Netflix
The Rip
Film, US, 2026 – out 16 January
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been working together since their first crowd-pleasing partnership in Good Will Hunting. Their new crime thriller, inspired by true events, pivots on a familiar dilemma, at least when it comes to movie plots: to take, or not to take, a whole heap of money that randomly comes your way? After raiding a safe house, a team of Miami cops – including Affleck’s JD Byrne and Damon’s Dane Dumars – discover $24m stashed away. Legally required to count the money before leaving (cool law … what could possibly go wrong?), tensions build, distrust flares and outside forces – most notably an ominous voice on the telephone – begin to close in.
The film comes from Joe Carnahan, a solid if unexceptional action director with one masterpiece in his oeuvre: the 2011 Liam Neeson survival drama The Grey.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials
TV, UK, 2026 – out 15 January
You’ve no doubt heard of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple – but you might not be familiar with Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, the confident, quick-witted aristocrat who appeared in two Agatha Christie novels and serves as the central detective in The Seven Dials Mystery, the latest Christie yarn to be adapted for the screen. In this three-part series written by Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall, she is played by Mia McKenna-Bruce, alongside co-stars including Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman. The story is set in 1925 and involves (to quote the official synopsis) “a practical joke [that] appears to have gone horribly, murderously wrong”.
Kangaroo Island
Film, Australia, 2025 – out 16 January
I didn’t love this family drama set on the titular island located off the coast of South Australia. But maybe you’ll appreciate more than I did the story of a struggling actor (Rebecca Breeds) who returns home to Australia to discover hard-hitting news about her father (Erik Thomson) and their old family home. As I wrote in my review, “Breeds elevates a film that has quite a lot going for it but is tonally uneven.”
Honourable mentions: Stranger Things 5: The Finale (TV, out now), Run Away (TV, out now), Carrie (film, out now), HIS & HERS (TV, 8 January), How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2 (film, 9 January), Love Through a Prism (TV, 15 January), Longlegs (film, 10 January), Bridgerton season 4 part 1 (TV, 29 January), Lost in Translation (film, 29 January).
Stan
Dear Life
TV, Australia, 2026 – out now
Brooke Satchwell delivers a painfully good performance as a grieving widow in this six-part drama themed around the bittersweet process of organ donation. You never doubt the anguish and emotional tumult felt by her character, Lillian, who receives a letter from a grateful organ recipient, Andrew (Ben Lawson), and decides she wants to meet him. Satchwell’s vividly layered, immensely persuasive performance is the show’s heart and soul; nobody else in the cast comes close to matching her. Initially the writing is quite measured and thoughtful but the script struggles to cohere and some of the staging feels a little wobbly. Here’s my review.
Breath
Film, Australia, 2018 – out 29 January
I’m a big fan of actor Simon Baker’s feature directorial debut: an adaptation of the surfing-themed Tim Winton novel of the same name, a coming-of-age drama set in a Western Australia coastal town that revolves around a pair of teenagers (Samson Coulter and Ben Spence) and their relationship with a much older surfer (Baker). The performances and characters really resonate, even as the script navigates complex moral areas. Stylistically it’s elegantly and thoughtfully crafted; as I wrote in my review: “the film’s colour grading has a misty and melancholic quality, as if emulating seafoam or mist from the crest of a wave”.
Source Code
Film, US, 2011 – out 19 January
Duncan Jones’s nervy time loop movie has a virtual reality-ish twist, with Jake Gyllenhaal’s army officer plugging into a computer-generated recreation of eight minutes leading up to a terrorist attack on a Chicago commuter train. His mission: to identify the terrorist and prevent a larger explosion.
It’s a compelling premise with trippy, out-of-body touches that explore identity and reality – for instance, when the protagonist looks in a mirror and doesn’t recognise his reflection. The action scenes are thrillingly staged, often achieving Hitchcockian suspense; sadly, its happy ending feels tacked on and studio-mandated.
Honourable mentions: How to Train Your Dragon 1-3 (film, out now), Stop Making Sense (film, out now), Boyz N’ The Hood (film, out now), Stuart Little 1 & 2 (film, out now), Australia’s Open (film, 9 January), When a Stranger Calls (film, 11 January), Monsieur Lazhar (film, 19 January), Hairspray (film, 21 January), The Walsh Sisters (TV, 22 January), Nobody (film, 23 January), Sunshine (film, 24 January), Let the Right One In (film, 28 January).
ABC iview
Goolagong
TV, Australia, 2026 – out now
This biodrama unpacking the life of Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley isn’t your average, “succeed at all costs” sports story. As I wrote in my review, director Wayne Blair “sets a contemplative tone, with light-filled compositions and a flashback structure that fluidly oscillates between past and present”. Newcomer Lila McGuire delivers a fine performance in the lead role; expect to see more of her.
Honourable mentions: But Also John Clarke (TV, out now), Judi Dench: Shakespeare, My Family and Me (TV, out now), Human (TV, out now), Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz (TV, 12 January).
SBS On Demand
Robot Dreams
Film, Spain/France, 2023 – out 25 January
Spanish director Pablo Berger’s delightfully strange and beautiful silent animation about the friendship between a robot and a dog was my favourite film of 2024. Loosely based on a graphic novel, the story unfolds in an alternate, animal-populated version of Manhattan in the 1980s, where a lonely pooch (billed simply as “Dog”) orders a new robot companion (billed only as “Robot”). The pair hit it off, delighting in the sights and sounds of the city, until things take an unfortunate turn when that benign chunk of metal gets stuck in sand at a beach, impossible to lift. Will their friendship find a way to endure?
Pig
Film, US, 2021 – out now
Nicolas Cage delivers one of the greatest performances of his eclectic career as a reclusive, hobo-like truffle forager whose beloved pig is stolen. Determined to get her back, Cage’s Rob – a former chef – heads to the city and investigates, aided by a young truffle buyer (Alex Wolff). Michael Sarnoski’s beautifully shot, earthily toned film flirts with the conventions of a revenge movie but emotionally lands with full force, Cage’s grief-stricken performance being breathtakingly good. An encounter between Rob and a chef in a high-end restaurant serves as the film’s centrepiece: once seen, never forgotten.
Honourable mentions: Anatomy of a Fall (film, out now), Godzilla Minus One (film, out now), Bring It on (film, out now), Benedetta (film, out now), What We Do in the Shadows (film, out now), The Zone of Interest (film, out now), Triangle of Sadness (film, out now), The Whale (film, out now), La Chimera (film, out now), Reality (film, out now), Catch-22 (TV, out now), In Flight (TV, 8 January), Nurse Jackie (TV, seasons 1-7, 8 January), The Grudge (film, 18 January), Jasper Jones (film, 23 January), Richard Bell: You Can Go Now (film, 23 January).
Binge
Run
TV, Australia, 2026 – out now
You might expect a TV show called “Run” to step on the gas and not slow down – but unfortunately this biodrama about Australian bank robber Brenden Abbott, AKA “the Postcard Bandit”, has a stop-start momentum that often slows down when it should be charging ahead. But it’s far from a write-off: George Mason for instance imbues the protagonist with the right kind of depth and bad-boy flair, and when all the pieces come together it’s quite an enjoyable watch (here’s my full review). A two-part documentary on Abbott also arrives on Binge on 7 January.
Honourable mentions: Schitt’s Creek seasons 1-6 (TV, out now), Freaky Tales (film, out now), Happy Endings seasons 1-3 (TV, out now), The Great Escape (film, 7 January), To Catch a Thief (film, 7 January), Rio Grande (film, 16 January), Mr Burton (film, 31 January).
HBO Max
One Battle After Another
Film, US, 2025 – out now
There is an amazing electrical energy in Paul Thomas Anderson’s exhilarating action-drama, which joins Alex Garland’s Civil War in a growing canon of films imagining the future of America post-Trump. It is, shall we say, less than optimistic: rebels, fascists and crooked bureaucracy abound. The story centres on a father and his teenage daughter – Leonardo DiCaprio’s former revolutionary Bob and Chase Infiniti’s Willa – who live off the grid, and are separated when something from the past, tied to Sean Penn’s maniacal Col Steven J Lockjaw, resurfaces.
Anderson achieves a thoroughly unusual balance of intensity and dark humour, the latter evident in a Stonecutter-like organisation of white nationalists and the consistently amusing sight of DiCaprio galumphing around in a dressing gown and wraparound glasses.
The Pitt season 2
TV, US, 2026 – out 9 January
Few locations are as inherently dramatic as hospitals: places of birth, death and every kind of health crisis. They’ve long been the backdrop for TV dramas, yet creator R Scott Gemmill’s well-crafted series – primarily set in the emergency room of a Pittsburgh medical centre – still feels fresh.
The show’s near real-time format, with each episode covering a single hour of an ER shift, works brilliantly, enabling a pace that’s realistic and action-packed. The series centres on Dr Michael Robinavitch (Noah Wyle), who is forced to make many difficult decisions, often with no truly positive outcomes – only ones that are less bad than others.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
TV, US, 2026 – out 19 January
Back to Westeros we go! This prequel to a tiny, unknown, not-at-all popular show called Game of Thrones stars Peter Claffey as wandering knight Ser Duncan “Dunk” The Tall and Dexter Sol Ansell as his young squire “Egg” AKA Aegon Targaryen. Co-created by George RR Martin, who also wrote the source material (a collection of novellas titled Tales of Dunk and Egg), the series promises a breezier structure than GoT, running six episodes rather than the usual 10. The timeline is set roughly 90 years before the events of GoT and about 70 years after House of the Dragon.
Honourable mentions: Idiocracy (film, out now), Toys (film, out now), Muriel’s Wedding (film, out now), Acute Misfortune (film, out now), Jindabyne (film, out now), Industry season 4 (TV, 12 January), Eyes Wide Shut (film, 17 January), Shame (film, 24 January).
Disney+
FX’s The Beauty
TV, US, 2026 – out 22 January
In the latest series from prolific creator Ryan Murphy, any ordinary schlep can transform into a physically perfect specimen via a revolutionary new drug that makes (in the words of the trailer) “any old face drop-dead gorgeous”. But if you’ve seen The Substance and remember what happens to Demi Moore, you might suspect things won’t go tickety-boo for those who partake. Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall play FBI agents sent to Paris to uncover the truth behind a spate of grisly supermodel deaths, all linked to a shady billionaire (Ashton Kutcher) who runs a sprawling company called “The Corporation”.
Honourable mentions: the Bourne films 1-5 (film, out now), Tron: Ares (film, 7 January), A Thousand Blows season 2 (TV, 9 January), Marvel’s Wonder Man (TV, 28 January).
Apple TV
Drops of God season 2
TV, France/Japan, 2026 – out 21 January
If you’ve never seen the first season of this Emmy award-winning series, and enjoy imbibing fermented grapes, I implore you to catch up before the arrival of season two; you won’t regret it. Fleur Geffrier plays Camille, the daughter of a legendary wine critic, who goes head-to-head in a tasting tournament against her father’s protege, Issei Tomine (Tomohisa Yamashita). It’s loud, juicy, a little silly and utterly addictive. The second season follows the pair as they “uncover the origin of the world’s greatest wine … a search for truth that spans continents and centuries”.
Honourable mentions: Shrinking season three (TV, 28 January), Yo Gabba GabbaLand! season two (TV, 30 January).
Prime Video
Caught Stealing
Film, US, 2025 – out 26 January
Remember when Austin Butler was going to be the next big thing? His run in the sun has seemed a little short-lived – but he does have a new film out from the always interesting and unpredictable Darren Aronofsky, so maybe I’m jumping the gun a little. In Caught Stealing, Butler plays Hank Thompson, a former baseball prodigy-cum-bartender dragged into a high-stakes criminal mess after agreeing to take care of his mate’s cat. That’ll teach him for being nice.
The film had strong buzz, Peter Bradshaw for instance praising Aronofsky for delivering “gleeful energy, flair and a dark humour that straddles the mischief/malice borderline”.
Honourable mentions: Spring Fever (TV, out now), The Night Manager season 2 (TV, 11 January), Steal (TV, 21 January), The Wrecking Crew (film, 28 January).
