We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
Tangata Pai (ThreeNow, September 16)
Tangata Pai is one of this year’s most anticipated local releases. Entwining political, personal, and cultural struggles into an explosive, high-stakes story, the show follows five characters whose lives tragically collide amid a devastating terrorist attack at a Māori land occupation. With each intense episode focusing on all five characters across individual real-time segments, Tangata Pai is set to be a white-knuckle ride, and a newfound Aotearoa classic.
Red Rocket (TVNZ+, September 16)
In between the critically-acclaimed The Florida Project and the Best Picture-winning Anora, Sean Baker directed the lesser-known Red Rocket. Simon Rex, in his big comeback role, stars as Mikey “Saber” Davies, a washed-up Los Angeles porn star who returns to his hometown of Texas City looking to start over. Set against the chaos of Trump’s 2016 campaign, this “laser-focused character study” and “scrappy, scrupulously observed portrait of a tight-knit community,” is a must-watch.
Black Rabbit (Netflix, September 18)
In Netflix’s prestige crime drama Black Rabbit, Jude Law and Jason Bateman are “brothers who love each other but don’t match.” A rising-star restaurateur (Law) is thrust into New York’s cut-throat criminal underworld when his brother (Bateman) returns to the city with loan sharks hot on his tail. With the clock ticking, the toxic two must confront the demands of Joe Mancuso (Troy Kotsur), a stone-faced bookie who’s willing to chop off a finger or two to get what he’s owed. Reminiscent of Bad Lieutenant and Uncut Gems, Black Rabbit is sure to have you sweating bullets.
Haunted Hotel (Netflix, September 19)
The new animated series from Rick and Morty writer Matt Roller, Haunted Hotel centres around a single mother of two who inherits the Undervale, a hotel that happens to be haunted. Aided by her estranged brother (now a ghost) she must keep the struggling hotel afloat and appease the hair-raising, high maintenance guests who never check out. Taking up residence in the Undervale are Will Forte, Skyler Risondo, and Jimmi Simpson, who all lend their voices to this grown-up, blood-spattered take on Hotel Transylvania.
One to One: John and Yoko (DocPlay, September 15)
Co-directed by Oscar winner Kevin MacDonald, One to One: John and Yoko explores the 18-month period between 1971 and 1973 in which the couple lived in a tiny apartment in Greenwich Village, New York. In the aftermath of the highly publicised Beatles breakup, the two exchange the Big Smoke for the Big Apple, becoming conductors of the counterculture and anti-Vietnam war movements. Featuring never-before-seen artefacts from the couple’s personal archives and remastered footage of Lennon’s last full-length concert, One to One: John and Yoko is “not just an enormously moving historical portrait but a freshly relevant and cathartic one.”
Pick of the Flicks: Arrival (Neon, September 21)
Helmed by blockbuster auteur Denis Villeneuve, this Oscar-nominated film follows Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a civilian linguistics expert silently grieving the loss of her daughter. When 12 eerie, extraterrestrial craft suddenly appear, Banks is tasked by the US government with deciphering the mind-bending language of the swirling, squid-like heptapods. Labelled as “a departure from the dystopian visions which now appear all too real,” it’s no surprise that this sci-fi epic has been compared to Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The rest
Netflix
Insidious: The Red Door (September 15)
1670 S2 (September 17)
Next Gen Chef (September 17)
Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen (September 17)
Black Rabbit (September 18)
Platonic: Blue Moon Hotel (September 18)
The BA***DS of Bollywood (September 18)
Billionaires’ Bunker (September 19)
She Said Maybe (September 19)
Haunted Hotel (September 19)
TVNZ+
Homesteads S2 (14 September)
End of the Valley S1 (14 September)
Ruamata: It’s More Than Hockey (14 September)
Kairākau S4 (14 September)
New Zealand’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer S2 (14 September)
Fishing & Adventure S13 (14 September)
Dog Squad S14 (16 September)
Highway Cops S9 (16 September)
The Spy Who Dumped Me (16 September)
Red Rocket (16 September)
Mirror Mirror (16 September)
Teen Wolf S1-S6 (17 September)
George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces S13 (18 September)
Sullivan’s Crossing S2 (19 September)
ThreeNow
Tangata Pai (16 September)
Neon
In The Lost Lands (September 14)
The Batman S1-S3 (September 15)
Batwheels S2 (September 15)
Mermicorno: Starfall (September 15)
Welcome to Plathville S6 (September 15)
Snack Shack (September 15)
War on Everyone (September 16)
Los Espookys S2 (September 16)
Becoming Madonna (September 16)
The Inbetweeners Movie (September 16)
The Inbetweeners 2 (September 17)
Safe (September 18)
Luva De Pedreiro: Viral Moves (September 19)
The Murder of Actor Rafael Miguel (September 19)
Deepwater Horizon (September 19)
Curse of the Necklace (September 19)
Aquamarine (September 20)
The Salt Path (September 20)
Arrival (September 21)
Prime Video
Peppa Pig: S2 (15 September)
Gen V: S2 (17 September)
Groundhog Day (17 September)
The Chosen: S1-S4 (18 September)
Disney+
Futurama S13 (September 16)
High Potential S2 (September 17)
My Special One S1 (September 17)
9-1-1: Lone Star S5 (September 17)
Electric Bloom (September 17)
Reasonable Doubt S3 (September 18)
Swiped (September 19)
Dolphins Up Close with Bertie Gregory (September 19)
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy – Pieces of the Past (September 19)
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (September 21)
Apple TV+
The Morning Show S4 (September 17)
The Reluctant Traveller S3 (September 19)
Hayu
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City S6 (September 17)
Shudder/AMC+/Acorn/HIDIVE
Ride with Norman Reedus S7 (AMC+, September 14)
HIP S4 (AMC+, Acorn,September 15)
Night of the Reaper (Shudder, AMC+, September 19)
Rock is a Lady’s Modesty (HIDIVE, September 17)
DocPlay
One to One: John and Yoko (September 15)