Mindhunter, streaming on Netflix from Friday. Photo / Netflix
Mindhunter, streaming on Netflix from Friday. Photo / Netflix
STREAM
Mindhunter drops on Netflix tomorrow, and there are plenty of reasons to be excited. For a start, there's a dream team behind the drama, which follows the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit as they track down serial killers. It was executive produced by Charlize Theron and David Fincher, whoalso directed four episodes; it's familiar territory for Fincher, who covered the infamous Zodiac killer in his 2007 film Zodiac. In the creator's chair is Joe Penhall (writer of the 2009's The Road), and it stars Johnathan Groff, who was excellent in HBO's Looking, and Anna Torv, an Australian actress who turned heads in the sci-fi series Fringe. It's clearly impressed the big guns at Netflix ahead of its premiere; a second season has already been ordered.
LISTEN
So much new music is arriving in October that it's getting overwhelming. Last Friday saw a triptych of excellent albums arrive with Yumi Zouma's Willowbank, Cults' Offering and Kelela's Take Me Apart. Tomorrow, the landslide continues: the dream pairing of Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile release their joint album Lotta Sea Lice; alt-pop pioneer St Vincent returns after three years with MASSEDUCTION; singer/rapper King Krule releases The Ooz; Beck is back with Colors; and Pink releases Beautiful Trauma, her first album in five years. Need I go on?
Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile release their joint album Lotta Sea Lice on Friday. Photo / supplied
WATCH
It's always curious when two movies with striking similarities are released within close proximity; the phenomenon is known as "Twin Films", and there's a whole Wikipedia page chronicling its occurrence throughout the history of cinema. Think No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits in 2011, or Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down in 2013. Today sees the release of The Mountain Between Us and Walking Out - both survival dramas set against forbidding, wintry landscapes. Thankfully, each has a point of difference - The Mountain Between Us doubles as a love story as Kate Winslet and Idris Elba battle the elements together, whereas Walking Out explores a father-son dynamic on a hunting trip gone wrong. One has significantly better reviews than the other, however - check out our takes on page seven.
Kate Winslet and Idris Elba in The Mountain Between Us. Photo / AP
Josh Wiggins and Matt Bomer star in Walking Out. Photo / supplied
GO
There's something for every music lover in the coming week. Those after a nostalgia trip can head to Alison Moyet at the ASB Theatre on Saturday for her first New Zealand show in more than 30 years. For some local flavour, Kiwi alt-rock legends Die! Die! Die! bring their Charm. Offensive tour to Whammy Bar on Saturday, and they've got a knockout support line-up of The Beths and Purple Pilgrims. Those up for a more stripped-back vibe can catch Alexis Taylor - best known as the vocalist of Hot Chip - performing his piano-heavy solo material at The Tuning Fork next Wednesday.
