Screening Guide: Murder, mafia and Marilyn

Elisabeth Moss in new thriller Shining Girls, streaming on Apple TV+.

Shining Girls
(Apple TV+)
The Handmaid's Tale Elisabeth Moss stars in this new series that's being described as a "metaphysical thriller". She plays a woman living in a constant state of shifting reality, a traumatic repercussion of a brutal assault. After learning of a recent murder that followed the template of her own attack, she teams up with a seasoned, yet troubled, reporter and together they begin hunting the murderer.
So far, so procedural... where it gets interesting is how it presents her blurring realities and how that affects the pair's increasingly dangerous investigation.
Critics are impressed, with one describing it as an "intricate and mind-bending game of cat and mouse the likes of which you haven't seen in this genre before".
The first three episodes are streaming tomorrow with new episodes weekly every Friday.

We Own This City
(Neon)

Early 2000s crime drama The Wire is one of the greatest television shows of all time. Beginning with a simple drug operation in its first season, the show gradually expanded out to include the interlinking corruption between Baltimore's corrupt docks, courts, political system, schools and, most cuttingly of all, its police force.
It was written and created by former Baltimore reporter David Simon and here the outspoken and uncompromising writer returns to those mean streets.

Scene from The Wire creator David Simon's new crime drama We Own This City, screening on Neon.

This time he's adapting a book by a fellow Baltimore reporter, this time examining the city's Gun Trace Task Force, the corruption within and the continued failings of America's drug laws.
Critics are raving, with one calling this damning indictment on the police and the politicians "a brilliant piece of work, also profoundly dispiriting".
Streaming from Tuesday.

The Offer
(TVNZ OnDemand)

For fans of the sprawling, iconic, mafia classic The Godfather, this series makes an offer they can't refuse. Over its 10 episodes, it tells the insider story of how a film no one wanted to be involved with became a true cinematic classic.

Giovanni Ribisi as mafia boss Joe Colombo in The Offer, streaming on TVNZ OnDemand.

Miles Teller stars as Albert Ruddy, the producer of the film, who had to battle everyone from the studio, to actors, to director Francis Ford Coppola right through to real-life gangsters to get the book adaptation off the ground and on to the big screen.
While the series has caught some flak for putting drama ahead of fact, a lot of critics have enjoyed its peek behind the curtain at old school movie magic, with one reviewer writing, "As a story of a gang of misfits banding together to accomplish something none of them could do alone, it's a nicely acted and frequently involving bit of storytelling."
The first three episodes are available tomorrow with new episodes weekly.

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes
(Netflix)

This feature-length documentary investigates the murky details surrounding the sudden death of American screen icon and original blond bombshell Marilyn Monroe.
It leans heavily on the work of journalist, Anthony Summers, whose 1985 book Goddess is considered to be the definitive account of Monroe.

Film icon Marilyn Monroe is the subject of Netflix's documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes.

Having spent three years working on his book and interviewing everyone in her orbit he amassed 650 tapes which the documentary team had access to.
Despite this, reviews have been mixed, with critics stating the book remains the gold standard source about Monroe and calling out the doco's embrace of lurid details. However, Monroe's is such a tragic tale that it's still a moving watch, with one reviewer saying, "The film is affecting because it outlines the saddening end of an adored American icon."
Streaming now.