From superheroes and zombies to high brow cinema and tons of original Netflix content, March is shaping up to be a stellar month for new content on Netflix. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I *cough* feel a cold coming on *cough*, better go get a doctor’s note. *Cough*.
[divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″]
Original Series
Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Season 2
https://youtu.be/SL4Fo6dJ3o8
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”] Jessica grapples with more demons from her past as she hunts down the source of her powers and faces off with a mysterious killer. [/quotes]
Despite kind of ruining the Tenth Doctor for me forever, Jessica Jones is my absolute favourite out of all the Netflix Marvel shows. Season 2 kicks off on International Women’s Day, following Jones as she takes on a new case after the events surrounding her encounter with Kilgrave.
Launches March 8
Santa Clarita Diet: Season 2
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]What turned Sheila undead? Has Joel boarded the crazy train? Are Eric and Abby just friends? The questions — like the bodies — are stacking up. [/quotes]
The first season of Santa Clarita Diet was very well received but didn’t exactly grab my interest. Maybe it was the grossness of watching it at dinner time? For those of you who got hooked, Season Two lands at the end of the month.
Launches March 23
A Series of Unfortunate Events: Season 2
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]Even more perilous predicaments, dastardly villains and brilliant inventions. The siblings return for a second season based on the series by Lemony Snicket. [/quotes]
Based on the much-loved children’s books, the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events will consist of ten episodes that cover books five through nine of the novels. Fans will be happy to know season three is also in the pipeline and is expected to adapt the remaining four books.
Launches March 30
Ghost Wars: Season 1
https://youtu.be/egTl8fqJZls
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”] Local outcast Roman Mercer must harness his repressed psychic powers to save his remote Alaskan town from paranormal forces. [/quotes]
Originally appearing on SyFy, Netflix now has the exclusive international broadcast rights for the science-fiction thriller Ghost Wars. Taking place in a remote Alaskan town that has been overrun by paranormal forces, Ghost Wars follows Roman Mercer as he tackles his demons, literally and figuratively, to save his town.
Launches March 2
Love: Season 3
https://youtu.be/HpiAVK_T_aU
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”] As Mickey and Gus take big leaps in their personal and professional lives, they struggle to keep their self-sabotaging impulses in check. [/quotes]
The final season of Judd Apatow’s Love, the down-to-earth look at dating, premieres on Netflix in the middle of the month. Originally only slated to have two seasons, hopefully, season 3 of Love will receive the same critical acclaim as the seasons prior.
Launches March 9
Collateral: Limited Series
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”] A London detective probes the seemingly random murder of a pizza delivery man, suspecting it’s connected to a larger conspiracy. [/quotes]
Netflix’s latest co-production with BBC 2, Collateral is a limited series of only four episodes, starring those British actors you know you’ve seen in something else (probably The Wire) and that one that you definitely recognise, for sure.
Launches March 9
[divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″]
Weekly Episodes
Designated Survivor: Season 2
https://youtu.be/N_f1v0Nx5Sw
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]With the conspiracy more alarming than ever, a fiery lawyer joins President Kirkman’s staff and Agent Wells forms an alliance with a British spy.[/quotes]
Season Two of the highly praised Designated Survivor will start its weekly episode drop from the first of the month.
Launches March 1
Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments: Season 3
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]The life of typical teen Clary Fray is upended when she learns that she’s part of a race of demon-hunting humans who have the blood of angels[/quotes]
With the visual thrills and nonsensical plots that accompany most Young Adult Novel adaptations, Shadowhunters slowly climbed from “kinda average but mostly ridiculous” in season one to “mostly cheesy, but better” in season two. Hopefully, the upward trend continues for season 3.
Launches March 21
[divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″]
Original Films
Annihilation
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]When her husband vanishes during a secret mission, biologist Lena joins an expedition into a mysterious region sealed off by the U.S. government. [/quotes]
After a very quick removal from cinema release, Annihilation was thankfully picked up by Netflix for international distribution. Currently sitting on 87% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, critics have lauded the strange, ambitious themes and wondrous visuals as much as test audiences apparently hated it.
Launches March 12
The Outsider
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]An American soldier imprisoned in postwar Japan enters the dark world of the yakuza, adopting their way of life in repayment for his freedom. [/quotes]
Netflix has faced considerate backlash over its casting of Jared Leto in The Outsider and having an Asian centred movie revolve around a white actor, warping the known rules of yakuza culture into unrecognizability to fit a white lead. How the film actually performs remains to be seen.
Launches March 9
Benji
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]A determined dog comes to the rescue and helps heal a broken family when a young boy and his sister stumble into some serious danger. [/quotes]
A reboot of the 1974 film of the same name, 2018’s Benji was written, co-produced and directed by Brandon Camp, the son of the original film’s director, Joe Camp.
Launches March 16
Game Over, Man!
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]In this action comedy, three friends are on the verge of getting their video game financed when their benefactor is taken hostage by terrorists. [/quotes]
Netflix’s love affair with Adam Devine continues with Game Over, Man!, a Netflix original film that looks like a bizarre mashup of Grandma’s Boy and Home Alone.
Launches March 23
Roxanne Roxanne
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]In 1984, New York teen Lolita Shanté Gooden bursts onto the hip-hop scene with her song “The Real Roxanne.” [/quotes]
Based on the real-life story of hip hop musician and rapper Roxanne Shanté’s rise to fame and pivotal role in the Roxanne Wars of the 80’s.
Launches March 23
Les Affamés
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]As a zombie plague ravages their rural Quebec town, a scrappy band of survivors join forces to flee the infected hordes in this quiet thriller. [/quotes]
Directly translated as “The Hungry”, Les Affamés might rely on some of your typical zombie movie tropes but brings enough nuance and drama to the table to make it worthwhile. Les Affamés is currently sitting on 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Launches March 2
[divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″]
Original Documentaries
Flint Town: Season 1
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]This documentary series examines the state of law enforcement in America through the lens of the Flint, Michigan, police department. [/quotes]
Four years and fifteen deaths later, Flint, Michigan is America’s forgotten tragedy. Flint Town focuses on the efforts of law enforcement in the aftermath of the Flint water crisis, where police officers were mistrusted and unsupported by communities and government in one of the most violent cities in America.
Launches March 2
Wild Wild Country: Season 1
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]When a controversial cult leader builds a utopian city in the Oregon desert, conflict with the locals escalates into a national scandal. A true story. [/quotes]
Wild Wild Country is an intense look at the true story behind Rajneeshpuram, a religious settlement founded in Oregon by Indian Guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh only a few years after the infamous Jonestown Massacre, where American paranoia regarding religious and cultural difference was at a boiling point.
Launches March 16
Rapture: Season 1
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]Featuring an impressive collection of artists who have found worldwide success, this documentary series showcases hip-hop’s impact on global culture. [/quotes]
Featuring a diverse swath of artists like Nas and Dave East, T.I., Rapsody, Logic, G-Eazy, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, 2 Chainz and Just Blaze, Rapture dives into the artists’ lives with their families and friends, to sitting front row in the studio and grinding on tour, to experiencing the ecstatic power of moving the crowd.
Launches March 30
[divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″]
Anime
B: The Beginning: Season 1
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]In this anime series, scientists hope “new humans” will create universal peace, but they’re kidnapped by an evil group with very different plans. [/quotes]
Another original anime by Netflix, B: The Beginning has an incomprehensible plot write up on Wikipedia that I’m struggling to make sense of. So… watch the trailer instead?
Launches March 2
A.I.C.O. -Incarnation-: Season 1
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]Two years after a calamity known as the Burst, high schooler Aiko learns that she may hold the key to what happened and sets off to save humanity. [/quotes]
From the same studio that produced My Hero Academia, RahXephon and Eureka Seven, comes A.I.C.O. -Incarnation-, the latest in a long trend of stupidly named anime.
Launches March 9
Children of the Whales: Season 1
https://youtu.be/7Jjy65JE6kc
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]As a magic wielder, young archivist Chakuro knows his time is short, but everything changes when a girl from the outside appears on his island. [/quotes]
Based on the manga of the same name, Children of the Whales probably does have an English trailer, or at least a dubbed one, but I honestly couldn’t find it after a cursory Google search and I don’t really care to look harder.
Launches March 13
SWORDGAI The Animation: Part 1
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]After harnessing a demon sword to replace his missing arm, a young man named Gai fuses with the weapon to fight his enemies in this action fantasy. [/quotes]
Sword… Gai. Sword Gai. Seriously? His name is Gai, and he fuses with a sword, so he’s, phonetically, sword guy. Oh come on.
Launches March 23
[divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″]
New Series Available
Outlander: Season 2
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]Claire Randall, a married World War II nurse in 1945 finds herself transported back to the Scotland of 1743, where she encounters the dashing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and becomes embroiled in the Jacobite risings.[/quotes]
Based on the Outlander novels by Diana Gabaldon, season two of the epic, sweeping, time-travelling love story has a 97% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Launches March 29
The Blacklist: Season 4
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]For decades, ex-government agent Raymond “Red” Reddington has been one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives. Brokering shadowy deals for criminals across the globe, Red was known by many as “The Concierge of Crime.” Now, he’s mysteriously surrendered to the FBI with an explosive offer: He will help catch a long-thought-dead terrorist, Ranko Zamani, under the condition that he speaks only to Elizabeth “Liz” Keen, an FBI profiler fresh out of Quantico. [/quotes]
I really, really wish there were more hours in the day. Or that I didn’t have a job (but still had money, somehow). Either way, unless something drastically changes and I’m allowed to watch TV uninterrupted for several days, I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up with The Blacklist. Now airing its fourth season, with another one still to come to Netflix.
Launches 30 March
[divider style=”shadow” top=”30″ bottom=”30″]
New Films Available
Crimson Peak
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger, a young woman is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson Peak. [/quotes]
From the strange and impossible imagination of Guillermo del Toro comes Crimson Peak, a somewhat disappointing but visually impressive supernatural mystery. TheMovies gave it a 5/10 back in 2015 when it first aired in cinemas, calling it more trick than treat as far as Halloween movies go.
Launches March 1
Star Wars
After last month’s release of The Force Awakens, Netflix has listed almost all the Star Wars movies in this month’s Licenced titles. Weirdly enough, the only one that’s missing is the first Star Wars (Episode IV), but everything else should, in theory, be available mid-month. I don’t know if these are remastered versions or anything else, unfortunately, all I know are titles and dates:
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Launches March 16
Sex Tape
[quotes quotes_style=”bquotes” quotes_pos=”center”]Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) are a married couple still very much in love, but ten years and two kids have cooled the passion. To get it back, they decide – why not? – to make a video of themselves trying out every position in THE JOY OF SEX in one marathon three-hour session. It seems like a great idea, until they discover that their most private video has gone public. In a panic, they begin a wild night of adventure – tracking down leads, roping in friends, duping Annie’s boss – all to reclaim their video, their reputation, their sanity, and, most importantly, their marriage.[/quotes]
Kervyn gave Sex Tape a low rating of 4/10 back in 2014, calling it a raunchy comedy that skimps on both the raunchiness and the comedy. With everything else that’s releasing on Netflix this month, I’m sure you’ll turn to Sex Tape only as a last resort.
Launches March 31