Netflix has quite an offering of new original films and library titles streaming in March. Lindsay Lohan returns to the rom-com scene after “Falling for Christmas” in “Irish Wish,” and Adam Sandler also has a new drama, “Spaceman” out on the streamer.
Andrew Garfield’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” movies will be hanging around for a watch, and all four “Hunger Games” films come back to the streamer at the end of the month.
Here are the best new movies on Netflix in March 2024.
“Spaceman”
Adam Sandler is back, this time in outer space. Astronaut Jakub (Adam Sandler) realizes while on the brink of a groundbreaking discovery at the edge of the universe that his marriage might be in trouble. His wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) waits for him back on earth as a mysterious creature from the Big Bang itself Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano) helps him work through his marital struggles. Complete with a touch of the typical Sandler humor, the dramatic film is directed by Johan Renck with a script written by Colby Day based on “Spaceman of Bohemia” by Jaroslav Kalfař. The film also stars Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin and Isabella Rossellini.
“Damsel”
While we all have to wait for “Stranger Things” Season 5, Millie Bobby Brown steers an action-packed heroine story in “Damsel,” which arrives March 8 on the streamer. Based on the book by Evelyn Skye, the fantasy film follows Brown’s Elodie as she willingly accepts a wedding to a promised prince, only to be thrown into a dark underground cavern to be sacrificed to a dragon! The feminist folklore involves Elodie doing everything she can, physically and mentally, to escape the tunnels where countless innocent women before her have met gruesome deaths. Warning that the film does contain creature violence, all done with CGI. Alongside Brown, the cast includes Angela Bassett, Robin Wright, Nick Robinson, Ray Winstone and Brooke Carter. A mix of “The Hobbit” and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” this “fairytale” is not what it seems.
“Irish Wish”
Following her glorious cameo in “Mean Girls” (2024), leading lady Lindsay Lohan returns to the big screen in the romantic comedy “Irish Wish” on March 15. Lohan plays Madeline, a book editor hopelessly in love with author Paul Kennedy (Alexander Vlahos), whose celebrity persona infiltrates even his personal life. When she flies to Ireland for Paul’s destination wedding to Emma Taylor (Elizabeth Tan), Maddie makes an “Irish Wish” out in the idyllic countryside. But as the adage says, be careful what you wish for, because the dream of marrying Paul doesn’t turn out to be what it seems. Instead, Maddie finds herself connecting more with photographer James (Ed Speleers), who gets hired to shoot their wedding, but who also unpacks Maddie’s true wishes.
“Bodies Bodies Bodies”
Summer slasher “Bodies Bodies Bodies” (2022) starts out exciting with a group of wealthy young adults heading to a house to shelter from a hurricane and weather the storm by playing games and doing dares, but it quickly goes horribly wrong. Directed by Halina Reijn and written by Sarah DeLappe and Kristen Roupenian, the cast of the A24 film includes Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha’la, Pete Davidson, Rachel Sennot, Chase Sui Wonder, Lee Pace and Conner O’Malley. Charli XCX also wrote “Hot Girl” for this film.
“The Beautiful Game”
Those still holding out hope for more “Ted Lasso” will enjoy this sports feature. Bill Nighy (“Living,” “About Time”) plays a man who manages England’s homeless football team. He takes his players to Rome to compete in the Homeless World Cup, a global street soccer tournament. He recruits striker Vinny (Michael Ward) at the last minute. Vinny is a powerhouse, but his past gets in the way of his playing sometimes. The Homeless World Cup supported the production of “The Beautiful Game” which also stars Susan Wokoma, Callum Scott Howells, Kit Young, Sheyi Cole, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Robin Nazari, Aoi Okuyama, Christina Rodio, Tadashi Watanabe, Kazuhiro Muroyama and Valeria Golino. This is an uplifting watch.
“The Hunger Games” Films
It’s never a bad idea to revisit Panem, or to experience it for the first time. One of the best dystopian film franchises, based on the books by Suzanne Collins, the story questions what the future looks like and how society could unravel. The franchise follows Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the girl who volunteers as tribute in the barbaric Hunger Games, which feature two tributes — one male and one female — every year in a fight to the death to crown one victor. Liam Hemsworth plays Gale and Josh Hutcherson plays Peeta, the two boys after Katniss’ heart. Lenny Kravitz portrays Cinna, a cool-as-a-cucumber designer who dresses Katniss in her Capitol press tour. Elizabeth Banks plays the aloof Effie Trinket, and Stanley Tucci steals the spotlight as Caesar Flickerman. Woody Harrelson tops it off as the curmudgeon Haymitch Abernathy.
Watch the first four “Hunger Games” movies on Netflix before catching up with the 2023 prequel “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
“Yesterday”
Come for the Ed Sheeran cameo, stay for the exploration of The Beatles’ greatest hits. After Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) gets hit by a bus during a power outage, he wakes up in the hospital in a world without The Beatles. So he recreates all of their songs and gets credit for the band’s genius, capturing the attention of one “Shape of You” singer and rapper, who asks Jack to open for him on tour. The cast also includes Lily James as Ellie Appleton, Sophia Di Martino as Carol, Michael Kiwanuka and more. Patel and James have fun recreating “I Saw Her Standing There,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and more, but a meta scene involves Sheeran challenging Malik to a songwriting contest where they both have to write an original song in ten minutes, and Malik whips out “The Long & Winding Road.”
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