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New Releases on Netflix Australia (July 6th 2018)

by Tim Colman
Published on July 6th, 2018, 8:33 am EST

Featured American Beauty, Notting Hill and Doc Martin

There’s been a huge release to Netflix Australia this week with 151 titles added. We’re going to pick three for special mention (just some of our favourites) but that doesn’t really do things justice. Best you run through the list and make some choices of your own.

Since Notting Hill is a favourite location for Australians visiting London, it seems like a good place to start. Spoiler alert: this isn’t a tourist guide. ‘Notting Hill‘ is a romcom in the best British tradition pure and simple. The comedy is warm and charming rather than laugh out loud funny although Spike has his moments. This is a story about social opposites; let’s face many boy meets girl stories are. Romeo and Juliet weren’t exactly a match. The end of the movie is entirely predictable. That’s not the point. It’s the route that the movie takes to get to that end which is so delightful. The acting is great, the directing is great, the screenplay is great and the soundtrack perfectly chosen. Don’t miss it.

‘American Beauty‘ is a unique film and this is the role for which Kevin Spacey won his best actor Oscar. Dealing with very adult issues, the film was rated R and, yes, this is an adult movie. But the strong sexuality, language, drug content and violence are far from gratuitous and all add to the depth of the story. There are those who find comedy in American Beauty but the grim conclusion gives the lie to this. This was Sam Mendes directorial debut and what a debut. He won the Best Director Oscar at first attempt and the movie picked up 5 Oscars in total out of 8 nominations. Arguably, it dwarfs his later work. An excellent cast, excellent directing and an excellent screenplay deliver a truly thought provoking film.

If you’re a fan of British comedy drama, you’ll love ‘Doc Martin‘. While this month’s release is series 6, there are 8 so far and the 9th has been announced. Martin Clunes play the eponymous Doc Martin, a socially dysfunctional but brilliant and successful surgeon who now works in a small village. The recurring theme is the awkward love affair between the doctor and the head of the local school. But this is set against the doctors interaction with the villagers who, of course, all have extraordinary characters. Basically, the Brits have forgotten more about how to do this stuff than the Americans will ever know.

Let us know what you think.

151 new titles added to Netflix Australia.