Netflix in 2024: the best shows and movies

2024 will go down as the year Netflix gave its big push to sports. It was the exclusive home for the “disgusting but I can't look away” hot dog eating contest between Joey Chestnut and his rival, Takeru Kobayashi. The streamer also aired the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, which would have been abysmally boring if not for the bloody women's match right before the main event. Then there are the million-dollar deals that Netflix closed with the WWE and the NFL to bring even more live sports to the platform.

Fortunately, Netflix has also added a good amount of original programming, movies, TV shows, anime, and documentaries that will be much easier to watch. So here's a list of the best Netflix shows and movies to watch in case you never get past the buffering icon.

It's hard to recommend anime nowadays, especially to people looking to get into the genre. Many programs have simply become too much peculiar, Let's say, to recommend to the average person. Dan Da Dan…doesn't solve this problem at all. It goes beyond the peculiar weird as hell territory, with ghosts, magic, alien abductions and penis abductions, all within the first 25-minute episode, and norms. Although Dan Da Dan Being about the supernatural hijinks that ensue when a girl (who believes in ghosts but not aliens) befriends a boy (who believes in aliens but not ghosts), it's actually a truly blue romance anime. it's a lot fun Watching the two main characters deal with their growing affection for each other doesn't bother you with (or, in fact, delight in) the turbo-slutty weirdness of literally everything else on the show.

The slogan of Arcane Season 2 should be “Everyone is really, In fact bad at this.” Bad at communication, bad at relationships and definitely bad at avoiding civil war. Season 2 picks up right after the events of season one, with everyone having to deal with the fallout from Jinx's attack on the Piltover council. The events of this season seem very taken from the headlines, regarding a simmering class war about to erupt and whether said struggle can be resolved peacefully. Although there were some brilliant emotional moments between Vi and her sister Jinx or Vi and her girlfriend Caitlyn, I didn't feel much of a connection with the majority of the main cast. Still, Netflix and Riot told a really good, well-rounded story in two seasons, full of super clever fight sequences that more than made up for my dislike of the cast.

I thought I was going to have to caveat this recommendation by saying “I know this show appears on this list every year.” But I was surprised to discover that The Great British Baking Show has never appeared in The edge“Best of” lists. And to that I say… all my colleagues are monsters. The Great British Baking Show is without a doubt the best annual competition show since Eurovision. Every year, Britain manages to find 12 of the healthiest humans to compete in a series of challenges baking delicious-looking foods that most Americans have never heard of. After years After watching this show, I'm still not sure what the hell pudding is, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to cheer on these wonderful, talented people every week.

Yes, technically this show came out in 2022. But InterviewThe first season debuted on Netflix this year, exposing it to a much wider audience. This television adaptation adds some interesting updates and twists to Anne Rice's 1976 novel. The main character, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), is no longer a white slave owner, but a black man making his way to through 1910s Louisiana. There he meets the enigmatic Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), and the two begin a torrid relationship exacerbated by the racial tensions of the time and the fact that Lestat He is a terribly eccentric and dramatic Frenchman… who is also a vampire. Interview with the vampire is easily the best dramatic television show that bridges the rarefied air they enjoy Rupture and Succession. without a doubt it is the best acted television show, with incredibly moving performances from Reid, Anderson, Bailey Bass, Eric Bogosian and just about everyone else.

This is another “it came out another year but debuted on Netflix this year” recommendation. He is one of the few godzilla Movies that will make you cry like a baby. If there is a list of superlatives, this film includes it. minus one is a retelling of Godzilla's first appearance in Japan shortly after the end of World War II. Most of the film's runtime barely features Godzilla, instead focusing on the struggles of his human victims. This choice heightens the impact of Godzilla when he finally appears. And when it does, it doesn't matter if you're watching this with cinema-quality sound or just through your TV speakers, you'll feel the needle drop. Akira Ifukube's iconic theme song in your liver. It's so chilling.

Netflix has been importing a good amount of shows from Asia, which is great for satisfying my historical drama habit (regards double and He princess weiyoung). But I discovered that some of the reality shows also make great watches, like Physical: 100 and Culinary class wars. In Culinary class wars, A group of up-and-coming chefs (designated as Black Spoons) compete against Korea's elite culinary masters (White Spoons). The Black Spoons are known only by an alias that describes their skills and achievements, and they will earn the right to have their real name known (and a large cash prize) if they can triumph over the White Spoons. The Black Spoons are true underdogs and go by nicknames like Comic Book Chef, a guy who uses recipes he learned from manga, or Master of School Meals, an older woman who spent decades running school cafeterias. I love it when they beat the odds to beat the White Spoons.

After 20 years of world of warcraftIt is well known how the game has brought people together – but sometimes people underestimate how much. The extraordinary life of Ibelín tells the story of Mats Steena Norwegian born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Steen's parents lament that their son was unable to participate in many of the activities of daily life, unaware of the rich life he built through role-playing. world of warcraft. After Steen's death at age 25, his parents discover a blog he wrote about his life and are overwhelmed by the messages they receive from his Warcraft friends explaining how much Steen, known to them as Ibelin, impacted their lives. With the help of voice actors, animators, Steen's blog, and archived chat logs between Ibelin and her online friends, The extraordinary life of Ibelín recreates the many of Ibelin world of warcraft adventures in a way that imparts a true appreciation of how much games can change people's lives forever.

Guy Ritchie, director of Lock stock and two smoking barrels and Snatch – makes its debut on Netflix with the knights. It chronicles the struggle of the Horniman family, led by Edward “Eddie” Horniman (Theo James), who discovers that his father, the 14th Duke of Halstead, has kept his land-rich but cash-poor family afloat by allowing them a marijuana cultivation and distribution business to operate on their lands. the knights It's not the best gangster TV show you can watch on Netflix; that distinction belongs to Peaky Blinders – but overall it's fun to watch James and his broke brother (Daniel Ings) come up with clever ways to stay one step ahead of the rival gangsters coming for their share of England's marijuana industry.

A late addition to Netflix's roster of originally produced films and unlike some of their big stinkers from this year like Atlas either Rebel Moon – Part Two: The ScargiverIt's very entertaining. Continue It stars Taron Egerton as a deadbeat TSA agent trying to prove to his girlfriend that he's serious about her career after a surprise pregnancy announcement. But he is forced into a deadly confrontation with a terrorist, played to chilling effect by Jason Bateman, who threatens to kill his girlfriend and the thousands of vacation travelers passing through LAX on Christmas Eve if he doesn't let a suitcase of bombs through. through security. Continue It's very much a “dad” action movie but with much better execution. It's also very clearly a TSA propaganda film, designed to remind travelers this holiday season that everyone would get to their destinations with a lot less stress if they remembered that TSA agents are not personally after them and are just trying to do your job. .