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Elva Stuller
No one can argue that Netflix reigns supreme as the top dog in the world of streaming, not least because of its influence in changing the way we watch TV and movies in our day-to-day lives. Its original content scoops up awards, and it hosts a ton of licensed content, too. The only problem is when you discover a title can't be accessed due to the country you're in. With a Netflix VPN, though, you've got an easy workaround, allowing you to connect to a server, appear anywhere in the world, and choose from an even more expansive library of content.
From the best US only Netflix shows and movies to fantastic exclusives available in other countries around the world, you can top titles in the UK, Australia, and even Japan below. And once you've settled on something you want to watch through Netflix in another region, visit our best VPN guide to find the right provider for you.
It's also the place across the Atlantic to watch The Great British Baking Show, as well as other British hits like The Last Tango in Halifax and Call the Midwife.
If movies are more your thing, US-only Netflix titles include Don't Worry Darling, starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. It's also currently the place to watch May December, which sees two formidable talents act side-by-side: Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.
While you'll need a (HBO) Max subscription to watch all Harry Potter movies from start to finish in the US, in the UK all eight films are on Netflix. You can also find many of the Studio Ghibli movies including Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. Alternatively, the funny but moving Back to Life and one of Emma Stone's earlier hits Easy A are also both UK exclusives on Netflix, so there's plenty to get stuck into.
Netflix Japan offers up a ton of excellent Japanese content, like homegrown Japanese classic Rashomon and many anime films like Gintama, and The Promised Neverland.
However, Japanese Netflix also boasts some surprising exclusives not found in any other library, including The Pianist, the Academy Award winning Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, and all seven seasons of highland romp, Outlander.
Dutch Netflix seems to be one of the most exciting libraries to access with a boatload of blockbuster movies in its catalog, including Quentin Tarantino's second movie Pulp Fiction and Sam Mendes' 1917. Another great watch is Chef, starring Jon Favreau.
Want something a bit more fun? Dutch Netflix as all The Hunger Games films currently, all of which recently left UK Netflix. You can also give Sonic the Hedgehog 2 a try, if adorable cartoon turned sinister IRL giant blue hedgehogs are your thing.
Season 1 of the Showtime show Yellowjackets is available down under on Netflix. You can find other teen dramas, too, like The Vampire Diaries, The 100, and get prepped for the reboot with the Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams 2004 classic, Mean Girls.
The only way to get access to all of these regional libraries and more is to use a VPN. By routing your traffic through encrypted servers located all over the world, a good streaming VPN can make you appear to be pretty much anywhere and get you access to almost anything you want to watch.
Netflix Inc. subscribers in Mexico, South and Central America and the Caribbean will be able to watch TV shows and movies streamed on a wide range of gadgets starting this year. The company did not announce a pricing plan or say exactly when the service will be available.
In the U.S., a streaming subscription costs $8 a month and customers can pay slightly more to get DVDs in the mail. As is the case in Canada, Netflix's service in Latin America will be streaming-only, with no DVD option.
Citi Investment Research analyst Mark Mahaney estimates that Netflix will be able to capture 8 percent of the Latin American and Caribbean market in the next 12 to 18 months, possibly less if it also launches in Europe and other regions.
That said, "there is absolutely no guarantee that (Netflix) will succeed in any of these new international markets, although we believe that Internet video streaming will become a major activity in each of these markets," Mahaney said in a note to investors.
The company is working on broadening its international reach as its service in the U.S. becomes more ubiquitous. As of March, Netflix had 22.8 million subscribers in the U.S. - about 34,000 more than the number of households subscribing to Comcast Corp.'s cable-TV service.
This week is the halfway mark of 2020. Hard to believe, as this year has felt simultaneously like one very long day and three years in one. Everything is crazy, but at least there's still TV to watch (for now). So fire up your set and get to watchin' this week's picks.
If this isn't enough and you're looking for even more hand-picked recommendations, sign up for our free, daily, spam-free Watch This Now newsletter that delivers the best TV show picks straight to your inbox, or check out the best shows and movies this month on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
Sunday at 8/7c on BET and CBS
BET's award show celebrating Black excellence in entertainment turns 20 this year, and the network is celebrating the milestone with a virtual award show hosted by Insecure's Amanda Seales. Performers include Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Lil Wayne, Megan Thee Stallion, Nas, and Public Enemy. Drake leads all nominees with six nominations, with rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Roddy Ricch following closely behind with five nominations each. It promises to be a vital show that's informed by the Black Lives Matter movement, and it will be very interesting to see how an awards show happens via teleconference. The show is also airing on a broadcast network for the first time, now that CBS and BET are corporate siblings under the ViacomCBS banner.
Limited series premiere available to stream on HBO
This six-part series is based on the bestselling book of the same name and explores writer Michelle McNamara's investigation into the identity of the serial predator she called the Golden State Killer, which led to the arrest of a suspect, former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., in 2018, who pleaded guilty to thirteen murders on June 29, the day after the premiere. Sadly, McNamara was not around to see the payoff of her work, as she died in 2016. This docuseries, directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus and executive-produced by McNamara's widower Patton Oswalt, is a tribute to McNamara's life and work as well as a harrowing true-crime documentary.
Tuesday at 10/9c on HBO
This powerful documentary from director David France chronicles the situation in the Russian republic of Chechnya, where a brutal state-sanctioned campaign of extrajudicial disappearances, torture, and murder of gay men and women has been happening since 2017. It embeds with LGBTQ activists working to aid victims and help get them out of Chechnya, and includes heartbreaking stories of people who are leaving their home country to escape persecution. The documentary uses a novel, sophisticated technique to protect the identities of escapees, whose faces and voices are digitally altered in a subtle but effective way that allows the viewer to form an emotional connection to them while keeping their actual faces concealed. It's a difficult watch, but an important one, especially during Pride Month, as it shows the cruel stakes that LGBTQ people still face and their bravery in the face of them.
Wednesday on Netflix
Unsolved Mysteries, the...I don't know if venerable is the right word, but it's certainly an institution in the cold case/paranormal event investigation/reenactment genre, is back as a Netflix reboot. In the decade the show's been away, the rules of true crime TV have changed, and the new version has higher production value and a greater focus on character as ordinary people try to figure out what this extraordinary event that happened to them or their loved one was. The reboot comes from the creators of the original docuseries, Cosgrove/Meurer Productions, and 21 Laps Entertainment, the producers of Stranger Things.
Thursday on Netflix
Netflix's latest supernatural teen action series has a sense of humor and a quasi-religious flavor. It's about an ordinary orphan girl named Ava (Alba Baptista) who, after waking up in a morgue, discovers that she now possesses superpowers as the chosen Halo-Bearer for a secret sect of demon-hunting nuns called The Order of the Cruciform Sword. Yeah baby. It's based on a cult favorite '90s comic book called Warrior Nun Areala and just might be our new favorite show.
Season 2 premieres Friday on Amazon Prime Video
The first season of Hanna wasn't at all bad, but it was too familiar as a retread of the superior artsy action film of the same name (which is now streaming on HBO/HBO Max). In Season 2 of the series, Hanna finds itself without the boundaries of the original story and grows up as its own thing, following young Hanna as she infiltrates the secret government organization that trained her to be a supersoldier in order to rescue her friend from its brainwashing. Esme Creed-Miles is awesome as Hanna, and Mireille Enos has carried Hanna's frenemy Marissa Wiegler to new heights as that character changes a lot from the film. If you're into young women snapping the femurs of armed men twice their size, Hanna's where it's at. -Tim Surette
Friday on Netflix
Japan's most popular exports are either very cute (kawaii!) or absolutely horrifying (tentacles!). Put Ju-On in the latter category. The franchise has delivered 13 horror films (known stateside as The Grudge) and expands with the Japanese Netflix series Ju-On: Origins. There's nothing tricky about Ju-On's classic ghost story lore; it's a haunted house tale where the cursed ghosts of dead people terrorize the living, and the series is a prequel that centers the action on a mother and her unborn child. But Ju-On nails suspenseful atmosphere and horror tropes that will make you pee your pants a little. -Tim Surette