We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
I Saw the TV Glow (Netflix, May 13)
I Saw the TV Glow writer-director Jane Schoenbrun brings together themes of “fandom, pop culture obsession and trans identity” in this soon-to-be cult classic. Starring Justice Smith and Jack Haven as isolated teenagers Owen and Maddy, the two bond and obsess over The Pink Opaque, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-esque TV show that leads them to question their reality and identities. This dream-like horror-fantasy, described as a “gnawing search for belonging in the static spaces between analog pixels,” is one-of-a-kind.
The Audacity (Neon, May 13)
Created by Better Call Saul and Succession producer Jonathan Glatzer this dark-comedy follows Billy Magnussen as Duncan Park, a Muskian tech bro in Silicon Valley who is on the verge of a mental breakdown. With his data-mining firm Hypergnosis about to collapse, he blackmails his performance psychologist (Sarah Goldberg) into participating in a chaotic flurry of white-collar crime. Labelled as “a stinging portrait of an industry under siege by its own pioneers’ grand visions of who they are,” The Audacity is sure to be excruciatingly relevant.
No Other Choice (AroVision, May 13)
In this latest outing from Park Chan-wook, one of contemporary cinema’s most influential directors, Squid Game star Lee Byung-hun plays a family man abruptly dismissed from his job at a paper company after twenty-five years of loyal service. Premiering at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival to critical acclaim, the film follows the unemployed Man-su as he kills off those competing for the new job he’s applying for in a “pitch-black comedy that sometimes plays like a vicious episode of Looney Tunes.” Despite being snubbed by the Oscars, this “brilliant, bloody, and bleakly hilarious” film is a must-watch.
Off Campus (Prime Video, May 13)
Based on the hit book series by Elle Kennedy, Off-Campus explores the love story between a shy student songwriter Ella Bright (Hannah Wells) and a university’s star hockey player Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli). “Drawing inspiration from John Hughes’ 1980s coming-of-age classics and the sharp wit of ’90s teen rom-coms like 10 Things I Hate About You,” Off Campus is tailor-made for lovers of binge-worthy soaps and hockey-based romance.
The Testament of Ann Lee (Disney+, May 13)
From Mona Fastvold, the Oscar-nominated co-writer of The Brutalist, comes The Testament of Ann Lee, a “one-of-a-kind cinematic experience.” Shot on glorious 70mm and featuring Amanda Seyfried in “the best performance of her career,” the musical-biopic depicts Seyfried the founding leader of the Shakers. Also starring Lewis Pullman, Christopher Abbott, and New Zealander Thomasin McKenzie, the “full-blown song-and-dance affair” takes lyrics from traditional Shaker hymns and reimagines them as rapturous movements. The Testament of Ann Lee isn’t for everyone, but take a chance and you’ll be richly rewarded.
Pick of the Flicks: Corsage (MĀORI+, May 15)
Corsage features Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, a woman “caught between the expectations of her culture and her own desires.” Directed by Marie Kreutzer, the “stately psychodrama” is set in the 1870s and has been hailed as “a masterful and melancholy meditation on loneliness with a sucker punch of an ending.” Lavish and transfixing, Corsage is sure to be a royal flush.
The rest
TVNZ+
You, Me & Aussie (May 11)
BNZ Business Breakfast (May 11)
Ride Along (May 11)
Ride Along 2 (May 11)
Atomic Blonde (May 12)
School Spirits S3 (May 13)
Ready Gamer Mum (May 14)
Meet the Parents (May 14)
Impossible Builds S2 (May 15)
The Matrix (May 15)
The Matrix Reloaded (May 15)
400 Weddings and a Funeral (May 16)
One Hundred and Thirteen (May 16)
Battle Los Angeles (May 16)
Shrek Forever After (May 17)
Central Intelligence (May 17)
Natural Born Killer (May 17)
Spin City S1-S6 (May 17)
MĀORI+
Hillary: From Ocean to Sky (May 11)
Monster (May 15)
Corsage (May 15)
Manou the Swift (May 16)
Sliding Doors (May 16)
Lucky Grandma (May 17)
Netflix
Pop Culture Jeopardy! (May 11)
The Roast of Kevin Hart (May 11)
Devil May Cry S2 (May 12)
Untold UK: Jamie Vardy (May 12)
Marty, Life Is Short (May 12)
Perfect Match: Season 4 (May 13)
Between Father and Son (May 13)
Roosters S2 (May 13)
The Bus: A French Football Mutiny (May 13)
I Saw the TV Glow (May 13)
Soul Mate (May 14)
Nemesis (May 14)
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (May 14)
The WONDERfools (May 15)
Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine (May 15)
The Crash (May 15)
Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat (May 15)
Sweet As (May 15)
Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story (May 15)
Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano (May 17)
Neon
Pagan Peak S1-S3 (May 12)
Gomorrah S1-S5 (May 12)
Wisting S1-S4 (May 12)
Babylon Berlin S1-S4 (May 12)
The Bridge S1-S4 (May 12)
Crimson Rivers S1-S4 (May 12)
Stomp the Yard (May 12)
The Immortal (May 12)
The Audacity (May 13)
U.S. Against the World: Four Years with the Men’s National Soccer Team (May 13)
Dutton Ranch (May 15)
Hunt for the Missing: Chicago (May 15)
Mint (May 17)
Prime Video
Good Omens 3 (May 13)
Off Campus (May 13)
It’s Not Like That (May 15)
Disney+
Tucci in Italy S2 (May 12)
The Testament of Ann Lee (May 13)
Dragon Striker: Meet the Players (May 13)
The Punisher: One Last Kill (May 13)
Rivals S2 (May 15)
FX’s Welcome to Wrexham S5 (May 15)
Lisa Ann Walter: It was an Accident (May 15)
Minnie’s Bow-Toons: Pet Hotel (May 15)
DocPlay
Kenny Dalglish (May 14)
AroVision
Wilding (May 12)
No Other Choice (May 13)
The President’s Cake (May 13)
Riley (May 13)
The Glory of Life (May 13)
I’m Carl Lewis! (May 13)
