What are you going to be watching this week? We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ+.
The biggies
Futurama (season 11 on Disney+ from July 24)
You know who is a big fan of Futurama? Pax Assadi! “The show that I always go back to when I don’t know what to watch is Futurama. It’s really funny, it’s just really good writing, and the premise will always be a good premise. I watch it all the time, over and over again, and I just love it. This is a controversial thing to say, but I actually think it’s better than The Simpsons. I know this is crazy talk for some people.” I trust him, don’t you? / Sam Brooks
Drag Me to Dinner (on Disney+ from July 26)
“Two teams of successful drag queens go head-to-head to throw the most drag-tastical dinner parties of all time and be crowned champion by three judges.” If that sounds like your thing, you are probably already scrambling to Disney+ to see if it’s online yet. The actual show, hosted and judged by Bianca Del Rio (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Neil Patrick Harris (of many things), Haneefah Wood (The Goldbergs) and David Burtka (Neil Patrick Harris’ husband) sets up famous drag queens like Jinkx Monsoon, Bebe Zahara Benet and Willam to fail at hosting a dinner party. Delightful! / SB
The Witcher (season three, part two on Netflix from July 27)
Season two of The Witcher was released at the end of 2021. Recollections of what happened have likely been eclipsed by time and the news that season three would be Henry Cavill’s last as Geralt of Rivia. Season two wasn’t as funny as season one and frankly suffered without an annoyingly catchy viral song. It added more monarchs, mages and beasts and an owl who’s not an owl but a sorceress named Philippa to the universe, and culminated with all of them looking for Ciri. Season three looks set to be focused on Geralt’s continued quest to protect Ciri, billed as a fitting end to Cavill’s tenure as the magical mutant and monster-hunting machine. / Anna Rawhiti-Connell
The notables
How to Become a Cult Leader (on Netflix from July 28)
Don’t worry, this isn’t going to teach the worst person in your life how to weaponise that. This six-episode series, narrated by Peter Dinklage, aims to reveal the playbook that lead to six famed cult leaders, including Charles Manson and Acharya Rajnessh, achieving unconditional love, endless devotion and how they ended up brainwashing countless people. / SB
RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under (season three on TVNZ+ from July 28)
Another week, another season of Drag Race! The third season of the Down Under franchise sees the best of the best drag performers from Australia and New Zealand to be crowned the next drag superstar! The season sees RuPaul back in the hosting and judging chairs, supported by mainstay Michelle Visage and Oz comedian Rhys Nicholson, and celebrity guests judges Adam Lambert, Keynan Lonsdale and Rachel Hunter! But the real treat are the queens, including the likes of Bumpa Love, Hollywould Star and Rita Menu. We love a pun name, don’t we? / SB
Twisted Metal (on TVNZ+ from July 27)
If you remember Twisted Metal, the popular 90s game where poorly dressed edgelords, edgeladies and edgetheys crashed into each other with cars, then congratulation, you’re old! This series is adapted from that series and sees Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as a man who is offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can deliver a package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland, while being savaged by marauders, including a deranged clown driving an ice-cream truck. It sounds like Mad Max: Fury Road, but not as good. I’ll take it. / SB
The films
The Woman King (on Neon and Prime Video from July 25)
If you’re anything like me, you have had the lyrics “Angela Bassett, did the thing, Viola Davis, my woman king” richocheting around your brain for six months. If you’re normal, you might like to watch The Woman King, the underrated action-biopic starring Viola Davis as the general of the Agojie, an all-female warrior unit that protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey. It deserves better than to be known for its award snubs! / SB
Tár (on Prime Video from July 29)
When Tár came out last year, the hype cycle was intense, at least if you followed too many literary online Americans (guilty): Cate Blanchett? As a lesbian? Orchestra conductor wunderkind? who has a spectacular fall from grace? That’s the basic outline, which probably doesn’t do justice to the weirdness of the movie. A psychological drama, Blanchett is Lydia Tár, who conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and is in the midst of promoting her book and completing conducting Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, while trying to protect her daughter from bullies. The movie touches on abuses of power and wealth, classical music’s contested canon and “cancel culture”, and once you’ve finished watching it (it’s nearly three hours long) you should read this interpretation of its very bizarre, very compelling ending. / Shanti Mathias
The Beanie Bubble (on Apple TV+ on July 28)
The most remarkable thing about this film thus far is that it has introduced the world to the sight of a beardless Zach Galifianakis, which is not quite terrifying, but on the weird side of unnerving. Otherwise, this is a comedy-drama film based on the 2015 book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute, which told the story about the inexplicable, meteoric rise in popularity of Beanie Babies. Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook and Geraldine Viswanathan round out the cast./ SB
Netflix
July 24
UNKNOWN: Cosmic Time Machine
Dew Drop Diaries
July 25
Sintonia: Season 4
Mark Normand: Soup to Nuts
July 26
Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case
Baki Hanma: The Tale of Pickle & The Pickle War Saga: Season 2
July 27
The Witcher: Season 3: Part 2
Paradise
Happiness for Beginners
Today We’ll Talk About That Day
The Lady of Silence: The Mataviejitas Murders
July 28
Captain Fall
D.P: Season 2
A Perfect Story
The Tailor: Season 2
How to Become a Cult Leader
Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir, The Movie
July 29
The Uncanny Counter
Neon
July 24
Blended
July 25
The Woman King
July 26
Grand Crew: Season 2
The 40 Year Old Virgin
July 28
Life
July 29
Dead for a Dollar
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
July 30
Defiance
TVNZ+
July 25
I Like The Way You Move
July 27
Twisted Metal
July 28
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Down Under: Season 3
Disney+
July 24
Futurama: Season 11
July 26
Drag Me to Dinner
Misaeng: Incomplete Life
Arthdal Chronicles
July 28
The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse
The Slumber Party
July 30
Imagine Dragons: Live in Vegas
Prime Video
July 25
Takeshi’s Castle
The Woman King
July 28
Good Omens: Season 2
July 29
Tar
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Apple TV+
July 28
The Beanie Bubble
Shudder
July 17
The Chronical Mysteries
July 21
Sharksploitation
AMC+
July 24
Best of Us
A Bittersweet Life
Oldby (2003)
Dead of Night (1945)
July 27
The Heiress and the Heist
Dark Winds