This year, Netflix has been serving up a steady stream of action movies that would be right at home in the movie theater. First, there was Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction. Then, there was Charlize Theron in The Old Guard. Now, as we enter the last proper month of summer, the streaming service isn’t letting up. On Friday, August 14, we're getting Project Power, a super-powered crime drama starring Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon Levitt (now back from his acting hiatus), and The Deuce alum Dominique Fishback.
If an explosive sci-fi-flavored romp (with a very The Boys Big Pharma plotline) isn’t your thing, there are quite a few other Netflix options for you this weekend. First, you have Teenage Bounty Hunters, a Bible Belt satire with an unexpectedly adventurous streak. Teenage Bounty Hunters stars Anjelica Bette Fellini and Maddie Phillips immediately announce themselves as the next Netflix stars destined for Instagram greatness. Elsewhere on the streamer you’ll find a far more investigative version of The Goop Lab, a family-friendly comedy extravaganza, the end of another international gem, and much more.
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These are all the new Netflix offerings broken down by plot, genre, and whether you should watch something immediately or skip for now. Keep reading for the lowdown on all of these Netflix treats, including their trailers.
Teenage Bounty Hunters (Season 1)
What is it?: What Insatiable should have been.
What is it about?: Two very lovable teenage bounty hunters, of course! Teenage Bounty Hunters is led by twins Sterling (Maddie Phillips) and Blair Wesley (Anjelica Bette Fellini), a pair of wealthy Atlanta Christian high schoolers. After a chance encounter with a career bounty hunter named Bowser Jenkins (Kadeem Hardison), the girls become his very passionate “interns.”
Bounty Hunters mixes a procedural case of the week format — so many bounty “skips” to catch, so little time — with the emotional beats of a traditional teen drama. That means Sterling and Blair have to juggle tumultuous romances and a shocking amount of family intrigue with chasing down errant criminals in nursing homes and strip clubs.
See or skip?: See. Teenage Bounty Hunters — produced by Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan — is a surprisingly easy 10-episode binge and a thoughtfully layered story. Few series manage to satirize Southern, Christian culture so smartly without coming off as unnecessarily mean or, well, holier-than-thou.
Also, Teenage Bounty Hunters has one of the best new romances in teen TV this year. So prepare for a new ship to take ownership of your heart.
Project Power
What is it?: This month’s Netflix action blockbuster.
What is it about?: A pill that could make you a superhero. Project Power follows the motley crew of an ex-soldier named Art (Jamie Foxx), a New Orleans cop named Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and a teen drug dealer named Robin (The Deuce’s Dominique Fishback), as they try to take down a group peddling a dangerous drug called Power. As the name suggests, Power can grant a user superpowers... for five minutes. The problem is that those shadowy Power pushers kidnapped Art’s daughter. Oh, and popping Power can kill you.
See or skip?: See on a Friday night with a large bowl of popcorn. You might not be able to go to the movies, but at least you can bring the movies to you.
(Un)Well (Season 1)
What is it?: A very serious investigation into the wellness industry.
What is it about?: Figuring out if the multibillion dollar wellness industry is really helping people. Second episode “Tantric Sex” — which, if viewers anything like me, will be the first one they click on — questions what this trendy phrase really means, who is selling it, and why. (Un)Well doesn’t shy away from asking if the Western explosion of tantric sex is cultural appropriation — and if it’s actually opening people up to more sexual danger than good.
Other episodes focus on subjects as benign-sounding as essential oils to practices as extreme as fasting.
See or skip?: See, if you wanted to like The Goop Lab but found it far too infomercial-esque. (Un)Well doesn’t have that problem. While it shares certain methods, “treatments,” and classes with its audience, the docuseries is often frighteningly honest about these experiences' capability for harm.
Game On: A Comedy Crossover Event (Season 1)
What is it?: A comedy extravaganza that reminds you of what life could have been like in a year without COVID19.
What is it about?: An Olympics-obsessed sitcom crossover. Game On is a four-part special that includes Netflix original series Ashley Garcia, Family Reunion, Mr. Iglesias, and The Big Show. In each chapter of the crossover, at least one member of another comedy pops up through the silly proceedings, which always revolve around some form of competition (like Ashley Garcia’s breakfast burrito-based showdown).
See or skip?: See, if you love one of the sitcoms included in Game On or need something inoffensive to enjoy with the whole family. However, bear in mind that it is extremely unsettling to watch this crossover when it was very obviously engineered to air in conjunction with the 2020 Olympics, which were postponed due to the pandemic.
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Glow Up (Season 2)
What is it?: The makeup artist competition show.
What is it about?: Finding out which British cosmetics expert can take makeup to the next level. Glow Up tests its contestants in various areas of their industry, from editorial shoots to runway and prosthetics, all to see who will come out on top. In each episode, the bottom two competitors must battle it out in a makeup face-off. The loser is promptly sent home.
See or skip?: See, if you need a new competition show to obsess over (there is only so much Great British Baking Show available). Otherwise you can skip.
3% (Season 4)
What is it?: The finale of yet another Netflix international series, this time in Brazilian Portuguese.
What is it about?: More dystopian crises. 3%'s society is initially split between the packed slums known as the “Inland” of near-future Brazil and the tiny utopia of the “Offshore.” At 20, Inlanders can attempt to escape their punishing lives and head to the Offshore through something called “The Process,” which only 3% of people survive and pass (get it?).
In 3%’s final season, war between the Offshore and a new segment of society — known as The Shell — threatens everyone’s future.
See or skip?: See, if you binged through Brave New World on Peacock. Otherwise you can skip or watch Netflix’s trippy Brazilian teen thriller The Kissing Game.
Rita (Season 5)
Premiere date: Saturday, August 15
What is it?: A Danish-language dramedy.
What is it about?: Rita (Mille Dinesen), a teacher with a chaotic personal life. This season of Rita finds its titular talented-but-reckless educator starting a school with her good friend Hjørdis (Lise Baastrup). This new development only increases the discord in Rita’s life — as does her newfound living situation with her ex-lover/boss, Rasmus (Carsten Bjørnlund).
See or skip?: See, if you wished Bad Teacher had been a more successful TV show or love dramas like Good Girls. Otherwise you can skip.
An Easy Girl
What is it?: A French-language coming of age drama.
What is it about?: The summer that changes the life of 16-year-old Cannes townie Naïma (Mina Farid). At the start of An Easy Girl, Naïma’s 22-year-old cousin Sofia (Zahia Dehar) blows into town from Paris. Naïma’s boring summer with her best friend Dodo (“Riley” Lakdhar Dridi) turns into the teen’s initiation into the more sensual — and luxurious — parts of life.
See or skip?: An Easy Girl is a visually gorgeous film about choosing what kind of woman you want to be. It also offers Zahia Dehar — an actress best known for her involvement in a decade-old teenage sex scandal — to claim her own image in a very public manner and push back against assumptions about the intelligence of openly sexual women. See, when you’re most desperate to hop on a plane somewhere with endless clear blue waters.
The Great Heist, aka El Robo del Siglo (Season 1)
What is it?: A Spanish-language heist series.
What is it about?: True events. The Great Heist follows a group of thieves as they plot to steal millions of dollars in cash from Colombia’s Bank of the Republic. However, the series proves that getting the money is just the beginning of this crew’s problems.
See or skip?: See, if you’re waiting for Money Heist part 4. Otherwise you can skip.
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Rob Schneider: Asian Momma, Mexican Kids
What is it?: A standup special that complains, “People in their 20s and 30s don’t get it yet,” within its first 60 seconds.
What is it about?: Offering up Netflix’s latest middle-aged curmudgeon special. Deuce Bigalow star Rob Schnieder opens Asian Momma, Mexican Kids explaining why he can’t get traditionally “fucked up” anymore (cheese is a dangerous drug for him at 56). Schnieder ends the special with a detailed description of his process for creating a whipped cream dessert around his genitals. Extensive pantomime is included.
In between these two sections, Schnieder repeatedly mimics the accent of his wife Patricia Azarcoya Schneider, who is from Mexico. The audiences loves this running “joke” to an alarming degree.
See or skip?: You can skip and wait for Rob Schneider Is… The Stapler to come out.
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