RIDE, ALL CONSOLES

It's not hard to imagine how they came up with the idea for this one - "like Gran Turismo for bikes". And it's a perfectly workable premise: until now (as far as we can recall) motorcycle games have been straight-up racetrack simulators - two-wheel equivalents of Formula One car racing games - and thus devilishly hard to master. What Gran Turismo did for car racing, though, was to make it less of an exercise in nitpicking realism and more a celebration of car culture, which is what Ride is now doing for bikes, offering up some 100 models and dozens of different courses to ride them on. It looks great and there's all the bells and whistles you'd expect - online competitions; numerous racing variations including an interesting two-up time trial mode; endless customisation options - but we do wonder if despite their best efforts it will have enormous appeal beyond hard-core bike fans. Give the demo a go first. AH

ON DEMAND

LES REVENANTS, stan.com.au

The undead may be all over TV screens at the moment, but the ones that populate this stunning French drama are a far cry from their flesh-ripping counterparts in The Walking Dead. The eight-part series, which is loosely based on a 2004 feature film of the same name, is set in a remote mountain town beset with odd supernatural occurrences. The lake is subsiding and the electricity is faltering. But most bizarre is the sudden return of a handful of dead people, unharmed and frozen in time as if at the exact moment of their passing, to the arms of their perplexed loved ones. Unfolding like a mystery -- each episode we are introduced to a newly returned person, but it fast becomes clear that their lives are intertwined -- Les Revenants is a haunting, eerie and at-times deeply emotional drama about regret, guilt and unfathomable loss. The American remake is currently on Netflix and a second season of the French original is in production. PK

DVD

DEATH IN BRUNSWICK, UMBRELLA (M)

Every location tells a story in John Ruane's 1991 adaptation of Boyd Oxlade's novel, with exceptional production design by Chris Kennedy. The ne'er-do-well pub cook Carl (Sam Neill) lives in intellectual squalor, in a crumbling workers' cottage stacked with books and newspapers; his much younger Greek girlfriend Sophie (Zoe Carides) has a well-kept apartment full of neatly ranged liquor bottles and religious icons. Then there's Carl's mate Dave (John Clarke), a ratbag turned family man whose home is all embroidered throw cushions and Third World political posters, along with stray bunches of flowers left over from his job as a gravedigger. This is one of the most accomplished of Melbourne comedies, combining realistic observation with a flair for the grotesque that recalls the Coen brothers' work of the same era. Clarke's deadpan delivery has never been funnier, and Neill is somehow both awkward and suave as the feckless Carl, caught between decaying Anglo tradition – represented by his snobbish, controlling mother (Yvonne Lawley) – and the threatening life of the multicultural city just outside his door. JW

FREE-TO-AIR

OUR GIRL, APRIL 16, ABC1, 8.30pm

This British drama originally screened as a feature-length one-off in 2013, but its reception was so good that the BBC had writer Tony Grounds create this five-part series. Our Girl is 18-year-old Molly Dawes (Lacey Turner, a long-time EastEnders actress) who lives with her big, noisy working-class family in east London, and works at a beauty salon. After a minor epiphany (and catching her best mate in the toilet cubicle with her boyfriend) while at the boozer for her birthday, Molly decides to sign up for the army. So far a bit cliched - lippy east London gal in unlikely scenario - but once she completes her training and is selected for deployment in Afghanistan, it becomes an engaging series, from Molly having to justify herself as a (working class) woman in something of a man's world, to life on the battlefield (and juxtaposing it with her life at home) and even the obligatory love triangle. The occasional scene that tends towards army recruitment video is countered by the acting, the action scenes (shot in South Africa) and a brilliant contemporary soundtrack. KN

DVD

A THOUSAND TIMES GOODNIGHT, SHOCK  (M)

This Norwegian-Swedish-Irish production featuring Juliette Binoche as war photographer Rebecca, Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as her husband Marcus, and newcomer Lauryn Canny as their oldest daughter Steph, brings war to the front door of the family home. Norwegian director Erik Poppe was an award-winning photographer earlier in his career before turning his hand to cinematography and directing. The deftness and clarity he projects through Rebecca draws the viewer into the stark reality of her dangerous occupation. Rebecca is so committed to her work, she follows danger instinctually, with little concern for her personal safety. When she is injured in an incident on the job in the streets of Kabul, Marcus, a marine biologist, retrieves her from a hospital in the Middle East and brings her home to Ireland, where they have two daughters. Thus begins the push and pull between Rebecca's motivation to return to the action of frontline conflict photography and her family's desire for her to stay home – they are worn out from worry about her. Their Irish home and lifestyle is idyllic, about as far removed from a war zone as you can get. It is husband Marcus who takes a tough line with Rebecca, making it clear her frame of mind, her pursuit of truth and justice on the battlefields of the world, is detrimental to the mental health of their family. The situation comes to a head when Rebecca and Steph, played brilliantly by Canny, take an exploratory trip to a refugee camp in Kenya. The supposedly safe camp is attacked by rebels while the mother and daughter are there. Binoche handles this stretch as an action character, the centre of attention, with accomplished aplomb. JK