What I’d watch this month on a Qantas flight (March 2025)

This papal thriller is surprisingly hilarious. It is ultimately a bunch of grown men in their seminary robes gossipping for two hours. Cinematically it is beautiful, which is wasted on the terrible in-flight entertainment screens, but it is a low stakes, gripping film to occupy your eyeballs in the air.

If you have even a hint of slavic in you Anora will tickle a spot in your brain. Despite being based in the US and centering around Brooklyn based Ani, the humour wonderfully showcases the brash, sarcastic, and heartfelt nature of the slavic people. I saw hints of my own family in the Russian oligarch’s network. It's charming really. But, even if you’re not rooted in eastern Europe, Anora is a great watch. The time just flies by while you watch two hours of anarchy and sass between a delinquent with too much money, and a self-empowered dancer wanting to break out of her current life, with whatever force necessary.

I haven’t seen this but it seems like everyone else has. While I loved the campiness of Death Becomes Her, which is basically the more light hearted 80s version of this film, The Substance is much darker both thematically and visually. Realistically, I have probably waited too long to watch this on a nice screen so if you’re in the same boat (or plane) as me, then your Qantas flight is just as good a time as any.

I’m going to be straight with you here. You’re either going to love or absolutely hate Megalopolis. Many of the editors at Reviews and our sister site WhistleOut loved the movie, but we’re all a bunch of absolute sickos when it comes to film. If you’re into the weird stuff you will probably be able to enjoy the chaos of the disjointed concepts, but if you prefer your narratives structured and your movies to make sense then this won’t be for you. Still though, if you’re simply looking to burn some time then the two hours and 20 minutes sure will pass while you sit there wondering WTF!?

This is another movie that I really wanted to watch but didn’t see in cinemas, so if I were jumping on a flight We Live in Time would be up there on my list. The film follows Almut and Tobias through their love story, but when Almut gets sick their lives and their love are challenged. While I can’t guarantee this will make you cry, the trailer had me tearing up so there is a solid chance it will tug at some heart strings. But I have also cried at insurance ads, so who knows.

Once again this one hit differently as the child of Polish immigrants, but A Real Pain is about more than just a family confronting the trauma of the holocaust. It is equal parts buddy comedy and introspective drama. One cousin is painfully introverted, type A, the other is painfully extroverted, type B. Both are in pain.

The two polar opposites are trying to find a middle ground to their grief while they navigate the horrors their family faced in Poland in World War 2. While a concentration camp is an intense backdrop, the true emotional intensity comes in small lapses through the character’s menial day-to-day. It laps at your toes before it hits you, all at once.

At the risk of admitting, once again, that I have not watched what I am recommending, I want to reiterate that this list is what I would watch on a Qantas flight. I haven’t watched any Abbott Elementary and it wasn’t even on my radar until they did a crossover episode with the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crew. Anything that team touches is absolute gold in my opinion, so I figure if it has their stamp of approval it is worth checking out. Since I’d be stuck in my seat it is worth popping it on and seeing if it can grab my attention away from my Switch.

Perhaps controversially I am not afraid to say that I enjoy Frasier. I don’t think it has enough heft to watch without doing something else, but as a background noise show it is perfect. Simple plot lines, moments of depth that pull you to watch, the silky voice of Kelsey Grammer. Can’t go wrong.