Making up for last week’s relative quiet, this week’s streaming line up is absolutely stacked! On the movie front we have Best Picture Oscar winner Anora, star-studded The Thursday Murder Club, and streaming debuts for both Marvel’s Thunderbolts* and gothic horror Nosferatu. While, in terms of series, we get the wild new season of Peacemaker, the return of sci-fi drama Invasion, Terminal List prequel Dark Wolf, and more!
SERIES
Long Story Short S1
22 August 2025 – Netflix
From the creator of Bojack Horseman, comes this ambitious new adult animated series. Long Story Short follows the three Schwooper siblings – Avi (Ben Feldman), Shira (Abbi Jacobson), and Yoshi (Max Greenfield) – from young childhood to adulthood and back again, as this time-hopping comedy series tracks the unexpected ups and downs of this middle-class American Jewish family and their experiences with love, religion, joy, heartbreak, and everything in between.
Invasion S3
22 August 2025 – Apple TV+
You may have caught my interview I did with prolific writer/producer Simon Kinberg earlier in the week about the upcoming third season of Apple TV+’s sci-fi drama Invasion. Well, it’s no longer upcoming. It’s here as the season kicks off today. As the official blurb states, “Invasion follows an alien invasion through different perspectives around the world. In season three, those perspectives collide for the first time, as the series’ main characters are brought together to work as a team on a critical mission to infiltrate the alien mothership. The ultimate apex aliens have finally emerged, rapidly spreading their deadly tendrils across the planet. It will take all heroes working together, using their experience and expertise, to save the species. New relationships are formed, old relationships are challenged and even shattered, as an international cast of characters must become a team before it’s too late.”
Peacemaker S2
25 August 2025 – Showmax
DC Studios head James Gunn made the surprise announcement two weeks ago that his Superman film would be available for VOD purchase while it’s still relatively fresh in cinemas. The reason for that? Peacemaker. With Superman kicking off the new DCU proper (well, actually Creature Commandos did that, but we’re talking live-action here), the next chapter in this rebooted DC Comics cinematic universe takes place in the wild John Cena-led action-comedy series. Gunn had previously indicated that just which bits of the old DCEU is still relevant will be made clear in this show, and by all accounts, that’s exactly what happens. Most importantly though, it’s apparently damn good! This season sees Cena’s reformed bad guy Chris Smith, aka Peacemaker struggle to reconcile his past with his newfound sense of purpose, all of which gets muddled even further when the extra-dimensional portal he requisitioned from his supervillain father puts him in the crosshairs of some powerful forces.
The Terminal List: Dark Wolf
27 August 2025 – Prime Video
I will admit that I never watched the Chris Pratt-led action-thriller series The Terminal List, but I know that while critics were not kind, the show was a hit with audiences. Which is why it was very surprising to those audiences that Prime Video didn’t immediately greenlight a follow-up after the show debuted in mid-2022. They had to wait until early 2023 for the announcement of a prequel series, but then again it was radio silence for quite some time about it. Well, the wait is finally over as The Terminal List: Dark Wolf debuts next week, seeing Taylor Kitsch reprise his role of Ben Edwards from the original series, but set years earlier as it details his origin story from Navy SEAL operator to CIA Special Ops. Pratt will also reprise his role in a guest-starring capacity.
MOVIES
Anora
22 August 2025 – Showmax
Possibly the biggest surprise at the Oscars for ages, indie filmmaker Sean Baker’s Anora absolutely cleaned up at the awards show earlier this year, taking home the statues for Best Picture, Best Director Best Actress for Mikey Madison, Best Supporting Actor for Yura Borisov, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing. And if you missed it in cinemas, now you finally see for yourself if it was worth the hype. A word of warning though: While Anora’s advertising claims it’s a love story, don’t go in expecting your typical romantic comedy, as this is a very R-rated spin on the rags-to-riches Cinderella story, filled with lots of nudity, sex, and strong language. And a lot of shouting. So much shouting. For the uninitiated, Anora stars Madison as the titular young stripper from Brooklyn who meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch, being elevated to a life of luxury and excess. Once the news reaches Russia though, her fairy tale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
Eenie Meanie
22 August 2025 – Disney+
I’m a simple man. I see Samara Weaving, I click play. With hit genre efforts like Ready or Not, The Babysitter, and Azazel, it’s not hard to see why the actress has been a firm favourite of mine as well many other fans. So, it came as a nice surprise to learn last week that we’re getting a local release on Disney+ for her latest film. Eenie Meanie was written/directed by Shawn Simmons (making his feature film debut after launching to fame with the Youtube Premium breakout hit Wayne) and sees Weaving star as Edie, a former teenage getaway driver who is pulled back into her criminal past to save her unreliable ex-boyfriend’s life. Offered a chance by a former employer, she must complete one last job, intertwining themes of loyalty and redemption as she faces her past.
Flight Risk
25 August 2025 – Showmax
Mel Gibson, as much as he had trouble in his personal life, has always been a very exciting filmmaker. I’m not sure that description applies for his latest production though. Flight Risk got mixed reviews from both critics and audiences alike when it released earlier this year, but your mileage may vary. Admittedly, it is a solid setup as the single-location thriller follows Michelle Dockery’s Madolyn Harris, a Deputy U.S. Marshal tasked with transporting a fugitive (Topher Grace) from Alaska to New York City to testify in a big mob trial. The only available transport is a small flight piloted by Mark Wahlberg’s Darryl Booth, but as the trio take to the skies, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.
White Bird
25 August 2025 – Showmax
If you were a fan of 2017’s Wonder, the coming-of-age drama starring Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts, and Owen Wilson, then you probably need to check out the star-studded White Bird. Adapted from the book of the same name by Wonder author R. J. Palacio, White Bird serves as both a sequel and prequel as it follows Julian (Bryce Gheisar, reprising his role from Wonder), who has struggled to fit in since he was expelled from his former school for his bullying of Auggie Pullman (Tremblay). In order to help him get a grip on his unraveling young life, Julian’s grandmother (Helen Mirren) tells him her own life story, specifically the chapter of her youth in Nazi-occupied France, when a boy sheltered her from mortal danger. That act of kindness blossomed into a magical first love, which the boy’s mother (Gillian Anderson) risked everything to protect.
Thunderbolts*
27 August 2025 – Disney+
In terms of quality, you could definitely argue that Marvel Studios is on a dramatic upswing right now after an inconsistent couple of years. And it all began with Marvel’s Thunderbolts*. If you’ve been waiting to check it out, you won’t have to wait any longer as the dysfunctional team of superheroes is debuting on Disney+ next week. Pulling together disparate characters from previous Marvel projects, Thunderbolts* could be dismissed as just reheated leftovers, but it’s most definitely not. The first film produced by Marvel after an internal creative shake-up at Disney following less than desirable results from the franchise, Thunderbolts* definitely lived up to the promise of a return to form. As I mentioned in my 8/10 review, “Simply put, the best the MCU big screen offering in a long time, Thunderbolts* makes fantastic use of the chemistry of its ensemble cast – led by a superlative Florence Pugh – to provide thrilling practical action, wildly entertaining laughs, and a surprisingly deep dive into the dark psychoses of these anti-heroes.” Despite the superlative critical reception it received, Thunderbolts* still underperformed at the box office – a victim of the failures of its predecessors, most likely – so now all of you who skipped it in theatres can watch it at home!
The Thursday Murder Club
28 August 2025 – Netflix
And if that’s not enough Helen Mirren in your life, The Thursday Murder Club is here to serve up another helping with a side order of Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie. The four screen legends lead this adaptation of Richard Osman’s international bestselling novel of the same name, playing four irrepressible retirees – a former spy, union leader, psychiatrist, and nurse, respectively – who spend their twilight years solving cold case murders for fun. Their hobby turns very real and very dangerous though when an unexplained death occurs on their own doorstep, dropping them right in the middle of an actual murder mystery, much to the chagrin of local police. Chris Columbus (Harry Potter franchise, Home Alone 1 & 2) directs.
Nosferatu
22 August 2025 – Showmax
On the absolute opposite end of the genre spectrum from fun whodunnits sits Nosferatu. Acclaimed horror maestro Robert Eggers’ latest film is a remake of classic Nosferatu, the 1922 German silent film which was itself an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. A passion project of Eggers which he had been working on since 2015, Nosferatu was a critical smash hit and early front-runner for several awards last year and featured another transformative performance from Bill Skarsgård as the vampire noble Count Orlok as he sets his sights on Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen. As Noelle pointed out in her 8/10 review, all the praise for Nosferatu could edge into “overhype” for some, “however, even if you don’t find the film particularly or consistently disturbing, there’s no denying that filmmaker Robert Eggers has delivered an enjoyably fresh and exceptionally polished take on the Dracula mythos. It is gothic horror done right, stylishly paying tribute to its silent movie predecessor and catering to modern audience sensibilities.”