Ask any Australian and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't like Kylie Minogue.
The actress-turned-songstress-turned-icon is so endearing that even people who have zero interest in pop music or soap operas can't help but love the pint-sized entertainer.
Case in point: Nick Cave. The dark and broody performer is about as far removed from Kylie as you could get, and yet the pair are dear friends with the deepest of respect for one another. Cave paints a portrait of Kylie as a shining light in the darkness in this three-episode docuseries looking back over the 58-year-old's career.
We learn that Cave reached out to Kylie in the mid-90s, when she was experimenting with her sound. Back then it was cool not to like the singer. She had fame and a dedicated fan base, but no credibility in music, Cave says. He, meanwhile, had credibility, but not much else, and a fan base comprised of "psychos". So naturally a collaboration with Kylie was front of mind, and we were all treated to the iconic murder ballad Where the Wild Roses Grow and a creative partnership that would positively affect both of their lives for the better.
This is just one of the fascinating revelations explored in Kylie. The star herself digs deep into her physical photo and video archives as a starting point to take a journey through her career.
The docuseries does seem more geared towards a British audience than an Australian one, but as much as the Brits may try and claim Kylie as theirs, she's proudly ours.
The first episode delves a lot into her entrance into the music industry off the back of Neighbours' huge success in the UK. Her co-star and ex-boyfriend Jason Donovan sits for a fresh interview for the series, though he comes off more performative and less truthful than other interview subjects, like Cave, Kylie's sister Dannii and early-days songwriter Peter Waterman of Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
The public backlash to Kylie's meteoric rise is a familiar story, a theme touched on frequently in celebrity documentaries of the past few years.
Kylie speaks of her relationship with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence as a transformative moment in her life, filling her with a self-confidence and sense of support she'd never experienced to that point. She described it as a relationship of many firsts, and one she's perhaps been chasing the feeling of ever since.
Drawing the most headlines is Kylie's revelation that she had a recurrence of breast cancer a few years ago, after first battling the disease in the mid-2000s. She is frank about the experience, and how big an impact her illness had on her life and career.
Whether you're a fan of Kylie's music or just like her as a person, this docuseries is a must-watch.
If you're a fan of Tom Clancy's work, you're never going to be hard up for viewing.
There's been five theatrically released Jack Ryan films, as well as Without Remorse, a direct-to-streaming release that put Ryan's sometimes colleague John Clark in the driver's seat.
The latest feature-length endeavour springboards off Prime Video's Jack Ryan series, which ended in 2023. Jack Ryan: Ghost War sees John Krasinski's eponymous CIA analyst/agent pulled out of his sojourn into civilian life on Wall Street, and thrown back into the action.
His mentor and friend James Greer (Wendell Pierce) is now deputy director of the spy organisation, and only trusts in Ryan to meet with someone unknown to him in Dubai.
Joining Ryan on this trip is the delightful Mike November (Michael Kelly), a rough-around-the-edges CIA contractor who serves as a lookout. Predictably, the meet-up doesn't go according to plan and Ryan finds himself caught up in the middle of a plot by a former MI6 agent who went rogue after his operation was shut down.
The case brings Ryan and Mike into the orbit of British agent Emma Marlow (Sienna Miller), and across the world again to London.
Jack Ryan: Ghost War is competently made but unfortunately suffers from being completely unmemorable.
Aside from Kelly providing some joyful moments of levity as Mike, it's hard to remember anything that happens once the credits roll.
The action is sufficient without being groundbreaking and the characters are pretty stock standard.
It's easy, brain-off viewing to pop on and forget about later.
Anyone who watched Orphan Black knows that Tatiana Maslany is an incredibly talented actress.
She looked poised to become the next big thing when the sci-fi series ended, scoring roles in the Perry Mason reboot, big screen endeavours Woman in Gold and Destroyer, and leading Marvel TV series She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.
But sadly she hasn't really made that jump into the general public conscience. And as good as she is in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, this series is probably not going to make her a household name either.
Maslany stars as Paula, a newly-divorced, non-custodial mum who works as a fact checker in New York.
Bitter about the split from her ex (played by New Girl's Jake Johnson) and craving intimacy, Paula starts spending time online with a 'camboy' - a virtual sex worker who, we can assume from the title, offers maximum pleasure through a screen. Her camboy of choice is Trevor (Brandon Flynn, best known for 13 Reasons Why), a younger man who listens to her rants about the minutiae of everyday life and tells her she's beautiful.
But during one meeting Paula sees Trevor being violently assaulted and calls in the police with what little information she has, only to be told the whole thing is more than likely a scam designed to get her to send money for Trevor's 'ransom'.
This whole criminal situation is the last thing Paula needs as she's trying to fight for custody and secure a promotion at work, and she somehow has to balance all the disparate parts of her life without each one leaching into the others.
The series also stars Triangle of Sadness scene-stealer Dolly de Leon, Aussie White Lotus star Murray Bartlett and Jon Michael Hill from Elementary.
Episodes arrive weekly after a two-episode drop to kick things off.
Pair the mystery and wonder of throwback sci-fi gems like E.T. and Stranger Things with a bunch of retirement village residents and what do you get? Netflix's charming new series The Boroughs.
Led by the always excellent Alfred Molina (most recently heard as the voice of Marcellus the octopus in Remarkably Bright Creatures) as Sam Cooper, the series kicks off with The Boroughs resident Grace (played by Dee Wallace of E.T., a nice piece of casting) getting attacked by a mysterious creature. Soon after, Sam is moved into the home left vacant by Grace's death, much to his chagrin.
Sam and his late wife had signed the contract to move into The Boroughs - which is more of a retirement mini-city than a village - and now that he's widowed Sam can't get out of it. He's prickly but polite, preferring to keep out of neighbourhood business despite the friendliness of his fellow cul-de-sac dwellers.
But when one of the few new friends he makes is also killed by the mysterious creature, Sam pulls in his neighbours to help solve the mystery.
The cast of The Boroughs is ridiculously stacked, with Oscar nominees Alfre Woodard and Geena Davis joined by Clarke Peters (The Wire), Denis O'Hare (True Blood), Bill Pullman (The Sinner), Jena Malone (Pride and Prejudice) and Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), among other familiar faces.
A bunch of senior citizens filling the roles usually reserved for plucky kids on bikes is a delight to watch.
The Boroughs is produced by The Duffer Brothers of Stranger Things fame.
We've got some second season returns hitting your streamers this week, with crime comedy Deli Boys kicking off on Disney+ and YA mystery A Good Girl's Guide to Murder picking up again on Stan, while star-studded dramedy The Four Seasons is back on Netflix. Also on Netflix you'll find subversive comedy Ladies First, starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike. The film follows a chauvinist who is transported to a matriarchal society. And over on Prime Video you'll can catch Spider-Noir, a companion series coming off the back of the wildly popular Spider-Verse films. Nicolas Cage, who voiced the character in Into the Spider-Verse, plays the live-action version here. The series is available in black and white or colour.
