Monthly Watchlist: Trippy Time-Travelling, Horror with Magic, and Flamboyant Fun on Our Screens this September
PUBLISHED September 9th, 2022 06:00 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 02:30 pm
Not sure what to watch and dreading the scroll-searching across streaming platforms? Let your hair down and check out what we have on our screens this month! Whether you’re looking to wind down with a good laugh or immerse yourself in a thrilling mystery, we’ve got a pick for all tastes and fancies.
Emily’s Pick: Reset (2022)
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi
If you enjoy films featuring time loops, you’ll definitely want to catch the 15-episode Reset. Featuring Bai Jingting and Angel Zhao (alongside veterans like Liu Tao and Liu Yijun in supporting roles), the protagonists are stuck on a public bus, wherein the time loop resets when the bus explodes. Strangers in the beginning, the youthful pair strike up a partnership when they realise only the both of them are aware of their predicament and make multiple attempts to save their own lives.
Reset is available for streaming on Netflix.
Kim’s Pick: Locke & Key (2020 – 2022)
Genre: Horror Fiction
After moving back to their ancestral estate, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode Locke start finding magical keys that lead to discoveries about their father’s death. Despite the fantasical themes and young characters, Locke & Key is very much not a children’s show. Delving into dark topics that keep you hooked on the main mystery, each character behaves in ways realistic to their age and personality, with the short-comings that accompany that realism. For Kim, Tyler Locke remains the true star as his love and devotion towards the ones he cares about shines through throughout.
Locke & Key is available for streaming on Netflix.
Leo’s Pick: Russian Doll (2019 – )
Genre: Drama, Dark Comedy
After a pandemic-mandated hiatus, Russian Doll is back for a much-awaited second season. Years after the final climax and seeming resolution to the mind-bending events of the first season, Nadia suddenly finds herself thrown across time, swooping through both the 80s and the 1800s to revisit the uneasy what-ifs of her life. Though a little frustrating given the regression from the growth we witnessed earlier, time-travel is again used brilliantly to highlight the freezing effect of trauma and how we fail those around us as a result, and this time, also giving a deeper insights into the instability of Nadia’s mother.
Russian Doll is available for streaming on Netflix.
Tanisha’s Pick: Ugly Betty (2006 – 2010)
Genre: Dramedy
Beauty is only skin-deep – or is it? Ugly Betty explores the story of what happens when a traditionally unattractive girl takes a step into the deeply beauty-biased fashion industry. Landing a job at Mode – the hottest fashion magazine – Betty wades through the judgemental yet somehow charming experience of being in the business of beauty, meeting intriguing personalities and getting into funky hijinks as she does so. For Tanisha, the assistant-manager dynamic of Marc St. James and Wilhelmina Slater perfects the viewing experience, with a greater dimension to their character hidden underneath their personalities on the surface.
Ugly Betty is available for streaming on Disney+.
Wen Jing’s Pick: The French Dispatch (2021)
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Inspired by Wes Anderson’s love for The New Yorker, The French Dispatch follows the aftermath of the death of Arthur Howitzer Jr., the editor of film’s namesake. The film showcases 4 different tales – The Cycling Reporter, The Concrete Masterpiece, Revisions to a Manifesto, and The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner – followed by an obituary dedicated to the beloved and deceased editor, with Anderson’s classic whimisical flair of course. While the film is filled with talented actors, Timothée Chalamet stole the show for Wen Jing, with his knockout performance of an arrogant yet charming leader of the liberation movement.
The French Dispatch is available for streaming on Disney+.
Top Image: Locke & Key
