Four to watch this week...
The Bubble (Cert 15, 124 mins, streaming from April 1 exclusively on Netflix)
Hollywood in-jokery abounds when writer-director Judd Apatow and co-writer Pam Brady conceive an all-star action franchise about flying dinosaurs, which shoots its sixth instalment during the pandemic.
A group of actors quarantine in a hotel in England during production of the fantasy epic Cliff Beasts 6.
Returning cast members Carol Cobb (Karen Gillan), Dustin Mulray (David Duchovny), Howie Frangopolous (Guz Khan), Lauren Van Chance (Leslie Mann) and Sean Knox (Keegan-Michael Key) are joined by fresh faces for an otherworldly escapade that demands lots of green screen to bring fantastical elements to life in post-production. Tensions run high in front of and behind the cameras as cast and crew acclimatise to a world of vaccines and social distancing.
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (Cert 12, 97 mins, streaming from April 1 exclusively on Netflix)
Oscar-nominated film-maker Richard Linklater experimented with the art of rotoscoped animation (drawing over live action footage) in his pictures Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly before he elegantly dissected growing pains in the 2014 coming-of-age drama Boyhood. His latest feature, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood, draws inspiration from his formative years to revisit the 1969 Moon landing from two very different perspectives: the crew of Nasa as the Apollo 11 mission prepares to
touch down on the Moon and a boy called Stanley (Milo Coy) growing up in Houston, Texas. The youngster has intergalactic dreams and a vibrant imagination, which propels him on an out-of-this-world adventure. Jack Black, Zachary Levi, Glen Powell and Josh Wiggins co-star.
Better Nate Than Never (Cert PG, streaming from April 1 exclusively on Disney+)
Tim Federle co-wrote the screenplay to the 2017 animated feature Ferdinand and he is the creator of the Disney+ mockumentary High School
Musical: The Musical: The Series, which returns to the streaming service for a third season later this year.
In the meantime, he adapts and directs his debut novel, Better Nate Than Never, as a feelgood musical comedy for the whole family. Rueby Wood plays Nate Foster, a 13-year-old student from Pittsburgh who yearns to see his name in the bright lights of Broadway.
Alas, the teenager is repeatedly overlooked for a scenestealing part in his school play, an obvious springboard to stardom. When his parents are out of town, Nate heads to New York to pursue his dream accompanied by best friend
and fellow theatre nerd Libby (Aria Brooks).
A chance meeting with Nate’s estranged aunt Heidi (Lisa Kudrow) sets the teenagers on an exciting new trajectory and the plucky hero must banish self-doubt to accept that everything he desires is within his grasp.
The Last Bus (10 episodes, streaming from April 1 exclusively on Netflix)
Humanity’s last great hope is a group of dysfunctional students on a school trip in an action-packed eco-fable created and written by Paul Neafcy.
Technology billionaire Dalton Monkhouse (Robert Sheehan) hosts events around the globe to introduce artificial intelligence-powered orbs, which will reportedly clean up the environment and save planet Earth. The miraculous “genie orbs” apparently vaporise everyone in the audience and, from the ashes of this robot apocalypse, young survivors including Bethan (Carys John), Chelsea (Marlie Morrelle), Josh (Nathanael Saleh), Nas (Moosa Mostafa) and Tom (Daniel Frogson) seek refuge on a ramshackle old school bus. Inquisitive minds demand answers and the students put differences and insecurities aside to learn the truth about Dalton Monkhouse and his mechanised inventions.