JUNGLE CRUISE
Disney+
IF you take the swash-buckling colonialism of Indiana Jones, mix in a spoonful of Pirates Of The Caribbean and African Queen, and a healthy dose of comedy, you've got Jungle Cruise.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has tackled some diverse roles since he exited the wrestling ring for Hollywood, but an Amazonian steamboat captain might be his most surprising.
Jungle Cruise is inspired by the Disneyland theme park ride and has all the spills and cartoonish thrills you'd come to expect.
The film is set in 1916 and follows British scientist Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) and her aristocratic brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) on their quest to discover the Tree Of Life deep in the Amazon jungle. On their travels they meet Frank Wolff (Johnson), a cynical scam artist who enjoys frightening tourists on river cruises.
There's your quintessential Nazi bad guy, comically played by Jesse Plemons and Édgar Ramirez appears as a ghostly conquistador.
Jungle Cruise looks amazing, especially the visual presentation of First World War London and colonial Brazilian riverports.
Johnson and Blunt's chemistry is natural and it's refreshing to see the female lead as brave and no-nonsense butt-kicker. However, Jungle Cruise gets weighed down by its silliness and the plot suffers from a lack of originality. But for pure family fun, Jungle Cruise is worth a ticket.
THE MOTH EFFECT
Amazon Prime
AUSTRALIAN TV has a history of fantastic sketch comedy. The likes of Fast Forward, Full Frontal and Big Bite launched the careers of Eric Bana, Shaun Micallef and Chris Lilley and kept audience laughing and outraged.
Bondi Hipsters co-creater Nick Boshier and Tonightly's Jazz Twemlow have come together to relaunch the genre in Australia with six-part series The Moth Effect. The duo are joined by an ensemble cast and high-profile special guests like Bryan Brown, David Wenham, Miranda Otto, Brooke Boney and Jack Thompson.
Like all stretch comedy, a lot is thrown at the wall, but not everything sticks. Their satire about how companies use social issues for marketing is on point, but a skit about a hero time traveller committing incest to stop Hitler is daft.
Fans of the Bondi Hipsters will relate to the wacky socio-political brand of humour at the heart of The Moth Effect.
MCCARTNEY 3, 2, 1
Disney+
PUT the legendary Sir Paul McCartney and US producer Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash) in a room together and let them talk music. It's a simple idea for a documentary series, but it's sure-fire winner.
With a black and white aesthetic and minimal archival footage, McCartney 3, 2, 1 doesn't try to dazzle the viewer, it merely allows McCartney and Rubin's vast knowledge to entertain.
Rubin acts an inquisitive fan, gently probing McCartney on The Beatles and his solo work as they deep dive into classic songs together. One of the intriguing moments include Rubin isolating the competing guitar tracks in George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps, something McCartney wasn't even aware of.
Some of the discussions are overly technical, but anyone with an elementary knowledge of music will find it fascinating to hear McCartney and Rubin analyse The Beatles.