Aug 1, 2016 7:00 AM

All the Must-See Stuff Hitting Netflix This Month

From a Trumpish rumpus to a nail-gun thumpus, Netflix is full of unexpected political resonance. (Also, Tokyo drifting.)

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As this election season drags on, it can be hard to focus on anything except the haunting possibility of a President Trump. With this month’s releases, Netflix seems to be saying that it understands our pain. Bathe in the dark absurdity of it all by watching Johnny Depp transform into the Donald—or, if metaphors are more your thing, watch Javier Bardem decide people’s futures with a coin flip. It’s going to be a hot and terrible August, so turn on the AC and escape into some movies, TV, and standup comedy.

It’s hard to find anything funny about Donald Trump or politics these days, but the sheer audacity by *Funny or Die* to create a 50-minute spoof of Donald Trump’s ghostwritten bestseller is inspiring. Johnny Depp expertly embodies Trump’s special blend of unwavering confidence and insanity, and the film’s ’80s aesthetic perfectly captures the Donald’s élan. Sometimes laughing is the best way to keep from crying.
On its surface, *The Fast and the Furious* is about Los Angeles undercover cop Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) infiltrating the world of street racing and deciding whether to do the job or protect the people he grows to care about. But really, the movie is about family, and juiced up cars, and Dom Torreto (Vin Diesel) drinking Coronas and waxing poetic. See the film that launched a thousand sequels—each more Ludacris than the last.

The third installment in the *Fast*iverse is only for the true completists, mostly because it's the *Godfather III* of the franchise—Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster skipped this one, and Vin Diesel shows up for the smallest of cameos to connect the films. But the Justin Lin-directed story of an American teenager (Lucas Black) dropped into the world of Tokyo street racing is also beloved, in large part because it's so (often unintentionally) funny. Come for the drifting, stay for Bow Wow's stirring performance as Twinkie.
It’s hard to remember now, but there was a moment when Johnny Depp played human(ish) characters, not just Keith Richards and the Mad Hatter. In *Sleepy Hollow*, the star of *Mortdecai* and *The Tourist* plays Ichabod Crane, who leads the search for a killer who has decapitated three townspeople, eventually bringing him face-to-missing face with the fabled Headless Horseman. Christina Ricci is delightfully weird (which is to be expected in a Tim Burton movie, but still).

The first special by David Cross (*Mr. Show*, *Arrested Development*) since 2010’s *Bigger and Blackerer*. Why return after the half-decade hiatus? Based on the trailer, it seems he has some important things to get off his chest: "So, I was jerking off this morning to the Statue of Liberty this morning,” he tells the audience in the trailer. (Look, if you weren't a Cross fan, you wouldn't even have read this far.)
*Kung Fu Panda* director Mark Osborne retells Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s 1942 story in a gorgeous mix of cartoonish Pixar style and folded-paper-looking stop-motion. a nine-year-old child (Mackenzie Foy), who is pushed too hard by her mother (Rachel McAdams), finds an escape from the pressure when her eccentric old neighbor (Jeff Bridges) tells her the take of his adventure with the Little Prince. Great for kids, visually striking enough for everyone to enjoy.

Bill Murray plays Vincent, a hard-drinking, horse-betting Vietnam vet who begrudgingly plays babysitter to the 12-year-old son (Jaeden Lieberher) of his neighbor Maggie (Melissa McCarthy). You’ve heard this story before, but McCarthy and Lieberher are both great, and Murray gives a hilarious and layered performance—as usual.
The Coen Brother’s Oscar-winning adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy book is just as beautiful and haunting a decade later. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) happens upon the brutal scene of a drug-deal gone wrong and grabs a suitcase of cash that’s been left behind. Javier Bardem gives a terrifying performance as Anton Chigurh, a ruthless killer on Moss’s trail, for which he also won the Academy Award. Tommy Lee Jones, an aging sheriff jaded by the evil he’s witnessed, tries his best to track down Moss and protect him from Chirgurh.

Rather than releasing the 13-episode first season all at once, Netflix will release just the first six episodes of Baz Luhrmann’s project this month. The strategy seems to be a way to maximize conversation around the series, about South Bronx teenagers and the birth of hip-hop in the late 1970s—but based on the preview, that shouldn't be a problem. The *Moulin Rouge* director has made a show that looks like a strange brew of *Vinyl*, *Empire* and *Glee,* and based on his handling of race and class in *The Great Gatsby*, it’s hard to imagine this one not sparking more than a little conversation.
Based on a 2010 French graphic novel of the same name, this was the talk of Cannes in 2013. The film won the Palme d'Or, but much of the conversation and controversy centered on a graphic lesbian sex scene, which some felt was degrading to the actresses. Putting that aside, *Blue Is The Warmest Color* is still a beautiful and affecting coming-of-age tale and Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos are absolutely incredible.

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Joseph Bien-Kahn is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles. ... Read More

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