Features and Columns · Streaming Guides

What’s New to Stream on Netflix for August 2018

Here’s what’s coming to Netflix this month!
Silverado
By  · Published on August 2nd, 2018

Some people spend their days arguing over the merits of Netflix and how it’s “killing cinema” as we know it, but the rest of us know better. It’s just one more way to re-watch the movies we already love and find new ones to cherish. This month sees plenty of both hitting the service.

The complete list of movies and shows hitting Netflix this month — August 2018 — is below, but first I’m going to highlight a few that stand apart from the bunch.


Netflix Pick of the Month

It’s not news that there aren’t nearly enough westerns made these days, but what might comes as a shock is the sad realization that too few people have seen — let alone appreciate — the joy that is Silverado (1985). Lawrence Kasdan’s ode to the great westerns of the past brings together a hell of a cast — Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, John Cleese, Rosanna Arquette, Brian Dennehy, Linda HuntJeff Goldblum, Jeff Fahey, and more for a two-hour-plus ride across the frontier filled with action, laughs, and plenty of great character beats. Watch it for the first time, or watch it again, either way you’re guaranteed to enjoy it.


Comic Book Fun

2005 was a big year for comic book adaptations, and while you’ll have to look elsewhere for Elektra and Sin City two others are new to Netflix this month. Batman Begins needs no introduction, obviously, but while it’s overshadowed by its sequels in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy it remains one of the best superhero origin stories ever made. Constantine isn’t up to its level of sophistication or success, but Keanu Reeves does a stellar job bringing the supernaturally inclined detective to life. Director Francis Lawrence also shows off his chops with big, thrilling, CG-friendly set-pieces.


Grim Westerns

While Silverado has its dark moments the film as a whole is a fun, highly entertaining flick. Not all westerns are built the same way as evidenced by two new addition this month. The Coen brothers’ modern western No Country for Old Men (2007, premieres 8/11) sets up some familiar stakes but quickly makes its singular mark with character turns the genre has left viewers ill-prepared for. It’s a brutal, cynical look at the immaterial value of life, but that doesn’t mean it’s not damn good thriller. Scott Cooper’s Hostiles (2017, premieres 8/15) didn’t find the same warm reception from audiences or critics, but it deserves another chance. The film takes a hard look at the high cost of waging war, particularly a violent and savage one, on the fighters on both sides. It’s beautifully shot and acted, and it carries the dramatic weight of our own bloody history.


The Horror, the Horror!

Dreamcatcher

A quartet of horror films are hitting Netflix this month, and they each offer a varying degree of fun. Prodigy (2017) is the newest of the bunch and is something of a genre hybrid as it features elements of sci-fi, supernatural, and horror with its tale of a psychologist tasked with cracking a child who’s far smarter than anyone else. She’s also far more powerful. Chernobyl Diaries (2012) is a miss for me, but found footage fans may want to give it a spin anyway. Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher (2003) gets an adaptation that stacks the cast with charismatic faces while subjecting them to ridiculous scenes of sci-fi horror and shit-monsters. You read that right. Last up is an indie called Emelie (2015) about a babysitter who you wouldn’t want within 100 miles of your child. It’s a nasty little number.


The Complete List

August 1st
Batman Begins (2005)
Chernobyl Diaries (2012)
Clerks (1994)
Constantine (2005)
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Eraser (1996)
Gran Torino (2008)
House of Deadly Secrets (2018)
Los tiempos de Pablo Escobar: Season 1
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
No Reservations (2007)
Once in a Lifetime Sessions with Moby
Once in a Lifetime Sessions with Nile Rodgers
Once in a Lifetime Sessions with Noel Gallagher
Once in a Lifetime Sessions with TLC
P.S. I Love You (2007)
Secretariat (2010)
Silverado (1985)
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Stripes (1981)
Switched [Netflix Original]
The Aviator (2004)
The Golden Compass (2007)
The Informant! (2009)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)

August 2nd
Emelie (2015)

August 3rd
Brij Mohan Amar Rahe [Netflix Original]
Cocaine Coast [Netflix Original]
Dinotrux Supercharged: Season 3 [Netflix Original]
I Am a Killer [Netflix Original]
Like Father [Netflix Original]
Marching Orders [Netflix Original]

August 4th
Flavors of Youth: International Version [Netflix Original]
Mr. Sunshine [Netflix Original]
On Children [Netflix Original]

August 5th
Paid in Full (2002)

August 9th
Perdida [Netflix Original]
The Originals: Season 5

August 10th
72 Dangerous Animals: Asia [Netflix Original]
Afflicted [Netflix Original]
All About the Washingtons [Netflix Original]
Demitri Martin: The Overthinker [Netflix Original]
Insatiable [Netflix Original]
La casa de las flores [Netflix Original]
Million Pound Menu [Netflix Original]
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society [Netflix Original]
The Package [Netflix Original]
The Ponysitters Club [Netflix Original]
Voltron: Legendary Defender: Season 7 [Netflix Original]
Zion [Netflix Original]

August 11th
No Country for Old Men (2007)

August 13th
Alexander: The Ultimate Cut (2004)
Splash and Bubbles: Season 2
The Nut Job (2014)

August 15th
Adventures in Public School (2017)
Hostiles (2017)
The 100: Season 5

August 16th
Evan Almighty (2007)
Wish I Was Here (2014)

August 17th
Disenchantment [Netflix Original]
Magic for Humans [Netflix Original]
Pinky Malinky [Netflix Original]
Spirit Riding Free: Season 6 [Netflix Original]
Stay Here [Netflix Original]
The Motive [Netflix Original]
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before [Netflix Original]
Ultraviolet [Netflix Original]

August 19th
The Investigator: A British Crime Story: Season 2 [Netflix Original]

August 21st
Year One (2009)

August 22nd
Prodigy (2017)

August 23rd
Deadwind [Netflix Original]
Follow This [Netflix Original]
Great News: Season 1

August 24th
Ask the StoryBots: Season 2 [Netflix Original]
Bert Kreischer: Secret Time [Netflix Original]
Ghoul [Netflix Original]
The After Party [Netflix Original]
The Innocents [Netflix Original]
Trolls: The Beat Goes On!: Season 3 [Netflix Original]
Young & Hungry: Season 5

August 28th
The Good Place: Season 2

August 29th
Inequality for All (2013)

August 31st
Inside the Criminal Mind [Netflix Original]
Ozark: Season 2 [Netflix Original]
Paradise PD [Netflix Original]
The Comedy Lineup: Part 2 [Netflix Original]
The Laws of Thermodynamics [Netflix Original]
Ultimate Beastmaster: Survival of the Fittest [Netflix Original]
Undercover Law [Netflix Original]

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Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.