Every month, a number of movies and TV series leave Netflix streaming, sometimes only temporarily, usually because licensing deals have expired. Several new titles arrive in their place. So what’s coming next month, and which of these new arrivals should you watch? Below, we’ve chosen the best new movies and TV shows coming to Netflix instant streaming in February 2015. Plan your weekend marathons accordingly.
The Brothers Bloom
Arriving: Feb. 1
From the director of the next next Star Wars, a caper comedy! The Brothers Bloom is not a perfect movie, but it is an entertaining one, and one full of the same kinds of narrative twists and loop-de-loops the director of Brick and Looper has become known for. If you haven’t seen those two Rian Johnson movies (he only has three), start with them first. (I especially recommend Brick.) If you’ve seen both and loved them, this con man picture with Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo should help hold you over until Johnson tries his hand at something just a wee bit bigger with Star Wars: Episode VIII. —Forrest Wickman, senior editor
Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead
Arriving: Feb. 7
Do you like zombies? Do you hate Nazis? Then go watch Dead Snow, the definitive Scandinavian zombie-Nazi action horror comedy. Then, watch its sequel Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead, which is crazier, funnier and zombie-Nazier. And with 100% more Martin Starr, who makes everything better. —Chris Wade, video producer
Hawaii Five-0: Seasons 1-4
Arriving: Feb. 28
I doubt there was much pent-up desire for CBS to revive Hawaii Five-0, but since the show is still on the air five years later, it was clearly a sound business decision. Hawaii Five-0 is the perfect show for people who watch television with the sound off: The scenery is gorgeous; the actors are TV beautiful, unusually diverse, and prone to parading around in swim gear; and for a crime show, the vibe is oddly goofy. Turn up the volume, and the plot lines are frequently nonsensical, but if you’re looking for the TV equivalent of easy-listening music, Steve McGarrett and the gang are good company. —June Thomas, Outward editor
House of Cards: Season 3
Arriving: Feb. 27
If by now you haven’t met Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), star of Netflix’s award-winning political drama, House of Cards—and one of the best villians on television—now’s the time. The show’s third season drops next month and, as its trailer suggests, it’ll pick up right where it left off with Frank assuming the presidency and further losing his mind. Even if you don’t have time to catch up, HoC doesn’t really require that you know the full backstory; you’ll likely get all the necessary details in season 3’s first couple episodes. —Dee Lockett, editorial assistant
Mako Mermaids: Season 2
Arriving: Feb. 13
I can’t say I truly understand Mako Mermaids. But I am glad that the second season of this Australian series for tweens is coming to Netflix this month, because my daughters are insane about it. I think that it is about three mermaids in the human world? And there is something about a kid with, like, Avatar: The Last Airbender powers? Beats me. But everyone’s teeth are so perfectly gleaming white and the accents are adorable. —Dan Kois, culture editor
The Overnighters
Arriving: Feb. 17
The Overnighters, Jesse Moss’s verité-style documentary about the socioeconomic fallout of the oil boom in the tiny North Dakota town of Williston, was one of 2014’s most outstanding and hardest-to-find documentaries. It’s an empathetic and keenly observed portrait of both a complicated man—the Lutheran pastor who struggles to care for the town’s population of marginal drifters—and an entire community in a moment of crisis. The Overnighters also has that element a documentary filmmaker can only fall upon by chance: an unforeseeable and perspective-changing narrative twist. —Dana Stevens, movie critic
Bonus! What Not to Watch
RoboCop
Arriving: Feb. 21
DO NOT watch this turgid, self-serious remake of 1987’s dystopian meditation on humanity, law and order and Kurtwood Smith. Besides some pretty awesomely unsettling images of what Robocop looks like with his armor removed (a brain, face and a stomach connected by a gooey tube) and a training montage inexplicably set to Focus’ progressive rock/yodeling opus “Hocus Pocus,” this movie only succeeds in finding brave new ways of making a superpowered robot cop super dull. Instead watch the original Total Recall, which is on Netflix and remains the best movie about vacation planning ever made. —Chris Wade, video producer
