Another week, and another load of great content added to Netflix. Let’s get right to it; here are our top five picks to watch on Netflix this weekend.
Hot New Arrival: Friends From College
We briefly spoke about this one in our prospective review of July’s releases and the good news is, the whole first season drops on Netflix today.
Featuring a talented comedy cast including Keegan Michael Key of Key & Peele, Cobie Smulders of How I Met Your Mother fame, and 80s child star legend Fred Savage, Friends from College centres on a married couple (Key & Smulders) who move back to New York and reunite with their old college buddies from the ‘90s. 20 years of friendship comes with its fair share of baggage however…
What makes for a promising set up with a host of familiar comedic faces, has unfortunately already fallen flat with the critics! The series has garnered a very poor score of 22% on Rotten Tomatoes and there is widespread lamentation that such a talented cast is apparently egregiously wasted on mostly unlikeable characters.
Since the show only premiered today, we’re willing to give it the benefit of the doubt - at least until we’ve watched it ourselves!
Give it a go: If you’re looking for a new but relatively short series to binge over the weekend - this one’s just 8 episodes long.
Give it a miss: If you’re not onboard for unlikeable characters.
Important and moving documentary: Chasing Coral
Also dropping on the site today comes Chasing Coral, the latest in terrifying but important climate change documentaries. The film documents the staggeringly quick decline of the world’s coral reefs, dropping facts that leave your jaw on the floor. For instance, in just the last 30 years, we have lost a whopping 50% of the entire world’s corals. It’s an epidemic that is directly attributable to global warming as 93% of the heat generated by fossil fuels gets absorbed into oceans.
With stunning visuals and a crucial message, Chasing Coral won the Audience Award for Documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Give it a go: You’re looking for a reminder about why climate change activism is so important.
Give it a miss: If you’d rather not think about how doomed the planet is.
Flashback Friday: The Breakfast Club
I still have fond memories of the first time I saw The Breakfast Club. I was about 15, it was late on a Saturday and I was at home with nothing to do like most 15-year-olds. I was channel surfing looking for something to watch when my parents came home from a night out. Referring to the good ol’ teletext of “what’s on now” my parents recommended The Breakfast Club… Two hours later, enthralled, I spent the next few years eating up any teen film I could get my hands on - starting with John Hughes’ entire oeuvre of course!
But I digress; if you haven’t seen The Breakfast Club at this point in your life, you need to get on it! The iconic film came to Netflix earlier this month, so if you’re looking for a nice nostalgic throwback to your teen days (no matter what age you are), The Breakfast Club is as fresh today as it was upon release.
Give it a go: To watch a true icon of 80s cinema.
Give it a miss: I guess if you’ve seen it as many times as I have?
True-crime comedy: Bernie
Every town has one; that pillar of the community, charitable, friend to all - for Carthage, Texas it was Bernie Tiede (Jack Black). He taught Sunday school, sang in the church choir and was always willing to lend a helping hand, so it came as no surprise when he went out of his way to extend the hand of friendship to the town’s sourest rich old crone, Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine). Bernie discovers that there’s no warm heart under Marjorie’s cold hard exterior and quickly finds himself in a relationship of indentured servitude rather than friendship. Things go from bad to worse as the boundaries of Bernie’s good nature reach breaking point…
A blackly comic film based on a true story, Bernie asks its audience is morality really relative? The townspeople of Carthage seem to think so…
Give it a go: If you’re looking for an intriguing blend of crime and comedy helped along by a stellar cast.
Give it a miss: If you prefer documentary over drama when it comes to your true-crime stories.
Desperately desolate hilarity: BoJack Horseman
Earlier this week, the release date for season 4 of the much-anticipated return of BoJack Horseman was announced. Previously released in the summer months for the first three seasons, fans will have to wait a little longer this year but rest assured, season 4 drops this September! In celebration and anticipation, why not refresh your memories by rewatching everything so far?
If you’re unfamiliar with the show, BoJack Horseman is an adult animated series from Netflix which follows the life of its eponymous, washed up, ‘90s sitcom star protagonist. Season one sees BoJack attempt to pull himself out of a depressed funk to restart his career with the help of his agent and some friends. The series is set in a fictional version of Hollywood where humans and anthropomorphic beings live together - an idea which lends a whole host of animal related gags to an already accomplished script; the effect of which is a narrative that is both hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure.
The first season is a bit rough and ready but seasons two and three really come into their own, so stick it out if you think the first season isn’t too great.
Give it a go: If you are looking for a pop culture-heavy show that’s as darkly funny as it is nearly always on the money.
Give it a miss: If you like your sitcoms with a little more pep in their step. BoJack is as dark as they come and it makes no excuses about it.
Want more?
Check out our review of the best and worst Netflix Original series of 2017 so far.
