Pick of the week
Those About to Die
The last days are upon Rome, a “cesspool of corruption and decay”. While the long-suffering populace wait for unreliable grain ships to arrive, the brutality of the extreme spectacles in the Flavian Amphitheatre distracts them from their misery. This epic drama focuses on the political machinations around Emperor Vespasian (Anthony Hopkins), his two no-good sons, the dubious bookmaker Tenax (Iwan Rheon), his gladiator friend Scorpus (Dimitri Leonidas) and the slaves and underlings doomed to do their bidding. It is gratuitously maximalist, but some of the money lavished on production might have been better spent on honing a slightly clunky script.
Prime Video UK and Ireland, from Friday 19 July
***
Lady in the Lake
Laura Lippman’s 2019 novel about two women in 1960s Baltimore – one Black, one Jewish – gets a noirish, evocative and beautifully staged adaptation courtesy of director Alma Har’el. When a Jewish child goes missing just before Thanksgiving, it triggers a crisis for anguished housewife Maddie Schwartz (Natalie Portman) who leaves her family to help look for the girl. This takes Maddie into the world of smart but struggling Cleo Sherwood (Moses Ingram) who is attempting to shepherd her young family through Baltimore’s underbelly. The story becomes simultaneously gritty and mildly surreal.
Apple TV+, from Friday 19 July
***
Simone Biles Rising
The knowledge of Simone Biles’s brilliance made her struggles at the Olympics in 2020 hard to watch but extremely illuminating. By showing her flaws, she was also highlighting her earlier virtuosity. This four-part documentary offers more context still: it’s an insight into the extreme levels of discipline required to succeed as a gymnast and, sometimes uncomfortably, how it feels when it starts to fall apart. However, there’s redemption too as Biles finds happiness in her personal life and prepares to “write her own ending” at the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Netflix, from Wednesday 17 July
***
Orlando Bloom: To the Edge
Actor Orlando Bloom is a self-proclaimed danger junkie. Across three episodes, this series sees him travel to exotic locations and attempt wingsuiting, deep sinkhole plunging and rock climbing as he chases the most intense adrenaline buzz. Observing the training processes involved will appeal to devotees of extreme sports but, a lot of the time, it feels more than a little self-indulgent – like watching a man enjoying a very expensive gap year. Expect plenty of buzzwords about stepping out of comfort zones and a few moments of hokey jeopardy.
U, from Tuesday 16 July
***
Cobra Kai
There’s a final bout of tongue-in-cheek karate action as this film spin-off begins its concluding season. As we return to the Valley, all seems calm: the Cobra Kai dojo has been eliminated and excitement is building ahead of the Sekai Taikai world championship. But inevitably, as preparations continue there’s unease. Could an old adversary be gearing up for one last battle? As ever, Cobra Kai manages to have its cake and eat it, simultaneously working as a parody of a cheesy martial arts drama and a prime example of the genre.
Netflix, from Thursday 18 July
***
Quantum Leap
There’s a paradoxical quality to a time-travel drama that, as a reboot, trades off nostalgia – as we’ve seen, while he mainly lives in the past, the future also isn’t entirely out of bounds for Raymond Lee’s Dr Ben Song. This season sees Song meeting aliens in Area 51 and materialising in the middle of situations ranging from tense cold war standoffs to bank robberies. The series is ending after this latest run of episodes, which is a shame, as Lee has brought real heart to his bumbling everyman hero. But then again, who can guess what the future of nostalgia may hold?
Paramount+, from Thursday 18 July
***
Omnivore
As the founder of Noma in Copenhagen – which has won multiple Michelin stars and prides itself on its record for sustainability – chef René Redzepi is well placed to narrate this exploration of the myriad dimensions of food. Taking common foods (banana, pork, chilli and more) and examining them from sociological and political perspectives, Omnivore works as a culinary map of the world. It offers some troubling peeks into the future, too: are we ready for the ways changing monsoon patterns might affect world rice production?
Apple TV+, from Friday 19 July
