Hi, Barbie! The global smash hit makes its VOD debut this week alongside Jennifer Lawrence’s No Hard Feelings. Also streaming is Oscar nominee Pablo Larrain’s El Conde, Yellowstone prequel series 1883, and more.
SERIES
Wilderness
Prime Video – 15 September 2023
This six-part steamy thriller sees Doctor Who’s Jenna Coleman and The Haunting of Hill House’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen star as Liv and Will, a perfect married couple on a perfect holiday trip. When Liv uncovers an adulterous secret her husband has kept hidden though, it sets the course for a twisty, unhinged, and maybe lethal confrontation between the two.
1883
Showmax – 18 September 2023
Have you been gripped by Yellowstone fever yet? The internationally acclaimed drama series finally debuted locally on Showmax a few months back, and now it’s time for its spinoffs. As the title implies, 1883 is a prequel to Yellowstone, set in the aftermath of the US Civil War and detailing the origin story of the Dutton family “as they flee poverty on a journey west through the Great Plains towards the last bastion of untamed America.” With a fantastic cast led by the award-winning Sam Elliot, 1883 has been just as praised as its predecessor, getting nominated for three Emmys last year.
The Super Models
Apple TV+ – 20 September 2023
Do we still have “super models”? I’m not sure. Back in my day though (yes, I’m old, damn it), the likes of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington definitely fit that description. Not only did they dominate catwalks around the world, but also newspapers, magazines, TV, movies, and millions of bedroom walls. And The Super Models is a new four-part documentary looking at the lives and careers of these iconic women and how they upended the world of fashion.
MOVIES
El Conde
Netflix – 15 September 2023
Acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain (Jackie, Spencer) is back with a very different film than his previous Oscar-nominated biopics. El Conde is billed as a satirical black comedy horror film, portraying the late real-life Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire who, tired of just being known for the negative aspects of his rule, now seeks true death instead. However, that plan is thrown into disarray when he falls in love with a young French accountant. Shot in black and white, the film looks absurd, but in a great way!
Love at First Sight
Netflix – 15 September 2023
And now for something completely different! Haley Lu Richardson and Ben Hardy star as two strangers who meet on a flight to London and immediately hit it off romantically. However, due to a simple mishap the flight-crossed lovers end up going their separate ways after landing with no way to get in contact with each other. But since when has love let something as trivial as finding a single person in a city of nearly ten million people stand in its way?
A Million Miles Away
Prime Video – 15 September 2023
Fan-favourite actor Michael Peña stars in this inspiring true story biopic about Jose Hernandez, who became the first US migrant worker to travel to space. The film depicts the decades long-journey Hernandez and his family took from a rural village in Michoacán, Mexico, to working as farm hands in California. All the while, Hernandez held steadfast to his lifelong dream of becoming an engineer and astronaut, despite the numerous obstacles in his way.
Breaking
Showmax – 21 September 2023
The uber talented John Boyega stars in this 2022 thriller based on a true story. Boyega stars as real-life US Marine Corps veteran Brian Brown-Easley, who in 2017 found himself financially destitute after being denied support from Veteran Affairs due a dishonorable discharge. Desperate and out of options he took a bank and all of its employees hostage, threatening to blow it up if he didn’t receive all the VA payments he felt he was owed. The film debuted on the film festival circuit and didn’t get a wide cinema release despite critical acclaim. A lot of that acclaim was directed at the late Michael K. Williams, with Breaking marking one of the two films released posthumously after his tragic passing.
VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
Barbie
Rental: Google Play Movies – R170 / Apple TV – R170
Purchase: Google Play Movies – R212 / Apple TV – R200
If you’ve been pink with envy at the miiiiillions of people that have watched Barbie in cinemas and turned it into a $1.4 billion global smash hit, well you can now finally do something about it. Greta Gerwig’s brilliant, fun, and surprisingly deep movie about the iconic doll has now become available for rent/purchase on VOD. So now you can take home Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Ryan Gosling’s Ken, just as you did as a kid. Well, not quite the same, but still equally as packed with imagination, fun, and a strong message. Our full review here.
No Hard Feelings
Rental: Google Play Movies – R30 / Apple TV – R45
Purchase: Google Play Movies – R135 / Apple TV – R130
If you want another movie about a talented actress in a pink dress, but which is completely different, then look no further than No Hard Feelings. The R-rated romantic comedy stars Jennifer Lawrence as a down-on-her-luck Uber driver struggling to make the payments on her house, who answers a newspaper ad from a wealthy couple looking for a young lady to date their introverted son and bring him out of his shell before he goes off to college, all for the payment of a new car. Armed with little in the way of sexual scruples, she sets out to “date his brains out” but finds the teenager to be a lot more complicated than she imagined.