Each month, new films and TV shows are added to Disney+‘s Australian library. Here’s Eliza Janssen’s recommendations for the titles most worth watching. Scroll down for the full list of everything arriving on the platform.
Top picks
What If…? (August 11)
Marvel’s continuity is already near-meaningless at the moment, with characters able to ping back to life from other realities, or to kindly hand their mantles off to Phase Four descendants with a smile. In any case, this animated super-series invites us to imagine further transformations of the IP, each episode pondering an alternate version of each hero’s origin story. Like, what if Tony Stark and Killmonger were good buds? What if Howard the Duck was…cool?
Jeffrey Wright’s sonorous narration as The Watcher will guide us through each vision, rendered in slick graphic-novel-esque animation. Series creator A.C. Bradley has hilariously described Wright’s omniscient role as akin to “a guy watching a rat drag a slice of pizza across the platform. He has no interest in becoming friends with the rat, living amongst the rat, or doing rat things. He just goes, ‘Man, this is remarkable. Look at the little guy go!’ That is The Watcher’s relationship with humanity.”
The Empty Man (August 25)
This existential horror movie has been through development hell and back, being the last film to feature the 20th Century Fox logo before its cerebral, nightmarish vision begins. Finally, four years after production wrapped, it has been able to build a respectable cult following, which is appropriate enough because the plot concerns a spooky cult who assemble around the legend of the titular entity.
The film’s superficial plot sounds simple enough (an ex-cop, played by James Badge Dale, must solve the disappearance of a friend’s daughter and uncover the origins of the Empty Man), but, as any good horror movie killer knows, it’s all in the execution. Watching from home, you can totally tell why a big movie studio was nervous about releasing this twisty and sometimes unsatisfying journey into darkness, but that complexity is also what makes the terror worthwhile.
Only Murders In The Building (August 31)
Whether you’re a true crime obsessive or the kind who finds that sort of a thing ghoulish and disrespectful, you’ll probably find something to love in this Star original either way. It’s a mystery-comedy starring Selena Gomez and real-life buddies Steve Martin and Martin Short as a trio of amateur sleuths who are perhaps inappropriately excited when one of their own neighbours is found dead.
Martin also created the series with comedian John Hoffman, and the first of its ten episodes is directed by Jamie Babbit, who made one of my fave comedies—But I’m A Cheerleader. Sounds cheery, no? Maybe the series can act as a refreshing snack in between your usual traumatising murder docos, or as a nice way to break up a harrowing viewing of The Empty Man (above). Expect intergenerational friendship, and maybe even (fingers crossed) some impromptu banjo action.
All new titles arriving on Disney+ Australia in August
August 4
Short Circuit – Season 2
Disney Junior Muppet Babies – Season 3
August 6
Hip Hop Uncovered – Season 1
A Wilderness Of Error – Season 1
Hysterical (2021)
Criminal Minds – Season 15
Black Widow (1987)
Impact With Gal Gadot – Season 1
Sharks Vs. Dolphins: Blood Battle
August 11
WHAT IF…?
August 13
The Predator (2018)
August 18
Gigantosaurus – Season 2
Growing Up Animal – Season 1
August 20
The Empty Man
August 27
Vacation Friends
Cruella
Disney Princess Remixed: An Ultimate Princess Celebration
August 31
Only Murders in the Building
See also
* Best new movies and TV series on Netflix
* Best new movies and TV series on Stan
* Best new movies and TV series on Prime Video
* All new streaming movies & series
