We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
Dadolescence (TVNZ+, September 6)
Netflix hit Adolescence “asked the hard questions about growing up in a digital world”, but Dadolescene grounds these questions on home soil. From Azita Agnew, the director of the award-winning Young and The Reckless, this local docuseries follows the lives of five teenage New Zealanders as they navigate the uncharted waters of being a father in contemporary Aotearoa. Shining a much-needed light on complex ideas of masculinity, family, and fatherhood, the illuminating Dadolescence is a must-watch.
The Paper (TVNZ+, September 5)
Oh my God! OK, it’s happening. Everybody stay calm! The beloved American sitcom The Office is finally getting a spinoff. The unseen documentary crew who captured the workplace antics of Dunder Mifflin are now behind the scenes at the Toledo Truth Teller; a once-proud newspaper now on the brink of collapse. With the help of a ragtag ensemble of oddball volunteer reporters, the new editor-in-chief, the idealistic Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson), must defy the odds to save the historic publication. And, if The Paper turns out to be tearable, never fear – every episode of The Office US lands on TVNZ+ the very same day.
Perfect Days (Neon, September 1)
Originally envisioned as a series of short documentaries celebrating the Tokyo Toilet art project, Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days eventually evolved into a “poetic, beautifully balanced character study.” The Oscar-nominated film unhurriedly and tenderly traces the ritualistic daily routines of Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho), a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo whose “sense of peace and equanimity is a rare thing in the central character of a film.” Indebted to Yasujirō Ozu, and amid all the noise and distractions of modernity, Perfect Days finds quiet joy in Hirayama’s pared-down existence. “In a world of fleeting moments, find the beauty that lasts” is a tagline worth remembering.
The Runarounds (Prime Video, September 1)
From the co-creator of Outer Banks, feel-good teen drama The Runarounds follows a group of high school graduates in North Carolina who, over one sweltering summer, decide to form a rock back. Set to a killer original soundtrack by the eponymous band, these talented teens must juggle love, rivalry, and small-town drama as they chase down stardom. Season four of Outer Banks might not have hit the right note, but if you just can’t quit nostalgic teen dramas, The Runarounds is sure to strike a chord.
Pee-Wee As Himself (Neon, September 1)
Matt Wolf’s touching two-part documentary Pee-Wee As Himself explores the tempestuous life and career of Paul Reubens, the singular comic made famous by his bow-tied man-child alter-ego. Contending with the “slippery, elusive nature of a deeply compartmentalized man,” Wolf dismantles Reubens’ self-built walls of privacy and preservation, crafting a “revealing portrait of a performer who so often put persona in front of personhood.” With a final message from the remarkable comic, recorded a day before his death in 2023, this posthumous portrait of Reubens’ genius and complexity is bound to make you well up.
Pick of the Flicks: Highest 2 Lowest (Apple TV+, 5 September)
In Highest 2 Lowest, the latest Spike Lee Joint, the legendary director reimagines Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, transposing its drama and ethical crises to the mean streets of modern-day New York City. Screen icon Denzel Washington reunites with Lee to star as David King, a music mogul whose buttoned-up life comes undone when he’s ensnared in a ruinous ransom racket. Rapper-turned-actor ASAP Rocky also stars, and reportedly “holds his own,” against the magisterial Washington in this “unabashedly epic, fearlessly funny, and proudly black” thriller.
The rest
Netflix
One Direction: This Is Us (September 1)
Wednesday S2 Part 2 (September 3)
Inspector Zende (September 5)
The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity (September 7)
TVNZ+
In Flight (September 1)
Terror at 30,000 Feet (September 1)
The Paper (September 5)
The Office S1-S9 (September 5)
Boyzone: Life, Death and Boybands (September 5)
Carlectibles with Bill Goldberg (September 6)
Serial Killer Wives (September 7)
Casino Royale (September 7)
Quantum of Solace (September 7)
Skyfall (September 7)
Spectre (September 7)
No Time to Die (September 7)
ThreeNow
The Pembrokeshire Murders (September 1)
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace S3 (September 3)
MĀORI+
Pukunati Lose Weight or Die (September 1)
Neon
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Extended Edition) (September 1)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) (September 1)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) (September 1)
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (September 1)
The Wizard of Oz (September 1)
Casual Vacancy (September 1)
Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing S3 (September 1)
Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing Special S3 (September 1)
Teen Titans Go! S9 (September 1)
My Mom Jayne: A Film By Mariska Hargitay (September 1)
Pee-Wee As Himself (September 1)
Gold Rush S14 (September 1)
Santiago of the Seas S1-S2 (September 1)
A Different Man (September 1)
Freud’s Last Session (September 1)
Perfect Days (September 1)
The Uninvited (September 1)
The Beast (September 2)
Cabrini (September 2)
Heart Eyes (September 2)
Michael Johnson: Super Man (September 2)
Stormy (September 2)
Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence (September 3)
Ezra (September 3)
Robot Dreams (September 3)
Sven (September 3)
Looper (September 4)
Day: Hunt For Love S1 (September 4)
Animals On Drugs S1 (September 4)
Angel Has Fallen (September 5)
London Has Fallen (September 5)
Olympus Has Fallen (September 5)
Magic Mike (September 6)
The Playboy Murders S3 (September 6)
The Creator (September 7)
The Return (September 7)
Prime Video
Soar High! (September 1)
The Runarounds (September 1)
The Smurfs 2 (September 2)
Ice Road: Vengeance (September 3)
The Borderline Between Friends With Benefits and Lovers (September 3)
Smurfs: The Lost Village (September 4)
The Nanny: S1-6 (September 4)
The Last Redemption (September 5)
Gone Girl (September 5)
Confidence Queen (September 7)
Poor Things (September 7)
Disney+
Suits S1-S9 (September 1)
Superstore S1-S6 (September 1)
Lilo & Stitch (September 3)
Morphle (September 3)
Reminder (September 3)
Blood & Myth (September 4)
Memphis to the Mountain (September 5)
Apple TV+
Highest 2 Lowest ( September 5)
Shudder/AMC+/Acorn/HIDIVE
Vera S14 (AMC+, September 1)
Halloween (1978) (Shudder, September 1)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (Shudder, September 1)
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (Shudder, September 1)
Queen Millennia (HIDIVE, September 2)
Call of the Night S2 (HIDIVE, September 3)
Love After Lockup S5 P5 (AMC+, September 4)
