Apple’s Mosquito Coast, TVNZ’s Starstruck among great shows to stream this week

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (DISNEY+)

Marvel fans who found WandaVision’s sitcom and time-hopping theatrics a little too noodle-scratching will welcome the return to more traditional action here. Likewise, if the recent MCU left-turns towards multiverses and shape-shifting aliens has left you cold, then you’ll be delighted with this more down-to-Earth approach. We’re back on the familiar, paranoid political thriller territory of the Captain America trilogy.

An opening, action-packed salvo above Tunisia almost feels more Mandalorian in style – and just as thrilling – as point-of-view shots and vertiginous cinematography draw you into a breathtaking chase to stop the abduction of a high-profile asset. Just as quickly though, the tone shifts to domestic dramas and character re-establishment, as we meet as a cadre of new characters who now inhabit our two Marvel sidekicks’ personal universes. We know it won’t be long though before events bigger than themselves will require them back on duty and the trailer has already hinted at the return of beloved bit-players (both good and more nefarious) not seen since Civil War.

LIFE IN COLOUR (NETFLIX)

David Attenborough’s latest three-part nature series showcases the ways in which animals use colour in order to survive in the wild. Using revolutionary camera technology, developed especially for the programme, that includes parts of the spectrum not usually visible to the human eye.

“We’re a long way from Attenborough lamenting about melting glaciers and, given all that is going on in the world at the moment, that is probably to be welcomed,” wrote The Irish Times. “At a time when our horizons have never felt narrower, this is a big, bold and brilliantly dazzling shot of escapism.”

READ MORE:
* The Equalizer: She’s no Denzel, but Queen Latifah bosses Prime’s lighter remake
* Creamerie: TVNZ’s post-apocalyptic, anti-Handmaid’s Tale offers up dark delights
* Vegas: Smart direction, impressive cast keep TVNZ’s new Kiwi drama on the boil
* Mare of Easttown: Kate Winslet demonstrates why she should have done more TV
* TVNZ’s Creamerie, Netflix’s Serpent, Amazon’s Them amongst April’s must see TV

MADE FOR LOVE (SKY GO)

After the recent dramatic, dystopian takes on near-futuristic love in The One and Soulmates, here’s a little light, if perversely almost darker, relief.

Adapted by Alissa Nutting and Maniac and The Leftovers’ Patrick Somerville from the former’s 2017 novel, Made For Love is a deliciously dark 10-part comedy headlined by a fabulous performance from Cristin Milioti. Those who enjoyed her star-making turn in last year’s Palm Springs, will absolutely lap up her antics as the seemingly-subservient, but truly subversive Hazel attempts to make a new life for herself outside her hermetically-sealed gilded cage, after her tech billionaire husband announces they’ll be the guinea pigs for groundbreaking tech that promises to “allow users to co-mingle their hearts and minds, ensuring there are no-more secrets between couples”.

MARE OF EASTTOWN (NEON)

The first instalment of this slow-burning, but teasingly intriguing seven-part series is set over the course of single day – one that doesn’t start well and gets seemingly progressively worse for Kate Winslet’s jaded small town detective Mare Sheehan.

An Easttown hero since the evening she scored the state championship-winning basket almost exactly 25 years ago, Mare is steeling herself for a night of reminiscing – and recriminations.

Acerbic, cynical, grumpy, Winslet makes Mare memorable through moments large and small, whether it’s the way she attacks a chicken leg in her car, or attempts to deflect the attentions of the newly-arrived-in-town creative writing lecturer Richard (played by Winslet’s old Mildred Pierce sparring partner Guy Pearce) with a dismissive “my life’s complicated”. She’s a flawed “heroine” to rival Frances McDormand’s Mildred Hayes or Amy Adams’ Camille Preaker – the latter’s Sharp Objects being the show this most reminded me of. Also available on Sky Go.

THE MOSQUITO COAST (APPLE TV+)

As with Paul Theroux’s award-winning 1981 novel of the same name and the under-rated and hauntingly memorable 1986 movie starring the incredible trio of Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix, this is the story of Allie Fox and family’s descent into the heart of Central American darkness.

But while the central premise is basically intact, the threat of nuclear war is no longer the backdrop and seven episodes allow creators Neil Cross and Rupert Wyatt to widen their scope and the Fox family’s backstory. Names familiar to Kiwis, Cross has been a longtime Wellington resident and Wyatt helmed the first Weta-infused Planet of the Apes movie, the pair combine in the opening episode to deliver a pulsating drama that showcases some fabulous performances and hints at just enough shrouded mystery to keep the viewer hooked.

STARSTRUCK (TVNZ ONDEMAND)

Delivering the same winningly candid, self-effacing style that has been a hallmark of Rose Matafeo’s stand-up shows, this is a cringe- and charm-filled comedic delight. A kind of gender-swapped Notting Hill, set around Hackney, it takes aim at modern relationships and mores, more than the nature of celebrity and its impact on the other half. That really allows Matafeo to play to her physical and verbal gymnastic strengths, her Jessie poorly navigating her way through the nascent “relationship” with Tom (Nikesh Patel), as well as previous partners, co-workers and her flatmate.

Director Karen Maine, who has previously helmed big-screen, envelope-pushing Jenny Slate and Stranger Things’ Natalia Dyer vehicles Obvious Child and Yes God Yes, here seems to gel well with Matafeo, playing out awkward moments to their full comedic potential, but also ensuring the story never drags.

THEM (AMAZON PRIME VIDEO)

As this gorgeously evocative, frighteningly provocative series informs us, between 1916 and 1970, six million African-Americans relocated from the southern United States.

In September 1953, Henry, Livia, Ruby-Lee and Gracie Jane packed up their belongings and their beloved pooch and moved from North Carolina’s Chatham County to California. With a well-paid position at Tanner Aerospace awaiting him, Henry (Ashley Thomas) decided to eschew the popular Watts, for the snowy pickets and pastel hues of Southland Trust Realty’s East Compton suburban paradise. However, the fences aren’t the only whitewashed surroundings of 3011 Palmer Drive.

While this show’s period setting may draw comparisons to last year’s impressive Lovecraft Country, in truth, this has more in common with the unsettling mood of Jordan Peele’s modern day Get Out, or, to a lesser extent, the surrealness of suburban nightmare Vivarium or the sitcom subversion of Disney+’s WandaVision. This is the ugly UnPleasantville middle-class America didn’t want the rest of the world to see.

YOUNG ROCK (SKY GO)

A kind of The Wonder Years-meets-Everybody Hates Chris, this US sitcom will thrill fans and those more than happy to watch whatever Dwayne Johnson is cooking up.

At once a look at the formative years of the promising American footballer-turned-wrestler-turned-global movie star, this is also a brilliant, if potentially scarily prescient, look at Johnson’s next potential role – politician.

In the end though, underneath the laughs, Young Rock is very much a love letter to Johnson’s late father Rocky. For once, despite lacking the presence of his old screen-partner Kevin, this is a series with an awful lot of heart.