Best new movies and TV series on Amazon Prime Video NZ: November 2024

Each month, new films and TV shows are added to Amazon Prime Video’s New Zealand library. Eliza Janssen presents her picks for titles worth watching. For the full list of everything arriving on the platform, scroll down.

Top picks: TV

Citadel: Honey Bunny: Season 1 (November 7)

Amazon still has its fingers crossed that the super-expensive Citadel series can rise to take over the world, following up last month’s spin-off Diana with this new, Mumbai-set edition of espionage thrills. The iteration has a few things going for it, namely a vibrant 90s setting and some Bollywood flavour, courtesy of Indian directing team Raj and DK. It’s also a prequel, showing the origins of the duelling spy factions that have dominated the world of the show…if not the memories or small screens of viewers. Hopefully newcomers to the “Citadel universe” who missed last year’s first chapter can jump right in without too much research to be done.

Cross: Season 1 (November 14)

A family man, a detective, a PHD in psychology, and—at various points ever since James Patterson first wrote him into existence, Morgan Freeman, Tyler Perry, and now Aldis Hodge: Alex Cross is truly a man of many facets. With Hodge suiting up as the determined cop for this episodic adaptation, literary crime fans will get an extended session with one of the most dependable thriller protagonists around. This time, the D.C. homicide cop is on the trail of a sadistic serial killer, with Cross obviously uncovering a dark connection between the fresh slayings and his late wife’s passing. Hodge is one of those talents who’s deserved a big, juicy lead role for a while now, able to switch fluidly from sympathy to intimidation: he’ll certainly do Patterson’s much-adapted hero justice.

Cruel Intentions: Season 1 (November 21)

Don’t be too mad that your fave, misanthropic 90s teen drama is getting remade in TV form, replete with a dancey cover of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” soundtracking the above trailer: after all, even that biting movie was a modernised adaptation of a dirty French novel from the 1780s. Some things never go out of style, it turns out, such as college rivalries and the cruel games that bored, rich, attractive people can play. “You know that there are no lines between us, dear brother”, purrs one of the new Belmont step-siblings to the other: “that’s what makes it so fun.” Expect classic moments of backstabbing and seduction, with some new social mores and inclusive characterisations thrown in.

Top picks: Movies

Borderlands (November 1)

An all-star cast led by Cate Bloody Blanchett, a peppy and unique video game world to adapt, and an edgy horror director at the helm: what could go wrong? As you might have gleaned from reviews of Borderlands, almost everything. But hey, with one of the year’s most prominent cinematic missteps now available to stream from home, perhaps you’ll find some moments worth redeeming here. Luke Buckmaster’s review was mostly negative, but drew some attention to the movie’s hyperactive aesthetic: “Eli Roth’s pulp-splattered action spectacle feels, despite its ancestry, more comic book than video game, with a highly sculpted junkyard look contrasting earthy tones and electric colours.” Nice to look at, then, rather than to try and enjoy as a cohesive narrative product.

My Old Ass (November 9)

What pearls of wisdom do you wish you could’ve heard at a younger age, preferably from your own wizened self on the other side of so many life experiences? In this high-concept yet laid-back coming-of-age hit, a stoned teen gets to learn those very lessons…and she’s lucky enough that her future self happens to be Aubrey Plaza. Director Megan Park has to employ some excusable nonsense-logic to make sure the teen and thirty-something versions of the same character can keep communicating after their first trippy encounter, but the vibe is immaculate, bouncing capably between big laughs and some tear-jerking moments.

Civil War (November 29)

Alex Garland’s story of war journalists facing the downfall of the United States is a tricky one: I was ultimately disappointed and a bit annoyed by it, but it generated discussion that well outlasted the movie’s confusing character turns and flimsy vision of a future we can all vividly picture. Luke Buckmaster felt much more strongly about the movie’s good qualities, namely the heart-in-throat action scenes that our protagonists must battle through whilst trying to maintain journalistic objectivity. And we agreed upon the strength of the film’s acting, with Kirsten Dunst starring as a photographer whose faith in the truth gets irrevocably shaken: “All the performers impress, particularly Dunst: there’s a terrible heaviness to her presence, and a glaze in her eyes that’s difficult to shake.”