***
Netflix
***
Vladimir
TV, US, 2026 – out 5 March
Rachel Weisz delivers a megaton of fourth-wall-breaking narration in this saucy comedy drama, adapted from Julia May Jonas’ 2022 book of the same name – described in the Guardian as “quietly captivating”. Quiet, however, is not a word I’d use to describe the first two episodes of this series, in which the audience are invited to share the various kinky thoughts and confessions of Weisz’s protagonist, a middle-aged college professor who becomes infatuated with her much younger new colleague Vladimir (Leo Woodall). It’s quite well made but, two episodes in, Weisz’s character is the only person I find really engaging.
***
Beast of War
Film, Australia, 2025 – out now
Here we go again: another second world war film about stranded soldiers who bob around in the water while a “pissed off 20-foot fish” tries to eat them. I’m being facetious, of course: this very entertaining production from splatterific genre auteur Kiah Roache-Turner is not exactly a dry historical recreation. It’s wet in every sense – lots of water, lots of creature-feature pulp. As I wrote in my review: “Roache-Turner borrows from various genre playbooks but conjures a distinctive, gung-ho, atmosphere-oozing work that’s all his own.”
***
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Film, UK, 2026 – out 20 March
The next instalment in the Peaky Blinders franchise joins a growing collection of spin-off films arriving after the conclusion of long-running shows (one last milking of the cash cow!) like The Many Saints of Newark (The Sopranos) and El Camino (Breaking Bad). Rarely are they must-see material, but seldom can fans resist. So I’ll certainly be checking out The Immortal Man, in which Cillian Murphy reprises one of his greatest roles: Tommy Shelby, a veteran-cum-gangster who leads the titular gang in crime-filled Birmingham. The story unfolds during the second world war, with a now-retired Shelby returning from exile to help his son Duke (Conrad Khan).
Honourable mentions: The Boss Baby (film, out now), Pineapple Express (film, out now), One Direction: This is Us (film, out now), War Machine (film, 6 March), One Piece season 2 (TV, 10 March), Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (TV, 11 March), The Invisible Man (film, 20 March), Heartbreak High season 3 (TV, 25 March).
***
Stan
***
The Naked Gun
Film, US, 2025 – out 8 March
I don’t think anybody really expected the new Naked Gun to be this good – an outrageously entertaining assault of dad jokes with a very high hit rate. Liam Neeson had some mighty big shoes to fill, playing the son of Frank Drebin, who was played by the great Leslie Nielsen in Police Squad! and the three previous Naked Gun movies. Neeson doubles down on jet-black deadpan, which is his only card to play – but, as I wrote last year, “boy does he play it, with Terminator-like focus on that core objective: make ‘em laugh, make ’em laugh, make ’em laugh.”
***
Nuremberg
Film, US, 2025 – out 12 March
In my ranked list of Russell Crowe’s greatest performances, I put his portrayal of Hermann Göring in Nuremberg at No 11 – which might not sound very high, but by God, the man has a cracking CV. Deep into his career, he’s still taking on tricky, baggage-laden roles, here playing Hitler’s second-in-command as he’s captured and put on trial in the titular German city, where he’s extensively interviewed by psychiatrist Dr Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek). The film is so-so, but Crowe is terrific, layering the performance in small gestures as well as grand, blustering flourishes.
***
Honourable mentions: Bookworm (film, out now), Ruben Guthrie (film, 6 March), The Full Monty (film, 7 March), I Am Chevy Chase and You’re Not (film, 8 March), The Australian Dream (film, 8 March), Blackfish (film, 12 March), 127 Hours (film, 14 March), Kenny (film, 16 March), The Hurt Locker (film, 20 March), True Lies (film, 21 March), Bronson (film, 27 March), The Waterboy (film, 28 March).
***
ABC iview
***
Frauds
TV, UK, 2025 – out 15 March
In her five-star review of Frauds, the Guardian’s Lucy Mangan described this heist drama as “a fantastically stylish, emotionally rich and profoundly intelligent piece of entertainment”. Damn, that’s a good rap. The series follows two scam artists (Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker) who reunite for the old “one last job” chestnut, which involves stealing Salvador Dalí’s The Great Masturbator from a museum in Madrid. Which sounds fabulously zany, though any five-star review from Mangan is reason enough for me.
Honourable mentions: Blue Murder Motel (TV, 7 March).
***
SBS On Demand
***
Homebodies
TV, Australia, 2026 – out 28 March
Homebodies is a family drama with a supernatural twist – but not one deployed to scare or shock. Darcy (Luke Wiltshire) is a young trans man who returns to his home town to care for his mother, Nora (Claudia Karvan). He soon meets her rather unconventional housemate, Dee (Jazi Hall), who is not just a ghost but the ghost of his own teenage, pre-transition self. The series takes an intriguing approach to exploring weighty themes around transitioning; I’ll have more to say in my review later this month.
***
Kung Fu Hustle
Film, Hong Kong/China, 2004 – out 31 March
The words “live action cartoon” are perhaps the best way to describe the visual flavour of Stephen Chow’s delightfully zany chopsocky action-comedy. Steeped in Hong Kong cinema tradition, but borrowing generously from westerns, the story takes place in 1940s Shanghai and follows Sing (Chow), a small-time con artist embroiled in a battle between kung fu masters and a gang of criminals. The sets are glorious; the tone irresistibly daffy.
Honourable mentions: Parasite (TV, out now), Hook (film, out now), Britannia seasons 1-3 (TV, out now), Prisoner 951 (TV, 4 March), Arcadia (film, 5 March), Hunger (film, 6 March), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (film, 6 March), The China Syndrome (film, 13 March), The Lobster (film, 13 March), Our Medicine season 2 (TV, 15 March), Northern Exposure seasons 1-6 (TV, 19 March), Nepobaby (TV, 19 March), Snowpiercer (film, 20 March), Ride in the Whirlwind (film, 31 March), The Little Shop of Horrors (film, 31 March).
***
Binge
***
Eddington
Film, US, 2025 – out 26 March
Ari Aster’s long and strange Covid-era western makes numerous observations about contemporary society – the breakdown of social cohesion, the rise of conspiracy theories and the culture wars. But these themes are never prioritised over the telling of an interesting, albeit somewhat shaggy narrative, which centres on a conflict between the mayor and sheriff of a fictitious New Mexico town, played by Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix respectively. The latter’s character, Joe Cross, rebels against mandatory face masks, triggering a civic stoush that metastasises into violent confrontation.The film feels disjointed but it’s well acted, well paced, and often genuinely unpredictable.
Honourable mentions: The Lady (TV, out now), Dawson’s Creek seasons 1-6 (TV, out now), Mudtown (TV, out now), Ted season 2 (TV, 5 March), Outlander season 8 (TV, 7 March), The Ballad of Wallis Island (film, 19 March), Nobody 2 (film, 19 March), Marie Antoinette seasons 1 and 2 (TV, 30 March).
***
Prime Video
***
Deadloch season 2
TV, Australia, 2026 – out 20 March
The first season of Deadloch was a hell of a watch: a whacked-out, darkly comedic take on the serial-killer genre created by Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, starring Kate Box as senior sergeant Dulcie Collins and Madeleine Sami as the outrageously incorrigible detective Eddie Redcliffe. Whereas that season was set in icy Tasmania, the second switches to the much hotter Top End in the Northern Territory, where the pair are investigating the death of Redcliffe’s former partner. The official plot synopsis tells us that “when the body of a local icon is discovered in a remote town, they are flung into a sweatier, stickier, croc-ier crime case”.
***
Scarpetta
TV, US, 2026 – out 11 March
While many actors come in and out of stardom, navigating hot and cold periods of their careers, Nicole Kidman seems eternally present in the zeitgeist, thanks largely to her prodigious output. The star’s latest series looks like it fits her oeuvre like a glove: an adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling Kay Scarpetta novels, featuring Kidman as the titular forensic psychologist and Rose McEwen as her younger self. The show’s marketing claims it will go “beyond the crime scene to explore the psychological complexities of both perpetrators and investigators”. The supporting cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis and Simon Baker.
Honourable mentions: The Silence of the Lambs (film, out now), Young Sherlock (TV, 4 March), From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (film, 5 March), Fight or Flight (12 March), Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (film, 13 March), Pretty Lethal (film, 25 March), Bait (TV, 25 March), The Menu (film, 28 March).
***
HBO Max
***
Rooster
TV, US, 2026 – out 9 March
Steve Carell’s new series belongs to a small but growing suite of comedy shows revolving around university staff who, true to life, tend to be highly intelligent and highly irritable – like in Vladimir (see above) and 2023’s Lucky Hank with Bob Odenkirk. Ergo: this is the kind of show in which people say words like “ergo”. Carell stars as Greg Russo, a best-selling author who becomes an ingrained part of campus life at an arts college where his professor daughter, Katie (Charly Clive), works. I’d love to tell you that this is a delightful and funny series, featuring one of Carell’s most appealing performances, but I absolutely cannot do that, given reviews of the show are presently embargoed.
***
Being There
Film, US, 1979 – out 31 March
Hal Ashby’s oddly charming classic famously stars Peter Sellers as Chance, a middle-aged gardener who’s spent his entire life in a wealthy estate, with no access to the outside world beyond television. That changes when his elderly employer dies, thrusting Chance into society for the first time (a premise that might feel harder to swallow these days).
There are many ways to read the film’s satirical intent and the nature of its protagonist. People are generally kind to Chance, praising him simply for being himself. Which sounds sweet, but Chance often has no idea what he’s talking about, and nobody truly understands him, not even himself. Sellers’ beautifully modulated performance invites us to keep searching for the real person within, while the script offers a distinct spin on the nature-versus-nurture debate.
Honourable mentions: Obama: In Pursuit Of A More Perfect Union (TV, out now), In the Same Breath (film, out now), DTF St Louis (TV, out now), Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! seasons 1-5 (TV, 4 March), Interstellar (film, 7 March), Gremlins 2: The New Batch (film, 14 March), Outbreak (film, 14 March), Robot Chicken seasons 1-11 (TV, 18 March), Boogie Nights (film, 21 March), Soylent Green (film, 31 March), Finian’s Rainbow (film, 31 March), The Life And Times of Judge Roy Bean (film, March 31).
***
Disney+
***
Ghost Elephants
Film, US, 2025 – out 8 March
I watched Werner Herzog’s latest documentary at last year’s Adelaide film festival, and golly it’s good: a big spirited adventure with a timeless feel, steeped in dreams and ancient pondering. The subject is Steve Boyes, a conservationist and explorer obsessed with tracking down the descendants of an enormous bull elephant he calls Henry, which is on display at the Smithsonian. The octogenarian film-maker follows Boyes across Angola, in central Africa, as he searches for a breed of elephants that might not exist.
In typical Herzog fashion, the film becomes about much more than the expedition, weaving in ruminations on purpose, desire, existentialism, and much more, folding these grand themes together accessibly and gracefully. At a time when it feels like every inch of the earth has been mapped and archived, here’s a reminder that great mysteries still endure.
Honourable mentions: Bad Boys 1 and 2 (film, out now), The Craft (film, out now), Men in Black 1-3 (film, out now), Pitch Perfect 1 and 2 (film, out now), Step Brothers (film, out now), Twister (film, out now), Sleepless in Seattle (film, 31 March).
***
Apple TV
***
Imperfect Women
TV, US, 2026 – out 18 March
Elisabeth Moss co-stars in and executive produces this psychological thriller about three lifelong friends (Moss, Kerry Washington and Kate Mara) whose bond is rocked by a shocking murder. The New York Times’ review of the Araminta Hall novel upon which it’s based describes it as a story that “creeps on you slowly, like a fog”. The show’s trailer, however, suggests something more juiced-up, peppered with lines that hint at dark secrets and drastic decisions, a la “burn it to the ground”, “I did something so stupid” and “she’s been lying about everything!”
Honourable mentions: For All Mankind season 5 (TV, 27 March).
