Netflix Originals

spike lee – she’s got to have it

Thirty years or so after the release of his directorial debut, Spike Lee reimagined She’s Gotta Have It, this time as a 10-episode series for Netflix. She’s Gotta Have It follows Nola Darling (DeWanda Wise), an artist with no interest in settling down, in life or in love. Nola is polyamorous, and her three main lovers are immature-but-sweet jokester Mars Blackmon (Anthony Ramos), egotistical model Greer Childs (Cleo Anthony), and controlling older man Jamie Overstreet (Lyriq Bent). The original film kept the focus tightly on Nola’s relationships, but the show uses its extended running time to explore other facets of her life, making for a richer character study. The show is gorgeously shot, luxuriating in the colors and movement of its protagonist’s bohemian life.

Best Netflix Shows 2018

american vandal

If you were to go into American Vandal without reading anything about it, you might think you’ve stumbled onto the next, great true crime story. The show’s setup is ominous. A student, Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro), stands accused — falsely, he claims — of a heinous act: Spray painting “dicks” on all the faculty cars at Hanover High School. Given his history of pranks — including drawing dicks on whiteboards — the school expels him. Only Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez), a sophomore who works on the Hanover High morning show, thinks Dylan might be innocent and sets out to prove it. The case quickly becomes stranger than it first appeared. For those who enjoy true crime stories like Making a Murderer, American Vandal is a tonally perfect parody, emulating the lighting and story structure that define the genre.

black mirror

Each episode of Black Mirror tells a single story, with a theme of modern and near-future technology running through each unnerving tale. It’s often compared to The Twilight Zone for its episodic nature, and just like that classic series, some of the stories will leave you sitting and staring at a blank television, wondering what you just watched. Beyond all of the thought-provoking, mind-bending, and world-building, the acting and aesthetic is smart and nuanced, and will leave even the best spoiler guessers out there reeling from the sharp twists and turns in every episode.

luke cage

Luke Cage opens on a Harlem barbershop, the clients and barbers talking about the New York Knicks, the value of taking Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth pick in the draft, and whether Pat Riley or Phil Jackson is the greater coach. The first words out of the titular superhero’s mouth?

“’Cause the Knicks played like men when Pat Riley was head coach.”

It is a strangely specific way to begin a show about a crime-fighting superhuman, but an appropriate one given Luke Cage is not merely about heroes and villains slugging it out. This is a show about life and politics in Harlem as much as anything else, one which pits the old-school virtues espoused by Cage (Mike Colter) against the rapacious business practices of local mob boss “Cottonmouth” Stokes (Mahershala Ali). Rooted in black culture, the show also draws heavily on rap and funk music, as well as the literary heritage of Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin.

stranger things

The opening sequence of Stranger Things lays out the series’ sci-fi aspirations clearly: A scientist flees down an empty hallway, pursued by some unseen force that eventually nabs him as he waits for elevator doors to close; it then cuts to a group of kids playing D&D in a suburban basement. From Alien to E.T. in a matter of seconds. The show is a stew made of various influences from the ‘80s. A mysterious creature and a secret government agency, a group of kids having adventures around their rural town, teens experimenting with sex, drugs, and peer pressure.

There are pieces of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, and John Hughes strewn throughout Stranger Things, and the result is a show that will feel immediately familiar to people who grew up with that source material. The show is not shallow in its emulation, either. The acting and direction are superb, giving even the most derivative scenes some heft.

explained

News site Vox has been publishing short, informative “explainer” videos for a while now. Explained, Vox’s new series on Netflix, offers longer, deeper dives into the topics of the day. Episodes — generally between 15 and 20 minutes in length — target a range of subjects, including the evolution of monogamy, the racial wealth gap in the United States, even the rise of K-pop. Explained makes use of interviews with experts, clever infographics, and other tools to convey information, and the show’s breezy attitude keeps even the most academic topics from getting too.

The Returned

An A&E exclusive, The Returned is a French supernatural thriller set in a tiny mountain town that’s experiencing rather odd occurrences with its deceased — they somehow keep coming back to life. However, this isn’t your typical zombie fare, but rather, the dead come back to life as if nothing’s happened at all. Car crash victims reappear in town, unharmed and emotionally stable despite the horrific way in which they passed. As the resurrected people attempt to live ordinary lives, those around them try to pick up the pieces and find out exactly what’s going on.

Easy

Joe Swanberg’s eight-episode anthology, Easy, explores the many incarnations of romance, with almost every episode presenting a stand-alone story set in Chicago. One story follows a long-married couple trying to spice up their love life, another a pair of artists whose personal and professional lives collide after a night together. The stories are heavily improvised, with a focus on interactions between characters, rather than plot. As expected of an anthology series, not every episode of Easy is great, but at its best, it is one of the most intimate, honest explorations of love and sexuality around.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/best-shows-on-netflix/2/

 

Netflix Content Chief Says 85% of New Spending Is on Originals

Netflix is sharply steering its new content spending toward original projects, with around 85% of new spending going to original TV shows, films and other productions, according to chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

The subscription-streaming leader has pegged its content spending for 2018 to be up to $8 billion. Sarandos, speaking Monday at MoffettNathanson’s Media & Communications Summit 2018 in New York, declined to break out what portion of that is licensed vs. original spending but said the bulk of new spending is on originals.

Netflix will have around 1,000 originals total on the service by the end of 2018, with 470 of those set to premiere between now and end of the year, according to Sarandos. More than 90% of Netflix’s customers regularly watch original programming, he added.