It is the latest film from one of the world’s most famous directors.

The Phoenician Scheme, the new spy action comedy from director Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Royal Tenenbaums), has just been added to streaming.

Available to watch on the service NOW, the movie is set in the 1950s. Its story follows Zsa-zsa Korda (played by a delightfully deadpan Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another), a shady international businessman skilled at manipulating countries and markets to benefit himself.

One of the richest men in Europe, his work has earned him the nickname ‘Mr 5%’ (as that is how much he gets from every deal he orchestrates), but has also made him many enemies.

The Phoenician Scheme begins with him surviving a plane crash, which is only the latest in a series of attempted assassinations he has experienced.

His latest brush with death leads him to seek out his estranged daughter, Liesl (rising star Mia Threapleton, daughter of Kate Winslet), with the goal of training her to be his successor.

Liesl, however, is a nun who lives a sheltered, simple existence and has no interest in Zsa-zsa’s wealth – at least, until she realises all the good she could do with his money.

Spurred on by this, as well as the hopes of finding out who was responsible for her mother and Zsa-zsa’s ex-wife’s untimely death, Liesl agrees to accompany her scoundrel father.

This is as Zsa-zsa travels to the region of Phoenicia to meet with various investors in a new, ambitious enterprise of his.

Joined by Liesl’s tutor, Bjorn, (Michael Cera, having lots of fun with a Norwegian accent), the three get swept up in an adventure involving determined assassins, guerrillas, meddling Americans and scheming tycoons.

As with all Wes Anderson films, The Phoenician Scheme has an absolutely stacked supporting cast. In this case, it includes Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Jeffrey Wright (Highest 2 Lowest), Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd), Riz Ahmed (Relay) and Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story).

We here at JOE were big fans of the movie, which sees its legendarily idiosyncratic auteur put his own spin on the action spy sub-genre to great effect.

In fact, thanks to The Phoenician Scheme’s blend of humour, pace, style, but most importantly, heart, we thought it was Anderson’s best work since The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Here’s what JOE said in our review from earlier this year:

“Sometimes, you can feel the director almost pushing his trademark style to new dizzying heights just to see if he can (the camerawork during a climactic fight between Zsa-zsa and his villainous brother, played by a grizzled, bearded Benedict Cumberbatch, is absolutely bonkers).

“The Phoenician Scheme shows [though] that Anderson’s trademark style is a surprisingly good fit for a spy caper. His direction adds a breathless pace and a winking humour to his already pleasingly propulsive and tight narrative.

“There’s also a lovely clarity to the emotional story at the core of The Phoenician Scheme. This is a father and daughter, both living lives diametrically opposed to each other, finding common ground.”

The Phoenician Scheme is currently streaming in Ireland and the UK on the service NOW.

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The 4K projector has the likes of YouTube, Netflix and Prime Video built in, so you can access thousands of films and shows without an additional TV stick, and you can also connect it to Bluetooth on your phone and laptop.

It’s currently priced at €53.52 in a limited-time deal on the Amazon website.

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