Each month, loads of new films and TV shows are added to Netflix Australia‘s library. Eliza Janssen presents her picks for titles worth watching. For the full list of everything arriving on the platform, scroll down.
Top Picks: TV
Pokemon Concierge: Season 1 Part 2 (September 4)
After all their battling and evolving, Pokémon definitely deserve some relaxing time to themselves! I absolutely devoured the first short batch of episodes in this agonisingly cute animated series, following the staff and quirky guests at a Pokémon resort. The MVP was obviously a nervous and shy Psyduck, who bonded with stressed-out new worker Haru over the course of four binge-able chapters.
A real accomplishment in adorable character design and soothing atmosphere, this is a show for the whole family—but it’s also for workaholics like Haru, who need something almost aggressively cute and relaxing to take their minds off the daily grind. A holiday for us too, then!
Black Rabbit: Limited Series (September 18)
Oh, brother: in this crime-drama series, Jude Law and Jason Bateman play two very different siblings, the former scrambling to keep his New York City hotspot business thriving whilst the chaotic latter threatens to bring it all crashing down. Bateman is typically typecast as neurotic straight-man types, whilst Law has played some lawless characters in the past, so the fact that there’s a bit of a flip going on here is tantalising.
Also tantalising is the short series’ talent behind the camera, with Bateman and his Ozark co-star Laura Linney directing a few episodes each, and Australia’s Justin Kurzel helming the final two episodes.
Wayward: Limited Series (September 25)
Developed by standup comic Mae Martin, who also stars, this sinister Canadian series shines light upon a terribly dark industry: the ‘troubled teens’ industrial complex, where struggling young people (and queer kids, in particular) are systemically repressed and abused for profit. If we can trust any one actor to deliver this bleakness, but also convincingly explain why so many parents and guardians are drawn into the process, it’s Toni Collette: cast here as the charismatic founder of ‘Tall Pines’. Unsettling and based in true horror as it may be, I also suspect Martin’s show might offer some secret comedic beats, too: they’re a master of many genres.
Top Picks: Movies + Specials
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (September 8)
It seems like every prestige-y Australian story these days is about some sleuth uncovering the dark truth of a small-town mystery, in a remote locale such as a thirsty desert setting or foreboding woodlands. Eric Bana has ticked off both environs in his role as Agent Aaron Falk, returning in this sequel to get to the bottom of a work retreat gone horribly wrong. Featuring Jacqueline McKenzie and Anna Torv, the frostier, foresty follow-up to 2020’s outback noir The Dry takes place in the Victorian mountain ranges, with Falk trying to find out what happened to his informant after she disappears on a corporate hike.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another adaptation of Jane Harper’s novels on the way: maybe Falk could enjoy some surf next time around?
aka Charlie Sheen (September 10)
Netflix has never met a glossy, brand-redeeming, celeb-worshipping doco it didn’t like, and this new one centring around the rise, fall and newfound sobriety of star Charlie Sheen totally fits the bill. Across two episodes, the actor and controversial tabloid fixture will reflect upon all of it: the 80s and 90s hits that put his comedic and leading-man skills on a pedestal, and the substance abuse that knocked it all down. Now seven years sober, the road to recovery has led Sheen here: talking heads include Sean Penn, Jon Cryer, Sheen’s ex Denise Richards, and even his former drug dealer.
The Wrong Paris (September 12)
Paris: the city of love, the Louvre, baguettes aplenty! In this frothy, clever rom-com, Miranda Cosgrove’s singleton is hyped to take part in a Parisian dating show… only to find out it’s actually shooting in Paris, Texas, only kilometres away from where her character already lives.
Her European dreams shattered, she might still get a chance at le romance with the series’ dashing cowboy bachelor, played by Pierson Fode. That fun, rug-pull establishing premise totally works, and hopefully some chemistry between the two leads keeps us hooked for whole kinda-holiday.
All titles arriving on Netflix Australia in September
September 1
One Direction: This Is Us
September 3
Wednesday: Season 2 Part 2
September 4
Countdown: Canelo Vs. Crawford
Pokemon Concierge: Season 1 Part 2
September 5
Inspector Zende
Love Con Revenge
September 7
The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity
September 8
Dr Seuss’ Red Fish, Blue Fish
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Her Mother’s Killer: Season 2
September 9
Jordan Jensen: Take Me With You
Kiss or Die
September 10
aka Charlie Sheen
The Dead Girls
Love is Blind: Brazil: Season 5
Love is Blind: France
September 11
Diary of a Ditched Girl
Kontrabida Academy
Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black: Season 2
Wolf King: Season 2
September 12
Beauty and the Bester
Maledictions
Ratu Ratu Queens: The Series
The Wrong Paris
You and Everything Else
September 14
Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford
September 15
Insidious: The Red Door
September 17
1670: Season 2
Matchroom: The Greatest Showman
Next Gen Chef
September 18
The BA***DS of Bollywood
Black Rabbit
Platonic: Blue Moon Hotel
Same Day with Someone
September 19
Billionaires’ Bunker
Haunted Hotel
She Said Maybe
September 22
Blippi’s Job Show: Season 2
September 23
Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy
September 24
The Guest
September 25
Alice in Borderland: Season 3
House of Guinness
Wayward
September 26
French Lover
Ruth & Boaz
September 30
Earthquake: Joke Telling Business
Nightmares of Nature: Cabin in the Woods
The Lost City of Melbourne
See also
* Best new movies and TV series Stan
* Best new movies and TV series on Amazon Prime
* Best new movies and TV series on Disney+
* All new streaming movies & series
