Pick of the week
The Sandman
A screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s series of dark graphic novels has proved a struggle for film-makers but, finally, a streaming version has made it into the world. It’s beautifully realised, too; it starts as the story of a rich, reckless man (Charles Dance’s Sir Roderick Burgess) reaching for eternity and summoning forces he can’t control. During an occult ritual, he conjures Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), the anthropomorphic incarnation of sleep and dreaming. Morpheus is imprisoned but, eventually, this supernatural being finds his way out of captivity. And there are plenty more terrifying god-creatures where he came from, with an infinite capacity to infiltrate human minds. Netflix, from Friday 5 August
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Beavis and Butt-Head
More than a decade has passed since Mike Judge’s slacker miscreants last appeared on our screens. But much like the recently returning Jackass team, they haven’t done much learning while they’ve been away – and they’re all the better for it. Unlike Johnny Knoxville’s troupe, Beavis and Butt-Head haven’t aged at all. Instead, they must endure eternal adolescence. The lads are still reluctantly at school, they still dig AC/DC and Metallica, and they still do accidental battle with wholesome American values in between long spells on the couch, grunting and semi-sniggering at each other. Netflix, from Wednesday 3 August
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Rugrats
The much-loved 90s kids show gets a reboot – and this new version has made a virtue out of playing it safe. Certainly, no childhood memories will be tainted if the original Rugrats generation decide to try out the show on their own kids. Led, as ever, by the intrepid Tommy Pickles (voiced by EG Daily), the animated gang are embarking on a series of much bigger adventures; in the hour-long opening episode, Chuckie (Nancy Cartwright) gets into bother with some dinosaurs and a rescue party is convened. Paramount+, from Monday 1 August
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The Fatal Attraction Murder
The problem with equating a real-life murder case with a fictional one is obvious: on some level, it makes an assumption of guilt. This was the problem facing Carolyn Warmus, who was convicted for the murder of her lover’s wife in 1992 – the case was so similar to the plot of the titular 1987 film that many people jumped to the obvious conclusion. Warmus spent decades in prison for a crime she remained adamant she didn’t commit. This three-part true-crime serial returns to the case but, ultimately, leaves judgment about Warmus’s guilt up to the viewer. Peacock, from Monday 1 August
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Clusterf**k: Woodstock ’99
Peace and love? Not so much. The Woodstock festival of 1999 was conceived as a recreation of the legendary peak-hippy 1969 original. But it wound up as a cross between Fyre festival and Lord of the Flies – with added violence, arson and squalor. Utter carnage, then, which is explored in this three-part documentary. From not providing free water to allowing Limp Bizkit to perform, it’s hard to do justice to the scale of the mistakes made. The whole travesty would have a darkly comic edge if not for the trauma inflicted on many attenders. Netflix, from Wednesday 3 August
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Arsenal: All Or Nothing
Let’s be honest, in Arsenal’s case it’s usually nothing. But as ever, Gooners live in hope as the adaptable Amazon sports documentary franchise makes its way to Ashburton Grove to follow the team’s latest doomed attempt to finish fourth in the Premier League. The 2021/22 season was a turbulent one for Arsenal, containing fragments of hope but also an FA Cup humbling by Championship team Nottingham Forest and the controversial departure of captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Amazon Prime Video, from Thursday 4 August
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Good Grief
Death and laughter are surprisingly good companions; this New Zealand comedy leans into the horror and humour of constant proximity to mortality and finds absurdity and pathos. As season two begins, it’s all change at the Loving Tributes funeral home run by sisters Ellie and Gwen (Eve and Grace Palmer, who co-write the show with Nick Schaedel). For a start, there’s a funeral close to home – which is nearly sabotaged by hearse driver Beau (Vinnie Bennett) and his decision to perform a rap tribute. Sundance Now via Amazon Prime, from Thursday 4 August
