Neon continues to bring in a convoy of quality shows and films. See our handpicked highlights below followed by the full release schedule.
Top picks: TV
True Detective: Night Country (January 15)
The newest season of HBO’s anthology crime series is onto something clever by casting Clarice Starling herself as its latest protagonist. Jodie Foster will bring a new sheen of prestige to the show as an Alaskan cop trying to figure out where eight Arctic researchers disappeared to. With frosty landscapes, a chilling noir plot, and a supporting cast that includes Kali Reis, John Hawkes, and Christopher Eccleston, this is one to look forward to every week—even if it’s sweltering and sunny outside.
Belgravia: The Next Chapter (January 16)
Writer and creator Julian Fellowes is the current king of hoity-toity period drama, and his fans will be ever so chuffed to have new chapters in this 1870s-set franchise. The sequel series follows the romance of Lord Frederick Trenchard and Clara Dunn, whose marriage soon comes under threat from long-buried secrets and scandalous high-society murmurings. One to chortle over all summer with a cup of tea, methinks!
Prodigal Son: Seasons 1-2 (January 24)
I’ve gotta be real with you: I’ve never heard of this crime procedural series in my life, and now that it’s been cancelled, we have no hope of attaining any big, satisfying conclusion to its perp-busting arcs. But! It has a compelling plot—with the son of a famous serial killer helping cops solve current murder cases—and a fab cast, with an unhinged Michael Sheen as the homicidal dad. Alive and in custody, he’s an unexpected asset to his son’s twisty, complicated investigations.
Top picks: Movies
Joy Ride (January 1)
If you missed this raunchy rom-com while it was in cinemas, Cat Woods’ review is plenty of reason to check it out, now that it’ll be streaming on Amazon. Our critic ate up director Adele Lim’s tale of Asian-American buddies trying to find their roots…but getting caught up in a drug-addled, K-Pop singing, dude-stalking adventure instead. “Lim fearlessly treads into deep water when she creates characters and storylines”, Woods praised, “equally drawing upon the clichéd depictions of Asian Americans (the restaurant owner, the martial artist, the hyper-judgemental mother, the working-class Chinese girl who must prove her worth in a white world through beauty and intellect).” Clever, convention-busting comedy.
Time Bomb Y2K (January 9)
With the tagline “the end of the world as we knew it”, this HBO original doco promises to illuminate—and perhaps poke a lil bit of fun at—the global paranoia sparked by the turn of the millennium. Would all our devices freak tf out and bring an end to things, purely by being confused at how to process the new era’s date?! Turns out the answer was nah, but watching our past selves scurry in terror, sometimes devolving into doomsday prepper conspiracy, should be fascinating.
Renfield (January 30)
Cage-aholic Luke Buckmaster called this spooky comedy a “rare, truly modern monster movie”—perhaps because it dares to delve into the problematic workplace politics of being the undying slave of literal Dracula. “Played by a Bela Lugosi-channeling Nicolas Cage”, Luke said of the vampiric baddie, this remixed character “has been outed as a toxic male, with a terrible managerial style and blood-draining arseholery that has no place in the modern world.” Might be worth a watch once you’ve enjoyed time away from your own boss after the Christmas hols.
Everything Coming to Neon this January
January 1
Fast X
Joy Ride
When You Finish Saving the World
January 2
Bank of Dave
Johnny English
Johnny English Strikes Again
January 3
Belgravia: Season 1
Definitely, Maybe
Rugrats: Season 1
January 4
One Day as a Lion
Transformers: Ride of the Beasts
January 5
Bump: Season 4
Ocean’s Eleven
Ocean’s Twelve
Ocean’s 13
January 6
The Magic Flute
Nella The Princess Knight: Seasons 1-2
January 7
Django Unchained
January 8
Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: Season 2
Ben 10 Vs. The Universe: The Movie
Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens
Father’s Day
Pork Pie
The Thing About Pam: Season 1
January 9
Time Bomb Y2K
January 10
Leap Year
January 11
Frank of Ireland
Viva Las Vegas
January 12
Jesus Revolution
The Powerpuff Girls: Season 3
January 13
The Adults
The Inspection
Steven Universe Future: Season 1
Steven Universe: The Movie
Swallows and Amazons
January 14
Quantum Leap: Season 2A
War of the Worlds
January 15
Private Benjamin
True Detective: Night Country
January 16
Belgravia: The Next Chapter
January 18
The Charlotte Show: Season 3
January 19
The Amazing World of Gumball: Darwin’s Yearbook
Evil Dead Rise
Love Again
January 20
Bee Movie
Four For Texas
Real Time with Bill Maher: Season 22
January 21
Moneyball
January 23
Law & Order: Organised Crime: Season 4
To Catch A Killer
January 24
Dave
Prodigal Son: Seasons 1-2
January 25
Escape Plan 2: Hades
January 26
The Endgame: Season 1
Pulp Fiction
January 27
The Big Trip
Class of 3000
January 28
Desperado
January 30
Renfield
January 31
Girl Happy
It Happened at the World’s Fair
