Best new movies and TV series on Netflix Australia: August 2024

Each month, loads of new films and TV shows are added to Netflix Australia‘s library. Eliza Janssen presents her picks for titles worth watching. For the full list of everything arriving on the platform, scroll down. Also, check out Craig Mathieson’s top 50 movies on Netflix list.

Top Picks: TV

Secret World of Sound with David Attenborough (August 7)

A legend of the nature documentary genre, Sir David has spent a lifetime showing us incredible sights from the most obscure niches of the animal world. Here, he’ll stimulate another of our senses, using advanced audio technology to listen in on the strangest and rarest noises non-humans of all fur, feather and scale might emit. There’s humming fish, baby birds chirping from within their eggs, and epic nocturnal skirmishes between the food chain’s most dominant predators. Turn your sound system way up for this one, then.

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The Umbrella Academy: Season 4 (August 8)

The bonkers Netflix superhero show with an unimpeachable cast of weirdos returns, giving the dysfunctional Hargreeves kids one last batch of episodes to wrap things up. You don’t have much time to whizz back and check out the first three seasons—nor to check in on the nutty Gerard Way comic books that inspired the show. But now that we know the very last episode is titled “The Beginning of the End”, it looks like longtime fans can expect a big, satisfying wrap-up for Viktor, Luther, Klaus and the rest. Each of the show’s previous instalments has maintained a pretty solid rating on Rotten Tomatoes, even as events sprawled across time (that trip back to Dallas, 1963?) and the wackiest of superpowers—let’s hope Netflix can stick the landing.

TERMINATOR ZERO (August 29)

The last few attempts to reboot James Cameron’s iconic 1980s action franchise have been, um, glitchy at best. At worst, they put us at risk of totally forgetting what made those two, GOAT-ed original films so exceptional. Perhaps shifting the Skynet saga from live action into the realm of anime could inspire some fresh ideas, even if the new show’s plot follows a familiar tried-and-true arc. We’ve seen what happens when a futuristic dystopian soldier heads into the past to stop an AI apocalypse, a few times now: but I bet you’ve never seen it in glorious hand-drawn form.

Top Picks: Movies + Specials

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (August 2)

In Spongebob’s zippy, aquatic, two-dimensional world, Sandy Cheeks has never been a fish out of water. Sure, she’s the only air-breathing mammal in Bikini Bottom’s fishy society, but the Texan squirrel has always held her own, now dragging Spongebob along on an adventure by the seat of his (square)pants. The beloved cartoon series’ original voice cast all return to do what they do best for this standalone feature, in which Bikini Bottom gets scooped from the ocean floor—only Spongebob, Sandy, and her never-before-seen family can save the day.

The Union (August 16)

Mark Wahlberg is a regular degular construction worker tasked with—what else?—saving the world, in this extremely fake-looking action movie with a cast of big stars slummin’ it big time. Halle Berry plays an old flame from high school, now a badass superspy who recruits her ex Marky Mark to help out JK Simmons’ intelligence organisation. Intelligence not being the operative element to expect here: instead, be ready for fast-paced setpieces, nonsensical exposition, and Berry getting wiggy with it in a fab pixie cut.

The Deliverance (August 30)

The trailer for this possessed horror movie looks absolutely wild, with some of the finest actresses working today facing off against jumpy ghouls for esteemed director Lee Daniels. Leads Andra Day and Mo’Nique have worked with Daniels before, but Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Glenn Close are new collaborators, the latter dolled up in some very memorable hair and makeup. It’s based on a true (okay, alleged) case of demonic possession that took place in Indiana in 2011, haunting viewers with big questions about sickness, spirituality, and the furthest reaches of a mother’s protective love.

All titles arriving on Netflix Australia in June

August 1

Borderless Fog
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
From Me to You: Kimi no Todoke: Season 3
Love Is Blind: Mexico
Mad Men: Seasons 1-7
Mon Laferte, te amo
Unstable: Season 2