Screening Guide: Sex and the City returns, Gordon Ramsay hunts Xmas and a monster kills everyone

Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis in And Just Like That, the Sex and the City revival. Streaming on Neon.

And Just Like That
(Neon, Sky Go)

If you couldn't help but wonder how much longer you'd be waiting for the Sex and the City revival to sashay on to screens then we have some good news. Strap on your Manolos, pour yourself a cosmo and catch up with Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda from tomorrow.
For one of the biggest television events of the year, precious few details have leaked out. The biggest, and most obvious, is the absence of Samantha, the smooth-operating try-sexual (she'll try anything once) fourth member of the gang. This is explained away as the natural ebb and flow of friendships throughout your life. We also know Carrie's hubby, Mr Big, features, but the status of their relationship is not yet known. And the last bit of info that's slipped out is that over its 10 episodes it plans to introduce a whole cast of new characters and tackle topics like the pandemic and racial diversity.
Streaming from tomorrow.

The Unforgivable
(Netflix)

Back in 2018, Netflix had a major hit with Bird Box, a tense thriller that starred Sandra Bullock and was released a couple of weeks before Christmas. The movie became, at the time, Netflix's most viewed movie.

Sandra Bullock in Netflix drama/thriller The Unforgivable.

Fast forward to 2021 and here we are a couple of weeks out from Christmas with Netflix releasing a new Sandra Bullock movie. It's clearly banking on this formula working again.
This time Bullock plays Ruth Slater, a woman re-entering society after serving a lengthy prison sentence for a violent crime. Returning to her old hometown she's greeted with an unfriendly welcome. The concept of serving her time apparently foreign in her community.
Critics have been mixed, although it received credit for "trafficking in some interesting ideas about crime, forgiveness and rehabilitation". Not that this response will be bothering Netflix, reviewers also weren't particularly kind to Bird Box...
Streaming from Friday

Gordon, Gino & Fred's Road Trip: Christmas Special
(TVNZ 1)

The latest foodie adventure for top chefs Gordon Ramsay and Gino D'Acampo along with master maitre d' Fred Sirieix sees them leaving Ol' Blighty in search of the spirit - and food - of Christmas.

Fred Sirieix, Gino D'Acampo and Gordon Ramsay in Gordon, Gino & Fred's Road Trip: Christmas Special.

Billing themselves as the Three Unwise Men the trio embark on a road trip through Morocco where they experience the culture, scoff down the cuisine and go shopping at the famed bazaars.
Along with their bants, you can expect plenty of TV travel show diversions, like trotting out into the desert on camelback, searching for saffron, herding goats and sleeping under the stars.
An earlier special by the three middle-aged lads saw one critic describing it as "very puerile, and very boysy, but undeniably amusing".
Screening Friday, 8.25pm.

Death Valley
(Shudder)

This creature feature follows a group of guns-for-hire as they set off on a mission to rescue a scientist from a hidden Cold War bunker. If you've seen any horror movie ever you'll know entering small, dark, compact places is generally a bad move.

Justin Moses as Moses in monster movie Death Valley. Streaming on Shudder. Photo: supplied.

And so it is here, as shortly after entering the bio-research bunker the mercenaries find themselves in a battle for survival as they begin getting picked off one by one by a terrifying monster. Perhaps one of the experiments that was being conducted in this secret wartime laboratory went terribly wrong? There's only one way to find out.
Critics have generally enjoyed this unashamedly low-budget monster movie, praising the effects and saying, "Death Valley is never fully disturbing, but enjoyably gross is good enough."
Streaming from tonight.