Screening guide
MADE FOR LOVE Neon
Who doesn’t love good ol’ Ray Romano? Here he continues his winning streak of postsitcom roles with a starring role in this futuristic dark comedy that one reviewer called “creepy, surprisingly violent, funny, and thoroughly entertaining”. The show’s about a woman (played by Cristin Milioti) who leaves a suffocating marriage only to discover that her controlling, tech billionaire ex-husband had surreptitiously implanted an experimental “love chip” into her brain. With the chip pinging back all of her info, like her emotional state, location and vital signs, she’s going to need to do a lot more than just hire a lawyer and fill out some paperwork to be free. Streaming now.
OXYGEN Netflix
Claustrophobes are advised to give this French survival thriller plenty of room. The movie updates the terrifying “buried alive” concept for the modern age with one critic calling it “a tight exercise in breathless unease”. Our amnesiac heroine doesn’t wake up inside a wooden coffin that’s buried six feet under, instead she awakens inside a sleek, futuristic pod that’s crammed with lots of helpful touchscreens and buttons. She’s also not alone. With her is the voice of an extremely unhelpful AI, who is prepared to aid her in every way possible with the sole exception of opening the hatch door or telling her who she is. Thus begins a race against her rapidly depleting oxygen levels as she attempts to escape her modern prison. Streaming from Wednesday.
STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH Disney+
The Bad Batch is good news for Star Wars fans. This new series is a direct spin-off from the long-running and much-loved animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The disagreeable bunch of clone soldiers were introduced in that series and proved so popular we can now follow their continuing adventures in a galaxy far, far away. Stretching the “clone” concept to breaking point, each one of these chaps varies genetically from each other and brings a unique skill set to the squad and their own personal squabbles. Think of them as an argumentative crack commando unit that’s called in to deal with problems no one else wants to or can. Expect lots of fast-paced Star Wars action, hammy Star Wars dialogue and plenty of callbacks to its predecessor. Streaming now.