Netflix
Audrey
Film, Australia, 2024 – out now
This devilishly good Australian comedy deserves to find a wider audience – so it’s great that it’s now on Netflix. When the eponymous teenage brat (Josephine Blazier) falls off a roof and becomes comatose, the people closest to her can’t believe their luck, and experience new wind in their sails. Audrey’s mother, Ronnie (a hilarious Jackie van Beek), pretends to be her during acting classes, while Audrey’s father, Cormack (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor), experiences a sexual reawakening and her sister Norah (Hannah Diviney) finally gets to emerge from her sibling’s shadow.
This very pointy comedy from director Natalie Bailey is as black as they come. As I wrote in my review: “Imagine attending a funeral where nobody even pretends to have liked the deceased, and you’re in the right tonal ballpark.”
The Watchers
Film, USA, 2024 – out now
The feature film directorial debut of Ishana Shyamalan – daughter of M. Night – turns wild twist endings into a family tradition. It’s not a great movie, but it’s never boring and some images have been burned on to my mind – including the sight of four people, facing a one-way window, in a box-like building surrounded by forest. Here, in these haunted woods, sinister creatures called “Watchers” come out at night and, indeed, watch the humans, including Dakota Fanning’s protagonist Mina.
Other than good ol’ fashioned gawking, what do the creatures want, and why do they partake in this unusual past-time? All is revealed in the tricksy final act. The film has also landed on Binge.
The Electric State
Film, USA, 2025 – out 14 March
“The bot rebellion was ugly,” says a narrator in the trailer for The Electric State, a “retro-futuristic adventure” set in an alternate version of the 1990s. Orphaned teenager Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) traverses the American south-west in search of her younger brother, who she previously thought was dead. The film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, whose oeuvre includes several godawful MCU movies such as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Honourable mentions: The Blind Sea (film, out now), A Man Called Otto (film, out now), Halo (TV, out now), With Love, Meghan (TV, out now), Plankton: The Movie (film, 7 March), The Leopard (TV, out now), The Residence (TV, 20 March).
Stan
Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue
TV, UK, 2025 – out now
Something about this show’s title tells me it’s not going to be a happy-go-lucky lark. Created by Anthony Horowitz, who has considerable experience writing detective dramas (including Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War), it’s a whodunit with an exotic twist. Much of it takes place in Mexican jungle, where nine strangers are stranded after a plane crash, including a former doctor (Eric McCormack), a British traveller (Lydia Wilson), a newlywed couple (Adam Long and Jan Le) and a pair of Maga supporters (Siobhán McSweeney and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson).
If the crash wasn’t stressful enough, the survivors start dying one by one, suggesting a murderer is among them. Expect twists, testy group dynamics, and premise-articulating lines such as “one of us is a killer!”
Long Bright River
TV, USA, 2025 – out 13 March
Amanda Seyfried headlines this eight-part adaptation of Liz Moore’s acclaimed book of the same name, described by the Guardian’s Stephanie Merritt as a “startlingly fresh” combination of “family drama, history and social commentary wrapped up in the compelling format of a police procedural”.
Seyfried plays Mickey, a cop situated in a poor Philadelphia neighbourhood adversely affected by the opioid crisis. When a string of murders start happening, she discovers – like a zillion other crime story protagonists before her – that her past might in some way be connected to the crimes.
When Harry Met Sally …
Film, USA, 1989 – out 29 March
“I’ll have what she’s having.” What a scene; what a film! This rolled-gold comedy classic, directed by Rob Reiner and written by romcom royalty Nora Ephron, stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal as friends who, for a long time, avoid the whole “sex thing”. But maybe, just maybe, they get together in the end? The lead characters are fabulously likable and the script radiates warmth and wit.
Honourable mentions: Thelma & Louise (film, out now), The Secret Garden (film, out now), Get Shorty (film, out now), Walking Tall (film, 6 March), Hereditary (film, 7 March), Ten Pound Poms season 2 (TV, 10 March), Annihilation (film, 12 March), Beau Is Afraid (film, 15 March), The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (film, 16 March), Teen Wolf (film, 20 March).
Amazon Prime Video
Holland
Film, USA, 2025 – out 27 March
Nicole Kidman stars in yet another mystery-thriller in which a seemingly idyllic community is revealed to be anything but. Our Nic plays teacher Nancy Vandergroot, who lives in a Michigan town where there’s windmills, tulips, Dutch dancing and … shocking secrets! She suspects her husband (Matthew Macfadyen) is hiding something from her, which we assume is very much the case, because a show in which the protagonist’s concerns are wrong, and everything in their life in fact is tickety-boo, does not interesting drama make.
Let’s hope the story is more invigorating than the official synopsis, which drops hackneyed turns of phrase like “nothing in their lives is what it seems”.
Venom: The Last Dance
Film, USA, 2024 – out 22 March
Many years of often very crappy productions has made me cautious (to say the least) about superhero and superhero-adjacent films. However the Venom trilogy is underrated. The movies lean too heavily into SFX carnage, but, as I have previously argued, Tom Hardy pulls off a difficult feat, bringing performative flair and, god forbid, interesting acting to the role of former journalist Eddie, who’s attached to the titular alien symbiote (which he also provides the voice of). The insane dynamic between them is clear from the first scene of The Last Dance, which is set in a Mexican bar, where Eddie is happy to drink water but Venom insists on serving a strawberry margarita.
The plot is nothing special, with Eddie/Venom facing off against a cranky villain from a far-flung planet. But the franchise’s berserk Jekyll and Hyde routine is quite something. The film also lands on Binge.
Thelma & Louise
Film, USA, 1991 – out now
Most people are familiar with this film’s famous ending, which involves speeding, the Grand Canyon, and flipping the bird to the patriarchy. Whether we’re watching a triumph or a tragedy remains an open question. What is obvious: it’s one helluva movie, starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in the eponymous roles and terrifically directed by Ridley Scott. A planned weekend vacation for best friends Thelma and Louise turns into a cross-country on-the-run crime escapade, the protagonists sticking by each other through thick and thin. The film has also landed on Stan.
Honourable mentions: The Addams Family season 1-2 (TV, out now), The Silence of the Lambs (film, out now), Everything Everywhere All At Once (film, out now), It Ends With Us (film, 6 March), Practical Magic (film, 6 March), The Apprentice (film, 9 March), Little Women (film, 25 March), Spider-Man: Homecoming (film, 31 March).
SBS on Demand
The Bicycle Thief
Film, Italy, 1948 – out 1 March
I first watched Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist masterpiece at university, and ever since this richly humane film has always been present somewhere in my psyche. The film is quite sparse, aesthetically and narratively, following the very poor Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), who desperately needs a job to support his wife and children, selling their bedsheets to buy back his pawned bicycle, which he needs when an employment opportunity finally arises. During his first day on the job, the bike is stolen, triggering a search for the thief.
The performances (from non-professional actors) hit where it hurts. So does the film’s famous, perfectly executed ending, in which the full force and meaning of its simple title is revealed.
Honourable mentions: The Lives of Others (film, out now), Am I Being Unreasonable? season 2 (TV, 5 March), Australia: An Unofficial History (TV, 5 March), Icebreaker (TV, 20 March), Virdee (TV, 27 March), Faithless (TV, 27 March).
ABC iview
Boat Story
TV, UK, 2023 – out 16 March
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan liked this six-part thriller series so much it seems to have restored her faith in humanity; she concluded her five star review by proclaiming: “we can have nice things”. Having recently lost several fingers in an industrial accident, Daisy Haggard’s Janet is in a difficult period of her life, sadly summarising it as “one big Groundhog Day of waking up under a fucking lawnmower and being torn to shit”. But when she and down-on-his-luck solicitor Samuel (Paterson Joseph) discover a washed up boat full of cocaine, her fortunes might be starting to turn around.
It must be said, however, that often things don’t work out all that well for people who chance upon epic amounts of moolah; consult No Country for Old Men and A Simple Plan for some examples. But a slippery slope for the characters often means a ripping yarn for the audience. Mangan saw in the show notes of Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers. Sold!
Honourable mentions: The Weekly With Charlie Pickering season 11 (TV, 12 March), Darby and Joan season 2 (TV, 16 March), Breeders season 4 (TV, 18 March), Melbourne International comedy festival 2025 Gala (TV, 26 March).
Binge
I Saw the TV Glow
Film, USA, 2024 – out 13 March
Jane Schoenbrun’s very strange and surreal production has frequently been described as a horror movie, but it’s more horror-adjacent, emphasising mood and ambience. Watching it feels like you’re squinting through a thick mist drifting in from some other reality.
Ian Foreman and Jack Haven play two teenagers circa the mid-90s, who are super fans of a TV show called The Pink Opaque, which gives them a way to escape the difficulties of their lives. An initially straightforward scenario becomes increasingly fantastical, as elements of the TV show encroach on the characters’ realities, and vice versa. Before long, there’s talk of parallel dimensions and psychic planes.
Innerspace
Film, USA, 1987 – out 1 March
Joe Dante’s wacky 80s classic is an absolute delight; it’s impossible not to enjoy this movie. The opening shot – in which it’s revealed that massive crystal-rocks are actually ice cubes in a glass of whiskey – visually distills a key theme, making a point that size and perspective are relative. Dennis Quaid’s Lt. Tuck Pendleton volunteers for a “miniaturization experiment” that, via a few quirky plot twists, results in him piloting his vessel through the insides of Martin Short’s angsty hypochondriac Jack. In terms of heart, spectacle, and sheer, good old-fashioned fun, Innerspace runs (very tiny) rings around the Ant-Man movies.
The Last Anniversary
TV, Australia, 2025 – out 27 March
There’s a lot going on in the trailer for The Last Anniversary; I’ve watched it a couple of times and I’m still not quite sure what kind of story this is. The always reliable Teresa Palmer stars as Sophie, who inherits a house bequeathed to her by her ex-boyfriend’s great-aunt. She doesn’t know why she left her the property; presumably this is one of the show’s key secrets. The series was adapted from a novel by Liane Moriarty and its supporting cast includes Danielle Macdonald, who was recently great in both seasons of The Tourist.
Honourable mentions: The Watchers (film, out now), A Quiet Place (film, out now), Smoggie Queens season one (TV, out now), It Ends With Us (film, 6 March), It Came From Outer Space (film, 13 March), A Quiet Place: Day One (film, 14 March), Venom: The Last Dance (film, 22 March).
Disney+
Good American Family
TV, USA, 2025 – out 19 March
Katie Robbins’ eight-part drama was inspired by the true story of Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian woman born with a form of dwarfism. At the age of 7, she was adopted by an American couple, who abandoned her after erroneously accusing her of being an adult posing as a child. According to the official press materials, the story will be told from multiple points of view, suggesting a Rashomonian contrast of different perspectives and interpretations. Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass star as the adoptive parents, and Imogen Faith Reid plays the young Natalia.
Honourable mentions: Daredevil: Born Again (TV, 5 March), Deli Boys (TV, 6 March), O’Dessa (20 March), David Blaine: Do Not Attempt (TV, 24 March).
Apple TV+
Dope Thief
TV, USA, 2025 – out 14 March
Hot damn, this show gets off to a cracking start. At the time of publishing, I’ve only watched the first episode of Dope Thief. But not for much longer: I simply must return to this world and find out how the lead characters are going. They are two old friends, Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny (Wagner Moura), who have a novel way of making a crust: posing as DEA agents and robbing drug dealers.
The first ep was given thrillingly immersive qualities by setup director Ridley Scott and includes two ripping faux bust/robbery scenes, the second spectacularly ratcheting up the stakes.
Honourable mentions: BE@RBRICK (TV, 21 March), Side Quest (TV, 26 March), The Studio (TV, 26 March).
