It’s officially the weekend! That means it’s time to curl up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and some new flicks — and this week, we’re praising some of the best binge-watching TV series commissioned and channelled directly to your eyes by our benevolent overlords at Netflix.
Gizmodo’s weekly Netflix movie night is presented by the new HP Spectre x360. Any way you bend it, the Spectre x360 delivers. With four modes, lightning-fast performance, and impressive battery life, this convertible PC has the best of all worlds and the shortcomings of none.
Not what you’re after? Check out some other Netflix Movie Night suggestions:
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Netflix Movie Night: 10 Mammoth Monster Mayhem Flicks
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is honestly Netflix’s best work. It’s a smart, sassy, funny sitcom that takes Ellie Kemper from The Office and Jane Krakowski from 30 Rock and dumps them in New York, where Kemper’s character — Kimmy Schmidt — lands after being liberated from a doomsday cult leader’s secret underground bunker. Yep, it is exactly what it sounds like. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: When a woman is rescued from a doomsday cult and lands in New York City, she must navigate a world she didn’t think even existed anymore.
IMDb: A woman is rescued from a doomsday cult and starts life over again in New York City.
Chef’s Table
Chef’s Table is an amazingly delicious journey into the worlds and private lives of some of the world’s most high-profile culinary artists. Do me a favour — just make some time and watch the first episode, following chef Massimo Bottura around the town of Modena and his restaurant Osteria Francescana, and try to stop drooling. Then watch every other episode. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Find out what’s inside the kitchens and minds of six international culinary stars in this Netflix original six-part docu-series.
IMDb: Chef’s Table goes inside the lives and kitchens of six of the world’s most renowned international chefs. Each episode focuses on a single chef and their unique look at their lives, talents and passion from their piece of culinary heaven.
Orange Is The New Black
Orange Is The New Black is one of the two big series that introduced Australia to the guys at Netflix. (The other, of course, was House Of Cards.) It’s set in and around a women’s prison, and follows the lives of the inmates — including the fish out of water, upper middle class WASP Piper Chapman, who confesses to a crime she committed ten years prior — and suffers the consequences. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: A privileged New Yorker ends up in a women’s prison when a past crime catches up with her in this Emmy-winning series from the creator of Weeds.
IMDb: The story of Piper Chapman, a woman in her thirties who is sentenced to fifteen months in prison after being convicted of a decade-old crime of transporting money to her drug-dealing girlfriend.
Marco Polo
Marco Polo might be Netflix’s most ambitious Original series yet. It’s a period drama set in 13th century China, following the titular famous explorer on his travels to the court of Kublai Khan. It cost Netflix $90 million to pull off, and is coming back for a second season. It takes a bit of watching to get into, but if you like Rome and Spartacus and Game of Thrones, then you’ll like this. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Set in a world of greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry, “Marco Polo” is based on the famed explorer’s adventures in Kublai Khan’s court.
IMDb: In a world replete with greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry, “Marco Polo” is based on the famed explorer’s adventures in Kublai Khan’s court in 13th century China.
Bojack Horseman
Bojack Horseman follows the washed-up star of the most famous series of the ’90s — and he’s a horse. Star of the (yes, fictional) TV show Horsin’ Around, Bojack is now living in Hollywood and spending his time chasing his former stardom and complaining about pretty much everything. (Starring the dulcet tones of Will Arnett and Alison Brie!) Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Meet the most beloved sitcom horse of the ’90s, 20 years later. He’s a curmudgeon with a heart of…not quite gold…but something like gold. Copper?
IMDb: Meet the most beloved sitcom horse of the ’90s — 20 years later. BoJack Horseman was the star of the hit TV show “Horsin’ Around,” but today he’s washed up, living in Hollywood, complaining about everything, and wearing colorful sweaters.
Sense8
Sense8 takes some getting into — make sure you stick with it through the first two episodes, which are slow — but turns into a mind-bending tale of eight people around the world whose minds suddenly merge inexplicably. This is one for the hardcore high-concept sci-fi junkies. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: From the creators of “The Matrix” and “Babylon 5” comes this tense series in which eight people can telepathically experience each other’s lives.
IMDb: A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world’s order.
House Of Cards
House Of Cards doesn’t pull its punches — it’s a gritty, brutal, vengeance-filled trip into the D.C. underworld. It’s based on the UK series of the same name, itself based on the novel of the same name, and follows Congressman Frank Underwood’s path to the absolute top of U.S politics, including his plans to remove anyone that might stand in his way. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: A ruthless politician will stop at nothing to conquer Washington, D.C., in this Emmy and Golden Globe-winning political drama.
IMDb: A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him.
Daredevil
Daredevil is the classic Marvel superhero, one of the newest breed within Netflix’s Originals project — a blind lawyer, noble but flawed and perfectly human, who fights by night to rid his city of crime. Plus, it’s Marvel, guys, what’s not to like about it? Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Blinded as a young boy, Matt Murdock fights injustice by day as a lawyer and by night as the Super Hero Daredevil in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City.
IMDb: A blind lawyer, with his other senses superhumanly enhanced, fights crime as a costumed superhero.
Hemlock Grove
Hemlock Grove is based on a Brian McGreevy novel of the same name, and follows daily life in small-town America — when that daily life involves the murder of a teenage girl and the hunt for her killer. In a town of the very rich and the very poor, and a town where everyone has secrets, Hemlock Grove takes a traditional whodunnit thriller and adds a hint of the supernatural. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Secrets are just a part of daily life in the small Pennsylvania town of Hemlock Grove, where the darkest evils hide in plain sight.
IMDb: A teenage girl is brutally murdered, sparking a hunt for her killer. But in a town where everyone hides a secret, will they find the monster among them?
The Killing
The Killing gets an honourable mention in this list, because it’s not solely funded by Netflix — after being cancelled by AMC after two seasons and then co-funded for a third by AMC and Netflix, Netflix picked up the series for a fourth and final season — and then. Oddly enough, Netflix Australia only has the first two seasons — the ones that Netflix didn’t pay for. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Seattle homicide detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder are deeply affected by the murders they investigate in this dark, acclaimed crime series.
IMDb: A police investigation, the saga of a grieving family, and a Seattle mayoral campaign all interlock after the body of 17-year-old Rosie Larsen is found in the trunk of a submerged car.
Bend the Rules with the HP Spectre x360