What’re you going to be watching throughout July? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to Netflix, Lightbox, Neon, Amazon Prime and TVNZ on Demand this month.
The Biggies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEG3bmU_WaI
Stranger Things (Netflix, Season 3, July 4)
For the few who don’t know, Stranger Things follows the adventures of several 13-year-old Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts and their friend, a psychic lab experiment-cum-shoplifter named Eleven. Three groups – the pre-teens, some real teens, and their parents – all grapple with supernatural forces from the Upside Down, a malevolent dimension that channels itself through main character and bowl cut-rocker Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). Season three will deal with a new mall, summer love, and the constant lurking evil that threatens to wipe out civilisation as we know it. / Josie Adams
Queer Eye (Netflix, Season 4, July 19)
I’m getting to the point in my journey where all I want to do is cry at a video of an old man shaving his beard. Lucky for me, Queer Eye has that wholesome makeover content in spades, taking the format well beyond their mid noughties namesake. Sure, there’s still five impossibly handsome men traipsing around the country and lending their expertise to hapless regional folk, but the bar has been lifted. Expect surprisingly complex discussions of race, gender and politics with an array of people outside of the old titular “straight guy” – and wash it all down with a guaranteed one good cry per episode. / Alex Casey
Orange is The New Black (Netflix, Season 7, July 26)
You probably binged the first four seasons of this show, got justifiably pissed off when they killed off Poussey, and then stopped watching it when people stopped talking about it. From what little I’ve read about this season so far, the show sticks its final landing. It’s easy to forget that Orange is the New Black was ahead of so many conversations – it critiques systemic violence, white privilege and the unassailable iron boot of the patriarchy – in a way that is powerful and achingly human, and it deserves more than the critical shrug recent seasons have gotten. / Sam Brooks
The Boys (Amazon Prime, Season 1, July 26)
According to the release, The Boys takes place in ‘a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame’. Now, when it comes to ‘dark superhero’ content, I tend to fall in the Liz Lemon camp of thinking that they are things that, unequivocally, suck. But there’s enough good DNA at the core of The Boys to pique my interest so I’ll put my Liz Lemon shirt away until I give this one a proper go. / SB
Suits: Season 9 (Express to Lightbox, Season 9, July 18)
Suits is about to be locked away in the great legal filing cupboard in the sky. The ninth and final season of Suits begins this month on Lightbox, and you can guarantee it’ll go out with a bang. I’m pleading guilty to wanting to see fierce internal politics, lots of unpronounceable legalese and oodles of sexual tension between Harvey and Donna. End of an era? Case closed. / Tara Ward
The Notables
Suits: Jessica Pearson (Express to Neon, Season 1, July 18)
We here at The Spinoff love a good spinoff, so we’re bloody stoked to welcome the arrivial of Suits: Jessica Pearson, the show that promises to fill the Harvey Specter-shaped hole in our hearts. Gina Torres returns as Jessica Pearson, the legal genius who now works for the Mayor of Chicago. Jessica’s been hired to shake things up, but who can she trust in the dark and seedy world of city politics? Will she make a difference? Most importantly, when will Louis Litt come to visit? / TW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAnJJHrq0Ws
The Loudest Voice (Express to Neon, Season 1, July 4)
When Roger Ailes died in 2017 his legacy included founding the biggest cable news channel in America, perpetrating a decades-long series of sexual assaults, and playing a key role in getting a manifestly unfit conman and serial sexual assaulter (sensing a pattern?) into the White House. The story of Fox News’ seemingly unstoppable rise is told in this 7-episode limited series starring Russell Crowe as the racist, foul-mouthed, monumentally creepy Ailes. From a shaky start, Fox News has become the most important – and malevolent – force in US politics, and this might just be the most depressing watch since Chernobyl. / Catherine McGregor
Catastrophe (Express to Neon, Season 4, July 5)
Catastrophe is one of those shows that seems to have snuck under everybody’s radar – and your radar is the worse for it. The British sitcom stars, and is created by, Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, and follows what happens to a couple who ends up having a child after a quick weeklong fling. It is deeply funny, smart and frank, touching on the realities of parenthood and what it means to continue to be a human with your own problems and flaws when you have a whole new human to raise at the same time. / SB
Legion (Express to Neon, Season 3, July 1)
Superheroes are a dime and dozen nowadays, but Noah Hawley’s (Fargo, Bones) psychedelic take on Marvel’s X-Men property is maybe the most unique show on the telly. It’s a totally wild, visual kick in the balls; nothing on TV looks like it and nothing on TV (or in the movies) is as dedicated to capturing the surreal and psychological experience of reading a superhero comic. It’s also extremely funny. ‘Nuff said. / Jose Barbosa
Harlots (Express to Lightbox, Season 3, July 15)
If you missed out on the first two season of this, you best don your corset and get ready for season three. Two of England’s best actresses – Dame Lesley Manville (not actually a dame, but should be) and Dame Samantha Morton (see previous note) – run two 18th century brothels in competition with each other. More emotionally brutal, more feminist and more fun than Game of Thrones, the third season of Harlots ups the drama by adding Theon himself (Alfie Allen) and Ash Hunter as two brothers trying to make it in the 18th century world of sex work. / SB
How To Get Away With Murder (TVNZ on Demand, Season 5, July 1)
How many seasons of television do you need to learn to get away with murder? Apparently at least five (or actually six, given this show’s renewal). How To Get Away With Murder remains the only show where you can get a dose of Pure Viola Davis Acting on a weekly basis. Therefore, it’s my duty to inform you that it exists and where you can find it. Big Little Lies ain’t gonna last forever, so you actress addicts can get on this methadone next. / SB
The Movies
Daffodils (Lightbox, July 3, from $4.99)
A Kiwi film based on a play I saw six times – a couple falls in and out of love, to the tune of many popular Kiwi songs, including The Mint Chicks, Dave Dobbyn, The Exponents, and Crowded House’s ‘Fall At Your Feet’, one of the most emotionally devastating songs in our national songbook. / SB
Teen Spirit (Lightbox, July 31, from $4.99)
This is the film where Elle Fanning, who has usurped Dakota to become Alpha Fanning, sings Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’. Max Minghella, famous for being (possibly) Yet Another Bad Man on The Handmaid’s Tale, directs. / SB
My Dad Wrote a Porno (Neon, July 20)
The HBO special based on the insanely popular podcast about a British lad and his two friends reading bad erotic writing that his father has written. This is their live show, which hasn’t been on any podcast yet, so if you’re waiting for season five of the podcast, this should tide your gutter-brains over. / SB
Magic Mike (Netflix, July 29)
This is not the fun road trip one that featuring a career-best performance from Jada Pinkett Smith. This is the dark sad one about the economy, and how the very foundation of capitalism is based on people breaking their bodies to survive. Still, abs! / SB
The Rest
What follows is a list of what is coming up on every streaming service this month.
Netflix
July 1
Aloha
Are We Done Yet?
A Stranger in Town
BASEketball
Big Fat Liar
Center Stage
Couples Retreat
Designated Survivor: 60 days
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Grown Ups
Immortals
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room
Kicking & Screaming
Mama
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life
Practical Magic
Serenity
Sixteen Candles
Step Brothers
Swiped
The Croods
The Magic of Lassie
The Thing
Tropic Thunder
Unfinished Business
Van Helsing
July 2
Bangkok Love Stories: Objects of Affection
Bangkok Love Stories: Plead
July 3
The Last Czars
July 4
Stranger Things 3
The Lucky One
July 6
Free Rein: Season 3
July 7
20th Century Women
July 10
Family Reunion
Parchís: El documental
San Andreas
Woman in Gold
July 11
Cities of Last Things
July 12
Blown Away
Bonus Family: Season 3
Extreme Engagement
Kidnapping Stella
Point Blank
Taco Chronicles
The Family
True Tunes: Songs
You Me Her: Season 4
4 latas
3Below: Tales of Arcadia: Part 2
July 15
Clash of the Titans
Fool’s Gold
Going the Distance
Hall Pass
The Blind Side
The Goonies
The Shawshank Redemption
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
The Town
The Wedding Singer
Unknown
Vegas Vacation
What a Girl Wants
You’ve Got Mail
300: Rise of an Empire
July 16
Geostorm
The Great Hack
July 25
Another Life
Workin’ Moms: Season 2
July 26
Boi
Girls With Balls
My First First Love: Season 2
Orange Is the New Black: Season 7
Sugar Rush: Season 2
The Son
The Worst Witch: Season 3
July 28
Magic Mike
July 29
Daddy’s Home 2
July 30
Whitney Cummings: Can I Touch It?
July 31
Kengan Ashura: Part l
The Letdown: Season 2
The Red Sea Diving Resort
The Snowman
Lightbox (All movies are pay-per-view, from $4.99)
July 3
Daffodils
Adventures of Dally and Spanky
Mid 90s
King of Thieves
July 5
The In-Between
July 10
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales
July 15
Harlots: Season 3
July 17
Shazam
The Lego Movie 2
Missing Link
Destroyer
July 18
Suits: Season 9
July 23
The Halcyon
July 24
Hellboy
Critters Attack
July 31
To Dust
Teen Spirit
Neon
July 1
Legion: Season 3
July 3
Mary Kills People: Season 3
July 4
The Loudest Voice
Foster
July 5
Catastrophe: Season 4
Lilo and Stitch
July 6
Crazy Rich Asians
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
July 7
Christopher Robin
Thor: The Dark World
July 8
The Thundermans: Season 4
July 9
American Princess
55 Steps
July 10
100 Day Renovation
Olympus Has Fallen
July 12
Snowfall: Season 3
Haywire
Teen Titans Go To The Movies
July 13
Kronk’s New Groove
July 16
Kick-Ass 2
The House With A Clock in Its Walls
July 17
City on A Hill
Peter Pan
July 18
Suits: Jessica Pearson
First Man
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
July 19
Smallfoot
July 20
My Dad Wrote a Porno
Despicable Me
July 21
Dr Seuss’ The Grinch
Space Cowboys
July 22
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
July 23
The Princess and the Frog
July 24
Blood Diamond
July 26
Squinters: Season 1-2
July 29
George of the Jungle
July 30
MacGyver: Season 3
City By The Sea
July 31
Lady and the Tramp
TVNZ on Demand
July 1
Trust Me: Season Two
One Hour That Changed The World
American Housewife
How To Get Away With Murder: Season Five
AP Bio: Season Two
July 22
Walter Presents: Vanished by the Lake
Walter Presents: The Adulterer: Seasons 1-3
Walter Presents: The Thirteen Commandments
Walter Presents: Elite Squad: Season 1-2
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime’s schedule had not been released at the time of publication. This listing will be updated when the schedule is released.