One day not so long from now, our grandchildren will ask us how we ever coped without Netflix. We'll muse about it for a second and then shrug our shoulders before settling down to watch 100-year-old Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones 8.
You, however, have a good deal better films and shows to watch right now, starting with these... all new to Netflix this month.
Flaked: Season 1
Voice of Bojack Horseman Will Annett is now fronting another darkly comic Netflix series as another recovering alcoholic, albeit in real life as opposed to cartoon. Sucker-punch powerful with effective writing that hits you when you least expect it, Arnett plays LA-dwelling Chip, now sober but battling demons after killing a man while drunk-driving a decade earlier.
Available now
Marvel's Daredevil: Season 2
Following its critically acclaimed first season, Marvel’s Daredevil returns with even more woes for lawyer-cum-vigilante Charlie Cox, when a little known criminal enterprise known as the The Yakuza starts to raise its head. Adding to his worries, he's also got old flame Elektra and The Punisher to contend with. That's your weekend sorted then.
Available from 18 March
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Whetting your appetite ahead of the third Cap America film, Civil War (surely worth pre-booking those IMAX seats for the first peek at Spidey alone), here’s the last one, pitting Marvel’s shield-waving hero against a super assassin known as The Winter Soldier. It’s a heck of a refresher.
Available now
For Grace
Somebody must be cutting a serious amount of onions in this documentary... Centring on one of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants – two Michelin-starred Chicago haunt Grace – this provoking documentary not only serves up a feast of food porn, it has a softer shell too, showing us the pains and strains felt by renowned chef Curtis Duffy, who lost a marriage and two young daughters in his quest for perfection.
Available now
Bates Motel: Season 3
“I’d like to check into the Oedipus Suite, please.” Short of lines like this, there’s no end to the eeriness between mother and son in this thrilling contemporary prequel to Psycho, starring Vera Farmiga as the maternal bosom to troubled young chap Norman Bates (Freddy Highmore). To say he has a few skeletons in his closet would be a gross understatement.
Available now
Better Call Saul: Season Two
In contrast to the show, which plods along slowly but excellently, we’re fast running out of superlatives for Better Call Saul, prequel to the acclaimed Breaking Bad which has emerged as unique in its own right. Much of that, of course, is down to the unhurried, if complex, character development - Bryan Cranston’s Walter White may have gone from science teacher to Scarface practically overnight but you can bet it’s going to take a while for two-bit lawyer Slippin’ Jimmy McGill to go to Saul Goodman. And we’re savouring every hangdog expression while it lasts.
Jimmy Carr: Funny Business
Filmed in front of a sold-out audience at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, this one-hour special marks the first time a British stand-up has worked exclusively with Netflix, and, as ever, he isn’t taking any prisoners, showcasing more of his acerbically wonderful outlook on life. Business is good.
Available from 18 March
Gored
Karma, as Proust probably never said, is a bitch. By the end of Gored, an unflinching documentary charting the life and career of Antonio Barrera, a bullfighter who has been gored by bulls 23 times, you might be inclined to agree. That, or start advocating for countries to ban this blood sport entirely. Either way it’s an absorbing watch.
Available now
Brave
Widely considered one of the lesser efforts of the Disney/Pixar canon, we can’t help but feel 2012's Brave, which tells the tale of a rebellious young Scotish archer aiming to undo a beastly curse, gets a bad time of it. Packed with heart, laughs and tears, it does anything but miss the target. ‘Braveheart for babies’ perhaps, but well worth a watch for adults too.
Available March 26
House of Cards: Season 4
It’s election year and campaigning from both sides puts major strains on a political power couple. No, not the Clintons, we mean the Underwoods, as the relationship of between Frank and Claire diverges ever more in this, the highly fraught fourth season of House of Cards. Shame Frank doesn't play the sax mind.
Available now
The Gift
They say never look a gift horse in the mouth. Good advice that – unless of course it’s being held by a former classmate harbouring a murderous grudge from 20 years before. Joel Edgerton plays the stranger with dark intensions and Jason Bateman the family man who must figure out his agenda before it’s too late. We'll tell you what's a gift, this film.
Available from 31 March
The Mr Peabody & Sherman Show: Season 2
Picture the scene: it’s a lazy Sunday and you’re say in a hungover stupor trying to find something to watch; ideally something to cheer you up after that last grizzly episode of Making A Murderer. HELLO? It’s the world’s smartest dog and his boy owner, embarking on ingenious endeavours together for episode after episode of unruly hijinks – consider your mood improved.
Available March 18
