David Farnor | On 27, Jan 2016

If Netflix got 2016 off to a slow start in January, it speeds up like Keanu Reeves on an explosive bus in February, with a host of new original titles and an impressive bunch of classics to boot.

On the original heap, you’ll find everything from Better Call Saul’s second season to Netflix’s sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, not to mention a bunch of kids’ animated series in time for half-term. After their arrival in January, new episodes of Reign: Season 3 continue every Saturday and Shadowhunters and Pretty Little Liars: Season 6 every Wednesday. Oh, and did we mention Judd Apatow’s Love, out just in time for a belated Valentine’s Day binge?

If your heart’s not already aflutter, the month’s selection of older favourites is just as swoonsome, from Django Unchained and Blackadder to Legally Blonde and The Look of Silence. And not forgetting the timeless classic that is Spice World: The Movie.

Here’s what’s coming soon to Netflix UK in February 2016:

The Look of Silence – 1st February

Joshua Oppenheimer delivered one of 2012’s most powerful films with The Act of Killing, which asked the perpetrators of the anti-Communist killings in Indonesia to re-enact their crimes. Now, he has returned to the same subject with The Look of Silence, a documentary that follows Adi, whose brother was killed by one of Indonesia’s death squads, as he confronts those responsible.

Legally Blonde – 1st February

Bend… and snap.

Dinosaur 13 – 1st February

A complete T-Rex skeleton had never been found until “Sue” was discovered by Peter Larson in the South Dakota desert. It turns out, though, that the dino excavation business is a lot more complex than just digging bones up and giving them to museums: it’s an actual business. With rare artefacts up for grabs, it’s not just academics after them, but commercial traders too. This documentary about the legal and personal battles over the ownership of the landmark fossil is a gripping and entertaining ride.

Bobby Fischer Against the World – 1st February

Before she helmed Netflix’s Oscar-nominated What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus directed this fantastic documentary about the tragic and fascinating life of the cheese master.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – 1st February

This moving British war film follows young Bruno, who, after his family move from Berlin to near a concentration camp where his father works, makes friends with a Jewish boy on the other side of the barbed-wire fence.

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 – 1st February

The second part of Quentin Tarantino’s revenge flick may not be as stylish as the first, but it packs a gritty Western punch – not least because of the performance by David Carradine as our titular villain, whose relationship with Uma Thurman’s Bride is filled with surprisingly understated emotion. ‎Daryl Hannah brings the violence as the one-eyed Elle Driver.

Liar Liar – 1st February

Jim Carrey is on blistering form in this comedy drama about a lawyer who finds himself only able to tell the truth.

Care Bears and Cousins: Season 2 – 5th February

31 years after the original animated series first premiered, Netflix and the Care Bears have teamed up to create this new animated series. Following on from the six-episode first season, the bears continue spreading wholesome messages of caring and sharing. And, erm, bear…ing?

TURBO F.A.S.T.: Season 3 – 5th February

This animated spin-off from the DreamWorks film sees Turbo and his adrenaline-fuelled crew – Whiplash, Burn, Smoove Move, White Shadow, Skidmark and Chet – head off on more racing adventures.

How I Met Your Mother: Season 9 – 6th February

65 days after the first eight seasons of the sitcom landed on Netflix UK, you can finally see the conclusion to Ted’s (Josh Radnor) account of how he eventually met the mother of his kids. Because you can never have enough Neil Patrick Harris in your life.

The League: Season 7 – 7th February

Don’t understand what an NFL fantasy football league is? The team behind this comedy, co-created by Seinfeld’s Jeff Schaffer and starring Mark Duplass, Katie Aselton, YouTube sensation Jon Lajoie, stand-up Stephen Rannazzisi and alt-comics Nick Kroll and Paul Scheer, is so strong that it almost guarantees laughs, whatever the subject.

Democrats – 9th February

“The game of politics is pretending,” says Paul Mangwana in the documentary Democrats. A lawyer and a member of Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, he’s one of two politicians tasked with drafting a new constitution for Zimbabwe. The other is Douglas Mwonzora of the MDC-T party. They’re polite to each other, friendly even, as they try to put aside their differences. But in such a corrupt country, is democracy even possible?

Last Vegas – 9th February

Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline hit Vegas in this comedy about growing old and growing up. Surprisingly understated, it goes down in history as one of the few late-period Robert De Niro films that aren’t terrible.

Lone Survivor – 9th February

Mark Wahlberg stars in Peter Berg’s thrilling – and shocking – war movie, which reduces conflict to an adrenaline-fuelled attempt to survive.

Spice World: The Movie – 10th February

Spice up your life. You know you really really wanna.

High Plains Drifter – 10th February

Clint Eastwood stars and directs this iconic 1973 Western, which sees a gunslinging stranger bring the residents of Lago together to prepare for the arrival of three outlaws.

Blackadder: Season 3 – 15th February

“Sausage!” Dr Johnson’s dictionary. Stephen Fry as the Duke of Wellington. The notorious highwayman The Shadow. Blackadder’s third season might well be its best.

Better Call Saul: Season 2 – 16th February

Bob Odenkirk returns, along with Jonathan Banks’ Mike Ehrmantraut, for another season of the Breaking Bad prequel. With Season 1’s finale marking the turning point in Jimmy’s career, will McGill take the straight and narrow path with a safe corporate job or will he fall back into his con artist ways?

Erin Brockovich – 17th February

Julia Roberts is on Oscar-winning form in this true story about Erin Brockovich, an unemployed single mum who fought an energy company accused of polluting a city’s water supply.

Dr. Strangelove – 17th February

Hilarious. Dark. Provocative. Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satire never gets old.

Django Unchained – 17th February

Quentin Tarantino’s violent Western is a lot of things, but one thing it isn’t is boring. Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz pair up as a freed slave and German dentist to exact revenge upon white folk (including Leonardo DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie) – but it’s away from the blood splattering that Django Unchained finds its unexpected depth, with Samuel L. Jackson stealing the show as Candie’s conflicted butler.

Gaspar Noe’s Love – 18th February

Not in 3D.

Cooked: Season 1 – 19th February

This four-part original documentary series – from author Michael Pollan and director Alex Gibney – examines the “primal human need” to cook, calling for people to cook their own meals at home and reclaim lost culinary traditions.

Love: Season 1 – 19th February

This 10-episode series from Judd Apatow, the man behind Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, follows nice guy Gus (Paul Rust) and brazen wild-child Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) as they navigate the exhilarations and humiliations of intimacy, commitment, love and other things they were hoping to avoid.

Muppets Most Wanted – 25th February

The follow-up to The Muppets sees our fuzzy friends team up to make a sequel – only to have their plans scuppered by evil frog Constantine, who infiltrates the group disguised as Kermit. Genuine hilarity ensues, with more celebrity cameos than you can shake a stick at.

The Aristocats – 26th February

Jazz. Cats. Kidnapping. Paris. This 1970 animation is one of Disney’s best.

Enchanted – 26th February

“How does she knoooooooow?” Intelligent, amusing and downright romantic, this post-modern flick (which sees the naive Giselle – Amy Adams – stumble from Disney’s animated universe into the real world) deftly hits the mark.

Fuller House: Season 1 – 26th February

This 13-episode series reboots the 1980s US sitcom Full House, with original creator Jeff Franklin back on board to tell the story of veterinarian D.J. Tanner-Fuller (Cameron-Bure), who is pregnant, recently widowed and living in San Francisco. And so D.J.’s younger sister/aspiring musician Stephanie Tanner (Sweetin) and D.J.’s lifelong best friend/fellow single mother Kimmy Gibbler (Barber), along with Kimmy’s feisty teenage daughter, Ramona, all move in to help take care of D.J.’s two boys: rebellious 12-year-old J.D. and neurotic seven year old Max.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny – 26th February

This follow-up to Ang Lee’s sensational martial arts masterpiece is based on the novel Iron Knight, Silver Vase, by Wang Dulu and sees Michelle Yeoh reprise her role as Yu Shu-Lien. Joined by Donnie Yen as Silent Wolf, the film tells a story of young love and a legendary sword – a weapon that, should it fall into the hands of an evil warlord, will change the world and the warriors trying to protect it. The movie’s directed by Yuen Wo-Ping, the action choreographer on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix.

Noah – 28th February

Examining what it takes to blindly follow instructions that will wipe out the rest of humanity, Darren Aronofsky’s version of Noah is bold and idiosyncratic, taking into account everything from fertility and sin to evolution itself. Russell Crowe and Ray Winstone go full pelt in this Biblical epic.

 

Other new releases on Netflix UK in February 2016

1st February
A Faster Horse
The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming
Pokemon The Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction
Gary: Tank Commander: Season 2
Unsung Heroes: The Story of America’s Female Patriots
Love, Cheat and Steal
Dream Lover
A Picture of You
Easy Money
Lord of the Flies
Hate Story 2
Evidence of Blood
Tenured
Masha’s Tales: Season 1
The World of Henry Orient
Canadian Bacon
Crime and Punishment
United We Fall
In Dangerous Company
Toot the Tiny Tugboat
Cop
Pokemon: XY: Season 1
Babylon: Season 1
Game Face
The Story of Maths: Season 1
The Search for Life: The Drake Equation
Sinatra: All or Nothing at All
The Devil’s Violinist
Baby Geniuses
Enough
The Ring Two
Sammy & Co: Season 1

3rd February
The Limey
I Am David
Madea’s Family Reunion

5th February
Untitled Hannibal Buress Comedy Special

6th February
Lila & Eve

10th February
Trespass

11th February
The Motivation

12th February
Tuck Everlasting
Underdog

15th February
Ellis
Highway Thru Hell: Season 1 and 2
Snervous
Sharknado 3

16th February
Endless Love

17th February
Cast Party
War
Hero

19th February
Pramface: Season 2
Condor Man

21st February
Bad Grandpa .5
Fuerzas Especiales 2

24th February
The Lonely Man
The Little Prince (1974)

26th February
Theo Von Stand up Special

Date TBC
Hate Story 3

Add to Watchlist