Each month, lots of new films and TV shows are added to Stan‘s library. Eliza Janssen surveys the month’s selections and picks for titles most worth watching. For the full list of everything arriving on the platform, scroll down.
Top Picks: TV
Critical Incident: Limited Series (August 12)
Lines are crossed, and faith in the criminal justice system gets broken beyond repair, in this riveting new Australian series. The protagonists are a so-called “good cop” and a troubled teen living in a group home, whose lives are thrown together by being on opposite sides of the law, their unlikely connection galvanised by an accident they cause during a chase through Blacktown.
There’s a feeling of real grit here, and more than a few action sequences that’ll have you holding your breath right up until the sixth and final explosive episode. I really enjoyed my early watch of the cop drama; you can check out the full review here.
Queerstralia (August 17)
It’s odd that this docuseries—all about the untold, vibrant, and important history of queer people in Australia—didn’t drop on Stan in time for Pride Month…but it’s got the incorrigible comedian and “professional lesbian” Zoë Coombs Marr as its host, so we can’t be too mad.
Over three episodes, the non-fiction show promises to unveil such wild and wonderful characters as “gay diggers, lesbian convict gangs” and “cross-dressing bushrangers”—in short, the kind of colourful and brave tales that haven’t been typically celebrated in the nation’s history books.
Boarders: Season 1 (August 23)
A prestigious British boarding school comes under fire for a problematic viral video, and seeks to paper over the controversy by awarding scholarships to five talented Black students. From this place of tokenism comes real change, hopefully, but whether it’s for the better or worse for each of these unfamiliar new kids remains to be seen, in the first six-episode season of this provocative UK dramedy.
A second season has already been announced, so prepare to stick with these anxious characters for the long run.
Top Picks: Movies + Specials
Almost Famous (August 4)
Are you constantly whinging about how music ain’t as good as it used to be, or that you were born in the wrong generation? Cameron Crowe’s 2000s drama is a road trip through rock n’ roll history, following a rookie Rolling Stone reporter, a gorgeous groupie (Kate Hudson), and the fictional band Stillwater on an existential adventure that only plays the hits.
There are semi-autobiographical moments here, drawn from Crowe’s own work as a teen music journo, and a banging 1970s soundtrack—that bus singalong of “Tiny Dancer” always manages to force a smile out of us, just as it does for the film’s weary, hard-partying characters.
Dragged Across Concrete (August 20)
Man is this a nasty, mean-spirited crime thriller. Director S. Craig Zahler holds no punches (that brutal bank robbery scene!) in his modern take on pulpy cop dramas of the 1970s, casting Vince Vaughn and Mel Gibson as thuggish cops who branch out into the other side of the law after being suspended for excessive violence.
The filmmaker’s disinterest in sensitivity and his two troubled leads can make the whole project feel like some sinister conservative dogwhistle, released in 2018 during a period of heightening awareness around police brutality. But there’s no dying that it works as a gutsy, dark cop story.
Moonfall (August 30)
The definition of “does what it says on the tin” cinema. Disaster movie maestro Roland Emmerich directs this sci-fi blockbuster with brainless gusto, pitting Patrick Wilson and Halle Berry against the gotdamn moon, on a sloooww collision course with earth. There’s stressed-out science nerd characters, massive sequences of gravity-bending destruction, and more than a little Lexus product placement…and I can’t get enough of it.
Another reason to watch? It features a disgracefully short, phoned-in performance from the late, great Donald Sutherland.
All titles arriving on Stan in August
August 1
The Trust
Ingeborg Bachmann: Journey Into The Desert
August 2
Shut Eye: Seasons 1-2
August 3
Stand By Me
Blackbird
August 4
Almost Famous
I’m Your Man
August 5
The Promise
The Goddess of Fortune
August 6
The TikTok Effect: Premiere
Seberg
August 7
Anne Boleyn: Season 1
August 8
Nowhere Special
Casanova’s Return
August 9
The House Bunny
Super Grover 2.0: Season 1
The Durrells: Seasons 1-4
August 10
Panic Room
Fireman Sam: Season 14
August 11
White Riot
Antoinette In The Cevennes
August 12
Critical Incident: Season 1 Premiere
August 13
Bandslam
Heroic Losers
August 14
Sorry We Missed You
Fortunata (Lucky)
August 15
Nature’s Great Divide: Season 1
August 16
Bel Air: Season 3 Premiere
RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars: Season 1 Premiere
The Devil’s Own (1997)
August 17
Galveston
Bob The Builder (Ready, Steady, Build!): Season 1
Queerstralia: Season 1
August 18
The Fall of the House of Murdaugh: Season 1 Premiere
For Your Consideration
August 19
Traces: Season 2
August 20
Dragged Across Concrete
If Only
August 21
The Present: Premiere
Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel
Never Gonna Snow Again
August 22
What Men Want
A Dog’s World: Season 1
August 23
Boarders: Season 1 Premiere
Hook
Hope Springs
August 24
The Body Next Door: Premiere
Donnie Brasco
Thomas and Friends: Race for Sodor Cup
August 25
Farming
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
August 26
Wishlist
A Hundred Flowers
August 27
Smother: Seasons 1-3
August 28
$9.99
Octonauts: Marina Trench Adventure
August 29
Sex, Knives and Liposuction
A Friendly Tale
August 30
Moonfall
Carrie (2013)
August 31
Hotel Transylvania: Season 1
Fabian: Going To The Dogs
See also
* Best new movies and TV series on Netflix Australia
* Best new movies and TV series on Amazon Prime
* Best new movies and TV series on Disney+
* All new streaming movies & series
