Netflix
A House of Dynamite
Film, US, 2025 – out 24 October
With so many new, potentially world-ending crises hogging the limelight, it’s time to remember the classics – like old-fashioned nuclear annihilation. In Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film, a nuclear missile has been launched and is heading for the US, projected to hit Chicago in 18 minutes. The film unfolds largely in real time, capturing those 18 minutes from three vantage points, culminating with the perspective of the US president (Idris Elba). Expect many scenes featuring sweaty people in control rooms, attempting to keep calm in unimaginably scary circumstances.
Reviews have been effusive – our Peter Bradshaw gave it five stars, writing that he “watched this film with translucently white knuckles”, and the BBC’s Nicholas Barber describing it as “more riveting than most thrillers, and more terrifying than most horror films”.
The Woman in Cabin 10
Film, UK/US, 2025 – out 10 October
In this adaptation of Ruth Ware’s bestselling novel, Keira Knightley plays a journalist who, on board a luxury cruise liner, is horrified by the sight of a woman being thrown overboard – only to be told that no such event happened and no such woman exists. Before she knows it, she is being hit with lines such as: “These people run the world, don’t piss them off!” The film was directed by Simon Stone, once considered the “enfant terrible of Australian theatre” and whose cinematic work includes the striking family drama The Daughter.
The Perfect Neighbour
Film, US, 2025 – out 17 October
Director Geeta Gandbhir draws heavily on police bodycam footage to explore the 2023 killing of Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four, by her white neighbour Susan Lorincz. This case tested Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which permits a person to use deadly force if they believe their life is in imminent danger. Sitting at the time of publishing on a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, the New Yorker’s Justin Chang praised its “eerie, almost hypnotic clarity”, noting the body cam footage was “brilliantly pieced together” by editor Viridiana Lieberman.
Honourable mentions: Central Intelligence (film, out now), Sonic the Hedgehog (film, out now), Steve (film, 3 October), Monster: The Ed Gein Story (film, 3 October), Scary Movie (film, 4 October), A Quiet Place Part II (film, 16 October), Son of a Donkey (TV, 30 October).
Amazon Prime Video
Play Dirty
Film, US, 2025 – out now
Action auteur Shane Black’s new flick bolts out of the gates, jumping into a heist that goes wrong, then a heist of a heist that goes wrong, then a heist of a heist of a heist that goes wrong. There’s lots of heists in this movie. Mark Wahlberg plays wily career criminal Parker, who teams up with a person who betrayed him, Zen (Rosa Salazar), to pull off an outrageously ambitious heist that involves stealing a precious artefact from a dictator in an unnamed country. The film has pluck, sass, and grunt, delivering the goods for fans of Black, who wrote action classics including Lethal Weapon and Last Action Hero and launched his directorial career with 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Bring Her Back
Film, Australia, 2025 – out 27 October
Adelaide-born directors Danny and Michael Philippou followed up their spectacularly great horror movie debut Talk To Me with another almighty serving of macabre bravado, this one about a foster mother from hell (Sally Hawkins) who is determined to awaken her deceased daughter. This is bad news for the poor kids (Sora Wong and Billy Barratt) recently placed in her care. The film is very well made but contains some truly disturbing images; I literally watched some scenes through my fingers.
Honourable mentions: all James Bond movies (film, 1 October), 1984 (film, 1 October), Barbershop 1-3 (film, 1 October), Dead Man Walking (film, 1 October), Mermaids (film, 1 October), The Living Daylights (film, 1 October), The Silence of the Lambs (film, 1 October), John Candy: I Like Me (film, 10 October), Blade Runner 2049 (film, 14 October), Silver Linings Playbook (film, 21 October), Harlan Coben’s Lazarus (film, 22 October), Hedda (film, 29 October).
Stan
One More Shot
Film, Australia, 2025 – out 12 October
I’d definitely drink more tequila if it was like the kind Emily Browning’s protagonist Minnie encounters in One More Shot – a bottle enables her to jump back in time and repeat a New Year’s Eve party again and again. Which might get a little tiring, but she has a purpose: to destroy the relationship between an old flame (Sean Keenan) and his new girlfriend (Aisha Dee).
Director Nick Clifford’s film takes a while to get going but hits a pleasant stride when the premise kicks in and the time loop shenanigans begin. As I wrote in my review: “Browning keeps it anchored with a strong and multifaceted performance, neither demanding our sympathies nor ignoring the possibility that Minnie may essentially be a decent person.”
Watching You
TV, Australia, 2025 – out 3 October
Aisha Dee headlines this loose adaptation of JP Pomare’s novel The Last Guests, playing Lina, an engaged paramedic who has a one-night stand then discovers it was filmed using hidden cameras. The man she slept with, Dan (Josh Helman), seems equally aghast, so she goes looking elsewhere for answers, spearheading a dark and twisty plotline.
Dee, who was diabolically good in the influencer-themed horror movie Sissy, delivers another impressively layered performance, balancing vulnerability with steely determination. But tonally this series is a bumpy ride, and never builds the psychological oomph clearly intended.
Leviathan
Film, Russia, 2014 – out 16 October
Writer/director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s savagely sharp, Oscar-nominated satire tells a David versus Goliath story about a mechanic (Aleksey Serebryakov) who fights to protect his waterside land in north-west Russia from being taken by a dodgy local mayor, Vadim (Roman Madyanov). The film switches between perspectives, building a mosaic-like picture of corruption that was widely interpreted as a response to Putin-era politics. It’s less about the protagonist’s uphill plight than the Russian state’s treatment of its citizenry.
Honourable mentions: Superbad (film, 3 October), Bee Movie (film, 9 October), Grimsby (film, 12 October), My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1-3 (film, 13 October), Sing Street (film, 16 October), (500) Days of Summer (film, 16 October), Speak No Evil (film, 21 October), The Breaker Upperers (film, 23 October), Men (film, 23 October), Midnight Oil (film, 31 October).
SBS On Demand
The Idea of Australia
TV, Australia, 2025 – out 15 October
This four-part series presented by Rachel Griffiths explores an interesting and perhaps provocative question: what’s the idea of Australia? When I first read about the show, my mind jumped to a “fair go”, which in fact is explored in the first episode, along with many other subjects. I’ll have more to say about it when I review the series closer to the release date.
Zodiac
Film, US, 2007 – out 17 October
David Fincher’s bleak classic balances police procedural, newsroom drama and serial killer movie, revolving around the famously unsolved case of the Zodiac Killer. It’s bizarre how well this richly crafted film hangs together, given that it incorporates so many plot threads and has no protagonist – though it eventually settles on cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), an amateur sleuth who becomes obsessed by the case.
Honourable mentions: The Old Man season 2 (TV, 1 October), Unforgiven (film, 1 October), Blue Lights season 3 (TV, 9 October), King & Conqueror (TV, 12 October), Tell Me What You Really Think (TV, 14 October), The Outlaw Doctor (TV, 16 October), Bone Tomahawk (film, 24 October), Re-animator (film, 24 October), Kabul (TV, 30 October), The Moogai (film, 30 October).
ABC iView
The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies
TV, UK, 2024 – out 3 October
Everyone loves a conman drama! In this BBC series Alistair Petrie plays Rob, who one night tells his wife Alice (Rebekah Staton) that he’s popping out for chow mein – but never returns. Years later, she sees him walking around Oxford and resolves to learn the truth about the man who swindled her of all her money. The Guardian’s Leila Latif wrote that it “touches on some serious themes around abuse, misogyny and gaslighting, but it is so compelling because it doesn’t forget how much fun there is in the art of the con”.
Honourable mentions: Beyond Paradise season 2 (TV, 4 October), I Was Actually There season 2 (TV, 7 October), Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home (TV, 12 October), End Game with Tony Armstrong (TV, 21 October).
Disney+
Murdaugh: Death in the Family
TV, US, 2025 – out 15 October
A 2021 Guardian article described the popular Murdaugh Murders podcast as one that “has Hollywood scrambling to spin off their own versions of this epic true crime story”. One of those versions has finally arrived: this eight-part series starring Patricia Arquette and Jason Clarke as Maggie and Alex Murdaugh.
This blueblood married couple are part of one of South Carolina’s most powerful legal dynasties, but their circumstances dramatically change after their son Paul (Johnny Berchtold) is involved in a deadly boat accident, triggering a series of events in which their pasts are investigated and connections to several mysterious deaths exposed.
Honourable mentions: Jaws (film, out now), Happy Gilmore (film, out now), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (film, out now), Halloween (film, out now), Parks and Recreation: Season 1-7 (TV, 14 October), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film, 22 October).
HBO Max
The Chair Company
TV, US, 2025 – out 13 October
The new show from Tim Robinson – best-known for his great sketch comedy series I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson – is a conspiratorial thriller with an absurdly comedic twist. Ron (Robinson) is humiliated at work when he sits on a chair that collapses in front of his colleagues. Livid, he attempts to contact the chair company and quickly decides that something is very suss about it. Soon he appears to be, as they say, in “too deep”.
Reviews are currently embargoed, so I can’t say too much more at this point. Let’s just say it looks compulsively watchable, and looks like comedic elements might have been cleverly applied to a thriller-like template.
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
TV, UK, 2025 – out 4 October
Who can we turn to during these troubled times? Why, Alan Partridge of course (said nobody ever). The dunderheaded character, played by Steve Coogan, has clung to the zeitgeist now for well over three decades. In his new show he returns to life in Britain after a year working in Saudi Arabia (making him the second classic comedy character this year after King of the Hill’s Hank Hill to return from the country).
The key topic on his agenda this time is mental health, but don’t expect any great insights into the human condition from old mate Alan, a longtime sufferer of foot-in-mouth disease. Get in the mood for Partridge’s return by gorging on some of his best bits.
Honourable mentions: Paddington (film, out now) Paddington 2 (film, out now), Paddington in Peru (film, out now), Runt (film, out now), Charlotte’s Web (TV, out now), The Alabama Solution (TV, 11 October), Chopper (film, 4 October), Inland Empire (film, 4 October), Mulholland Drive (film, 4 October), Baby Assassins Everyday! (TV, 17 October), Escape From New York (film, 18 October), The Elephant Man (film, 18 October), Leaving Las Vegas (film, 25 October), IT: Welcome to Derry (TV, 27 October), 11.22.63 (TV, 27 October).
Binge
Black Bag
Film, US, 2025 – out 4 October
I’m yet to see Steven Soderbergh’s latest film: a spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as a married couple who are also intelligence agents working for the same organisation. But that’s understandable given he pumps out a new production every week (alright, I’m exaggerating, though he has already released another film this year: the innovative ghost movie Presence).
George and Kathryn understand that each has work secrets that can’t be mentioned at home, but personal and professional collide when George is assigned to investigate a leak – and one of the suspects is Kathryn. Bradshaw called it a “downbeat, affectless tongue-in-cheek spy comedy (“caper” isn’t quite right) … [that takes] itself to the edge of self-satire”.
Honourable mentions: High Ground (film, out now), Heart Eyes (film, out now), Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy (TV, 16 October), Dangerous Animals (film, 23 October).
AppleTV+
The Lost Bus
Film, US, 2025 – out 3 October
Matthew McConaughey plays a school bus driver who barrels through an inferno with a bunch of school kids and their teacher (America Ferrera) in this Paul Greengrass film, which is loosely based on real-life events that took place during California’s horrific 2018 Camp fire. Greengrass’s urgent style – lots of handheld cameras and jump cuts – is well suited to creating an awfully intense hell-on-Earth atmosphere. The film is solid throughout but really takes off around one hour in, when McConaughey’s everyman Kevin has risen to his heroic challenge, the fate of a group of kids in his hands.
Mr Scorsese
TV, US, 2025, out 17 October
A new documentary about the great Martin Scorsese is catnip for cinephiles – particularly given the man himself fronts the camera and is joined by high-profile mates including Steven Spielberg and Robert De Niro. In the first-look trailer, we learn that Scorsese was so concerned that the studio would ruin his cut of Taxi Driver that he wanted to steal the film so he could destroy it: “They’re going to destroy the film anyway, you know.” Director Rebecca Miller deep dives into his work, expanding what was originally conceived as a feature-length doco into a five-part series.
Honourable mentions: The Sisters Grimm (TV, 3 October), The Last Frontier (TV, 10 October), Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (film, 24 October), Down Cemetery Road (TV, 29 October).
