There’s a LOT to love this Valentines week with the return of Halo, the streaming debuts of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, Ted, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, House of Ninjas, Killing It, and a whole lot more!
SERIES
Halo S2
12 February 2024 – Showmax
Showmax recently relaunched following a new content partnership with Hollywood studio Paramount and its streaming platform Peacock. As a result, the local streamer acquired a ton of new content… which I really thought would have been released last week since Showmax has always updated its library at the start of the month. Instead, though, nearly all the new shows are debuting next week, on 12 February, for some random reason. Arguably the most high-profile of the return of Halo, Paramount’s big budget live-action adaptation of the much beloved video game franchise. Thanks to several controversial deviations from the source material regarding lead character Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) though and a really scattershot pacing, the first season of Halo left most fans disappointed. However, early reviews for season two indicate that while it’s still not the slam dunk adaptation it should be, Halo has gone a long way to addressing some of its issues for a much-improved sophomore showing.
Lawmen: Bass Reeves S1
12 February 2024 – Showmax
He may not be as well-known as some of his Wild West contemporaries, but Bass Reeves stands as an important historical figure. Born into a life of slave in the late 19th century before running away and becoming a Union soldier, Reeves would eventually go on to become one of the very first African American US Marshalls ever. And his story is brought to life in this new western-drama exec produced by Taylor “Yellowstone” Sheridan, with David Oyelowo portraying the legendary lawman who reportedly captured over 3000 dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.
Ted S1
12 February 2024 – Showmax
Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg’s 2012 comedy Ted – about a grown man and his foul-mouthed teddy bear brought to life by a childhood wish – was a really fun movie. It was also 100 minutes of raucous, infantile toilet humour and sex gags. As a result, when a prequel TV series was announced, many people dismissed it out of hand. What was funny a decade ago, may not fly today. However, against all odds, somehow the Ted TV series – which follows a teenage version of Wahlberg’s John just a short while after Ted first comes to life – is being hailed as legitimately good, with some calling it better than rowdy film that spawned it. It’s still pretty juvenile (this is Seth MacFarlane, after all), but there’s reportedly quite a bit of heart to it as well.
Killing It S1
12 February 2024 – Showmax
Honestly, I had no idea what new sitcom Killing It was even about when I added it here, but it’s the new show from Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Dan Goor and stars the always-funny Craig Robinson. That’s more than enough for me. The fact that the trailer looks hilarious as well is just a bonus.
Bupkis S1
12 February 2024 – Showmax
To say that the rise of Pete Davidson has mystified people is an understatement, particularly when it comes to the comedian/actor’s well-publicized love life. If you’re one of those people who kept wondering how and awkward-looking and -sounding kid from Staten Island seemingly rocketed to comedy superstardom overnight while courting some of the most famous women in Hollywood, you may just get some answers in Bupkis. The new comedy-drama series sees the funnyman play himself in a “heightened fictionalized version of Pete Davidson’s life” similar to Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show has had a good reception and is already renewed for a second season.
Catch Me a Killer S1
12 February 2024 – Showmax
Not everything releasing on Showmax this coming week is borrowed from Peacock. Catch Me a Killer is a new true crime drama co-produced by Showmax and Germany’s Night Train Media. The show stars Charlotte Hope as real-life forensic psychologist Micki Pistorius who made history as South Africa’s first-ever serial-killer profiler during the mid-1990s. Her explosive career saw her getting into the minds of monstrous killers such as The Station Strangler and Stewart “Boetie Boer” Wilken. Catch Me a Killer is an adaptation of her autobiography, detailing her rise in the profession thanks to her “cryptesthesia”, an almost paranormal sense she had for killers, and some of her most grueling cases. Ironically, she is the biological aunt of Oscar Pistorius, the infamous South African Olympic athlete who would go on to shoot and kill his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day 2013.
Wyfie S1
12 February 2024 – Showmax
Another original Showmax production, Wyfie is a drama series following four mismatched young roommates who end up boarding together at the fictional Eike university in Stellenbosch. With campus life far removed from their family homes, the four girls are thrown into adult life with all the chaos, temptations, and hard choices that this entails. Wyfie is also notable for its banging soundtrack by veteran South African music producer Peach van Pletzen, which includes the very last song ever recorded by Afrikans rapper Angie Oeh before her tragic passing due to lung cancer last year.
The New Look S1
14 February 2024 – Apple TV+
Hey, look! A new release this week that ISN’T on Showmax! And this one could not be more different from the other series above. Set in recently occupied Paris in the immediate aftermath of World War II, this star-studded biographical drama sees the always-incredible Ben Mendelsohn star as Christian Dior, the world-famous fashion designer. The 10-episode series details Dior’s time during the war – as he designed outfits for Nazi officers and French collaborators to stay afloat, all while his family was involved in the French Resistance – up to the debut launch of his “New Look” collection, which started a fashion empire. Look for such other celebrated actors as Juliette Binoche, John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Emily Mortimer, Claes Bang, and Maisie Williams as they bring to life some of the most famous names in fashion history.
House of Ninjas S1
15 February 2024 – Netflix
And if historical dramas about fashion is not your thing, Netflix has you covered with House of Ninjas. The official blurb for this new action-thriller series says that “ninjas have fascinated the world with their mysterious and fearsome physical abilities, and have been brought to the screen countless times. What if these ninjas still operated in the shadows in modern Japan?”. It’s a premise we’ve seen adapted to the screen before, most recently (at least to my memory) being the bombastic Ninja Assassin in 2009. However, House of Ninjas is taking a much more grounded approach than that bit of Hollywood hokum, even adding some family drama in with the cool action, and it looks superb.
MOVIES
Upgraded
9 February 2024 – Prime Video
In case you somehow missed the memo, it is Valentines Day next week. And yet there’s very little fare playing to that theme. Luckily, very little doesn’t mean none thanks to romantic-comedy Upgrade. Camila Mendes stars as Ana, an ambitious intern working in the art industry for a demanding, “sociopathic perfectionist” boss (Marisa Tomei). When Ana is upgraded to first class on a work trip flight to London through a stroke of good fortune, she bumps into Archie Renaux’s handsome William and there’s instant sparks. There’s just one problem: William thinks Ana is her “swanky art director” boss and not just a lowly intern!
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
12 February 2024 – Showmax
The benefits of Showmax’s partnership with Paramount doesn’t just extend to series but also includes the studio’s movies. Most notably, this means that Showmax becomes the first streamer in SA to include Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the latest entry in the blockbuster franchise and also just a terrible mouthful of a title. The penultimate Mission: Impossible film, Dead Reckoning sees Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his team of IMF agents once again racing against time to save the world, this time from a highly advanced, next generation AI and its very human enforcer – a deadly figure from Hunt’s past. If you’re not somebody into the MI films with their manic set pieces, barely logical plotting, and insane stunts – always done for real by the daredevil Cruise – this is not the movie that will convince you otherwise. But for fans of the franchise like myself, Dead Reckoning is an absolute blast. Especially noteworthy is the franchise debut of Hayley Atwell, who is so good that I was kind of bummed that we will only see her for one more film when the series comes to a close next year.
Bottoms
13 February 2024 – Prime Video
Ayo Edebiri has been absolutely crushing it as aspiring restaurateur Sydney in the incredible The Bear – a performance that won her a Golden Globe and Emmy recently – but she was also part of a very different critically-acclaimed production last year. Bottoms is a teen comedy that stars Edebiri and Ruby Cruz and Josie and PJ, hugely unpopular lesbian best friends – and virgins – at Rockbridge Falls High School. Mocked and treated like outcasts by the popular kids, a slight altercation with a local quarterback hero results in false rumours of Josie and PJ having spent time in juvie for having physically beat up the bigger jock. What are the girls to do? Well, lean into the lie and start a “female empowerment” fight club all in an attempt to meet girls and finally have sex, of course!
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom
Purchase: Apple TV – R200 / Google Play Movies – R212
Rental: Apple TV – R170 / Google Play Movies – R170
To say that I didn’t like Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is an understatement. The final film in the doomed DCEU franchise, the superhero sequel was a soggy, un-fun mess of a movie, unworthy of star Jason Momoa. But to paraphrase The Dude, that’s just, like, my opinion, man! The film has had some moderate success at the box office – nowhere close to the billion dollar earnings of its far superior predecessor, but significantly better than the bombs of other recent DCEU films – meaning that some people want to watch it more than I do. If you’re curious about whether its worth it or not, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is now available for both rental and purchase on VOD offerings for about the price of a single IMAX ticket.