Wonderland.

WHAT TO WATCH

The weekend is here and Netflix is calling our name! Check out this week’s drops including WandaVision, One Night in Miami and Johnny Flynn’s Stardust.

Elizabeth Olsen in WandaVision

WandaVision

Elizabeth Olsen in WandaVision
WandaVision

One Night In Miami

Regina King is namely known for her standout performances in iconic films such as Ray, If Beale Street Could Talk and Netflix series Seven Seconds. But now the actor is putting down her acting cloak temporally and is taking a seat in the director’s chair for her directorial debut in One Night In Miami. Having had its premiere at Venice Film Festival late last year, the American drama film focuses on the fictionalised meeting of Malcolm X, Muhammed Ali, Jim Brown and Sam Cookie in a Miami hotel room in February 1964, celebrating Ali’s surprise win over Sonny Liston. Following Kemp Power’s (Disney’s Soul) original 85-minute stage play, the beautiful film unwraps folding ideas of Black power, art as activism and an individual’s responsibility to their community. The film – starring Kinsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Leslie Odom and Man About Town cover star Aldis Hodge – allows us to see these men beyond the way history has written them and as something more relatably human.

WandaVision

Two years after the heart-wrenching end of the Avengers saga, we’re finally thrown back into the MCU with the first series in Phase Four of the universe with WanadaVision. Landing on Disney+ today, we revisit Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) as they live an ideal suburban life in the town of Westview while trying to conceal their powers. But as the newlyweds go through the episodes of what seems to be the perfect white-picket-fence dream, they realise their idea of suburbia might be more Truman Show and less like reality. Dropping the first two episodes today, the series also stars Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings and Randall Park.

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: season two

Sisters, prepare yourself because it’s round two for RuPaul’s Drag Race UK edition. While the British version might not be as polished as its US sisters, the camp reality contest is a must watch as it’ll leave you cackling for hours at it’s brilliant and bold challenges. Arriving in the first episode this week, the newly arrived queens, pulled from most corners of the UK must pose for a tennis-inspired photo for an imagery tournament called *drumroll* Wimbled’hun. If you’re new to the drag scene or British internet culture, some of the references may sail over your head, but it’s a sign of how quickly the series has embraced some of the distinctively British terms. Either way, the show is a riotous watch and fitting for these cold quiet days.

Outside the Wire

Love a bit of action to spice up your Friday night? Damon Idris and Anthony Mackie are making sure our daily dose of thrill is sorted with Outside The Wire. Boasting numerous bullet-strewn battle scenes and firepower, the film is set in the near (hopefully distant) future whereby Harp, a US drone pilot is helping to fight a war in Eastern Europe aided by “Gumps”, military machines trained to destroy the enemy and protect human soldiers. Teaming up with android Leo, the robot shows him what war is really like, Harp quickly susses out that Leo has something else on his mind. Giving us Terminator vibe with dashes of Training Day and Ex Machina, the Netflix creation is an action flick with magnetic performances and an ever-shifting dynamic that has us feeling like we’re in a video game.

Stardust

Stepping into the huge and iconic shoes of David Bowie is not an easy role, and Man About Town cover star Johnny Flynn had a huge task in front of him when accepting this job. Centring around Bowie’s first tour in the US in 1971, the singer starts to create his enigmatic Ziggy Stardust persona following his first visit, and we’re shown the crucial moments in Bowie’s career where he meticulously builds this giant fictitious character that’ll live on for generations. While Flynn’s performance has been critiqued as “plausible enough” and “impressive in parts”, the actor does showcase his charming voice as the original music was denied by Bowie’s estate. While critics and fans voice their own opinion, we say sit down and see for yourself.