“Imagine you’re cast at birth into a galaxy of tiny, drifting creatures, a speck lost in the ocean,” prompts narrator Rose Byrne as stunning underwater cinematography introduces us to this otherworldly microcosmos – and to a tiny sharp-nosed puffer fish named Puff.

Spawned on the Great Barrier Reef – and at two months old still smaller than a fingernail – Puff must defy an array of predators in very different environments if he’s to survive. But Puff’s superpower is soon on display. Inhaled by a bigger fish, he’s spat out immediately – having blown himself up into a spiky ping-pong ball that defies swallowing.

Puff, though, is far from the only star of the show. Using specially developed equipment, AACTA-winning director Nick Robinson and cinematographer Pete West bring us stunning vision of scenes too fast, too slow or too small for the human eye to perceive.

The feathery claws of an almond-sized porcelain crab are breathtaking to behold, and there’s a moment of exquisite suspense when a tiny coral larva lands on the leg of a hungry little shrimp that might well eat it. Simply gorgeous.

Outsiders
Stan

Up in the Kentucky Appalachians there’s a wild clan of hill people who’ve lived off the grid by their own harsh laws for 200 years. And they look just like Vikings, especially when they ride their little four-wheelers into town to raid shops for yeast and tobacco. When a brutal new clan chief (David Morse) takes over just as a coal company sets about pushing them off their land there will be blood. Australian Thomas M. Wright (Top of the Lake) is terrific as a cop trying to stave off disaster.

’Twas the Fight Before Christmas
Apple TV+

At first it looks as though this is simply a documentary about an Idaho eccentric who drove his neighbours mad with a Christmas lights display that drew thousands of visitors. Then it gets darker. It seems lawyer Jeremy Morris deliberately bought a house in a neighbourhood governed by a homeowners’ association so when his Christian neighbours objected to his outrageous plans he could sue them claiming anti-Christian persecution – thereby launching his political career. The ensuing distress is distressing to watch.

Queen of the Universe
Paramount+

Even before Australian drag artist Gingzilla removes her Ned Kelly mask to reveal a beard that would give Kelly a run for his money, it’s clear that this is a drag competition like no other. There’s no lip-syncing, you see – every queen has to be able to belt the songs out for real. Host Graham Norton has serious judges including Vanessa Williams and Michelle Visage, but it’s the variety and elan of the queens – who come from as far afield as Denmark, Brazil and China – that make it a winner.

The Advent Calendar
Shudder, AMC+

There are decent chills of a seasonal sort in this unpredictable new French-Belgian horror movie. When a friend gives paraplegic Eva (Eugenie Derouand) an antique wooden Advent calendar she gets a lot more than a little piece of chocolate from the little wooden boxes she has to open each day. Derouand is captivatingly intense as bloody horror comes to touch almost everyone Eva knows but the calendar keeps holding out the temptation of a final gift that keeps her moral compass spinning like a top.

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