What’s New to Stream on Netflix for February 2021

Crossing the Streams is our monthly look at all the offerings hitting the big streaming services each month, and this time we’re checking out the new Netflix arrivals for February 2021. This month’s titles include a disappointing shortage of older, non-Netflix movies, but we’re also getting new films starring Rosamund Pike, Zendaya, and more!

Keep reading to see what’s new on Netflix for February 2021!

Netflix Pick of the Month for February 2021

Movies about movies can sometimes be a bit too inwardly focused, and that navel-gazing often limits an audience from connecting with the film in a meaningful way. The best pair their cinema-centric stories with more human observations, and that’s exactly what Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie is aiming to do.

The film stars John David Washington (Tenet) and Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as a young couple who return from his film’s premiere to face truths about themselves and each other. The trigger is the combination of a stressful night and his response to early reviews, but the conversation finds its footing on the subject of these two people and finds its strength in their performances. With just these two on-screen the film rides or dies on their characters, and you can find out if it succeeds starting when it premieres on Netflix on February 5th.

More New Netflix Films of Note

While Malcolm & Marie is sure to be this month’s highest-profile arrival, it’s far from the only one. The one I’m most looking forward to, in fact, is I Care a Lot (February 19th), and the main reason is star Rosamund Pike. She’s an incredibly compelling and appealing actor, but after breaking out with Gone Girl she’s only had a few lead roles taking full advantage of her abilities (which reminds me: seek out 2018’s A Private War if you’re a fan). This new feature casts Pike as a court-appointed legal guardian who uses her wits to swindle people of their hard-earned money — that’s right, she’s back in villain-mode and we love it — but she might have met her match in Dianne Wiest. Toss in Peter Dinklage, Chris Messina, and Eiza González, and you have a must-see.

While I expect that to be a favorite, Netflix is also delivering plenty more that run the gamut from thrillers and dramas to comedies and YA features. Red Dot (takes aim on February 11th) promises a simple premise — a couple hoping to reconnect on a hiking trip find themselves hunted by an unseen assailant — and pairs it with a tight eighty-five-minute running time. It’s a Swedish thriller so set your sights on an icy mix of suspense and action.

To All the Boys: Always and Forever (February 12th) is a different kind of beast altogether as the third and final entry in a trilogy about young love and teenage hijinks. The terrific Lana Condor is back alongside the over-hyped Noah Centineo (yeah, I said it!), and it’s make or break time for the young couple as life’s dramas add new wrinkles into their relationship.

A New Netflix Anime That Appeals to Me, Rob!

Anime series aren’t typically on my watch list for numerous reasons, but sometimes a title arrives that seems to check a lot of my boxes. High-Rise Invasion pits a teenage girl against an army of mask-wearing psychos, and all of them are trapped within a series of high-rise buildings. The trailer reveals it to be a weird, bloody ride mixing action and horror into what I hope is something special. Will the ultimate reveal make any sense? Who knows, but I’m all for teens being stalked by anonymous killers in smiley-face masks, and this blend of Battle Royale, Tag (2015), and numerous other Japanese films looks to be a crazily thrilling good time.

The Oldest New Arrival to Netflix

Well, this is just embarrassing for everyone involved. It’s bad enough that Netflix is only adding a measly nineteen non-Netflix movies to the service this month — nineteen! — but only four of them are from the last century. Worse, the oldest is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989), and it’s arriving in February because? I’d be lying if I claimed to be a big fan of the film — at least it’s better than European Vacation — but if you are looking to celebrate Christmas this month there are holiday laughs to be found here as Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and more bring the late John Hughes’ script to holiday life.

The Complete Netflix List for February 2021

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