WEEK ONE: 29 July-4 August
MR MONK’S LAST CASE | Stream now
Mr Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie is up for Outstanding Television Movie at the 2024 Emmy Awards, with four-time Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) nominated for Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild awards for Best Actor as the beloved and brilliant OCD detective Adrian Monk.
Based on the hit 2000s comedy series Monk – which ran for eight seasons and won eight Emmys – the film sees Monk tackling one last, very personal case involving his stepdaughter Molly, a journalist preparing for her wedding.
Not released in South African cinemas, Mr Monk’s Last Case has a 95% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with TheWrap noting that, “Two decades later, we can all relate a bit to Adrian Monk. He may even be the perfect sleuth for the post-pandemic jungle we’re living in. Is this case truly his last? One can only hope the answer is ‘No’.”
Returning fan favourites include Traylor Howard as Natalie Teeger, Jason Gray-Stanford as Randy Disher, Emmy nominee Melora Hardin as Trudy Monk, and Emmy winner Hector Elizondo as Dr Bell.
WEEK TWO: 5-11 August
EVIL DEAD RISE | Stream from Monday, 5 August
Moving Sam Raimi’s iconic horror franchise out of the woods and into the city, Evil Dead Rise tells the twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.
The highest-grossing film of the series, Evil Dead Rise was nominated for Best Horror Movie at the 2024 Critics Choice Super Awards, where it was also up for Best Actress in a Horror Movie and Best Villain (both for Alyssa Sutherland, aka Vikings’ Queen Aslaug).
Evil Dead Rise has an 84% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Standard raving. “This scary movie, as well as being fantastically violent and jolting, is profoundly amusing and full of soul.”
WEEK THREE: 12-18 August
TALK TO ME | Stream from Thursday, 15 August
Named Best Horror Movie at the 2024 Critics Choice Super Awards, Talk To Me follows a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand. They soon become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.
Sophie Wilde won Best Actress in a Horror Movie at the 2024 Critics Choice Super Awards, as well as the BAFTA Rising Star Award and the Cannes Film Festival’s Female Revelation Award.
Directed by YouTuber twins Danny and Michael Philippou (of RackaRacka fame), the Australian indie film was a breakout hit, becoming distributor A24’s highest-grossing horror movie ever and #3 highest-grossing movie overall.
As The Wrap says, “Talk To Me is, unquestionably, the horror movie of the year… A fast, funny, very scary campfire story.”
WEEK FOUR: 19-25 August
THE BLACKENING | Stream from Thursday, 22 August
Horror fans know the Black character is always the first to die. But what if the entire cast is Black?
The Blackening is out to skewer the genre tropes, centring on a group of Black friends who reunite for a weekend getaway, only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer.
The Blackening has an 87% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with IndieWire calling it, “the first great horror parody of the post-Get Out era,” and Deadline Hollywood hailing it as “hands-down one of the best comedies of the year.”
As Dewayne, co-writer Dewayne Perkins was up for Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2024 Black Reel Awards, where The Blackening was also nominated for Outstanding Ensemble. Look out for the likes of Antoinette Robertson (Dear White People), Sinqua Walls (White Men Can’t Jump, Power) and Melvin Gregg (House Party, Snowfall), as well as Teen Choice nominee Grace Byers (Empire) and Emmy-nominated Nigerian-American star Yvonne Orji (Insecure).
JOIKA | Stream from Monday, 19 August
Joika (aka The American) is based on the true story of Joy Womack’s attempt to become the first American woman to graduate from Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy – the most competitive dance school in the world.
Critics Choice nominee Talia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always) stars as Womack, who oversaw the film’s choreography and trained Ryder alongside New York City Ballet principal dancer Daniel Ulbricht. Cannes winner Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) co-stars as Volkova, the Bolshoi’s magnetic and masterful tutor.
Written and directed by multiple-award-winning New Zealand filmmaker James Napier Robertson, Joika won the Audience award for Best Film at this year’s Palm Springs International Film Festival.
WEEK FIVE: 26 August-1 September
MAY DECEMBER | Stream from 29 August
Oscar winners Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore star in May December, which follows married couple Gracie and Joe, whose 23-year age gap sparked a tabloid scandal two decades ago. Their marriage comes under renewed strain when Hollywood actress Elizabeth Berry comes to spend time with the family to better understand Gracie, who she’s set to play in a film.
Portman, Moore and Riverdale’s Charles Melton were all up for Golden Globes in the lead roles.
Directed by Oscar nominee Todd Haynes (Carol, Far from Heaven), May December won 45 awards, with Samy Burch nominated for an Oscar for the script.
May December holds a 91% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Vanity Fair says it’s, “a wicked, complex delight,” while Vulture hails it as “both humane and scathing… a booby trap of a movie… It makes you feel one thing, and then makes you wonder if you should be feeling something entirely different.”
THE MIRACLE CLUB | Stream from Thursday, 29 August
Oscar winners Dame Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates co-star with Oscar nominee Laura Linney in The Miracle Club, a story of friends who win the trip of a lifetime – a pilgrimage from Dublin to Lourdes that seems like the personal miracle they all need. But when they are joined by Chrissie, returning to Dublin after decades in America, deep wounds from the past are re-opened.
Directed by Emmy and BAFTA nominee Thaddeus O’Sullivan, The Miracle Club also stars Oscar nominee Stephen Rea (The English) and Agnes O’Casey, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2024 Irish Film and Television Awards for her role as Dolly.
“The transcendent performances of this dream cast are alternately hilarious and heartbreaking,” says Saturday Evening Post. “We get to see Kathy Bates crooning ‘He’s So Fine’ in a church talent show, with 88-year-old Maggie Smith shimmying behind her as a backup singer. That alone, dear reader is worth the price of admission, and then some.”
EVERYTHING ON SHOWMAX IN AUGUST
Big Brother Naija starts streaming on Showmax 24/7 on Sunday, 28 July, with daily highlights and new episodes of The Buzz every Thursday. Other highlights on Showmax this August include:
• The fifth and final film in the blockbuster After film series, After Everything (5 August)
• The local action film The Butcher’s Soul (2 August), starring Melusi Mbele, Vuyo Dabula and Katlego Danke, and the local raunchom Eksie Perfeksie (9 August), starring Emma van Heyn and Pietie Beyers
• S3 of Industry (from 26 August), now with Emmy nominees Kit Harington (Jon Snow in Game of Thrones) and Sarah Goldberg (Sally Reed in Barry)
• S5 of Fargo (13 August), up for 15 Emmys, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Writing and Directing awards for creator Noah Hawley, as well as Best Actress (Juno Temple from Ted Lasso), Best Actor (Jon Hamm from Mad Men) and Best Supporting Actor (Lamorne Morris, aka Winston in New Girl).
• 2024 Emmy nominees The Sympathizer (12 August) and The Tattooist of Auschwitz (from 29 August)
• Apples Never Fall (12 August) and House of Gods (from 13 August), which won Best Actress (Annette Bening) and Best Actor (Kamel El Basha) respectively at Series Mania earlier this year
• The Mommy Club: Sugar & Spice (8 August), which moves the record-breaking reality TV franchise to Durban’s Indian community
• The first season of Die Ondernemers (5 August), a reality TV series about undertakers, from POP24, the creators of The Mommy Club and Beaulah: Queens van die Kaap
• S2 of koshuis telenovela Wyfie (6 August), up for Best Actress (Green), Best Newcomer (Ehlers) and Best Supporting Actor (Marguerite van Eeden) at Silwerskerm.
