In the week ahead, Emily in Paris returns to Netflix, and South African viewers can jump into crime anthology Fargo Season 5 on Showmax. As for brand new home entertainment options, here’s what you can look forward to.
SERIES
Apples Never Fall
12 August 2024 – Showmax
This seven-part limited series is for fans of Big Little Lies. Based on another of author Liane Moriarty’s affluent domestic mysteries, tennis coaches Stan (Sam Neill) and Joy (Annette Bening) look like the picture of success and are set up to enjoy retired life. Then Joy goes missing, forcing the couple’s children to examine their parents’ supposedly perfect lives.
The Sympathizer
12 August 2024 – Showmax
Also based on a novel – and a Pulitzer Prize winner at that – is The Sympathizer. Cowboy Bebop’s Hoa Xuande leads the cast as the Captain, a Vietnamese police captain who ends up in California, working as a double agent for the Communist government at the same time he has CIA ties. This deception puts him under severe strain. Robert Downey Jr. executive produces and co-stars, playing multiple roles.
Bad Monkey
14 August 2024 – Apple TV+
A very different style of mystery to Apples Never Fall is also hitting this week in the form of Bad Monkey, a ten-part adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s bestselling novel immersed in Florida weirdness. Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn) is a disgraced cop working as a health inspector in the Keys. In this paradise, he finds evidence of a murder, and in attempting to prove it works with and against various oddballs.
MOVIES
The Instigators
9 August 2024 – Apple TV+
Edge of Tomorrow and Road House’s Doug Liman directs this crime comedy for Apple TV+. Rory (Matt Damon) and Cobby (Casey Affleck) are a desperate father and ex-con thrown together to rob a corrupt politician. Soon they find themselves out of their depth, pursued not only by police but also bureaucrats and crime bosses. On top of it all, they rope Rory’s therapist (Hong Chau) into the chaos.
Talk to me
15 August 2024 – Showmax
Last week it was Evil Dead Rise. This week it’s one of A24’s biggest hits ever: Australian indie horror Talk to Me. In this character-driven possession tale, Adelaide teens use an embalmed hand to commune with and briefly host the dead. But when they accidentally break the rules, the door to the afterlife stays open. Strong performances and a pleasing ambiguity elevate what sounds pretty standard on paper
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The Garfield Movie
Purchase: Apple TV – R170 / Google Play Movies – R135
Rent: Apple TV – R45 / Google Play Movies – R30
Seeing as it’s a three-day weekend, parents may be looking for something to watch with their kids. Expanding their options is The Garfield Movie, the first animated feature to centre on Jim Davis’s Monday-hating, lasagne-loving fat cat. Now voiced by Chris Pratt, Garfield and canine companion Odie are swept up in a road trip crime caper when Garfield’s street cat father (Samuel L. Jackson) returns.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Purchase: Apple TV – R170 / Google Play Movies – R135
Rental: Coming 16 August
Miami cops Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are back for their fourth action-packed big screen adventure. Once more directed by Adil & Bilall, who were also behind 2020’s Bad Boys for Life, this time the pair are forced to work outside the law to clear the name of their late commander Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) when he’s implicated in drug cartel corruption.
I Saw the TV Glow
Purchase: Apple TV – R170 / Google Play Movies – R144
Rental: Coming 16 August
We’re kind of sad that I Saw the TV Glow is not getting a cinema release in South Africa. But at least we can now watch it through VOD. This arty (emphasis on arty) A24 horror drama stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine as two teenagers in the 1990s, who bond over a late-night supernatural TV show. Then the show is cancelled, people go missing and the teens’ grip on reality starts to falter.