Best New Shows and Movies on Netflix This Week: The King, American Son

Looking for something new to watch on Netflix? Here is a list of all the best new shows and movies released on Netflix the week of Nov. 1-7.

This week, Netflix is about the moooovies. The streaming service's most prominent releases this week are a big, expensive period piece (The King) and a small stage adaptation for which the largest line item was almost definitely Kerry Washington (American Son). Robert Pattinson's wig probably cost more than American Son's whole art department budget. Beyond that, there are two nice returning shows in Atypical and The End of the F---ing World, a new installment of Queer Eye, and Seth Meyers' first-ever stand-up special. Compete with all THAT, Apple TV Plus!

All titles are out Friday, Nov. 1 unless otherwise noted.

If you're looking for even more hand-picked recommendations, click over to our Watch This Now! page.

The Biggest Releases

The King
AKA Beautiful Actors With Weird Haircuts. Timotheé Chalamet with a bowl haircut stars as Henry V, and Robert Pattinson with whatever is going on here as the Dauphin (he also has a French accent so outrageous you expect him to say "I fart in your general direction!"). Director David Michôd's historical epic is big and ambitious, deriving its plot from a handful of Shakespeare plays. It follows the ascent of Henry V, and his reluctant entry into war with France. The multi-talented Joel Edgerton wrote the script with Michôd and also appears in the movie with a weird haircut of his own. TV Guide's Netflix movie critic Jordan Hoffman hated it, but you should decide for yourself.

American Son
Kerry Washington gives a fierce, devastating performance in this adaptation of a Broadway play of the same name. She plays a mental health professional named Kendra Ellis-Connor, who is waiting in a police station with her estranged husband Scott (Steven Pasquale) for news of their 18-year-old son, who is missing and may have been arrested, or worse. It's a lacerating examination of race and privilege and policing and anger, and the complicated intersections of all those things. The filmmaking is underwhelming -- it never transcends staginess -- but the performances make up for it. (Trailer)

Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby
The late-night stalwart steps out from behind the desk for his first-ever stand-up special. He's not someone you ever think of as a stand-up -- he made his way to Saturday Night Live via sketch -- so you may be wondering if he's good at it. Spoiler: He is! This is a funny, likable, and easygoing special, mostly about family with a little bit about politics, which is the basis of a very good joke that makes use of Netflix's "skip intro" feature. (Trailer / Tuesday, Nov. 5)

Everything Else

The End of the F---ing World, Season 2
This British black comedy was a highlight of early 2018 on Netflix. The thing is, it was a self-contained story with a pretty definitive ending, and Season 2 is going, "Or was it?" Will the show be able to recapture Season 1's specificity of vision? Or will the expansion of the world necessary for a second season cause it to lose focus? In this case, the expansion is following a woman named Bonnie (Naomi Ackie), who's obsessed with the man Alyssa (Jessica Barden) and James (Alex Lawther) killed and out for revenge. It also follows Alyssa's grief about what happened to James. (Trailer / Tuesday, Nov. 5)

Atypical, Season 3
One of Netflix's best family comedies is back for round three. Season 3 picks up seconds after Season 2 ended, with Sam (Keir Gilchrist) having just told Paige (Jenna Boyd) that he loves her and Casey (Brigette Lundy-Paine) officially realizing she's got more-than-friendly feelings for Izzie (Fivel Stewart). TV Guide's Megan Vick visited the set this summer, so if you want the scoop, check it out. (Trailer)

Drive
"Why does it look like a cheap combination of money heist and fast & furious," says an astute YouTube commenter on the trailer for this Indian movie. (Trailer)

Fire in Paradise
Survivors recount their harrowing stories from the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise and became the deadliest wildfire in California history, in this devastating documentary short. (Trailer)

Hache, Season 1
A woman rises from a low tier of a criminal organization to controlling the heroin trade in 1960s Barcelona in this Spanish series. Based on a true story! (Trailer)

Hello Ninja, Season 1
Hello Ninja is another one of those Netflix kids' shows that look like they were animated on a first-gen PlayStation. The children deserve better! (Trailer)

Holiday in the Wild
It's kinda "huh" that Kristin Davis and Rob Lowe are starring in a "white Americans in Africa" Christmas movie, but they are. Netflix makes so much stuff. Not all of it can be good. (Trailer)

The Man Without Gravity
This magical realist Italian movie tells the story of a man who was born with the ability to levitate, which turns him into an international celebrity. But he just wants a normal life. Based on a true story! (Trailer)

Queer Eye: We're in Japan!
The Fab 5 do their thing in Japan. Can you believe this incarnation of the show has been on for less than two years? These guys became cultural institutions so quickly. (Trailer)

True: Grabapple Harvest
Nothing I can write about this would improve on Netflix's description, so: "It's Grabbleapple harvest season in the Rainbow Kingdom ... but Glummy Glooma doesn't want autumn to come. Can True and her friends save the festival?" (Trailer)

We Are the Wave, Season 1
When I read Netflix's description -- "A mysterious classmate leads four idealistic teens in a revolt against a rising tide of nationalistic fervor, but their movement takes a dark turn" -- I assumed this was a French show. But it's German, actually. It's basically Antifa: The Series. (Trailer)

The Devil Next Door, Limited Docuseries
This five-part documentary tells the story of the trial of John Demjanjuk, an average-seeming man from the Ukraine living the American dream in Cleveland who was accused of being a Nazi death camp guard known as Ivan the Terrible. He was extradited to Israel and tried for war crimes. But that was only the beginning of the stranger-than-fiction story. (Trailer / Monday, Nov. 4)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Season 4
Glimmer takes the throne from the late heroine Queen Angella, but her reign begins during the most chaotic time in the history of Etheria. Bummer. (Trailer / Tuesday, Nov. 5)

Tune in for Love
A singer and a DJ have a decade of close calls of falling in love in this understated Korean romance movie, which features a heavy dose of '90s and early-'00s nostalgia. (Trailer / Tuesday, Nov. 5)

SCAMS, Season 1
Sort of like a Japanese Boiler Room. A young man gets involved in a phone scam operation bilking elderly people out of their money. Looks like a lot of fun, tbh. (Trailer / Wednesday, Nov. 6)

Stop searching, start watching! TV Guide's Watch This Now! page has even more TV recommendations.

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