Best Series and Movies on Netflix - July 2024

The Netflix Logo

Here are what I think are the at least watchable to Best Series and Movies that I watched on Netflix for the Month of July 2024: 

* Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) Movie – Outstanding, Netflix kicks off the Month of July 2024 with a Bang with this fourth Installment of the “Beverly Hills Cop” Movie Franchise, with Eddie Murphy back as the Smart mouthed Cop, Axel Foley. One great Thing about this Movie is that it is equal Parts Action, Detective Story and Comedy, with the Humor Part working very well indeed.

Some 80s Nostalgia as expected, and I liked Father-Daughter Team up here, with the Daughter despite being a Contrast to her Father Axel still ending up in some nice, humorous Situations. For those not familiar with the Franchise, it is about a Street smart Cop who ended up having to chase some Cases in the wealthy District of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, sort of like a “Fish Out of Water” Situation. Excellent, a Must-Watch for me. 

* Sprint (2024) Season One Documentary Series – Outstanding, if you are a Casual Fan of the Sport of Sprinting, especially the 100 and 200 meter Races, then this is Absolute Heaven, such a Joy to watch that I almost didn’t want it to end. It keeps you up to date on who are the important Athletes in the Sport, what the important Competitions are, the Coaches, etc., basically everything.

Each Episode also has at least one Race at the End, with the rest of the Episode spent building up to those Races by exploring the current Dynamics of the Competition. Absolutely marvelous, by the last two Episodes you will be cheering for the Athletes as they compete in the 2023 World Championships since you know a lot about them already. Truly a Must-See for everyone. The Series featured Sprinters Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, Shericka Jackson, Shelley Ann Fraser-Pryce, etc. 

* The Man with 1000 Kids (2024) Limited Documentary Series – Great, about a Dutch Man who intentionally circumvented International Laws so he could donate to Sperm Banks all over the World and father hundreds, if not thousands of Children in the last Decade or so, and the People who then tried to stop him. Quite compelling as is most of Netflix’s Documentaries, one of the better Series out this Month of June 2024.

* Vanished into the Night (2024) Movie – Great, about a Couple whose Children just disappeared one Night and the Father’s quest to bring them back. This is an Italian Production Thriller and set entirely in Italy in contemporary times. The pacing is fast, not a lot of wasted time in the Movie, and it has quite a number of interesting Twists that will leave you guessing until the last minutes on what really happened. One of the nice surprises for this Month of July 2024.

* Beast (2022) Movie – Great, this got finally released on Netflix International, it is a Survival-Action-Horror-Thriller set in Africa in contemporary times about a Father and his two young Daughters who were visiting the Continent, and who eventually got hunted down by a Rogue Lion. Basically its like “Jaws on Land … in Africa” and it is pretty effective in its Genres. The Pacing is fairly decent and the Action Scenes are quite thrilling and even sometimes surreal, like the “Under the Car” Scene when the Lion was trying to go after one of the main Characters who was under a Vehicle.

Lots of continuous shots that just added up or heightened the sense of excitement in some of the most critical Scenes. In a change of Pace, Idris Elba here is pretty passive, he doesn’t get to be much of an Action Hero or Villain unlike in most of his other Action Movies. The only other big Hollywood Name in this Movie is Sharlto Copley (from “District 9”, “Elysium”, “The A-Team”). 

* Anyone But You (2023) Movie – Outstanding, “Rom-Coms” or Romatic-Comedies have been done to death but every now and then, one comes along where everything falls into Place that makes it a pretty memorable one, a “Miracle Romcom” and this is one of them. It was one of the most hyped Films last Year, great to finally see it come out on Netflix and it definitely lives up to all that hype about it. The Best Thing about it for me was the Humor, there are quite a Number of them all throughout the Movie and most of them work very well, indeed.

And are also other small Details that made the Movie work, like Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s excellent Chemistry, or the excellent Cinematography like the Beach Scenes, or the Sydney Opera House Night Scene. Some of the Songs were also pretty good, and it has some nice Multi-level Storytelling as well. The Upper Class Trappings like the Yachts, nice Beach Houses, etc. also contribute to making the Film quite a memorable one. 

The Movie is based on William Shakespeare’s Play, “Much Ado over Nothing”, and they smartly showed Quotes from it every now and then, as well as show the Play’s Title at the End of the Movie. Some Scenes were shot in the United States (US), but it is set mainly in Australia in contemporary times. The Movie is about the Love-Hate Relationship between a Couple (Sweeney and Powell) and how they eventually got together during the Events leading up to a Wedding.

* Cobra Kai (2024) Season Six Part One, Final Season – Outstanding, as usual. A bit sad to see one of Netflix’s very best Shows ending, but probably for the good as they have jumbled too much already the Dynamics of the Relationships between this Group of People already all through the Years, and so time for a fresh, new Set of Characters in whatever Spin Off the are planning to do next. And also as usual, I went thru the five Episodes of this Season 6 Part 1 very quickly, in just one Afternoon and Night because it was just so good I just couldn’t stop watching it.

For Fans of the Series who have long been looking for the Johnny Lawrence versus Mike Barnes fight, well they finally did it. And the Storylines seem to be really preparing for the likely impending introduction of Hillary Swank’s Character from the Karate Kid Four (or “The Next Karate Kid”) . 

For those not familiar with this Series, this is an Action-Comedy-Drama Series based on a Series of Movies about a Group of People and their relationship with the Karate Martial Art. It is set mainly in contemporary times and in the United States (US). Season Six sees the Miyagi Dojo compete in the most prestigious International Karate Tournament, and with a very nice Cliffhanger that is leading up to Part Two of the Season Six which will come out in November 2024 and which will also be the Series Finale. 

* The Yara Gambirasio Case: Beyond Reasonable Doubt (2024) Limited Documentary Series – Outstanding, this is about the disappearance and subsequent Murder of a 13 Year old Gymnast while on her Way from a Gym back to her Home one Evening about a Decade ago. The subsequent hunt for the Culprits also eventually resulted in some very intriguing Twists of its own, further generating much Publicity about the Case in Italy.

Although this is a Documentary, it is so well made that sometimes it looked more like a Thriller with the Way they put a Cliffhanger at the End of some Episodes. A lot of Details were presented and explained very well throughout the Series that People will likely form their own Opinions on what really happened with this Case. My Theory is that it is that there were involvements with the Mafia and some corruption in the Law Enforcement Agencies that sent and sacrificed an Innocent Man to Jail, ruining his Life in the Process. 

Yara’s Father was in Construction, a Favorite Money Laundering Field for the Mob, and he was a Witness during a Drug Case. At one Point he was also recorded as saying that he had three other Children he needed to worry about also. But the “Smoking Gun” Evidence for me was they the Italian Police was not able to make a Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) match right away, they ended up saying that a “Mistake” was made which they had to “correct” before they could make a “Match”, which in itself is very, very suspicious. 

It's possible that the People responsible for the murder of Yara did not anticipate all the Publicity the Case would elicit in Italy, forcing them to sacrifice an innocent Person for the Crime. Anyway, a great Series to watch. 

* Wonderland (2024) Movie – Outstanding, this is a South Korean Production, Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) Drama and set mainly in South Korea in the near Future tackling the Issue of the “Digital After Life”, or when Humans are able to upload their Consciousness into Computer Servers. This is basically an expansion of the Topic explored by the “San Junipero” Episode on the “Black Mirror” Series several Years back.

The Script is very well thought out and written, and tackles delicate Subjects like, moving on after the Death of a Loved One, or what if the uploaded Human Consciousness ends up living side by side with the original Human it was uploaded from? Excellent Production Values also, great looking Sets including ones that were shot in the Deserts of the Middle East. At any rate, a great Movie to watch on Netflix. 

* Tokyo Swindlers (2024) Limited Series – Outstanding, two Episodes in and I already knew this was going to be the breakout Series for Netflix for this Year of 2024. This is a Japanese Production and set in Japan in Contemporary Times about a Group of Real Estate or “Land Swindlers” as they go about victimizing Clients for large sums of Money one after the other. What sets it apart is its Hollywood-level Production Values and Settings, excellent Multi-Level Storytelling with lots of nice Twists. Lots of Thrills and some sprinklings of Humor, this is one Series that made my Netflix Subscription worth it for this Month. A Must-Watch, great to see Japan coming out with another great Series of their own.

* Spiderman: No Way Home Extended Version (2021) Movie Review – Outstanding, this is definitely one of the very best Marvel Superhero Movies ever so far. I’ve seen the original Cinema Version around two to three times already, and it is just so well made and so well thought that it is so watchable, I can watch it again every several Months, or at least once per Year, and still be about as interesting as it was the first time I’ve seen it.

The only Things I personally noticed different with this Extended Version compared to the original is that of course this one has a short Introduction by the three Actors who played “Peter Parker” in the Movie, namely Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, and also the Scene where they were discussing about the Tobey Maguire Spiderman being able to shoot Webs from his own Body. 

To those not familiar with this Movie, it is about the Superhero Spiderman who had to deal with Villains and Allies from parallel Universes coming into his own Universe after a Magic Spell went wrong. Anyway, a Must Watch for me if you are a Movie Superhero Fan.