We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
Off The Grid with Colin and Manu (TVNZ+, April 23)
What happens when two celebrity chefs swap the kitchen for an old caravan and hit the backroads of Aotearoa? You get Off The Grid with Colin and Manu, which follows the two My Kitchen Rules judges as they eat, bicker, and bush-bash their way through the beautiful wop-wops of our country. Part food show, part buddy comedy, this looks to be a feel-good ode to friendship and kai, and spiritual sequel to Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Road Trip – if only they were travelling in a cramped 1960s caravan named Betty.
Andor (Disney+, April 23)
Owing to showrunner Tony Gilroy and his focus on “human drama, visually stunning set pieces and watertight writing,” Andor is considered by many as “the Star Wars show grown-ups have been waiting for.” In its second and final season, Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor and the emerging Rebel Alliance square up to the villainous Empire. Even though Andor’s fate is sealed in Rogue One, the lives of Bix Caleen, Brasso, B2EMO and Wilmon Paak still hang in the balance. Unlike the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, season two of the acclaimed Andor isn’t a trap.
Secrets of the Penguins (Disney+, April 21)
Narrated by Blake Lively and executive produced by James Cameron, this groundbreaking three-part series waddles across the Southern Hemisphere to document the extraordinary lives of the planet’s most resilient creatures. Filmed over two years by a team of 70 scientists and filmmakers, the series looks to be as eye-catching as it is insightful, with one highlight being jaw-dropping footage of emperor penguin chicks doing manus off icy clifftops. If you loved Attenborough’s Frozen Planet or Mammals, you’ll go wild for the Secrets of the Penguins.
Havoc (Netflix, April 25)
If you’re an action film fanatic, you’ll have heard of Gareth Evans. The Welsh director’s bloody iconic The Raid is ranked third on IndieWire’s list of the best action films of the 21st century. His latest outing Havoc stars Tom Hardy as a battered detective tasked with rescuing a politician’s estranged son from the clutches of a city’s criminal underworld. Self-described as “love letter to the heroic bloodshed genre” and “the films that came out of Hong Kong in the ’80s and ’90s,” strap yourself in for a bullet bonanza so brutal it’d make John Wick or John Woo wince.
The Rehearsal (Neon, April 21)
It’s almost impossible to categorise Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal. Is it “a cruel reality show? An elaborate prank on viewers? Or a mind-warping experiment meant to make you question the nature of reality itself?” What is confirmed in this reality-bending second season is that the deadpan Fielder has been studying commercial plane crashes and has uncovered an alarming pattern. He’s not blaming these tragedies on DEI policies like Trump, but the communication between co-pilots. With a “hilarious new experiment that confronts society’s struggle to connect,” The Rehearsal has to be seen to be believed.
Pick of the Flicks: Bullet Train Explosion (Netflix, April 23)
Bullet Train Explosion might look like a remake of Keanu Reeves’ Speed, but that’s just because both films take inspiration from the 1975 cult-classic The Bullet Train. Directed by Shinji Higuchi, this high-octane thriller follows a packed Tokyo-bound Shinkansen rigged to explode if it drops below 100 kph. The culprits are a cold-hearted criminal cabal attempting to extort millions from a government that refuses to negotiate. Like Higuchi’s Shin Godzilla, Bullet Train Explosion will deliver “relentless edge-of-your-seat thrills.”
The rest
Netflix
Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey (April 21)
Bullet Train Explosion (April 23)
A Tragedy Foretold: Flight 3054 (April 23)
Battle Camp (April 23)
Carlos Alcaraz: My Way (April 23)
You: S5 (April 24)
Havoc (April 25)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (April 25)
TVNZ+
Off The Grid with Colin and Manu (April 23)
The Magicians S1-S5 (April 23)
Motorway: Hell On The Highway (April 23)
Saving Private Ryan (April 25)
Call The Midwife S16 (April 26)
The Great British Sewing Bee (April 26)
Grand Designs NZ S3 (April 27)
ThreeNow
The Chase Bloopers 2024 (April 21)
The Road Trip (April 27)
Whakaata Māori
Ngā Kiri Kāpia (April 25)
Rapido (April 25)
Te Whakawhitinga (April 25)
Neon
The Rehearsal S2 (April 21)
Teen Titans S8 (April 21)
Beast Boy: Lone Wolf (April 21)
Peggy Sue Got Married (April 21)
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (April 22)
The Mentalist S1-S7 (April 24)
Last Tango In Paris (April 24)
Edge Of Tomorrow (April 25)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (April 26)
Prime Video
Law & Order: SVU S1-S13 (April 21)
Ash (April 24)
Étoile (April 24)
Disney+
Secrets of the Penguins (April 21)
Guardians of the Galapagos (April 22)
Sea Lions of the Galapagos (April 22)
ABC News Live Special: The Last Lands (April 22)
Andor: S2 (April 23)
Abbott Elementary: Season 4 (Episodes 11-22) (April 23)
Vanderpump Villa: S2 (April 24)
Jessica Kirson: I’m the Man (April 25)
Apple TV+
WondLa (April 25)
Hayu
Made In Chelsea S29 (April 22)
The Real Murderers of Atlanta S3 (April 27)
Acorn/AMC+/Shudder
Timecrimes (Shudder, April 21)
Dr. Terrors House of Horrors (Shudder, April 21)
Toya & Reginae S2 (AMC+, April 24)
Love After Lockup S3A P2 (AMC+, April 24)
Fréwaka (AMC+, Shudder, April 25)
Dark Winds (AMC+, April 27)
DocPlay
A Hip-Hop Minute (April 21)
