Wondering what to watch on Netflix? The streaming service now has a set of criteria to complicate the question: a list of the top 10 most-watched movies and TV shows in the country at any given time. While water-cooler talk has evolved since the days of “Must Watch TV” and even Game of Thrones Sundays, Netflix hopes to give users a chance to join a bandwagon, and get people talking about the major movies and shows on the platform.
That may not make deciding what to actually watch any easier. That’s why, each week at Polygon, we’ll gather our reviews, features, and quick takes on the shows and films that cracked Netflix’s Top 10 list for the United States, and put them in one easy-to-read place.
Read on to find out what people are watching, and get coverage to help you choose which of Netflix’s most popular hits meet your needs or personal tastes.
Polygon updates the Netflix Top 10 every Tuesday. The actual top 10 may is subject to change between updates.
10. Life As We Know It
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
Two years before creating the Arrowverse for DC Entertainment, Greg Berlanti directed this down-the-middle romantic dramedy about two people who absolutely hate each other being forced to co-habitate after their friends die in a car crash, naming them the co-caretakers of their baby. Uh oh! Cruising into the next decade with a 28% on Rotten Tomatoes, Life As We Know It is a time capsule from an era when Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel were on the cusp of movie stardom, and this type of movie was still getting made. Let’s be honest: today it would be a Netflix Original.
9. Castlevania
Image: Netflix
The third season of the anime-ish Castlevania, once again written by the revered Warren Ellis, continues the story of vampires and mortals. Sypha Belnades, Trevor Belmont, and Alucard are all back, and eagle-eyed Castlevania fans will spot some familiar enemies — including Legion (aka Granfaloon) and Malachi. If you want to get a taste of the new season’s blood, we recommend watching the trailer. If you want to get a taste of true hysteria, we recommend you watch our pal Brian Gilbert unravel Castlevania’s sexiest enemies.
8. Altered Carbon
The hard sci-fi drama is back after a two-year hiatus. What do you need to know before jumping back in? Well, first off, it’s worthy of your attention. From our review:
Considering how dramatic the changes are, it’s impressive how seamless the transition feels. Anthony Mackie (Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) replaces Joel Kinnaman as the elite warrior and investigator Takeshi Kovacs, while Alias and Fringe writer Alison Schapker, who takes over as showrunner from series creator Laeta Kalogridis, refines the worldbuilding from the show’s first season. By polishing the rougher edges, Schapker delivers a surprisingly philosophical plot beneath the heaping portions of stylish hyper-violence and casual nudity.
And as with so much dense science fiction, there’s a metric of ton of things to know about the world of Altered Carbon before diving in. So here’s a guide to the major conflict and minor terminology, a deep dive into the Elders, and for those who make it to the end, a look at what actually happened to Poe in the final scenes.
7. Freaks
Photo: Well Go USA
Making a strong argument for the “black box” school of film viewing, where viewers go into a project completely unspoiled, Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein’s feature film Freaks shifts ideas and genres often enough to keep even jaded genre fans on their toes. It echoes a handful of familiar Stephen King stories, from Firestarter to his Milkman vignettes in the anthology Skeleton Crew, but it doesn’t entirely ape any of them. It’s full of “Wait, what is this story really about?” twists that keep viewers guessing for a surprisingly long time, but the action payoff is a thrill. Recommended for fans of Stranger Things, genre-bending stories, and surprises.
6. Space Jam
Space Jam holds a place in millennial nostalgia consciousness, even though it’s a giant commercial for Warner Bros. merch and the NBA. Whatever, Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan were kings. There’s a reason Tony Hawk almost got his own spinoff, and a sequel is in the works with LeBron James.
5. Paradise PD
Image: Netflix
The animated cops series from Waco O’Guin and Roger Black (Brickleberry) isn’t the type of animated series we’re typically devouring upon launch, but the Netflix exclusive clearly has its fans. The second season debuted on March 6, and crept into the top 5 over the last week.
4. The Angry Birds Movie 2
Image: Sony Pictures
Sony and Rovio’s animated sequel surprised critics when it quietly slingshotted into theaters August 2019, earning a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. “Things move along at such an agreeably fast clip — particularly in the second half, when the mission gets underway — that it’ll be a pleasurable experience for kids and adults alike,” writes RogerEbert.com critic Matt Zoller Seitz, who notes that the movie is chockfull of classic, well-done movie spoofs. The movie made $157 million in the States, a decent take for a big-budgeted animated blockbuster, but it’s obviously finding the right audience in its streaming afterlife.
3. The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez
Image: Netflix
This eye-opening new crime documentary is pretty heavy, so take it away, Netflix synopsis-writers:
In 2013, 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez died as a result of horrific and prolonged abuse by his mother and her boyfriend. In the wake of the tragedy, a demand for justice and accountability exploded in Los Angeles County. This six-part documentary series from award-winning documentarian Brian Knappenberger (Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press) offers an inside look at the trial as well as an eye-opening investigation into the government systems that failed to protect Gabriel, despite multiple reports and warning signs. Along with shedding light on an important story, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez serves as a wake-up call to reexamine the structures designed to protect children in need.
The series premiered on Feb. 26, which gives you an idea of how deep Netflix users are getting into the grim portrait of abuse and government failure.
2. Love Is Blind
Photo: Netflix
The high-concept reality series became the talk of the town when the first batch of episodes premiered just before Valentine’s Day, and it’s obvious why. Unlike so many one-off dating shows, Love Is Blind followed the same core contestants, from the seemingly ridiculous setup — 30 men and women are asked to make love connection while only interacting inside sealed-off pods — all the way to the altar. The format turned out to be a brilliant twist instead of a cheap gimmick. As our own Emily Heller writes in her post-mortem review:
Much in the same way Rian Johnson used 40 years of Star Wars lore and symbols to turn The Last Jedi into a deconstruction of Star Wars baggage, the Love Is Blind producers, knowingly or not, used reality-show tropes to deconstruct a particular style of reality TV. The Last Jedi builds up Rey’s Jedi training as important and monumental, until Yoda’s Force ghost shows up to make the bold claim that she doesn’t need to follow old dogma, and shouldn’t. Love Is Blind doesn’t go so far as to show a beloved character burning down the symbolic epicenter of its lore. (What would that be? The Bachelor mansion? The isolation pods?) But like The Last Jedi, it starts off following an established pattern, then veers off in a different, but still recognizable direction, exploring new facets of old structures.
1. Spenser Confidential
Photo: Daniel McFadden/Netflix
Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg are on the same wavelength. Together, they’ve made five hit-or-miss films in the last seven years: Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day, Miles 22, and now the Netflix Original Spenser Confidential, based on the popular Spenser thriller series by Ace Atkins. The movie is … not one of the hits. Polygon’s Karen Han says it all in the opening to her review:
The Netflix series The Kominsky Method, starring Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin, is not a show anyone in my social circle watches. I’ve never really given any thought to getting into it, even though “a half-hour show featuring two old men just gabbing” is the bullseye on the dartboard of things I would theoretically like. (Pobody’s nerfect.) In fact, the only time I’ve given it any thought, outside of its consistent presence at the Golden Globes, was while watching the new Netflix movie Spenser Confidential, which reunites director Peter Berg with star Mark Wahlberg, and co-stars Arkin as an old man whose sole character trait is “inept with technology.” As Berg and Wahlberg (perfect partners, even in name) ascended inexorably toward a parodic level of Bostonian-ness in Spenser Confidential, I wondered if I wouldn’t be having a better time just getting a more concentrated dose of Arkin in The Kominsky Method.
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