JOE Film Club – 7 movies and shows to stream this Bank Holiday Weekend

Stephen Porzio

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This is our most packed edition of the column yet, which feels appropriate given the Bank Holiday weekend.

JOE’s Weekend Streaming Guide is back for our third and most packed week so far.

So have a scroll below at all the new movies and shows you could check out over the Bank Holiday break.

Happy watching!

Movies

Blue Beetle (Sky Cinema and Now Cinema)

This 2023 DC superhero flick tells the story of recent college graduate Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) who returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it.

“As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab,” the plot synopsis reads.

“When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armour capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero Blue Beetle.”

You can also check out JOE’s interview with the movie’s director Angel Manuel Soto right here:

The First Omen (Disney+)

One of JOE’s most-anticipated movies for 2024, this sixth entry in The Omen horror movie franchise and prequel to the classic 1976 original has just been added to Disney+.

Co-written and directed by Arkasha Stevenson (Brand New Cherry Flavor, Channel Zero), the film sees rising star Nell Tiger Free (Servant) play Margaret, a young American woman sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church.

In the Italian capital, however, she encounters “a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate”.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Prime Video)

This is the 2023 prequel to the other four films in The Hunger Games series, the hit dystopian action franchise based on Suzanne Collins’ novels – in which a small group of young people are selected to fight to the death for the masses’ entertainment.

Set over 60 years before the events of the original, Songbirds & Snakes centres around a younger version of the character of Coriolanus Snow (previously played by Donald Sutherland, here played by Tom Blyth) decades before he would go onto become the tyrannical president of the fictional state of Panem.

The plot synopsis for the prequel reads: “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol.

“With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler, West Side Story), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates.

“With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favour. Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.”

All five Hunger Games movies are streaming on Prime Video now.

TV Shows

Eric (Netflix)

This very tense new six-episode mystery thriller series from Abi Morgan (The Hour, River, The Split) is streaming in its entirety now and is headlined by Benedict Cumberbatch.

The two-time Oscar nominee plays Vincent – an irascible puppeteer living in 1980’s New York with his wife Cassie (Gaby Hoffman) and young son Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe).

One day, in the wake of a fight between Cassie and Vincent, Edgar goes missing en route to school.

A detective with his own personal problems named Michael (McKinley Belcher III) is assigned to the case and begins a hunt to find the child.

Amid this, an increasingly volatile Vincent begins to believe Edgar’s own puppet named Eric could be the key to finding him.

Pyramid Game (Paramount+)

If you imagined a cross between Mean Girls and Squid Game, you would be close to the vibe of this new South Korean series.

“Seong Su-ji is a new student at the Baekyeon Girls’ High School. Between the bullies, her studies, and the fight for popularity, high school already feels like a game of survival for Su-ji,” the plot synopsis reads.

“But when she’s introduced to a ranking system that chooses class outcasts via secret vote, Su-ji must decide whether to accept her status and its violent fallout or lead an uprising against the Pyramid Game.”

All 10 episodes of Pyramid Game are streaming on Paramount+ now.

The Sympathizer (Sky Atlantic and NOW Entertainment)

One of 2024’s best reviewed shows to date, this seven-part spy thriller from HBO is now streaming in its entirety via Sky Atlantic and NOW Entertainment in Ireland.

An adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, the series centres around the Captain (rising star Hao Xuande) – a policeman in South Vietnam during the country’s war with the United States who is secretly a communist spy for the North.

Towards the end of the conflict, he is assigned by his superiors – the Viet Cong – to flee to the US with Southern Vietnamese forces and continue to gather intelligence.

While in the States, however, the Captain struggles between his original loyalties and his new life.

Co-created by the acclaimed filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden, Stoker), alongside Don McKellar (Last Night), the show is also noteworthy for the casting of recent Oscar-winner Robert Downey Jr. in several antagonistic supporting roles – all of which are meant to represent a different part of the American establishment.

The Veil (Disney+)

Speaking of spy thriller shows, another new one from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is now streaming on Disney+ in its entirety.

Comprising of six episodes, the series stars the ‘Queen of Peak TV’ Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, The Handmaid’s Tale, Top of the Lake) as Imogen Salter, a veteran MI6 agent with a speciality in undercover work.

“The international spy thriller series explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London,” the plot synopsis for The Veil reads.

“One woman has a secret, while the other is on a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost.

“In the shadows, mission controllers at the U.S. CIA and French DGSE must put differences aside, as difficult as it may be, and work together to avert potential disaster before it is too late.”

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