Netflix Canada in August 2021: What’s new this month
Jaime Weinman’s rundown of all the new shows and movies worth checking out in August on Netflix in Canada
THE JOY EFFECT (L to R) MARIE KONDO in episode 101 of THE JOY EFFECT Cr. ADAM ROSE/NETFLIX © 2021
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What you should watch
Vivo (August 6)
Lin Manuel Miranda is the songwriter and lead voice actor for this animated musical film, which has had a rocky journey to our screens. It spent much of the 2010s in “Development Hell” at Sony Pictures Animation, and when it was finally made, with Kirk DeMicco (The Croods) directing, it became one of many films that wound up going to Netflix instead of theatres, due to the pandemic. Miranda voices the title character, a talking and singing kinkajou (a rainforest mammal) who sets out on a journey, as characters forever seem to be doing in these animated movies; in this case, the journey is from Cuba to Florida, but it’s made for strictly non-political reasons. Other voice actors include Ynairaly Simo, Zoe Saldana, Juan de Marcos González and Gloria Estefan.
The Defeated (August 18)
The premise of this German series seems like someone asked the question: “What if The Third Man were also a police procedural?” Created by writer/director Måns Mårlind, it takes place in 1946, in the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, where an American cop played by Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) is assigned to build a de-Nazified police force and help the city deal with rebuilding and the onset of the Cold War. But like the protagonist of The Third Man, he’s also trying to find a missing person, in this case his brother, who has a shady past that may have to be hidden from his own police force. The series, originally announced under the title “Shadowplay,” will have 16 episodes released in two eight-episode batches.
The Chair (August 20)
The first new show from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, but for those of you still angry about the Game of Thrones finale, don’t worry, they didn’t write it: actress Amanda Peet (who is married to Benioff) and co-writer Annie Wyman created the story of Ji-Yoon Kim, played by Sandra Oh, who is the first woman of colour to become Chair of the English Department at a small, fictional university. It’s a half-hour comedy/drama whose supporting cast includes such favourite character actors as Bob Balaban and Holland Taylor; Oh, who is also an executive producer on the show, will take her character through the pressures of being in charge of a modern university department, which may be the kind of pressures Hollywood writers can really identify with.
Sparking Joy (August 31)
One of Netflix’s biggest meme generators before Tiger King was Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, where the household-organizing consultant offered advice on how to declutter your home. The most meme-tastic line from the show was her advice that when considering whether or not to throw something away, we should ask ourselves, “does it spark joy?” So of course that inspired the title of her new Netflix show, which uses the same tried-and-true reality makeover format, but with a switch: instead of helping homeowner declutter their home, Kondo goes to three different businesses and teaches them how to organize themselves along Kondo-approved lines. She’ll also be helping an employee improve their lives by discarding emotional baggage, and hopefully the businesses won’t decide that the employees are among the things they need to declutter.
Date TBA
Comedy Premium League — NETFLIX SERIES 🇮🇳
Combination of comedy and reality competition series, where 16 comedians are organized into four teams that compete against one another in tests of jokery and wisecrackdom.
D.P. — NETFLIX SERIES 🇰🇷
Drama series, based on the web cartoon by Kim Bo-tong, about a special military squadron with the morally ambiguous job of pursuing and capturing deserters.
Coming to Netflix August 1, 2021
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Coming to Netflix August 3, 2021
Pray Away — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
Documentary film about so-called conversion therapy, or “pray the gay away” as it’s nicknamed, where we hear from victims of the attempts to brainwash people out of being LGBTQ, as well as people who used to work within the movement. Ryan Murphy is one of the executive producers; the film, directed by Kristine Stolakis, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year.
Shiny_Flakes: The Teenage Drug Lord — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY 🇩🇪
The story of Shiny Flakes, a teenage drug lord. Well, specifically, it’s about a guy named Maximilian Schmidt, who became a drug dealer when he was a teenager living at home; his story inspired the Netflix show “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast).”
Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified — NETFLIX SERIES
Sadly, there are not any actual top secret UFO projects declassified in this show, which originally aired in the UK. It’s another series about how UFOs may be real, where we hear from people who say UFOs are real.
Coming to Netflix August 4, 2021
76 — NETFLIX FILM
Director Izu Ojukowu made this film (originally released to theatres in 2016) set during the 1970s in Nigeria, about a soldier (Ramsey Nouah) accused of taking part in a military coup attempt, and his wife (Rita Dominic) who tries to prove his innocence.
Aftermath
Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
A sequel to director Billy Corben’s 2006 documentary film Cocaine Cowboys, this series expands on the story of the Florida drug trade in the 1970s and 1980s by focusing on two men, Augusto “Willy” Falcon and Salvador “Sal” Magluto, who made a reported $2 billion from drug smuggling in 1980s Miami.
Control Z: Season 2 — NETFLIX SERIES 🇲🇽
In the first season, Sofia (Ana Valeria Becerril) had to solve the mystery of who was revealing students’ secrets to the school. Now she has to solve the mystery of who is taking revenge on students and faculty for something that happened in the first season.
Car Masters: Rust to Riches: Season 3 — NETFLIX SERIES
Mark Towle leads a group of car experts who give old cars “makeovers” to make them look like new cars, which may defeat the point of owning old cars in the first place.
Cooking With Paris — NETFLIX SERIES
Remember Paris Hilton, the hotel heiress who was everywhere in reality TV? Well, she’s still here, and now she’s doing a cooking show.
Definitely, Maybe
The Five-Year Engagement
Inside Man
Jarhead
Miami Vice
Savages
Slap Shot
The Unborn
Coming to Netflix August 6, 2021
Hit & Run — NETFLIX SERIES
Lior Raz (who also co-wrote the show) stars in this globetrotting thriller series as a man whose happy life in Tel Aviv is shattered when his wife is killed, and he finds out that her death was no accident.
Navarasa — NETFLIX SERIES 🇮🇳
Netflix has done so many anthology movies from India that it was natural for it to move into anthology series: each of the nine episodes has a different director and deals with an emotion that is related to one of the nine rasas or aesthetics. Created by Mani Ratnam.
The Swarm — NETFLIX FILM 🇫🇷
This is not the 1978 American horror movie The Swarm, about killer bees. This is the 2021 French horror movie The Swarm, about killer locusts.
Vivo — NETFLIX FILM
See introduction for details
Coming to Netflix August 9, 2021
SHAMAN KING — NETFLIX ANIME 🇯🇵
A shaman competes with other shamans to become, as the title implies, the Shaman King. This is not currently an Olympics tie-in, but you never know what events they might add eventually.
Coming to Netflix August 10, 2021
Gabby’s Dollhouse: Season 2 — NETFLIX FAMILY
Animated show for preschoolers, about a plucky girl and her room full of talking, educating dolls.
Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang — NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL 🇬🇧
The first full-length Netflix special for the British-Malaysian stand-up comic, taped at the London Palladium.
UNTOLD: Malice at the Palace — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
The first of five documentary films (released weekly), each looking at a memorable sports event. The first film is an in-depth exploration of the “Pacers-Pistons brawl” of November 19, 2004, which involved not only the teams but the fans.
Coming to Netflix August 11, 2021
Bake Squad — NETFLIX SERIES
Another baking competition in which four contestants compete to see who will create the most delicious desert. Hosted by Christina Tosi.
The Kissing Booth 3 — NETFLIX FILM
The third in the series of young-adult movies about Elle (Joey King) and her romance with hunky, mildly troubled Noah (Jacob Elordi). This time, Elle has to decide whether to go to college or follow Noah to his new home.
Misha and the Wolves — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY 🇬🇧
Sam Hobkinson directed this documentary film about a woman whose Holocaust memoir didn’t hold up under scrutiny (including from her own publisher).
Coming to Netflix August 12, 2021
AlRawabi School for Girls — NETFLIX SERIES 🇯🇴
Netflix’s second original series in Arabic deals with girls who try to get revenge on bullies at an all-girls’ school, only to find that the line between bullies and the bullied isn’t always as clear as it seems.
Lokillo: Nothing’s the Same — NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL 🇨🇴
Colombian stand-up comic Lokillo Florez does one of the first Netflix comedy specials that deals with the world of the pandemic and social distancing.
Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild — NETFLIX ANIME
The titular monster hunter, Aiden, hunts a monster, in this case a dragon.
Riverdale: Season 5 — NETFLIX SERIES (new episodes weekly)
Netflix Canada continues to have the rights to the CW’s successful “dark edgy Archie comics” show, but you can tell it’s not a real Netflix show because they have to release the episodes weekly.
Coming to Netflix August 13, 2021
Beckett — NETFLIX FILM
John David Washington plays the title character in this Hitchcock-style thriller about a an American tourist in Greece who has to go on the run to clear his name when he is framed for a crime he didn’t commit.
Brand New Cherry Flavor — NETFLIX SERIES
Rosa Salazar plays a would-be film director who goes through some supernatural terrors in this eight-episode horror series, which takes place in the most terrifying time and place of all – Los Angeles in the early 1990s.
Fast & Furious Spy Racers: Season 5: South Pacific — NETFLIX FAMILY
The animated spinoff of the unstoppable Fast & Furious series continues with another multi-episode plot; in this one, one of the gang of very fast drivers is being held captive, and the other very fast drivers must drive very fast in order to rescue him.
Gone for Good — NETFLIX SERIES 🇫🇷
Giullaume (Finnegan Oldfield), who thought he had rebuilt his life after the deaths of two people he loved, finds that his girlfriend has mysteriously disappeared, and tracking her down may uncover some unpleasant secrets.
The Kingdom — NETFLIX SERIES 🇦🇷
A celebrity preacher runs for president of Argentina, and some unpleasant secrets may be uncovered, particularly since his original running made was mysteriously killed.
Valeria: Season 2 — NETFLIX SERIES 🇪🇸
The title character (Diana Gómez) looks for fulfilment in her career and her love life with the help of her three best friends.
Coming to Netflix August 15, 2021
Starbuck
Coming to Netflix August 16, 2021
Joker
She’s Out of My League
Coming to Netflix August 17, 2021
Go! Go! Cory Carson: Season 5 — NETFLIX FAMILY
This is not the unusually long-running Netflix animated series about people who drive cars very fast. That’s Fast & Furious Spy Racers. This is the unusually long-running Netflix animated series about talking cars.
UNTOLD: Deal with the Devil — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
The second of the five Untold documentaries providing in-depth looks at memorable moments in sports; this one focuses on pioneering women’s boxer Christy Martin.
Coming to Netflix August 18, 2021
The Defeated — NETFLIX SERIES 🇩🇪
See introduction for details
Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY 🇬🇧
A true-crime documentary with a creepy twist: thanks to tapes the convicted serial killer Dennis Nielsen recorded in prison before his death in 2018, his own voice is used to narrate this entire story.
Out of my league — NETFLIX FILM 🇮🇹
Not to be confused with She’s Out of My League, this Italian film focuses on a young woman “with a rare genetic disorder” who is tired of dating and decides to find her one true love.
The Secret Diary of an Exchange Student — NETFLIX FILM 🇧🇷
Comedy about two best friends who move from Brazil to America as part of a student exchange program.
Coming to Netflix August 20, 2021
22 Jump Street
The Chair — NETFLIX SERIES
See introduction for details
Everything Will Be Fine — NETFLIX SERIES 🇲🇽
Diego Luna created this comedy/drama about a couple (Flavio Medina & Lucía Uribe) who decide their marriage is no longer working but still want to stay together for the sake of their daughter, so they try and work out a new and unconventional approach to family life.
The Loud House Movie — NETFLIX FAMILY
As viewers of Family Ties Vacation and The Facts of Life Goes to Paris can inform you, the best way to do a movie-length spinoff of a TV series is to do a road trip. This feature film is a spinoff of the long-running Nickelodeon animated series about a family with eleven children, and while the show takes place in Michigan, the movie takes them on a trip to Scotland.
Sweet Girl — NETFLIX FILM
Jason Momoa (Aquaman) stars in this Liam Neeson-esque thriller where he tries to get justice for his dying wife and winds up uncovering a conspiracy that will require him to get revenge against those who threaten his family.
Coming to Netflix August 21, 2021
Rocketman
Coming to Netflix August 23, 2021
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf — NETFLIX ANIME
Animated film spinoff of Netflix’s popular live-action fantasy series “The Witcher,” about a new supernatural threat which, presumably, has something to do with wolves.
Coming to Netflix August 24, 2021
Oggy Oggy — NETFLIX FAMILY 🇫🇷
A spinoff of the popular animated series “Oggy and the Cockroaches,” this also features the cute baby kitten Oggy, but without cockroaches.
The Peanut Butter Falcon
UNTOLD: Caitlyn Jenner — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
The third of the five in-depth sports documentaries, this one focuses on the life and career of the Olympic champion and would-be governor of California Caitlyn Jenner.
Coming to Netflix August 25, 2021
Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
The story of TV painting instructor Bob Ross, who somehow became even more famous after his death in 1995.
Clickbait — NETFLIX SERIES
Nick Brewer (Adrian Grenier, Entourage) is the victim of a crime that was apparently influenced by social media; the series uses multiple points of view to examine the sinister role of social media in modern life.
John of God: The Crimes of a Spiritual Healer — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY 🇧🇷
The story of João Teixeira de Faria, the celebrity faith healer who, to date, has also been sentenced to a total of more than 63 years in prison for sexual assault.
Motel Makeover — NETFLIX SERIES
Six episodes about a Toronto motel and how its owners carried out their ambitious plan to, well, make it over, despite the pandemic and the fact that it required at least six episodes’ worth of work.
Open Your Eyes — NETFLIX SERIES 🇵🇱
In this drama series, Julka (Maria Wawreniuk) wakes up with amnesia in what she thinks is a treatment centre… but her strange dreams reveal that there may be something more sinister going on.
Post Mortem: No One Dies in Skarnes — NETFLIX SERIES 🇳🇴
Lise (Kathrine Thorborg Johanse) dies and comes back as a vampire, but she still wants to help her family run their funeral parlour.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Coming to Netflix August 26, 2021
EDENS ZERO — NETFLIX ANIME 🇯🇵
The title refers to a spaceship that takes the main character, a child with superpowers, on his quest to meet “Mother.”
Family Reunion: Part 4 — NETFLIX FAMILY
More episodes of the sitcom (starring such familiar TV faces as Tia “Sister Sister” Mowry) about people who leave a Northwestern city to move in with their relatives in Columbus, Georgia.
Coming to Netflix August 27, 2021
He’s All That — NETFLIX FILM
The 1999 teen comedy She’s All That was a thinly disguised version of Pygmalion, in which a cool guy accepts a bet that he can turn a loser into a cool girl. This is an undisguised version of She’s All That, where a cool girl (Addison Rae) tries to do the same for a loser guy (Tanner Buchanan).
I Heart Arlo — NETFLIX FAMILY
Spinoff from the Netflix animated film Arlo the Alligator Boy, with twenty eleven-minute episodes about a boy named Arlo who is half-alligator.
Titletown High — NETFLIX SERIES
Reality show about a high school football team in Valdosta, Georgia, trying for the title during their first season under a new coach – who was also the star of a different reality show by the creator of this series.
Coming to Netflix August 28, 2021
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha — NETFLIX SERIES 🇰🇷
TV series adaptation of the film Mr. Handy, Mr. Hong, about a dentist (Shin Min-a) who falls in love who Mr. Hong (Kim Seon-ho), who is a handyman.
Coming to Netflix August 29, 2021
The Equalizer
Coming to Netflix August 31, 2021
Good Girls: Season 4 — NETFLIX SERIES
The continuing story of three women (Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman) who turned to crime to make ends meet in the first season, and are still encountering complications with 43 episodes already aired and seven more to go.
Sparking Joy — NETFLIX SERIES
See introduction for details
UNTOLD: Crime and Penalties – — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
The last of the five in-depth sports documentaries is about a hockey team where some of the players were allegedly involved with organized crime, but the alleged criminal they were involved with was a teenager.
Manifest: Season 3
Leaving Netflix
Leaving 8/11, 2021
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Leaving 8/14, 2021
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Leaving 8/31, 2021
Blade Runner: The Final Cut
Easy A
Family Guy: Seasons 9-11
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom