With so many shows and movies to choose from on Australia's major streaming services, it can often be difficult to find the best new stuff to entertain yourself with each end of week, and which stuff to avoid.
In an effort to make things easier, we've singled-out the most high profile new shows and movies on Aussie streaming platforms this weekend, covering the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus, Binge, Foxtel Now, Stan, Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime video. Our goal is to give you the low-down on what to watch and what to skip.
Below, you'll find a list of new streaming highlights, with TV shows sitting alongside some note-worthy movie arrivals. Of course, not everything will be worth your time, so we've taken the liberty of giving each entry a 'stream' or 'skip' grade.
The weekend brings some hitters to Australia's streaming scene, including the season finale of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty on Binge, The Essex Serpent on Apple TV Plus, the Rebel Wilson-starring comedy Senior Year on Netflix, and the second season of Hacks on Stan. Here are our streaming picks for the weekend of May 13-15, 2022.
Senior Year
(Movie – available 13/5/2022)
Popular cheerleader Stephanie suffers a cheer-related injury and falls into a coma, only to wake up 20 years later as Rebel Wilson. Problem is, for her it seems like no time as passed at all, which means she's incredibly keen to get back to school and achieve her goal of becoming prom queen. If that isn't a great comedy premise, I don't know what is.
Verdict: STREAM
The Essex Serpent
(TV series – available 13/5/2022)
Clair Danes and Tom Hiddleston star in this Victorian England-set drama, which sees London widow Cora Seaborne (Danes) travel to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent. While there, she forms a bond with the local vicar (Hiddleston) driven by science and scepticism. Unfortunately, a tragedy causes the townspeople soon accuse Cora of attracting the creature. Sounds like an interesting premise led by two actors who hardly ever put a foot wrong.
Verdict: STREAM
Stream The Essex Serpent on Apple TV Plus
The Lincoln Lawyer
(TV series – available 13/5/2022)
Remember The Lincoln Lawyer? That Matthew McConaughey movie from around a decade ago? Well, it's back... in TV show form! As per the movie (and the best-selling books that film was based on), the new Netflix Original show follows Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), an idealistic lawyer who serves people in need by practising law out of his Lincoln town car. Let's hope Garcia-Rulfo doesn't end up doing ridiculous Lincoln car commercials like his big-screen counterpart... Also stars Neve Campbell.
Verdict: STREAM
Stream The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix
Hacks: Season 2
(TV series – season 2 available 13/5/2022)
Winner of multiple Emmy awards, the delightful series Hacks returns for its highly anticipated second season this weekend. For those who haven't watched the first season, Hacks follows an unusual mentorship between a legendary Las Vegas comedian (Jean Smart), and an entitled 25-year-old writer (Hannah Einbinder).
Verdict: STREAM
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
(TV series – season finale available now)
Writer/director Adam McKay (Don't Look Up, Anchorman) returns with a fantastic new series which details how basketball became one of the most glamorous and successful sports of all time. Set in the late '70s, Winning Time follows Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly), a man who saw the potential of basketball as not just a sport, but as entertainment. This week sees the show's brilliant first season come to an end, focusing on the game 6 of the 1980 NBA championship between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers. Basketball fanatics will already know how this game played out, but the show does a terrific job of recreating the drama and excitement surrounding it.
Verdict: STREAM
Stream Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty on Binge
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
(TV series – available 6/5/2022)
The latest TV show to chart the rise of a giant tech company, Super Pumped is set to be an ongoing anthology series that takes us behind the scenes of a disruptive new business that changed the world. As you might have guessed from the title, Super Pumped's first season follows the rollercoaster-like ups and downs behind the ride-sharing app, Uber. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars Travis Kalanick, Uber's overly-enthusiastic CEO. According to early reviews, Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber doesn't quite hit the mark, with an unpleasant protagonist and an overly dramatised take on the story.
Verdict: SKIP
Stream Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber on Paramount Plus
Halloween Kills
(Movie – available now)
Squandering any of the goodwill earned by its (overrated) predecessor, Halloween Kills is an utterly dreadful movie, turning series boogeyman Michael Myers into an unintentionally hilarious joke (just wait until you see him perform martial arts on a group of surrounding firemen like a modern-day Steven Seagal). Meanwhile, series heroine Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) spends the entire movie in a hospital bed away from the action, while the dim-witted people of Haddonfield set out to hunt Myers down once and for all – if only there was a single brain amongst them.
Verdict: SKIP
