What to stream this week: A clock-ticking Netflix nuclear thriller and five more picks

This week’s picks include a nuclear thriller from the director of Zero Dark Thirty, Jason Clarke’s new drama (another one), the mad Werner Herzog doco and the delightful rom-com anthology Love Life.

A House of Dynamite ★★★★ (Netflix)

In Kathryn Bigelow’s propulsive nuclear thriller, it takes 18 minutes for the ordinary to become the unthinkable: a single intercontinental ballistic missile has been launched from somewhere in the Pacific, America’s military apparatus kicks in, and the target is confirmed as the city of Chicago. Initial deaths in the millions are projected, culpability is assessed, and a possibly apocalyptic counterstrike is debated. The desk banter and calm professionalism give way to horrifying realisations.

With gripping efficiency, Bigelow moves the film through this countdown repeatedly, rising up the chain of command. It begins at an Alaskan missile base, with Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos) as the first responder, then the White House situation room where Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) and her team monitor the globe.

Then the clock resets to follow the high-ranking officials previously heard as voices in hasty calls, including General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts), before the final round with an unnamed president (Idris Elba) and his defence secretary (Jared Harris).

The heyday of nuclear conflict thrillers was 1964, when the grim collateral damage of Sidney Lumet’s Fail Safe and the megaton satire of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove were released. All these decades on, and the American system is even more expansive but still flawed – a senior leader learning that a $US50 billion defence system successfully works only half the time is a moment of black comedy in a nail-biting narrative. Once the line is crossed, you realise, devastating escalation becomes the default response.

Bigelow (Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty) is the ideal director for this story. Her visual technique is masterful, constantly compressing detail and capturing intimate responses. Bigelow’s fascination with how far those who diligently wield a nation’s force can be pushed finds its ultimate expression here. Everyone does their job, even as they acknowledge what is about to likely happen, and it’s not enough. Power and certainty push upwards, until it’s Elba’s shaken POTUS being pulled out of a media-friendly public appearance to assess retaliatory options. He’s not ready. Who would be?

Repeating the same span of time from different perspectives should deflate the suspense, but it only grows more intense with each pass. The moments of familial regret and personal communication the characters allow themselves adds flecks of humanity, which only emphasises the imminent ramifications. Even though we’re onlookers to this nightmarish American exceptionalism, the global fragility in this what-if scenario is unavoidable as Bigelow and her crew expertly take you to the brink. “This is insanity,” the president exclaims. Brady replies: “This is reality.” In a House of Dynamite, they’re both right.

Murdaugh: Death in the Family ★★½ (Disney+)

An eight-part true crime drama, this limited series about Alex Murdaugh, the privileged South Carolina lawyer whose ever-worsening criminal deeds led to a highly public downfall, is straightforward, professional, and easy to abide. What it lacks is surprise, genuine insight or a broader historic purpose. A powerful man from a powerful family spins out of control, tries to pervert justice and the fallout is terrible. It’s the norm in the 21st century.

First seen on the night of June 7, 2021, when he discovers his wife Maggie (Patricia Arquette) and 22-year-old son Paul (Johnn Berchtold) shot dead at the family’s hunting lodge, Alex (Jason Clarke) is a good ol’ boy with a bad attitude. Professionally corrupt and personal flawed, he knows everyone and makes sure everyone knows the family’s sway: “The truth is irrelevant,” Alex tells his oldest son, Buster (Will Harrison). “You’re a Murdaugh.”

Doused in all kinds of southern comforts, the show has an over-qualified cast for this kind of tarnished transcription. Alex is florid catnip for Clarke’s facility with crooked villains, while J. Smith-Cameron (Succession) and Noah Emmerich (The Americans) fill out underdone supporting roles and Brittany Snow plays Mandy Matney, the local journalist who pursued the scandal and created the source material. The horrible revelations steadily accumulate, and the entitlement grows nauseous, but the storytelling is workmanlike. Ticking boxes isn’t enough in this genre any more.

Reformed ★★★★ (HBO Max)

A first job out of college is a genuine test of faith in this is wryly engaging French comic-drama, which follows a young rabbi, Lea Schmoll (Elsa Guedj), who genuinely wants to help her Jewish congregation but lacks confidence and experience. The half-hour episodes are invested in spiritual practice and loving family friction – Lea’s psychologist father, Andre (Eric Elmosnino), considers her career choice a personal affront. Set in Strasbourg, Reformed is attentive to personal stakes yet rarely overdoes the bittersweet or sitcom crises. This low-key, thoughtful show is a welcome change of pace.

Burden of Dreams ★★★★(DocPlay)

Newly restored, this 1982 documentary remains a telling inquiry into the obsession and excess of the filmmaking process. Director Les Blank follows German filmmaker Werner Herzog through the production of Fitzcarraldo, a period epic shot on location along the Amazon River in the Peruvian jungle. Months give way to years as the setbacks mount up and Herzog ages before your eyes. There are moments of black comedy, and an unhinged leading man in Klaus Kinski, but beyond that is Herzog’s worrying commitment to physically creating wilfully difficult images whatever the cost.

Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy ★★★(Binge)

It’s a stretch to call a show about an infamous serial killer a balm, but nonetheless after the ludicrous, offensive failure that was Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story this limited series is a necessary, albeit chilling, course correction for the genre.

Created by Patrick Macmanus (The Girl from Plainville), it’s primarily a procedural study of how individual evil can navigate the everyday world. You don’t witness the many murders of Gacy (Michael Chernus), but you get a sense of his victims and the immense pain left in Gacy’s wake. I appreciated the care and professionalism.

Love Life ★★★½ (Netflix)

Available on Netflix for the first time, the two seasons of this romantic-comedy anthology – the first starring Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect), the second William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) – follow their protagonist through the years and over the ups and down of romantic entanglement. It can be charming and mellifluous, but it’s also willing to engage with questionable rationalisations, infidelity and the fears that underpin bad decisions. While the second season has sharper elbows, both instalments are willing to uncomfortably bend the romantic-comedy without breaking it.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.