We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
If you like the fuckin’ news (about climate change): Patrick Gower: On Ice (ThreeNow, August 12 & 13)
The latest Patrick Gower: On… documentary series sees the journalist tackle the hot topic of global warming and its impact on Antarctica. Patrick Gower: On Ice sees Gower travel south to discover the consequences of climate change first hand, as well as meeting the New Zealand scientists working hard to save the planet. Having not previously understood the full global impact of Antarctica’s alarming ice melt, Gower revealed in this week’s My Life in TV that On Ice was his “biggest story yet,” and what he saw “scared the shit out of me”.
If you like intense drama: Industry (Neon, August 12)
The third season of the stressful drama about a group of young traders working in the City of London drops on Neon this week. “Think Succession meets Euphoria, or The Bear with Bloomberg terminals instead of kitchen knives,” Catherine McGregor wrote in 2022. “I found season one impressive but hard to love. Season two, though, was a revelation. The showrunners have spoken about realising they’d failed to inject the series with enough plot when it launched in 2020; that’s definitely not an issue this year. While I watched season one mostly for the vibes of the thing, season two was as gripping as anything I’ve seen on TV this year. If you’re coming to it fresh, watch Industry from the start – and expect it to get better and better.”
If you like a behind-the-scenes sport docuseries: Wheel Blacks: Bodies on the Line (Neon, August 18)
This new three part documentary series follows New Zealand’s wheelchair rugby team the Wheel Blacks in their bid to qualify for the Paris Paralympics. It captures the highs and lows of life as a Wheel Black, both on and off the court, and reveals the financial challenges the team faces to compete against other top level international teams. It’s a compelling behind-the-scenes insight into the realities of playing this hard-hitting, dramatic sport, and is produced and edited by former Wheel Black Jai Waite, who was part of the Wheel Blacks team that won gold at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
If you like Vince Vaughn being Vince Vaughn: Bad Monkey (Apple TV, August 14)
We could have also said “if you like detective shows with jokes” or “if you like Zach Braff in a dressing gown” so, frankly, pick your poison. Bad Monkey follows Andrew Yancy (Vaughn), who is booted out of the Miami Police Department and forced to become a humble health inspector. But when given a bizarre job to drive a severed arm in an ice box across Florida, he can’t help but return to his old ways and crack the case wide open. If the trailer is anything to go by, the evidence will be presented in the form of many Vaughnian wise cracks, one liners and zingers. This is what True Detective S2 should have been.
If you like viral moments from what feels like a lifetime ago: M3GAN (Netflix, August 12)
2023 held such promise when it began with that scary, jelly-leg-dancing doll named M3GAN. Sure, she was pure evil and hellbent on killing everyone in her path, but she expressed herself through the medium of dance with the aplomb of Raygun, or Left Shark, or Dua Lipa embodying a pencil mid-sharpening. To then find out that the dance was performed by a New Zealander was even more inspirational. And beyond the dancing, the movie is also great fun, a throwback M-rated popcorn horror with a sensational premise that speaks directly to our AI anxieties. Also features Clinton Randall from The Edge in a role nobody saw coming.
The rest:
Netflix
Megan (August 12)
Matt Rife: Lucid (August 13)
Breathe (August 14)
Daughters (August 14)
Worst Ex Ever (August 14)
Emily in Paris S4 (August 15)
Backyard Wilderness (August 15)
The Other Woman (August 15)
Kengan Ashura (August 15)
Poli: The Story of the Desert Rescue (August 15)
Bank of Dave (August 16)
The Union (August 16)
Love Next Door (August 18)
TVNZ+
Seal Team (August 12)
CSI: Vegas (August 12)
Bel Air (August 16)
ThreeNow
Patrick Gower on Ice (August 12)
Gold, Lies and Videotape (August 16)
Neon
Industry S3 (August 12)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (August 12)
Fred West: The Glasgow Girls (August 13)
Mystic River (August 14)
Lopez vs. Lopez S1-2 (August 14)
The Enemy Within (August 15)
Ex on the Beach US S5 (August 16)
Get Out (August 16)
Agent Cody Banks (August 17)
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (August 17)
Burn After Reading (August 18)
Wheel Blacks: Body on the Line (August 18)
Prime Video
Jackpot! (August 15)
Disney+
Solar Opposites: S5 (August 12)
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Season 2 (August 14)
The Tyrant (August 14)
Macross Dynamite 7 (August 14)
Grand Cayman: Secrets in Paradise (August 14)
Wu-Tang: An American Saga: S1-3 (August 14)
American Crime Story: Impeachment: S3 (August 14)
Macross Fb7 Listen to My Song! (August 16)
Macross 7: The Galaxy is Calling Me! (August 16)
Apple TV+
Bad Monkey (August 14)
Hayu
The Real Housewives of Durban S4 (August 17)
Acorn/AMC+/Shudder
Frankie Drake Mysteries (Acorn, AMC+, August 12)
Dancing Village: The Curse Begins (AMC+, Shudder, August 16)
The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs (AMC+, Shudder, August 18)