From The Umbrella Academy Season 3 to Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area, get this stuff in your eyes…
From Glastonbury to Green Day, the Chilli Peppers to the Kerrang! Awards, it has been a pretty flippin’ intense few days. We think you need some time to sit and watch TV for a bit. So give this stuff a go…
The long-awaited third season of The Umbrella Academy is finally here! As hilarious, mind-bending and convoluted as ever, the new season continues to balance trauma and silliness, and flip-flop effortlessly from impossibly cool montages to unbelievably goofy gags – this is the only show you’re ever likely to watch featuring a man listening to bees on a Walkman to relax. The transition of Viktor, formerly known as Vanya – mirroring that of Elliot Page – is dealt with movingly and triumphantly, leading to real damp-eyes punching-the-air moments.
Available now on Netflix.
It’s taken a long time, but Ellie White and Natasia Demetriou’s 2019 sketch pilot is finally a full series, six 15-minute episodes on iPlayer. They have pretty good excuses – as well as COVID (whatevs) they’ve been busy showing up all over the place, stealing the show in Stath Lets Flats and Demetriou being the standout in What We Do In The Shadows. This new series is a delight, balancing pointed satire with ridiculously committed silliness and grotesquery. Vomiting, blood and a James Bond spoof called, amazingly, James Bond Has Got Himself Into Hot Water Again. Glorious.
Available now on iPlayer.
Netflix has a fine little cottage industry going of knockabout action comedies starring massive names that you don’t hear anything about until they come out. Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson – why not, right? – star in this latest one, about a salesman (Kevin) who gets embroiled in a life-or-death case of mistaken identity with an assassin (Woody). Violent Airbnb-based hilarity ensues!
Available now on Netflix.
Adapted from a short story by Joe Hill (of Horns and Heart-Shaped Box fame), The Black Phone features Ethan Hawke really going for it as an absolute rotter, a serial killer who is equal parts Willy Wonka and Pennywise from IT. However, his former victims are out to stop him murdering another child… despite being dead. Terrifying and nightmarish, sporting that rarest of things – non-irritating child performances – and certain to linger with even the hardiest of viewers.
In cinemas now.
The Spanish series Money Heist is one of Netflix’s biggest international hits, and has gone even more international with this part-remake, part-spinoff. The new Korean series works entirely on its own, but takes place within the same universe as the original, with the Korean operation inspired by a heist that took place in Spain. There’s a Berlin-based incarnation in the works as well – the world just can’t get enough of impossibly attractive people stealing enormous sums of cash.
Available now on Netflix.
