Weekender
A busy September
After a somewhat slow August, Netflix is full of new releases this month.Post Report
Netflix really is the gift that keeps on giving by bringing us endless movies and TV shows to binge-watch. All that money Netflix invested in new movies and shows in the past year is actually paying off during this pandemic. They are even rolling out the big names with a slate of prestige releases. September is no different and out of tons of new releases this month, our top nine picks from the streaming giant ranges from a rom-com to a psychological thriller.
Love, Guaranteed
Love, Guaranteed is sufficiently harmless and blandly cosy, like a Hallmark Channel movie that somehow broke loose and found its way to Netflix. Attractive people in warm coats (cue Rachael Leigh Cook and Damon Wayans Jr) stroll along the marina boats bobbing gently in the water alongside them. Bright autumn leaves hang overhead, sometimes falling softly to the ground. And there’s no shortage of places to grab a cup of coffee on a cloudy, chilly day—this is Seattle, after all.
Away
Away is an American science fiction drama web television series, starring Hilary Swank that premiered on Netflix on September 4. Away follows the first crewed expedition to Mars, the Joint Mars Initiative. An international crew consisting of a Chinese female chemist, a Russian male cosmonaut who holds the world's most experience in space, an Indian male medical officer astronaut who is second in command, and a British African male botanist with no experience in space, commanded by American female astronaut Emma Green (Swank). The three-year mission takes off from the Moon with crew members who eventually do not trust Emma's ability to command, based on her performance in an accidental fire during pre-launch preparation.
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
A film directed by Charlie Kaufman is going to be weird no matter what. A film he wrote and directed can be confounding. I'm Thinking of Ending Things falls into the latter category, so buckle up. Writer-director Kaufman returns with a dense, cerebral film that’s part horror, part cringe comedy, and fully ready to wreck your date night. The film is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Iain Reid and stars Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette and David Thewlis. I'm Thinking of Ending Things was released in select theatres on August 28, 2020, and on Netflix on September 4, 2020.
The Social Dilemma
The Social Dilemma is a docudrama directed by Jeff Orlowski and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis. Released on September 9, the film explores the rise of social media and the damage it has caused to society, focusing on its exploitation of its users for financial gain through surveillance capitalism and data mining, how its design is meant to nurture an addiction, its use in politics, its impact on mental health (including the mental health of adolescents and rising teen suicide rates), and its role in spreading conspiracy theories and aiding groups such as flat-earthers and white supremacists.
Baby: Season 3
Baby is an Italian teen drama web television series created for Netflix. The series follows students at an elite high school in Rome who engage in prostitution. It is loosely based on the story of two high school girls in Rome involved in an underage prostitution ring (the ‘Baby Squillo’ scandal) in 2014. The show has a large ensemble cast, with the two leads Benedetta Porcaroli and Alice Pagani reprising their respective roles of Chiara Altieri and Ludovica Storti. Other cast members include Chabeli Sastre as Camilla Rossi Govender, Brando Pacitto as Fabio Fedeli, Lorenzo Zurzolo as Niccolò Rossi Govender and Mirko Trovato as Brando De Santis, Claudia Pandolfi as Monica Petrelli Younes.
Criminal: UK: Season 2
Criminal: UK (or Criminal: United Kingdom) is a British police procedural anthology series created by George Kay and Jim Field Smith and starring David Tennant, Hayley Atwell, Clare-Hope Ashitey, and Youssef Kerkour. It is part of Netflix's Criminal, an anthology series consisting of 12 total episodes, with three episodes each set in four countries and filmed in local languages: France, Spain, Germany, and the UK. Its second season is set to be released on September 16. The show is set within the confines of a police interrogation room where London investigators engage in intense games of psychological cat-and-mouse with their suspects to find the answers that they need to solve their cases.
The Chef Show: Season 2
The Chef Show is an American television cooking show presented by Jon Favreau and Roy Choi. The duo experiment with their favourite recipes and techniques, where they bake, cook, explore and collaborate with some bold-face names in the entertainment and culinary world. Favreau and Choi go from sharing a meal with the Avengers cast in Atlanta to smoking brisket in Texas with world-renowned pit-master Aaron Franklin, to honouring the legendary food critic Jonathan Gold in Los Angeles. The second season of The Chef Show will premiere on September 24.
Ratched
Ratched is an upcoming psychological thriller drama web television series, based on the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, which is set to premiere on Netflix on September 18, 2020. The series was created by Evan Romansky and is set to star Sarah Paulson as Nurse Ratched. In 1947, Mildred arrives in Northern California to seek employment at a leading psychiatric hospital where new and unsettling experiments have begun on the human mind. On a clandestine mission, Mildred presents herself as the perfect image of what a dedicated nurse should be, but the wheels are always turning and as she begins to infiltrate the mental health care system and those within it, Mildred’s stylish exterior belies growing darkness that has long been smouldering within, revealing that true monsters are made, not born.
Enola Holmes
Enola Holmes is an upcoming mystery film based on the book series of the same name by Nancy Springer. The film, which centres upon the teenage sister of an already-famous Sherlock Holmes, is directed by Harry Bradbeer and written by Jack Thorne. Millie Bobby Brown stars as the title character, while also serving as a producer on the film. Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Adeel Akhtar, Fiona Shaw, Frances de la Tour, Louis Partridge, Susie Wokoma, and Helena Bonham Carter appear in supporting roles. Enola Holmes is scheduled to be released on 23 September 2020 by Netflix.