All The Cool Stuff Coming To Netflix In July 2024

Feel the call of adventure from your couch?  It might be because some of this July’s Netflix offerings are calling to you.  This July, you could be scaling Mount Everest with the first female sherpa or hanging with Admiral Janeway in the new Voyager-A.  But the line might need to get drawn at the idea of climbing to the top of insanely tall buildings and filming the results just to get social media likes.

For those who feel the July weather provides a new reason to go into chill mode with Netflix, there are some great reasons this month to make it so.  How about seeing “Arrow” star Stephen Amell as a struggling wrestler?  Or hear “Lucifer”’s Tom Ellis play God, but as a talking chonky cat?  Or even catch a new anime feature film about an imaginary friend trying to stay alive? 

Whether you’ve got a cool drink handy or a fan set to blast, kick back with some of this month’s Netflix offerings.

July 1

American Psycho–Mary Harron cleverly transforms Bret Easton Ellis’ serial killer tale into a dark comedy about narcissistic male egotism.  Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale in an unforgettable performance) is a male business executive who may wear impressive clothing, get great tables in important restaurants, and love to show off the importance of his business card.  But prevent him from doing what he wants, and he’ll become homicidal…as more than a few people unfortunately discover over the course of the film.

The Karate Kid (1984)–It’s the 40th anniversary of the sleeper movie that became an unexpected hit (and would inspire the popular sequel “Cobra Kai”).  Young Daniel Russo (Ralph Macchio) moves with his mother from New Jersey to a suburban Los Angeles apartment.  But his friendship with classmate Ali Mills makes him the target of Johnny Lawrence, Ali’s ex-boyfriend and more importantly the star student of the Cobra Kai dojo.  Daniel seems fated to be the permanent punching bag of Johnny and his dojo gang.  When supposedly odd apartment building janitor Miyagi (Pat Morita) turns out to be a karate teacher, the teen has a glimmer of hope.  But what sort of karate instruction comes from painting fences and scrubbing pool bottoms?

Star Trek: Prodigy

Spider-Man (2002)–When nerdy high school senior Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) accidentally gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider, he gains incredible super-powers such as superhuman strength and the ability to cling to walls.  However, it takes a personal tragedy for the young man to learn “with great power comes great responsibility” before he can become the heroic Spider-Man.  He soon finds himself tested in several ways by the challenge posed by the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), a mentally unstable villain who uses his corporation’s high-tech equipment to attack his rivals at Quest Aerospace.  The success of Sam Raimi’s film would lead to two sequels, both of which are also screening this month.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2–It’s the long-awaited new season of this animated take on the “Star Trek” mythos.  The former crew of the U.S.S. Protostar (Dal, Rok-Tak, Zero, Jankom Pog, and Murf) have become warrant Starfleet officers in training.  They’ve also been reunited for a mission under the command of Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), who’s far different from the hologram Janeway they knew.  The mission: to determine the threat posed by a new wormhole…the one created when the Protostar self-destructed.  Expect Robert Picardo to voice his “Star Trek: Voyager” character again.

Zathura: A Space Adventure–When feuding brothers Walter and Danny start playing the science fiction-themed board game called Zathura, reality starts bending around them (e.g. their house is now floating in outer space).  Only by completing the game can life be restored to normal.  But that means dealing with such perils as a defective robot and hostile heat-seeking aliens known as Zorgons.  A mysterious astronaut helps the brothers, but what is his connection to the game?  Jon Favreau directs.

July 5

The Imaginary–Studio Ponoc’s (“Mary And The Witch’s Flower”) newest feature film is based on A.F. Harrold’s book of the same name.  Rudger is an imaginary friend created by young Amanda Shuffleup, and joins her in the amazing adventures she dreams up after school.  When the sinister Mr. Bunting discovers Rudger’s existence, he has sinister plans for Amanda’s imaginary friend.  While trying to evade Mr. Bunting’s clutches, the imaginary boy soon learns that he will disappear from existence the moment Amanda forgets him.  However, there is an unusual way for Rudger to escape nothingness and remain relevant…

July 9

The Boyfriend Season 1–In Japan’s first gay dating reality show, nine single gay men spend a month together at a beach house.  During the day, they navigate their new relationships as well as work together in shifts in a coffee truck.  Will they grow as people or wind up creating some messy love triangles or both?

The Imaginary

July 10

Tickled–Online “competitive endurance tickling” involves young athletic men being restrained and then tickled by each other.  When New Zealand TV reporter David Farrier discovers videos of this sport, he wants to research the subject further for a story.  Yet the videos’ producer, Jane O’Brien Media, refuses to cooperate with the reporter, and in fact tries to bully him into dropping any further coverage of the tickling videos.  When Farrier presses further, he soon discovers deliberate intimidation efforts such as doxxing and homophobic attacks, a case of underage sex, and the wealthy but fearsome man who might be behind it all.

July 11

The Neon Highway–Aspiring singer/songwriter Wayne Collins’ dream of making it in Nashville came to a screeching halt 20 years ago thanks to a car crash.  Now working a telephone repair contract job and struggling to support his family, he has a chance encounter with washed-up country music legend Claude Allen (Beau Bridges).  Wayne’s pressing one of his songs on Claude eventually leads to the duo heading to Nashville to use Claude’s industry contacts to turn Wayne’s song into a record.  However, these contacts turn out to have either left the music business or still hold grudges against Claude.  

July 12

Exploding Kittens Season 1–In this adult animated series based on the card game of the same name, the eternal conflict between Good and Evil takes an unexpected turn.  God (Tom Ellis, “Lucifer”) gets fired from his job in Heaven.  For rehabilitation, he gets reincarnated on Earth…as a chunky house cat named Godcat sharing a dysfunctional household with two unruly teenagers.  But his bigger challenge might well be the Anti-Christ, who’s also been reincarnated as the neighbor’s chonky house cat Devilcat.         

The Long Game–In 1950s Texas, new administrator JB Pena decides to start a golf team called the San Felipe Mustangs at his high school.  He hopes to show local whites that Mexicans golf too, but also encourages the team members to be proud of who they are.  Despite outdated equipment, barely concealed racism and outside pressure to end the program, the Mustangs would eventually beat all-white teams and win the 1957 Texas State High School Golf Championship.  Based on a true story.

Tickled

July 15

The Green Glove Gang Season 2–It’s the return of this Polish crime-comedy series about the adventures of a trio of elderly Robin Hood-like thieves named Kinga, Zuzanna, and Alicja.  As the new season opens, the series’ heroines have successfully escaped from the police to hide out in the Bieszczady Mountains, where they decide to retire.  The trio’s rest turns out to be short-lived after Zuzanna’s son has gotten on the wrong side of a notorious gangster.  So it’s on with the green gloves again.

July 18

The Inspection–Ex-con Ellis French decides to join the Marines after the 9/11 attacks.  Yet the compassionate gay man seems to be a bad fit for this military organization which openly displays institutionalized homophobia, anti-Muslim sentiment, and acceptable sexism.  But French’s biggest challenge may be dealing with head drill instructor Gunnery Sgt. Laws, who’s determined to inflict customized physical and emotional abuse on him.  Based on the director’s personal experiences.

Master Of The House Season 1–In this Thai drama, the suspicious death of Asia’s most powerful diamond magnate Roongroj kicks off a struggle between his sons Phupat and Mavin for control of his diamond empire.  What role will former housekeeper and now Roongroj’s young widow play in the coming struggle?  And what happens when the house servants start making their own resentments and ambitions known?

July 19

Chi’s Sweet Adventure: Summer Vacation–This 3DCG-animated family friendly feature is based on Konata Konami’s popular Chi manga.  For the newbies, Chi is a mischief-making stray tabby kitten who gets a forever home from the Yamada family despite their apartment building’s “no pets” policy.  In the new film, the entire Yamada family (including Chi) heads off to Okinawa for the summer because Mr. Yamada’s help is needed with a troubled project.  There, the kitten will make new kitten friends named Tilda, Umikaji, and Champuru and have unexpected adventures.

Skywalkers: A Love Story

Simone Biles Rising–Incredible gymnast Simone Biles pulled out of competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics because she was experiencing “the twisties,” a phenomenon where the mind and body are out of synch.  Biles was given lots of public heat for allegedly quitting, but as this new docuseries shows doing gymnastics is not all of who Biles is.  Taking viewers into Biles’ personal life and her efforts to deal with her emotional traumas, the series follows her struggles to be in a place where she can qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Skywalkers: A Love Story–Russians Angela Nikolau and Ivan “Vanya” Beerkus are what’s known as “rooftoppers.”  They break into ridiculously tall buildings, climb to the buildings’ highest tips, and then post pictures and/or footage of themselves on social media.  (The footage seen in the film was shot by the rooftoppers themselves.)  Nikolau and Beerkus start off as rivals, become a team, and then find their working relationship turning romantic.  When their social media stardom comes crashing down thanks to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Beerkus comes up with a plan to revive their stardom.  It involves traveling to Kuala Lumpur, an 118-story building with a 150-foot tall spire, and the “swan” body position.  For those with a pronounced fear of heights even when sitting in an armchair, expect Doctor Pee to be working overtime.  

July 24

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam–Lou Pearlman was the music mogul who changed the face of 1990s pop music.  Such globally famed acts as The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Britney Spears got launched thanks to Pearlman.  Yet the mogul also used his connections to those acts to sucker investors into a Ponzi scheme that wound up siphoning $300 million from them.  This docuseries traces Pearlman’s rise and fall.  Pearlman shouldn’t have gotten greedy and financially screwed *NSYNC’s members, just saying. 

Resurrected Rides Season 1–Loved the old MTV reality series “Pimp My Ride?”  Rick Hurvitz, co-creator of that series, is executive producer on this modern motor makeover series.  Each episode, ex-”Saturday Night Live” cast member Chris Redd hosts the conversion of a beloved beater into a roadworthy masterpiece using today’s technology and culture.

Chi’s Sweet Adventure: Summer Vacation

July 25

The Decameron Season 1–Giovanni Boccaccio’s classic story collection gets adapted by Kathleen Jordan (“Teenage Bounty Hunters”) and Jenji Kohan (“Orange Is The New Black”).  In 1348 Florence, the pestilence known as The Black Death was slaughtering people left and right.  To escape infection, a handful of nobles and their servants are invited to retreat to a countryside villa to wait for the plague to pass by.  To help pass the time, the nobles take turns telling each other stories about love and sex.  But how long can this bacchanalia of wine and sexy stories last before things start getting real?

Tokyo Swindlers Season 1–Ohne Hitoshi adapts Shinjo Ko’s novel Jimenshitachi for this series.  Harrison Yamanaka leads a notorious group of con artists who pretend to be property owners to illegally sell their “properties” for large sums of money.  Skyrocketing Tokyo land prices means the time is right to take advantage of developers’ greed.  But can even Yamanaka’s group pull off a scam involving a prime piece of real estate worth 10 billion yen?           

July 26

Pulang Araw Season 1–Eduardo, Teresita, Adelina, and Hiroshi have been friends since childhood.  But when World War II comes to the Philippines courtesy of the Japanese invasion and occupation, the four friends must each navigate a complex web of loyalty, betrayals, sacrifices, and resilience.

The Decameron

July 27

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.–Guy Ritchie adapts the classic 1960s TV spy series for the big screen.  In 1963, CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) gets the unwelcome news that his next mission requires him to work with KGB strongman Ilya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer).  The previous encounter of Solo and Kuryakin involved the CIA agent facing the possibility of getting torn limb from limb by his opposite number.  This time, though, they have a common enemy: rich Nazi sympathizers Alexander and Victoria Vinciguerra.  The Vinciguerras have kidnapped nuclear scientist Dr. Udo Teller and have forced him to make them a private nuclear weapon.  The clock’s ticking on stopping the villainous duo from deploying their weapon.

July 29

Heels Seasons 1 & 2–The under-rated Starz wrestling drama gets a new shot at life on Netflix.  Brothers Jack and Ace Spade have inherited their late father’s crowning achievement, the DWL wrestling federation.  In the wrestling ring, Ace plays the babyface (good guy) while Jack (Stephen Amell, “Arrow”) plays the heel (bad guy).  But in real life, Ace is egotistical and rude while Jack loves his wife and family.  The brothers struggle to make DWL bigger while fending off attempts by rival wrestling federation FWD to destroy them. 

July 31

Mountain Queen: The Summits Of Lhakpa Sherpa–Documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker directs this documentary about Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit and survive Mount Everest.  Lhakpa would go on to set several world records and summit Mount Everest a few more times and K2 once.  But she’s also a survivor of domestic violence and works now as a dishwasher at a Connecticut Whole Foods.  To help her two teenage daughters, Lhakpa plans one more ascent of Everest.