Six To See August 24-September 6, 2024

Six films:

1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: the new sequel to Beetlejuice (1988), directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on a story by Gough, Millar, and Seth Grahame-Smith. This fantasy horror comedy film stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles alongside new cast members Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, and Willem Dafoe. Set 36 years after the events of Beetlejuice, we follow the Deetz family who returns home to Winter River after Charles Deetz’s unexpected death. Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened, releasing Betelgeuse. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice premiered last week at the Venice Film Festival and was released in theatres in the US and Canada on September 6. It is releasing in theatres in other countries next week, like in Belgium. So I will only be able to see it next week.

2. The Front Room: a new psychological horror film written and directed by the Eggers Brothers in their feature film debut. The film is based on the 2016 short story of the same name by Susan Hill, and stars Brandy Norwood, Kathryn Hunter and Andrew Burnap. It tells the story of a young, newly pregnant couple who is forced to take in an ailing, estranged stepmother. The film was released in theatres on September 6.

3. Afraid: a new science fiction horror film written and directed by Chris Weitz. It stars John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, and Keith Carradine. We follow Curtis and his family who are chosen to test a new home device called AIA. The digital assistant learns the family’s behaviors and routines. However, she becomes too involved and interferes with their lives. Afraid was released in theatres on August 30.

4. The Deliverance: a new supernatural horror thriller film directed by Lee Daniels and written by David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum. The film stars Andra Day, Rob Morgan, Caleb McLaughlin, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Tasha Smith, Omar Epps, Mo’Nique, and Glenn Close. This film is based on the Latoya Ammons family possession. The film was released in select theaters on August 16, before streaming on Netflix on August 30.

5. Rebel Ridge: a new action thriller film written, produced, directed and edited by Jeremy Saulnier. The film stars Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, David Denman, Emory Cohen, Steve Zissis, Zsane Jhe, Dana Lee, and James Cromwell. It’s set in the town of Shelby Springs and follows Terry Richmond who has come to post bail for his cousin, but his savings are unjustly seized by a corrupt local police force led by Chief Sandy Burnne. With the help of court clerk Summer McBride, Terry unearths a widespread conspiracy within Shelby Springs and uses his particular sets of skills to get the bail money back by any means necessary. Rebel Ridge was released on Netflix on September 6.

6. Slingshot: a new science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Mikael Håfström and written by R. Scott Adams and Nathan Parker. It stars Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, Emily Beecham, Tomer Kapon, and David Morrissey. It follows an elite trio of astronauts aboard a years-long, possibly compromised mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. As the team gears up for a highly dangerous slingshot maneuver that will either catapult them to Titan or into deep space, it becomes increasingly difficult for one astronaut to maintain his grip on reality. The film was released in theatres on August 30.

Six series:

1. Only Murders in the Building season 4: the fourth season of the mystery comedy-drama series created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman. Just like in the other seasons, we will follow our trio Charles, Oliver and Mabel played by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. They all have a shared interest in true crime podcasts, who became friends while investigating a succession of suspicious murders in the Arconia, their affluent Upper West Side apartment building, and producing their own podcast about the cases, titled Only Murders in the Building. In this fourth season the trio is searching for answers about who killed Sazz (Jane Lynch), if they were actually aiming for Charles and why anyone would want to kill either of them. Meryl Streep returns as Loretta and she’s joined by Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, Kumail Nanjiani, Molly Shannon and Zach Galifianakis as Sazz’s murder investigation stretches to L.A. as well as New York. Season 4 of the series premiered on Hulu in the US and on Disney+ internationally on August 27 with a new episode releasing weekly.

2. Terminator Zero: a new science-fiction action anime series developed by Mattson Tomlin and set in the Terminator universe. The eight-episode series is set in Japan and follows Malcolm Lee (voiced by Andre Holland), who has been developing another AI system that is intended to compete with Skynet. As Judgment Day approaches in 1997, Lee finds himself and his three children pursued by an unknown robot assassin, and a mysterious soldier from the year 2022 has been sent to protect him. Also voicing a character in the series are Timothy Olyphant, Sonoya Mizuno, Rosario Dawson, and Ann Dowd. The series was released on Netflix on August 29.

3. Kaos: a new mythological dark-comedy series created by Charlie Covell. The series revolves around three humans as they discover their connection to each other and to a long standing ancient prophecy while they deal with corrupt and arrogant gods of Classical mythology. It stars Jeff Goldblum as Zeus, Janet McTeer as Hera, Cliff Curtis as Poseidon, David Thewlis as Hades, Killian Scott as Orpheus, and Debi Mazar as Medusa. The series was released on Netflix on August 29.

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2: the second season of the fantasy series, which is based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings. Set thousands of years before the novel in the Second Age of Middle-earth, the season depicts the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron and the creation of more Rings of Power. Much of the series’ large international cast returns from the first season, including Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Ema Horvath and Markella Kavenagh. This second season of the series premiered on Prime Video on August 29 with its first three episodes and the other five episodes releasing weekly.

5. The Perfect Couple: a new mystery drama series created by Jenna Lamia. It stars Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning, Eve Hewson, Billy Howle, Meghann Fahy, and Ishaan Khattar. The series is an adaptation of the 2018 novel of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand and follows Amelia who is about to marry into the wealthy Nantucket Winbury family, to the disapproval of their matriarch novelist. But when a body is found on the beach and secrets are revealed, everyone becomes a suspect. The Perfect Couple was released on Netflix on September 5.

6. English Teacher: a new comedy-drama series created by Brian Jordan Alvarez, who also stars in the series as Evan Marquez? He is a high school teacher, who finds himself at the intersection of personal, political, and professional aspects of working at a high school. Also starring are Stephanie Koenig, Enrico Colantoni, Sean Patton, Carmen Christopher, Jordan Firstman and Langston Kerman. The series premiered on September 2 on FX and Disney+ with the first two episodes and the rest releasing weekly.