We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
Jay Kelly (Netflix, 5 December)
From Noah Baumbach comes Jay Kelly, a self-referential coming-of-age dramedy that follows George Clooney as a revered actor travelling across Europe while reflecting on his life and legacy. Accompanied by Adam Sandler as his longtime manager, Clooney delivers “the performance of a lifetime” in this freewheeling, bittersweet trip down memory lane. With Baumbach, Clooney, and Sandler all in with a shot at Oscar glory, make sure to check-out this “midlife crisis masterpiece.”
Prisoner 951 (TVNZ+, 1 December)
Based on the upcoming book A Yard of Sky: A Story of Love, Narges Rashidi stars as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned by the Iranian regime for six years on sham spying charges. Also starring Joseph Fiennes as the husband who battled with British bureaucracy to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, this four-part drama arrives at a precarious moment when the powers that be still “seem to frown upon cross-cultural liaisons and care little about potentially dividing families.” A defiant tale of loss and love that will be sure to enrage and inspire.
Love Actually (Netflix, Prime Video, 1 December)
It’s December, so get in the Christmas spirit by revisiting this holiday season classic. Written and directed by Richard Curtis, the Aotearoa-born master of the feel-good rom com, this swooningly sweet story explores the trials and tribulations of love amidst the chaotic lead-up to Christmas. Starring a who’s who of British actors, Love Actually may be a little cloying, but it’s hard not to adore such a merry film.
Spartacus: House of Ashur (ThreeNow, 6 December)
Filmed in Tāmaki Makaurau with a guest appearance from Lucy Lawless, Spartacus: House of Ashur boldly departs from the events of the original TV show. Nick E Tarabay returns as Ashur, but no longer as a slave – he now owns the same ludus that once owned him. He severs tradition by unleashing Tenika Davis’s Achillia, a bloodthirsty gladiatrix eager to make her mark in a world ruled by men. The stage is set for a “new kind of spectacle that shocks, disrupts and offends the elite with every drop of blood.”
Until Dawn (Prime Video, 2 December)
Director David F Sandberg returns to his horror roots with Until Dawn, the film adaptation of the hair-raising video game. Trapped in a time loop, a hackneyed group of friends are being pursued by a horde of bloodcurdling entities. To escape the loop and their gruesome fate, they must invent new methods of surviving until dawn. This “good old-fashioned romp in the woods” is sure to scare you stiff.
Pick of the Flicks: Back to the Future (Disney+, 1 December)
Considered by critics and audiences alike to be one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future is now 40 years old. Remaining “entirely of its time and entirely timeless,” the beloved film centres on Michael J Fox’s Marty McFly, Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown, and their time travelling DeLorean car. Accidentally sent back to 1955, disrupting his own parents’ meet cute, McFly must make sure that the two fall in love, or he’ll cease to exist. Described as “arguably a perfect film,” Back to the Future is as endlessly rewatchable as Groundhog Day and Home Alone.
The rest
Netflix
My Next Guest with David Letterman and Adam Sandler (1 December)
Love is Blind: Italy (1 December)
Troll 2 (1 December)
All The Empty Rooms (1 December)
CoComelon Lane S6 (1 December)
Love Actually (1 December)
A Moody Christmas (1 December)
The Moodys (1 December)
Matt Rife: Unwrapped – A Christmas Crowd Work Special (2 December)
Top Gun (2 December)
The Holiday (2 December)
With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration (3 December)
Stranded with my Mother-in-Law S3 (3 December)
My Secret Santa (3 December)
The Abandons (4 December)
The Believers S2 (4 December)
I Wish You Had Told Me (4 December)
Lali: Time to Step Up (4 December)
The Price of Confession (5 December)
Owning Manhattan: Season 2 (5 December)
Love and Wine (5 December)
Jay Kelly (5 December)
The Night My Dad Saved Christmas 2 (5 December)
Pro Bono (7 December)
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (7 December)
TVNZ+
Prisoner 951 (1 December)
The Au Pair (1 December)
Kirstie & Phil: Bleeps, Bloops, & Best Bits (1 December)
25 Years of Location Location Location (1 December)
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills S11 (1 December)
Vanderpump Rules S4 (1 December)
Orlando Bloom: To the Edge S1 (1 December)
Early Man (1 December)
The Lost City of Z (1 December)
Dance Academy (1 December)
The Others (1 December)
Gunpowder Milkshake (1 December)
Arthur the King (1 December)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1 December)
Love My Face (2 December)
The Sentinels (2 December)
Bradley Walsh: Egypt’s Cosmic Code (3 December)
Watching You (5 December)
The Dog House Australia S3 (6 December)
Under the Bridge (6 December)
Confessions of a Steroid Gang (7 December)
ThreeNow
Spartacus: House of Ashur (December 6)
Neon
The Bakersfield 3: A Tale of Murder and Motherhood S1 (1 December)
Batwheels S2 Christmas Special (1 December)
Booba S5 (1 December)
Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown S2 (1 December)
Elf (1 December)
House Party (1 December)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1 December)
Butterbean’s Café (2 December)
The Loud House S1-S3 (2 December)
South Park S1-S2, S12-S13 (2 December)
SpongeBob SquarePants S1–S3 (2 December)
Rizzoli & Isles S1-S7 (2 December)
Bump S5 Christmas Special (3 December)
CatDog S1-S2 (3 December)
Rugrats S1-S2 (3 December)
Bananas In Pyjamas S1-S2 (3 December)
Expedition X S5 (3 December)
Dora S1-S2 (4 December)
Octonauts S1-S4 (4 December)
The Sound of Christmas Special (4 December)
Mickey 17 (4 December)
Nathan For You S1-S4 (5 December)
Gold Rush S16 (5 December)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (6 December)
Play School: Story Time S3-S6 (6 December)
Wiggles: Fruit Salad Big Show (6 December)
Wiggles: Wiggly Big Day Out (6 December)
Bookish (7 December)
Prime Video
The Merchants of Joy (1 December)
Until Dawn (2 December)
Oh. What. Fun. (3 December)
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1 December)
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (’00) (1 December)
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (1 December)
Fringe S1-S5 (1 December)
Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters (1 December)
Love Actually (1 December)
Misery (1 December)
Pretty Little Liars S1-S7 (1 December)
The Birdcage (1 December)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (1 December)
The Originals S1-S5 (1 December)
Valkyrie (1 December)
21 Jump Street (1 December)
22 Jump Street (1 December)
Disney+
Back to the Future (1 December)
Back to the Future Part II (1 December)
Back to the Future Part III (1 December)
Shrek (1 December)
Shrek 2 (1 December)
Shrek the Third (1 December)
House S1-S8 (1 December)
Are You Sure?! S2 (3 December)
Me & Mickey: In the Clubhouse Shorts S4 (3 December)
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives S3 Reunion Special (4 December)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (5 December)
Mickey & Minnie’s Holiday Songs: Christmas Shorts (5 December)
Phineas and Ferb Recap: Percy Jackson Short (6 December)
Apple TV
The First Snow of Fraggle Rock (5 December)
Shudder/AMC+/Acorn/HIDIVE
The Haunted Season: The Occupant of the Room (Shudder, AMC+, 1 December)
Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order S1 (AMC+, 1 December)
Rectify S1-S4 (AMC+, 1 December)
The Light in the Hall S2 (Acorn TV, AMC+, 1 December)
Inside S2 (Acorn TV, AMC+, 1 December)
Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Shudder, AMC+, 5 December)
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans S2 (Shudder, AMC+, 9 December)
DocPlay
Leonardo da Vinci (1 December)
The American Buffalo (1 December)
Hayu
Married to Medicine S12 (1 December)
Vanderpump Rules S12 (3 December)
Kimora: Back in the Fab Lane (3 December)
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills S15 (5 December)
AroVision
A Little Something Extra (1 December)
