23 New Movies to Watch on Netflix This Month
August is upon us! And judging from the new releases on Netflix that have come with it, the company has deemed this month “the time everyone goes on vacation and doesn’t care about what’s new on Netflix.”
That is to say, there are quite a few movies here that you’d also find in Best Buy’s discount bin. But sometimes the best Netflix viewing is the kind where a movie is so comically bad, it’s good. And you’re in luck, dear viewer. This roster is full of those.
AVAILABLE AUGUST 1
Air Bud (1997)
Finally, after bringing us Air Bud sequels like Air Bud Spikes Back, Air Bud: World Pup, Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch, Air Buddies, and Space Buddies, Netflix has finally ponied up to offer the movie that launched a legend. Long story short: A loner high school kid meets an athletically gifted pooch, and the two team up together to wow his high school basketball team. As one of the movie’s flabbergasted refs so eloquently puts it, “Ain’t no rule says the dog can’t play basketball.” Cue the Jock Jams.
Air Bud: Golden Receiver (1998)
Oh yes, and there’s another pun-strong sequel about how this dog is a gifted football player, too. As my editor described the Air Bud series: “This is a very intricate universe.”
The Mighty Ducks and D2: The Mighty Ducks (1992 and 1994)
Speaking of feel-good ’90s films about unathletic outcasts getting the last laugh, both The Mighty Ducks and its sequel, D2: The Mighty Ducks, are now available to stream. If you’ll recall, the movie involves a sad-sack kids hockey team. When a fast-talking lawyer gets a DUI, he’s sentenced to coach the Mighty Ducks. He takes on the job reluctantly, but soon vows to transform the misfits into winners.
Ella Enchanted (2004)
Post Princess Diaries life was rough for over-enthused Oscar winner Anne Hathaway, as evidenced by this film, in which she plays a girl who is cursed by the “gift” of obedience by a fairy. As she works through this disability, she single-handedly saves a kingdom, falls for a prince (Hugh Dancy), and covers a Queen song.
Face/Off (1997)
In this terrorist bombing thriller, Nicolas Cage and John Travolta literally go through a surgical procedure to switch faces (get it, Face/Off??). If you had never heard of it, you might just assume it was the idea for a Saturday Night Live parody. Watch this with a bottle of wine, or something stronger.
Freaky Friday (2003)
Ah, yet another gem from Lindsay Lohan’s prehab vault! In this remake of the original 1976 film, Lohan and her mom (played by the wonderful Jamie Lee Curtis) undergo some crazy voodoo and switch bodies. Think Face/Off but less impossible surgery. Hilarity and inappropriate mom-wear ensues.
Mad Max (1979)
You know you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel when one of the highest-rated films on your list is a 1970s post-apocalyptic Mel Gibson flick in which he plays a cop who hunts down an Australian biker gang that killed his family. But, hey, the heart wants what the heart wants.
Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V (1979-1990)
Watch Sylvester Stalone get tanner and older throughout the years as he punches dudes, runs up and down stairs, and dramatically yells “ADRIAN!”
Spice World (1998)
All you haters can hate, but this film is a masterpiece that was robbed of all the applicable Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globes it could’ve qualified for. As evidence I present the following facts: The Union Jack tour bus that this five-member pop group travels in is driven by none other than Meat Loaf; this is supposedly an inoffensive nod to the Beatles flick A Hard Day’s Night; and Posh Spice doesn’t smile once in the whole film.
Switchfoot: Fading West (2013)
Switchfoot, the Christian-when-convenient alt-rock band that was popular 10 years ago, also has a concert-centric documentary from its 2012 world tour. Eat your heart out, Justin Bieber/Spice Girls.
The Cable Guy (1996)
Perhaps Netflix sensed a reinvigorated sense of hatred for cable companies after the worst Comcast call in history was recorded and unleashed on the Internet, and dug this one out of the archives. Jim Carrey plays an eerily zany cable guy, who aggressively befriends, then stalks normal guy Steven (played by Matthew Broderick). I propose a sequel in which Broderick is on hold for three hours while silently weeping. It would be eerily realistic.
Turner and Hooch (1989)
A fresh-faced Tom Hanks plays a detective who is inexplicably assigned to a new partner: a French mastiff named Hooch. They combine wits and wags to solve the crime of who killed Hooch’s owner. It’s a rough ride to the top, isn’t it, Tom?
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
This retro aqua classic is entertaining for two reasons: 1) Its cast is full of wonderful actors like Walter Pidgeon, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, and Frankie Avalon, and 2) The low-tech boat cinematography is endlessly entertaining. Though I will admit it’s somewhat distracting when the plot of the movie revolves around saving us from a radiation belt that threatens to blow up the earth. They most likely need something not made out of cardboard for that.
AVAILABLE AUGUST 6
Justin Bieber’s Believe (2014)
Did you know that there are not one, but three Justin Bieber movies? None of which detail the origins of his unflattering drop-crotch pants? In his most recent “documentary,” you’ll get the textbook history of the troubled Orlando Bloom foe performances from Justin Bieber’s powerhouse world tour. Though, if you’d like the People’s History, feel free to browse TMZ’s archives.
Stream it August 6.
AVAILABLE AUGUST 7
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014)
Following Carl Sagan’s original 1980 documentary series, Cosmos, is a new one exploring our modern-day questions about the universe. Host and cool cat astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson brings the audience along as he explores our current state of intergalactic knowledge. Some say no one can beat Sagan’s amazing first run, but if anyone can do it, it’s the man who noticed that the globe in Jon Stewart’s opening sequence was rotating in the wrong direction.
Stream it August 7.
Nymphomaniac: Volumes I & II (2013)
You’d think that director Lars von Trier was just trolling the world when he announced a two-volume set of movies detailing a hot nymphomaniac’s many sexual pursuits. But, no, this is a movie that demands to be taken seriously. After the main character is saved from being beaten in an alley by a kind stranger, she details her every sexual pursuit, one of which includes an encounter with Shia LaBeouf. Hey, at least there are no Transformers involved?
Stream them August 7th.
Stage Fright (2014)
Minnie Driver and Meat Loaf (SECOND APPEARANCE IN THIS LIST), star in this horror musical. I think that’s really all the information I need to provide here.
Stream it August 7.
(Cover image: hqscreen.com)
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