Gary SteelA regular column in which GARY STEEL sifts through the mountain of available streaming TV and brings your attention to great new and old shows as well as those to avoid.
Bookworm (Prime Video, Neon) 7/10
For many years Bookworm’s director, Ant Timpson, curated the International Film Festival’s wonderful Incredibly Strange festival-within-a-festival of surprising and bizarre b-movies. His first feature, Come To Daddy, starring Elijah Wood was… odd. Well, if you’ve seen David Lynch’s The Straight Story you’ll understand how sometimes it’s possible to deviate away from the deviant into something deeply humanistic, and Bookworm, like that story about an old man and a ride-on lawnmower, cleverly manages the near-impossible. It’s a film about Mildred (played by Nell Fisher) a cute, super-intelligent and imaginative 11-year-old girl meeting up with and getting to know her estranged father Strawn (Elijah Wood, again), a terrible magician who knocked her Mum up during a one-time encounter.
If it sounds unlikely so far, try this for size: Mildred then convinces Strawn to accompany her on a camping trip into the Otago mountains to try and get a picture of a possibly mythical panther. But you know what? I watched it with the wife and two kids (10 and 6) and we all loved it. Bookworm could so easily have been saccharine, but Toby Harvard’s screenplay and Timpson’s beaut direction keep it real. Somehow, the story melds together the fantasy aspects with a bit of adventure and the slow bonding process between father and daughter without laying it on too thick. It’s a bit dialogue-heavy at times for younger kids but I love that it doesn’t play to a set demographic, and like so many older movies leaves itself open for all to enjoy. Lovely.
Dune 2 (Neon) 7/10
Despite being in the minority in defending the deeply flawed 1984 David Lynch film of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel, I have to admit that Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 take on Dune was impressive, if lacking the transgressive oddness of the earlier version. But, of course, to do it properly it needed to be broken into two, and even Dune: Part Two is a whopper at 166 minutes. Unsurprisingly, this 2024 film is shot in the same brighter-than-bright fashion, and while that can seem a little clinical at times, it’s a brave design move that works for the most part.
There’s plenty of talking, of course, but the memorable bits are the hugely impressive action/battle sequences set on a planet with strikingly different technology to our own; not that any of it can stand up to the giant worms, the harnessing of which ensures our hero Paul Atreides’ ascendancy to heroic stature. I wasn’t completely won over by the acting or characters, and Zendaya, who I adored in Euphoria, seemed miscast. But then, despite having read the book as a teenager, I’m still somewhat bemused and confused by the plot and this new version still left me wondering what had really happened over the preceding three hours, but that’s just me. Regardless, it’s well worth a watch. Just don’t kill the widescreen effect by watching it on a teeny-tiny screen.
Dune Prophecy (Neon) 5/10
Hmm, not sure about this six-part series, which fails on as many fronts as it succeeds. Set 10,000 years before the Dune book/films, Dune Prophecy is an attempt to tell the story of Bene Gesserit, a shadowy group of nuns with superhuman powers that exert a huge influence over the political sphere. Emily Watson does her best as the tough-as-leather lead character, Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen, but Travis Fimmel (Vikings) as a violent and conniving soldier seems to be destined to play the same or similar characters over and over again.
While considerable flare has gone into certain sequences, with special mention of those featuring the psychedelic near-death deep drug immersion several of the nuns experience, Dune Prophecy feels underdeveloped. I got tired of each scene ending with yet another very fake long view of spacecraft landing or shots of the giant edifices in which the characters were supposedly residing. Like those mindboggling Star Wars spinoffs, I can only really see this appealing to those completely besotted by the world of Dune.
Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman (Netflix) 8/10
This 2017 Japanese series is totally bonkers, and definitely made for some of the most fun TV viewing I’ve had in a while. Kantaro (Onoe Matsuya) is a salesman for a publishing company who secretly skives off to taste the wares of the very best Tokyo has to offer in desserts and sweet treats, and then covertly reviews them on his blog. A gorgeous co-worker Dobashi Kanako (played by Ren Ishikawa), however, is on his trail.
Matsuya is hilariously over-the-top in his pursuit of, and appreciation of, the sweet stuff, and each of the 12 episodes features a bizarre dream-like sequence where he goes into raptures over the chosen dessert. While the story is fictional, his chosen venues are not, and anyone who enjoys sweets will be gobsmacked at the amazing culinary concoctions he finds down the back streets of Tokyo. I’m surprised there wasn’t a sequel because the idea really has legs, and although the acting is over-the-top and very silly, it’s also just mad enough to be worth a watch. Just don’t watch it too late and go to bed hungry.
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (Netflix) 7/10
Like many, I suspect, I lost interest in Tim Burton’s idiosyncratic films around the turn of the century. But when I cast my eyes over his (fairly) recent filmography, from Big Fish (2003) to Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride (both 2005) and on to Alice In Wonderland (2010) and Frankenweenie (2012), there’s still much to admire in his personalised directorial eccentricity. Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (2016) also has a lot going for it, but like so many of Burton’s films, beyond the larger-than-life characterisations and day-glow special effects, there’s a niggling feeling that they’re camouflage for a lack of attention to meaningful plot and nuanced characterisation.
This fantasy film is about young Jake (Asa Butterfield of Sex Education fame) who, grieving the disturbing death of his grandfather, visits an island off the coast of Wales where, in the 1940s, his grandad had attended a school for kids with paranormal abilities. It transpires that Jake (somewhat improbably) enters a portal to 1943, where Miss Peregrine and her children are stuck in an interminable loop. Jake and the other kids end up having to battle monsters to stay in their loop and avoid having their school burnt down. It’s never less than hugely enjoyable, and as usual, Burton throws SFX around like mad. Another reason for watching it is Ella Purnell (the doe-eyed beauty who recently starred in both Fallout and Sweet Pea) as Emma, who is lighter than air and must wear lead-filled shoes to stop her from floating into the stratosphere. Not quite A-Grade Burton, but definitely worth a watch.
Money Shot: The Pornhub Story (Netflix) 7/10
For all those looking for a wank-watch, this ain’t for you. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story is a feature-length documentary explaining the rise and rise (hrmph!) of the porn juggernaut (pshaw!) but in the telling, looks at the issues around all internet aggregators of video content and the issue of who’s responsible should inappropriate or illegal content be loaded (gah!) to a website. It’s astonishing just how few legitimate documentaries have been made on the subject of porn sites, given their huge (haw-haw) popularity, and it does a good job of explaining how its owners (MindGeek) are essentially a tech corporate rather than a porn company.
There’s no doubt that the first few decades of the 21st century have been a kind of Wild West for fast-thinking tech entrepreneurs, and legislation to protect consumers from illegal content has lagged behind. Money Shot delves into the politics of porn as well, including the far right pro-Trump anti-porn lobby that inevitably targets the sex workers that legitimately make and star in porn rather than the corporates that profit hugely from it. Sans narration, the documentary relies entirely on its interview subjects to explain and opine, and we get a fairly balanced view in the process. Not a load of laughs and not even a bit sexy, it’s a thought-provoking watch.
Silo – Season 2 (Apple+) 5/10
When I reviewed the first series of Silo in 2023 I awarded it a 7 out of 10 rating and noted that, although dialogue-based “with the odd spot of nail-biting action, the 10 episodes make for a fairly compelling watch.” I wish I could say the same about this dire second series. What the hell went wrong to make the sequel so incredibly, excruciatingly dull? Juliette (the great Rebecca Ferguson) has survived leaving the silo – the first to do so – but finds another silo that’s just a wreck. The action moves back and forth with boring predictability between Juliette’s struggles to find a way out of the decimated silo, and the rising tensions in the silo she was expelled from at the end of the first series.
Tim Robbins is revealed as not just a creepy leader but a fully-fledged murderous fuck as the populous builds up steam and the whole thing sets to blow. But where the narrative in the first season sort of made sense, this time around, the characters are made to do idiotic stuff just to move the story forward, and that’s infuriating. So what had been an intelligent sci-fi potboiler – admittedly with a lot of questions to answer – ends up in its second season treating its viewers like imbeciles. And we’re really none the wiser. Yes, season two has its moments, but is it worth your time? In my humble opinion: no!
The Sticky (Prime Video) 6/10
Margo Martindale is a memorable and characterful actor who breaks out of her usual supporting roles (Cocaine Bear, Mrs. Davis) to lead The Sticky, which is loosely based on an actual event known as The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist. This would seem like great material for a black comedy, and there are a few laugh-out-loud moments during the six short episodes, but overall, the tone of the series is a bit off.
The locale and story are refreshingly different, and Martindale is wonderful, as is Jamie Lee Curtis, who makes an arresting cameo. But despite its eccentric characters, the series is more excruciating than it is hilarious. I’m not surprised that it was cancelled after one season.
The Substance (TVNZ+) 6/10
I don’t watch TVNZ+ unless I have to because, you know… ads! The Substance (2024), however, isn’t available on ad-free subscription streaming services, and this body-horror satire seemed like it might just be my cup of tea. The good news is that the ads weren’t too obtrusive or distracting; the bad news is that The Substance, while now definitively winning itself a place in the canon of disgusting/repulsive/bizarre motion pictures, is also rather weak in certain important ways. This means that while David Cronenberg might be somewhat envious of its adoption of his mutant shock tactics, the screenplay could have done with some of his subtle hijacking of convention. Coralie Fargeat (who wrote and directed) apparently intended the film to be a commentary on sexism and the treatment of women in the entertainment industry, so why is the main character so stupid?
Demi Moore (Ghost, Indecent Proposal) plays Elisabeth Sparkle, an ageing TV aerobics performer who is given an especially brutal heave-ho by her repulsive boss, Harvey (Dennis Quaid of The Right Stuff and Great Balls Of Fire!), on her 50th birthday. Elisabeth accepts a mysterious offer of a black-market drug that promises to make her younger and more beautiful, but the compromise is that her body literally splits into two entities, one of which lies inert and helpless for each seven day period while the other does its thing. The younger version, Sue (played by the gorgeous Margaret Qualley) inevitably auditions for Elisabeth’s aerobics spot and effortlessly gets the part, with her winning smile and perfect ass. What follows is a mess of body horror that I won’t go into here, except to say that it requires a lot of nudity and is very confronting. Unfortunately, its over-the-top ending sequence feels tacked on and resembles one of those garish gore-fest B-movies of the ‘80s. Visually, there’s nothing else quite like The Substance, however, and for those with strong stomachs, it’s worth seeing for that alone.
Top Boy (Netflix) 8/10
Pitching itself somewhere between classic British kitchen-sink drama (read: Mike Leigh) and street crime drama, Top Boy is an engrossing if often brutal and upsetting series centred on the drug trade in and around a London housing estate. It’s rather unique in that the first two seasons (2011 and 2013) introduce us to the two main characters Dushane (Ashley Walters) and Sully (Kane Robinson) and their murderous ways, while the last three seasons occur years later (2019-2023) and find Dushane initially down-on-his luck in Jamaica and Sully hanging out with a homeless kid after coming out of prison.
I much preferred the first two seasons due to the brevity and conciseness of each episode, while the extended running time and episodes of the last three seasons meant that at times, it felt less vital, despite improved video technology. Still, Top Boy in its entirety often makes for edge-of-seat viewing, and the fact that it feels real makes the frequent savage violence that much more shocking.
The Best & Worst Streaming TV is a regular column in which Gary Steel assesses the worth – or otherwise – of the vast trove available to stream. Unlike other media, our policy is to dig deep and go further than just Netflix or what’s new this week.
