But a new investigation into the old case may just expose one of them as a spy. Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Pryce co-star in a film that looks like a potential slow-burn undercover hit.
Metal Lords
Netflix – 8 April 2022
Hey, ever wonder what those crazy guys who totally ruined and gutted the last few seasons of Game of Thrones are up to now that they’ve crushed the collective dreams of millions of fans? Making a coming-of-age teen comedy on Netflix, of course! Written by D.B. Weiss and produced by David Benioff, Metal Lords follows two metal-head high-school outcasts who enter their fledgling metal band into a local Battle of the Bands contest… That’s if they can actually get the cute cellist the one has his eye on to complete their band.
The In Between
Netflix – 8 April 2022
When I first saw the preview for The In Between, I thought “Oh, another cheesy teen rom-com starring Joey King from The Kissing Booth movies!”. But then I watched the trailer, and was surprised to discover it looked a lot more like a serious drama than I expected. And then I was surprised again. I’ll leave it to you guys to see for yourself what I’m talking about with this genre mash-up.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Google Play Movies – 8 April 2022
I stopped paying attention to the Resident Evil movie franchise a long time ago (you can only watch Mila Jovovich run in slow-motion so much before it loses its appeal), but I was intrigued by the recent big-screen reboot that promised to actually hew closer to the bloody original Capcom survival horror video games that inspired it. Unfortunately, I then completely ignored it when it released in cinemas a few months back. Not to worry though, because Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is now available for rental on Google Play Movies.
SERIES
Hard Cell
Netflix – 12 April 2022
Funnywoman Catherine Tate is back in this mockumentary series in which she plays multiple characters in a women’s prison where the new Governor – played by Tate – believes that creativity and expression is the way to rehabilitation for these hardened criminals.
Our Great National Parks
Netflix – 13 April 2022
It’s not every day you get a former world leader to narrate your nature documentary series, but that’s exactly what Netflix did with Our Great National Parks. Narrated by ex US President Barack Obama, this five-part series “invites viewers to celebrate and discover the power of our planet’s greatest national parks and wild spaces.”