“I have got to get my life together. This heat made me realize I can’t go to hell” — a Tweet I read on my feed yesterday and I honestly couldn’t relate more. Unless my friends are willing to quite literally drag me out the door, I’m staying in, because no other force can make me voluntarily expose myself to 100 degrees of summer. Not anymore. Instead, I’ll be in my bed, my AC cranked to winter temperatures, indulging in all the new Netflix shows and movies welcomed to the website this month. And since y’all are lucky and I am nice, here’s a list of some of the best TV shows and movies to watch on Netflix this July.
‘The Sinner’ Season 1
This show is a crime drama mystery based on an international bestseller, so you know it’s good. Jessica Biel plays the creepy af lead, Cora. The show starts off with Biel just randomly stabbing a man she’s never met before at a beach full of witnesses, in broad daylight. Umm Jessica, I sympathize with you because I get that can be tempting, but if we all just stabbed men as we please, you know a lot of us would be in jail by now, right? The season revolves around detectives trying to figure out why Cora killed the random man by delving into her past to find shocking secrets and emotional trauma. As the New York Times puts it, the show basically hits the sweet spot between “smart pulp and arty melodrama”.
‘Orange Is The New Black’ Season 6
Everything is about to change this season. Just watch the trailer if you don’t believe me. As Carrie says, all you’ll have yourself asking is, “What the fuck is happening??” For those of you living under the most unschooled rock, Orange Is The New Black is based on Piper Kerman’s memoir, Orange Is The New Black: My Year In A Women’s Prison, about her experiences at a minimum security federal prison. Season 6 is set to come out July 27, if you aren’t caught up already, you better get to it because a) hello? The badass all-women cast and b) the show was declared Netflix’s most-watched original series.
‘Shameless’ Season 8
This show probably has the most fucked-up family dynamics. In fact, it’s so fucked up that when you watch it, you feel like your family is all normal and shit—yea, rare. This American comedy-drama is based on the British series of the same name, but honestly, the American one is so much better. What I really like about this show is that although the unfortunate circumstances that this dysfunctionally shameless family endures are somewhat exaggerated and quite frankly, fucking insane, the relationships and emotions involved are very real and relatable. Also, why would you wanna miss any chance to see Paul Abbott aka Lip Gallagher aka the only man on earth to make smoking cigarettes look hot af??
‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’ Season 10
One car. Two comedians. And some coffee. In the show, Jerry Seinfeld goes out in his flashy new car (a different one each time) for some coffee and conversation with another comedian. Steinfeld basically sells the show on the fact that we already have plenty to do in our lives, so the show doesn’t wanna take time away from that. That’s actually pretty genius of a sales pitch imo because although in reality, I don’t really have plenty to do daily, with Steinfeld saying that, I like to feel like I do—it makes me feel more important and productive, ya know? There are already plenty of shows we watch that are more complicated (Handmaid’s Tale, anyone??) and require a relatively longer attention span, but this one doesn’t. The episodes are literally just 14 minutes long. Out July 6, this season’s star-studded lineup includes Ellen DeGeneres, Kate McKinnon, and Alec Baldwin, among others. 
‘Samantha!’
This is a Netflix original Brazilian comedy series about a child star, Samantha,whose needs are simple: fame, adoration, and an exclamation point after her name. Relatable. The show revolves around the notion that when the world brings you down, you climb back up. Samantha comes up with various harebrained schemes to get herself back into the spotlight, the one she had as a child. Attention-seeker much? Ring a bell? Guilty.
‘The Princess Diaries’
The Princess Diaries is really the comfort food of all chick flicks. We’ve all seen it already, but this is one of those movies that’s just good to have available on Netflix, especially for July summer nights when you need to put a halt to the heavy drinking and look for something chill to do with your girls. The over-the-top princess life of Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is reassuring to watch, because with what’s going on within the political sphere of this country, an escape into a fairy tale lifestyle can feel quite refreshing.
‘Her’
This movie has quite a few genres mixed into one and when you see it, you’ll understand why. Her is a romantic sci-fi drama that is about a man who develops a relationship and falls in love with his computer operating system, who is played by Scarlett Johansson. I’d generally question this behavior, but it’s fucking Scarlett Johansson. Amy Adams says in the movie, “Love is a form of socially acceptable insanity”—which firstly, true—except the kind of love between the man and the voice isn’t exactly socially acceptable, yet it is as fine as any other romance, which is what makes the unravelling of this story so great.
‘Jurassic Park’, ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’, ‘Jurassic Park III’
This one’s kind of a three-in-one deal. And of course, Netflix cleverly decided to bring these into the website in July because it’s the perfect time to revisit the original story of the cloned dinosaurs in a theme park terrorizing humans, before seeing the 2018 Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom (in 3D!!). It’s honestly just really great marketing, but I’m not complaining because the gory dinosaur movie franchise was the epitome of my childhood horror movie existence. These movies are a classic, hence a must watch.
‘I, Tonya’
If you didn’t get your ass to the theatre to witness Margot Robbie’s incredible performance in this movie, you’re in luck, because it’s finally on Netflix. I, Tonya is a nonfictional film based on the life of figure skater Tonya Harding. Tonya was the first American woman to complete a triple axel during a competition, but her life completely changed when she got associated with the attacks made on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan. It was Tonya’s ex-husband who conspired to make those attacks, but due to the immense scandal that followed, Tonya was forced to withdraw from the national championship. I know, you really can’t make this stuff up. The film includes interviews with the characters in a mockumentary-style.
‘Blue Valentine’
Ryan Gosling. Michelle Williams. Yeah, you should be tempted to watch this movie for the cast alone. Blue Valentine is a romantic drama that follows a married couple, Dean and Cindy, for six years as they fall in and out of love. Idk about you, but this falling in and out of love is very relatable and high school nostalgic for me. Interesting fact: the two actually moved in together to prepare for their roles and to get into the headspace of the characters, and I must say, that really paid off. Watch the film and you’ll see for yourself.
Images: Giphy (5)
