Best 5 films: quick view
Best 5 films to stream this week
1) A Thousand And One – 20 Jan (Paramount+)
Film (2023). A woman kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system to build a better life for them. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing New York City in the 1990s, the film explores themes of identity, survival and the lengths one will go to for love and family.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, it was written and directed by A.V. Rockwell and stars Teyana Taylor, Will Catlett and Josaiah Cross.
2) The Sand Castle – 24 Jan (Netflix)
Film (2025). In this thriller directed by Matty Brown, an Arabic family of four is stranded on a seemingly idyllic deserted island – that ends up being far from idyllic. The family is forced to scavenge for survival as their past unravels and harsh truths emerge, sending them into a downward spiral of painful events.
Yikes.
Starring Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri and Riman Al Rafeea.
3) Star Trek: Section 31 – 24 Jan (Paramount+)
Film (2024). What are the chances you’re going to watch this if you haven’t bothered with the previous 13 films in the Star Trek canon? Probably quite small.
Set in the franchise’s so called ‘lost era’, the film is a spin-off from the Star Trek: Discovery TV series.
Maybe best of all, it stars Michelle Yeoh, who reprises her fan-favourite role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou – the character she played in Star Trek: Discovery – who joins a secret division of Starfleet. Tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, she also must face the sins of her past.
Starring Michelle Yeoh, Omari Hardwick and Sam Richardson.
4) The Terminator – 24 Jan (Stan)
Film (1984). I mean, if you need any introduction to this one … But just in case: an assassin cyborg comes back from the future to find and kill a woman who will give birth to a future resistance fighter who will battle for the survival of humans.
This 1980s James Cameron classic posited a ridiculous sci-fi version of the 2020s in which AI had run rampant and a corporation called Starlink, apologies, Skynet, wielded great power over the world. I mean, HAHAHAHA, how wrong could he be??
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton.
5) The Bikeriders – 25 Jan (Binge)
Film (2023). It’s the mid-1960s and Kathy meets Benny, a member of the Vandals, a Chicago-based motorcycle club. They get married five weeks later. But as the club embraces underworld violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to his fellow riders.
The SAG-AFTRA strike (July–November 2023) played havoc with plans to release the film in late 2023 (with an eye to the 2024 Oscars), and also prevented the all-star cast from doing promotional interviews. In mid-2024 it was released under a new distribution company, gained positive reviews …
And now you can stream it!
Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, and starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy.
