We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
If you enjoy taut, local dramas: End of the Valley (Whakaata Māori, March 6)
The past and present collide inEnd of the Valley, a “tense, emotionally charged drama” almost entirely in te reo Māori that centres on two competing land claims for the fictitious Taukiuki Forest. Young acquisitions lawyer Kaea Williams (Matia Mitai) is tasked with travelling to the remote Tāniko Valley to see if he can foster an out-of-court agreement between the feuding iwi. Upon Williams’ arrival, events take a deadly turn as he’s drawn into a world full of murky secrets and age-old quarrels. The cast is full of Kiwi acting legends, including Miriama Smith, Roimata Fox and Temuera Morrison, and last week we called it a must-watch example of “authentic and high quality by Māori, for Māori storytelling.”
If you love big-budget blockbusters: The Electric State (Netflix, March 14)
Set in the aftermath of a robot uprising in a retro-futuristic past, Netflix’s The Electric State follows an orphaned teenager who traverses across the American West in search of a missing sibling. On this perilous adventure, they’re joined by a mysterious robot, an eccentric smuggler, and his wisecracking sidekick. With a mind-boggling budget of $500 million, the cast features Hollywood heavyweights Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson. Add in the directors of Avengers: Endgame, and The Electric State might just be the next big blockbuster franchise.
If you like high-fantasy epics: The Wheel of Time (Prime Video, March 13)
Season three of The Wheel of Time picks up the pace and raises the stakes as Rand al’Thor, embracing his destiny as the Dragon Reborn, is confronted with the growing power of the mysterious Dark One and its evil forces. With the world on the brink of chaos and the Last Battle approaching, Moiraine Damodred and Egwene al’Vere must work together to prevent the Dragon from turning to the Dark. The latest instalment of Amazon’s fantasy epic is sure to be a visually stunning ride, with critics praising the “narrative twists and character turns that even the most jaded fantasy reader might not see coming.”
If you enjoy unflinching dramas: Adolescence (Netflix, March 13)
Described as possibly “the most terrifying TV show of our times,” Adolescence follows a family whose lives are turned upside-down when their 13-year-old son is arrested for the murder of a schoolmate. At the heart of this shocking act of violence is the manosphere, a toxic technoculture where sexism and misogyny is encouraged and celebrated by figures such as Andrew Tate. Stephen Graham stars as the boy’s father and reunites with director Philip Barantini to present each of Adolescence’s harrowing four episodes as a single seamless hour-long shot. Early reviews of this horrifying drama have said that it “is set to be a cultural touchpoint for young masculinity for years to come.”
If you love white-knuckle crime thrillers: Dope Thief (Apple TV+, March 14)
Based on Dennis Tafoya’s best-selling book of the same name, Dope Thief follows Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura as two small-time ruffians who pose as DEA agents to try to rip off Philly drug dealers. But when the lifelong friends “bust” the wrong house, unwittingly stumbling upon and unravelling the largest hidden narcotics corridor on the East Coast, it’s now a game of life or death. Hailing from Oscar-nominee Peter Craig, who co-wrote the screenplays for The Town, The Batmanand Top Gun: Maverick, Dope Thief is sure to be one bloody wild ride.
Pick of the Flicks: Sasquatch Sunset (Shudder, March 10)
You know a film is going to be weird if it screens in the Nocturnal strand of the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival. Sasquatch Sunset traces the lives of four gruff sasquatches over a year, in a blend between an Attenborough-like documentary and a silent era comedy. Stars Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg are given no dialogue — sasquatches can only communicate via grunts and gestures, of course. Described as an “emotional masterpiece of experimental cinema and fart jokes”, Sasquatch Sunset has to be seen to be believed.
