From left, Sharon Horgan, Eve Hewson, Eva Birthistle and Sarah Greene in "Bad Sisters." Photo / Apple TV+
From left, Sharon Horgan, Eve Hewson, Eva Birthistle and Sarah Greene in "Bad Sisters." Photo / Apple TV+
OPINION:
Bad Sisters (Apple TV+) A man has died, and judging by the amount of knowing glances being exchanged at his funeral, probably not of natural causes.
So we go back six months, to when he was still alive, to find out what's going on. If you feel like you've seen this one already, think again – while it might be structurally similar to countless post-Big Little Lies dramas, Bad Sisters is different in that it's Irish, and it's funny.
Created by and starring Sharon Horgan, it's a dark comedy-drama about five sisters, the brother-in-law four of them despise and the two brothers (unrelated) trying to find a reason not to pay out on his life insurance policy in order to save their family business.
The dead brother-in-law in question is John Paul aka "The Prick" (Danish actor Claes Bang). The six-month flashback offers a glimpse of the personality that earned him that nickname, as he manages to offend everybody at the family Christmas dinner with an honestly quite impressive efficiency. But when he stops his wife, Grace (Anne-Marie Duff), from attending the traditional Christmas Day beach swim, that's the last straw.
Grace's sisters get to talking and before long the conversation turns to fantasising about how much they want to kill their brother-in-law. "People die every day," says the mysteriously eyepatched Bibi (Sarah Greene). "Why not give nature a helping hand?" The other sisters agree in a way that, knowing what we already know, feels incredibly incriminating.
Not privy to this conversation are the heirs to an insurance broker who cut a conspicuous presence at the wake. They're there to find a reason not to pay out on The Prick's policy, because to do so would bankrupt the family business, and they might have bitten off more than they can chew. One sister to another, on the phone in the middle of the night:
Nathan Fielder, the thinking person's prankster who convinced struggling small business owners to go along with his bizarre schemes in Nathan For You, is back with a new series to make you go "wait, surely this can't be real – and if it is, isn't it kind of mean?" This time he's convincing people to let him coach them through incredibly elaborately-staged rehearsals of important personal interactions. In the first episode, for example, he builds an incredibly detailed 1:1 replica of a dive bar so that a guy can rehearse confessing to his quiz team member that he lied about having a master's degree. It's certainly got people talking, so that's something.
Lost Ollie (Netflix)
Lost Ollie on Netflix. Photo / Netflix
If you have ever for some reason dreamed of a live-action version of Toy Story, this is basically it. Based on the children's picture book Ollie's Odyssey, Lost Ollie is the story of a lost toy who embarks on a cross-country journey to find his way back to his heartbroken owner – those old enough to have experienced the raw emotion of Homeward Bound should have some idea what to expect. Directed by the guy who directed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with CGI from George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic and the executive producers of Stranger Things involved too, its four 45-minute episodes certainly have enough credentials behind them.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Disney+)
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+. Photo / Disney+
Yes, this is a real TV show, and yes, it does sound exactly like one of a fake joke TV show name from 30 Rock or The Simpsons or something. That's just how life is! The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe follows Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), a lawyer who specialises in cases involving superhumans, then accidentally becomes one herself just like her cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) aka The Hulk, or He-Hulk. When you explain it like that it no longer seems so ridiculous, does it. She-Hulk's nemesis is a social media influencer played by Jameela Jamil.
Movie of the Week: Belfast (Neon)
Nominated for Best Picture and winner of Best Original Screenplay at this year's Academy Awards, Belfast chronicles in stunning black and white the life of a young boy growing up during The Troubles in Belfast in the 1960s. Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who grew up in Belfast during The Troubles in the 1960s himself, it stars screen legend Judi Dench alongside Irish stars Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe (Claire Fraser from Outlander). Top shelf drama, obviously.
From the Vault: My Girl 2 (1994) (TVNZ+)
Other streaming services have more and arguably better movies, but the TVNZ+ movie selection is the most thrilling to browse. You just don't know what you're going to find, which random movie from the 90s you're going to be reminded of and feel compelled to watch straight away. A My Girl double-header? Of course. While everybody remembers how the first one goes, most of us had probably forgotten the second one ever existed. It's set two years later, in 1974, and follows Vada (Anna Chlumsky) on a trip to LA to research her late mum for a school project. There is a cute boy, too, but no bees this time, sorry.
No ads, no music, no hosts, no talking whatsoever – in a lot of ways Nature Track is the perfect podcast. From Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC, the show is a collection of field recordings, each between one and three hours long, made all around the country by their nature specialist Ann Jones.
In lieu of chit-chat we get chirp-chirp – and while it's true Australian birds do tend to be louder and harsher than their transtasman counterparts, they're still nowhere near as annoying as the average podcast host.
Each episode has a wonderfully evocative title – 'Heavy rain and desert thunder', 'Gentle rain on a tin roof in the outback', 'Lyrebird songs in a Gippsland rainforest' – and extensive listening notes written by Jones. "
After days of dry heat in excess of 40C, it was late afternoon when a huge storm rolled in," she begins setting the scene for 'Heavy rain and desert thunder', which was recorded in Wiluna, 960km inland from Perth in Western Australia. "4:28. Here comes the rain on the tin roof. The galahs scatter, calling."
It's a simple, genius, perfectly-executed idea for a podcast – somebody needs to make a New Zealand version ASAP.
