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Netflix
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The Hawk
TV, US, 2026 – out 16 July
Having parodied car racing, ice hockey and basketball, Will Ferrell now adds golf to his sports repertoire, playing Lonnie Hawkins, a former champion who insists he’s “still a big-shot golfer”.
True to Ferrell’s comic persona, Lonnie is loud, silly and gloriously arrogant, embarking on one final attempt to win the only major tournament that eluded him. His on-the-green rivalries take on an extra familial dimension, given one of his competitors is his own son Lance (Jimmy Tatro). Fingers crossed that, quality wise, this film lands closer to Blades of Glory than Semi-Pro.
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Little House on the Prairie
TV, US, 2026 – out 9 July
There have been several TV adaptations of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved autobiographical books, about a family who forge a new life on the US frontier in the late 19th century. At the time of publishing, there’s a review embargo on Netflix’s new adaptation, so I can’t tell you too much more than you can ascertain from the trailer, which correctly indicates a handsomely staged and very outdoorsy production: lots of grassy fields, streams of waters, cheeping birds.
Alice Halsey and Luke Bracey play Laura and Charles Ingalls, who, with their two daughters, build a new life for themselves, taking on various challenges, from economic hardship to managing packs of wolves. The tone feels intentionally old-fashioned.
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Sinners
Film, US, 2025 – out 4 July
By now you’ve probably heard of Ryan Coogler’s handsomely staged vampire movie, set in Mississippi during the 1930s. It’s a genre pic that spectacularly defied the high/low art divide, oozing violent mayhem while also being highly venerated, receiving a record-setting 16 Oscar nominations. It follows the bait-and-switch strategy of From Dusk Till Dawn, establishing a “serious” crime drama centred around a single location – in this instance a juke joint – before erupting into neck-chewing carnage.
The film’s best special effect is a sly, Oscar-winning double performance from Michael B Jordan, who plays identical twin gangsters Smoke and Stack. Coogler directs with unhurried flair, letting important moments breathe, including the now legendary, time-collapsing I Lied to You scene.
Honourable mentions: Enola Holmes 3 (film, out now), Human Vapor (TV, 2 July), Spit (film, 3 July), Footloose (film, 3 July), Proclivitas (film, 3 July), American Beauty (film, 3 July), Looking for Alibrandi (film, 15 July), 21 Jump Street (film, 17 July), Heartstopper Forever (film, 17 July), 1917 (film, 24 July), 72 Hours (film, 24 July), Ladies in Black (film, 31 July).
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Stan
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The Secret Agent
Film, Brazil, 2025 – out now
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s political thriller, set in Brazil in the 1970s, collected some serious kudos, including a best picture nomination at this year’s Academy Awards. For me, it’s a solidly made film stymied by pacing issues and an adrift narrative; I kept waiting for the plot to ignite but it never really got there. I love the period details, however, and the gritty, immersive tone of Filho’s direction. Plus the performances are very good – the cast are led by Wagner Moura as Marcelo, a professor and widowed father who returns to his home town, trying to escape his messy past with powerful enemies on his tail.
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The F Ward
TV, Australia, 2026 – out 17 July
Has the success of The Pitt brought hospital dramas back into vogue? The creators of Bump are behind this new series about a group of medical interns who (according to the official synopsis) are “sent to the under-funded Pines Hospital in Sydney for one final chance to complete their medical training”. The trailer suggests lots of challenges, heartache and life-or-death scenarios. We’ll see how it pans out; stay tuned for my full review later this month.
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Christopher Nolan collection
Film – out 11 July
Stan will mark the release of The Odyssey (which arrives in cinemas mid-month) by adding a suite of Nolan films to its catalogue: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, Inception and Dunkirk. Nolan is a rare director who consistently delivers true “event” movies, drawing huge crowds and getting tongues wagging.
Honourable mentions: Outback Murder: The Search for Peter Falconio (TV, out now), Crossroads (film, out now), Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (film, 2 July), White House Down (film, 8 July), Secret Service (TV, 2 July), Men in Black 1-4 (film, 9 July), The Westies (TV, 12 July), Despicable Me 4 (film, 18 July), Django Unchained (film, 18 July), Panic Room (film, 22 July), My Best Friend’s Wedding (film, 28 July).
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SBS on Demand
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The Age of Adaline
Film, US, 2015 – out 17 July
Blake Lively has the kind of Junoesque beauty that feels timeless; one can easily imagine her being a massive star at any point in cinema history. Timelessness is, in fact, the premise of this underrated romantic drama in which Lively plays the eponymous woman who, after a near-death experience involving a car crash and a bolt of lightning, stops aging.
This provides a springboard for exploring the sticky downsides of eternal life, given that Adaline cannot have normal relationships, inevitably watching others get old while she remains stuck in time. Things get a bit awks when she encounters a former lover (Harrison Ford), who can’t believe how much she looks like his old flame ...
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Seven Samurai
Film, Japan, 1954 – out now
There are classics, then there are classics as bona-fide as Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 masterpiece, a film so revered and influential it’s been hard-coded into the DNA of modern action movies. The plot revolves around a group of samurai (can you guess how many?) who join forces to protect a village from bandits, training the local farmers to defend themselves.
As was characteristic of Kurosawa’s style, inclement weather is deployed to intensely cinematic effect, the film’s famous climactic battle unfolding during a torrential downpour. Several other Kurosawa classics have also arrived on SBS On Demand, including The Hidden Fortress and Throne of Blood.
Honourable mentions: Run Lola Run (film, out now), Donnie Darko (film, out now), Couples Therapy season 5 (TV, out now), Bran Nue Dae (film, 3 July), Sweet Country (film, 3 July), Charlie’s Country (film, 3 July), Satellite Boy (film, 3 July), Walkabout (film, 3 July), Blue Water Empire (TV, 5 July), The Wicker Man (film, 5 July) Party Down seasons 1-3 (TV, 10 July), The Expanse seasons 1-3 (TV, 11 July), Cold Haven (TV, 16 July), Hell or High Water (film, 23 July), Six Four (TV, 29 July), Say Nothing (TV, 30 July).
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ABC iView
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Believe Me
TV, UK, 2026 – out 19 July
Creator/writer Jeff Pope’s four-part drama unpacks a confronting subject, exploring the lives of women who were drugged and sexually attacked by the serial British sex offender John Worboys (Daniel Mays), who became known as the “black-cab rapist”. Thankfully, Lucy Mangan’s review indicates a production that’s far from exploitative, writing that the women and their suffering “are real and vivid” thanks to “a punchy, intelligent script”.
Honourable mentions: Saint-Pierre (TV, 3 July), Cooper and Fry (TV, 4 July), The Lady Grace Mysteries (TV, 10 July), When the River Rose (film, 14 July), Ninjago: dragons Rising (TV, 17 July), Treasure & Dirt (TV, 19 July), New Zealand Spy (TV, 22 July).
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Prime Video
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The Sheep Detectives
Film, US/UK, 2026 – out now
Murder mysteries are so prominent in the zeitgeist these days that the genre has now crossed the species divide, with a flock of sheep getting their sleuthing game on. Said sheep are roused into action after the mysterious death of their shepherd, George (Hugh Jackman), who read them murder mystery novels before becoming the victim of some fatal jiggery-pokery himself. The film’s biggest pleasure is watching the sheep find ways to bridge the interspecies language divide, as they help a dunderheaded local cop (Nicholas Braun) to put the pieces together.
This is what you might call very cozy crime, bringing a fluffy family vibe while maintaining a hint of mischievousness. It’s light, enjoyably inessential viewing.
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Elle
TV, US, 2026 – out now
The Reese Witherspoon-led Legally Blonde movies turned Amanda Brown’s 2001 novel about a fashion and beauty-loving law student into a cultural phenomenon and a very profitable franchise. Its latest addition is a 90s-set prequel series (which has already renewed for a second season) starring Lexi Minetree as a teenage version of the eponymous character, trying to fit in at a new high school after moving from Los Angeles to Seattle.
“What if I really am the vapid LA girl they all think I am?” she wonders aloud at one point in the trailer. Her drive and tenacity will, of course, prove naysayers wrong, with plenty of jokes centred around blond stereotypes being deployed along the way.
Honourable mentions: The Ghost in the Shell (TV, 8 July), Murder 101 (TV, 13 July), Ride or Die (TV, 15 July), Batman: Caped Crusader season 2 (TV, 31 July), The Devil’s Mouth (film, TBC).
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Binge
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Arco
Film, France, 2025 – out 6 July
Clearly inspired by Studio Ghibli productions, this dazzling animated sci-fi from France almost literally trips the light fantastic, gorging on rainbow colours and scenes of people soaring through the clouds. Beginning in the year 2932, the titular 10-year-old protagonist is miffed to be left out of a family trip to visit the dinosaurs; in this version of the future, people take to the skies wearing special capes that whisk them back in time. Too young to legally time travel, Arco does it anyway but fumbles his destination: instead of arriving in the prehistoric era, he lands in the year 2075, where he bonds with a lonely girl named Iris.
This setup, as I have written previously, enables the film to “conjure a rare vision of both dystopian and utopian future worlds that exist in the same universe, but at different points on the timeline”. Anchored by a sweet relationship between the two young characters, this film will leave you feeling emotionally full.
Honourable mentions: Cape Fear (film, out now), Cat Ballou (film, out now), Bewitched seasons 1-8 (TV, out now), Jimpa (film, out now), Four Mothers (film, 6 July), The Five-Star Weekend (TV, 9 July), The History of Sound (film, 11 July), Moss & Freud (film, 31 July).
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Disney+
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The Devil Wears Prada 2
Film, US, 2026 – out 29 July
I approached The Devil Wears Prada 2 expecting yet another extraneous “get the band back together” sequel. I was pleased to discover, however, that the two-decade gap between this film and the original has given it an unexpectedly compelling angle. There’s no way to return to the offices of Runway magazine – headed by the famously formidable editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) – without acknowledging how profoundly the media landscape has changed, making these two films “before” and “after” portraits of a once-mighty publishing industry and one that is now struggling to survive.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 follows its good-natured protagonist Andy (Anne Hathaway) as she returns to the lion’s den, hired – much to Priestly’s chagrin – as Runway’s new features editor. It does a good job of maintaining Priestly as an intimidating presence, albeit no longer commanding the power and influence she once did.
Honourable mentions: Spider-Man: Homecoming (film, out now), Spider-Man: Far from Home (film, out now), Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (film, out now), The Amazing Spider-Man 1-2 (film, out now), Dirty Dancing (film, out now), The Hunger Games 1-4 (film, 2 July), Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (film, 2 July), Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston (TV, 23 July), Furious (TV, 27 July).
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Apple TV
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Lucky
TV, US, 2026 - out 15 July
Returning to the small screen for her first TV lead role since The Queen’s Gambit – which catapulted her to stardom – Anya Taylor-Joy plays a former con artist, Lucky Armstrong, in this seven-part crime thriller. Rehashing the old “heist goes wrong” premise, the story sounds like a zillion other action-thrillers, the protagonist forced on to the run from FBI agents and dangerous criminals. So I guess it’ll come down to the execution. The trailer promises plenty of running, sirens and heavy breathing.
Honourable mentions: Silo season 3 (TV, 3 July), Trying season 5 (TV, 8 July), The Dink (film, 24 July).
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