new on Netflix

Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff in True Detective

What’s new on Netflix, Prime, Crave and Criterion this week

A killer season of True Detective, a new dance-competition movie, a Cannes-set rom-com and more.

A weekly roundup of the new movies and TV series on Netflix, Crave, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel

New on Netflix

Work It (new on Netflix)

I think those of us who don’t have any children do not really perceive how much new kids’ content Netflix pumps out on a monthly basis. I don’t often profile the shows here because a) I cannot make heads or tails of what they are, most of the time, and b) a lot of children’s programming is of the “leave it on in the background so they don’t try to set everything on fire for an hour or two” variety. All this to say that this week is a heavy Netflix Family release week, with no less than five new shows streaming and at least one new documentary series (Tiny Creatures) about tiny animals that is almost certainly going to pique the interest of children (it’s out as of today).

Also premiering this week: season two of the Mexican version of the cake-baking show Nailed It (Aug. 7), a new Rob Schneider stand-up special (imaginatively titled Asian Momma, Mexican Kids — out on Aug. 11) and a docuseries about the dark underbelly of the wellness industry (imaginatively titled (Un)Well — out on Aug. 12).

Movie-wise, there are two titles of interest being released this week. The first is Work It (Aug. 7), a dance-competition movie starring Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World) and singer Jordan Fisher. The second is Une fille facile, a Cannes-set romantic comedy from Rebecca Zlotowski (Grand Central, Planetarium) that premiered as part of the Directors Fortnight at Cannes in 2019. 

New on Amazon Prime Video

Capone new on Netflix
Capone (new on Amazon Prime Video)

I don’t know if Amazon really is scaling back their offerings that much or if they’re simply more secretive about what goes on the service and what comes off, but it’s a pretty spare week for Prime Video. Josh Trank attempted to get out of the movie-jail cell he was in ever since the bungled Fantastic Four from a few years ago by making an Al Capone movie with Tom Hardy; alas, Capone was released on VOD to mostly tepid reviews at the beginning of the pandemic. See what the fuss is all about for yourselves when it comes to Amazon Prime Video on Aug. 10. It’s the only release of any import this week — at least based on what has been announced!

New on Crave

new on Crave
Run This Town (new on Crave)

Over at Crave, you can now stream seasons 6 and 7 of The Goldbergs, the family sitcom starring Wendi McLendon-Covey and Jeff Garlin and the third, Mahershala Ali-starring season of True Detective. The service is also offering a new Jim Jeffries comedy special as of Aug. 7. Movie-wise, it’s a bit of a thin week with only the Rob Ford-adjacent political thriller Run This Town (which stars, improbably, Damian Lewis in a fat suit as the late Toronto mayor) and the TV movie No Good Deed starring Michelle Borth being released on Aug. 7.

New on Criterion Channel

new on Netflix
Le cercle rouge, part of the Alain Delon retrospective (new on Criterion Channel)

The Criterion Channel celebrates French actor Alain Delon with a 12-film retrospective this week (Aug. 9), ranging from René Clément’s 1960 film Purple Noon (in which Delon plays the very same Mr. Ripley subsequently played by Matt Damon and John Malkovich) to Joseph Losey’s 1976 WWII drama Mr. Klein. Murray Lerner’s documentary Festival (Aug. 10) documents three years of the Newport Folk Festival and most famously includes footage of Bob Dylan “going electric” for the first time. Two filmmakers are being honored with a “Three By” program this week: Mia Hansen-Love and Bill Gunn. ■

See what’s new on Netflix Canada here.

For what’s new on Crave, click here.

Find out what’s new on Amazon Prime Video here.

See what’s new on Criterion Channel here.


For more coverage of new movies and TV series, visit the Film & TV section.

A weekly roundup of the new movies and TV series on Netflix, Crave, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel