Everything That’s Streaming in February 2024

Buckle up buttercup: February is hosting a holiday traffic jam that includes Black History Month, Chinese New Year, Groundhog Day, President’s Day and Valentine’s Day, and streaming viewers have plenty to celebrate. Providers are platforming Black excellence all month long: Netflix tells cinematic tales of a Long Beach rapper in The Vince Staples Show, Abbott Elementary is back in session on Hulu, Run DMC breaks down their monolithic success on Peacock, and Disney presents Afrofuturistic animation series Iwájú set in Lagos, Nigeria. Fall in love with steamy British series The Tourist (Netflix), Donald Glover’s sexy adaptation of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Amazon Prime), and Rick and Michonne’s future-imperfect romance in a new Walking Dead spinoff (AMC+).

February also brings a bloody good Dario Argento documentary, Capote vs. the Swans, and new seasons of Halo, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Tokyo Vice. Meet your next streaming fling (gross) in Book and Film Globe’s definitive guide to this month’s toppiest titles:

Netflix

Avatar: the Last Airbender Season 1 (Feb 22) – Twenty years after the hit animated series, a live action reboot of the nature-driven hero’s journey is hitting Netflix – minus the creative team behind the original Nickelodeon show, who left the project in 2020 over creative differences. The remake follows a 12-year-old Airbender named Aang (Gordon Cormier) as he embraces his destiny as the Avatar, spiritual master of all four elements, to protect the world from the aggressive Fire Nation. The mindful casting of Asian and Indigenous characters along with a reported 15 million dollar per-episode price tag point to a technically faithful treatment of the beloved fantasy series. But with the departure of its original creators, and with M. Night Shyamalan’s pasty 2010 flop still in the rearview mirror, Avatar’s devoted fans will be loath to fold another bad remake into the canon.

The Tourist Season 2 (Feb 29) – The British series is back after a knockout first season to pick up Elliot’s story as the chemistry between Jamie Dornan (50 Shades of Grey) and Danielle Macdonald (Bird Box) continues to simmer. In season 2, Elliot and Helen travel to Ireland to find answers about Elliot’s identity after they receive a letter from someone claiming to know him from his past. But when Elliot is kidnapped by a vicious gang, a deadly generational feud will uncover his former life and reveal future-shaking secrets. Meanwhile Helen enlists the help of a local cop (Conor MacNeill), who’s dealing with issues of his own, to track Elliot down. Prepare for all the action on the Emerald Isle by catching up with season one, available to stream on February first.

 Raël: the Alien Prophet (Feb 7) – Break out the foil hats for this cuckoo-bananas documentary about a UFO-inspired religion founded in 1970s France by Claude Vorilhon, who claimed to be an alien-appointed prophet named Raël. Vorilhon’s group grew quickly and spiraled into a controversial international cult, pursued by allegations of sexual manipulation and false claims of cloning the world’s first baby. Drawing on archives and interviews with Vorilhon, his followers and critics, the limited series will explore Raëlian beliefs and expose the movement’s contradictions as it evolved over five decades—not that the facts matter to loyal acolytes. When an interviewer asks one devotee, “What if you found out it was all fake?” she responds, “I’d burst out laughing and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

The Vince Staples Show Season 1 (Feb 15) – Executive producer and Black-ish creator Kenya Barris helms a new scripted comedy loosely based on the life and career of rapper, actor, and producer Vince Staples. Kind of famous and sort of rich, Staples navigates the challenges and misadventures of everyday life in Long Beach while continually running afoul of Murphy’s Law: fighting with an amusement park mascot, refereeing a melee at a family reunion, running from a mystery assassin, and having the gunmen who are robbing a bank recognize him and serenade him with his own song. Staples’ 2019 YouTube miniseries of immersive creative shorts to promote his stand-alone singles inspired the show; the first episode finds the hapless musician getting a fade before performing at Malia Obama’s birthday party, only to be waylaid on his path to stardom by a barbershop brawl.

Also playing:

The Blacklist Season 10 (Feb 11)

Al Rawabi School for Girls (Feb 15)

Visit Netflix for a full list of releases.

Hulu

Feud: Capote vs. the Swans (Feb 1) – Affairs, addictions and ambitions collide as Tom Hollander (The White Lotus) brings salacious author Truman Capote to life in a limited series based on Lawrence Leamer’s book Capote’s Women. The Tiny Tyrant earns the trust of a group of elite New York socialites called the Swans (played by Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald and Calista Flockhart) then betrays them by serving up their scandalous secrets and vices in a thinly fictionalized novel. But there’s a price to pay for exposing society’s cossetted darlings as the Swans seek revenge in a caftan-clutching, scotch-swilling bitchfest for the ages. Capote wisely maintained a loose grip on his own filthy reputation, famously declaring, “I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true.”

Abbott Elementary Season 3 (Feb 8) – Dropping just a month after creator, writer and star Quinta Brunson became the first Black woman to win the comedic actress Emmy in forty years, the bell is about to ring on another season at the underfunded Philadelphia school. Bucking a common third-season sitcom formula in favor of keeping fans guessing, the will-they won’t-they dynamic continues between Brunson’s Janine and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) who have decided to stay friends instead of coupling up— for now. While the new season’s storylines remain largely under wraps, fans can expect the critically adored mockumentary series to continue exploring facets of the American education system like funding and charter schools.

Shogun (Feb 27) – The epic James Clavell novel adaptation brings feudal Japan to life as a power struggle sweeps across the island nation in the early 1600s and developing global trade threatens its strict social order. Producer Hiroyuki Sanada also stars as the formidable but beleaguered daimyo Toranaga, surrounded by enemies as civil war looms. But when English sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) shipwrecks nearby, Toranaga discovers that the secrets he bears could tip the scales of influence and crush both of their enemies. As Blackthorne becomes entangled in the region’s complex politics, he falls for translator and Christian noblewoman Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) whose loyalty is divided between love, duty and faith. The trailer offers a glimpse of the production’s massive scale, teasing a gorgeously operatic tale of a rigid, isolationist culture grappling with foreign interests and internal strife.

Also playing:

Suncoast (Feb 9)

Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold (Feb 5)

Visit Hulu for a full list of releases.

Amazon Prime

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Season 1 (Feb 12) – The 2005 movie about married assassins made half a billion dollars by playing on marital distrust, the thrill of deception, and the fantasy of spicing up a mundane relationship with a risky double life—and led to an affair between its co-stars. Its reboot takes a less transgressive approach: John and Jane are working for the same spy agency when they’re teamed up under new identities as a wealthy married couple living in Manhattan.

Ensue bloody gun battles, body disposals and comparing kill counts, until their mission becomes complicated when they catch real feelings. Creator and star Donald Glover warms up the chilly, over-choreographed original with a grounded and more nuanced sensuality that’s far from vanilla, while Maya Erskine (Pen15) steps in for Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who divorced herself from the project citing irreconcilable creative differences. The series also features Paul Dano, John Turturro, Parker Posey, Ron Perlman, Sarah Paulson and Alexander Skarsgård. 

Jenny Slate: Seasoned Professional (Feb 23) – The screaky-voiced comic hits the boards for her second Netflix special after 2019’s Stage Fright, channeling your annoying 9-year-old niece who hijacks the microphone at family events for attention. Dressed in a chopped tuxedo and leaning heavily on her voice talents, the former SNL player riffs on “being brave for love” by flying to Amsterdam for a date, pushing out a baby, and stalking her therapist. Slate lives up to the show’s title, boasting top credits in some of the hottest shows and movies of the last decade like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Venom, Big Mouth (formerly), Bob’s Burgers, and Parks and Recreation. But the polite titters throughout the 90-second teaser, a full minute of which is Slate acting indignant that her date wants to ride bikes together, may mean it’s time to move away from her underseasoned standup material.

The Grand Tour: Sand Job (Feb 23) – Season five of the hit Amazon series finds former Top Gearheads Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May trekking across Mauritania in cheap modified sports cars, following in the daring tire tracks of the legendary Paris-Dakar rally. The grueling race begins with the world’s longest train and follows the trick-driving trio through the Sahara Desert and across raging rivers while patching their temperamental machines and protecting their precious fuel tanker from exploding. The boys will be hanging up their helmets for good after a final episode to be released later this year, citing crash-rattled bones and other, safer projects in development.

Also playing:

Upgraded (Feb 9)

Giannis: The Marvelous Journey (Feb 29)

Visit Amazon Prime for a full list of releases.

Max

Chasing Flavor (Feb 1) – Celebrity chef and best-selling author Carla Hall (Top Chef, The Chew) brings her philosophy of “cooking with love” to uncover the history and lineage of America’s most delicious dishes. Follow Carla to Ghana, Italy, the American South, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Turkey as she tracks down the interconnected cultural origins that paved the way for modern American cuisine, from chicken pot pie to ice cream. Hall, a self-described “curious connoisseur,” brings a fun Miss Frizzle vibe as she traces the evolution of recipes through communities and generations– because in her words, “if you don’t know the story, then you really don’t know the dish.”

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12 (Feb 4) – Larry David is back for a prettay, prettay, prettay final round of neurotic insanity in the long-running comedy series that follows an exaggerated version of himself through his chaotic daily life. The Seinfeld co-creator and writer who inspired the selfish, maladjusted character of George Costanza has long enjoyed production carte blanche from HBO, but he insists this season will be his last. “As Curb comes to an end, I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this ‘Larry David’ persona and become the person God intended me to be – the thoughtful, kind, caring, considerate human being I was until I got derailed by portraying this malignant character,” he said. The returning cast includes Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Cheryl Hines, J.B. Smoove, Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, Vince Vaughn, and Tracy Ullman. All eleven previous seasons are available to watch on Max.

Tokyo Vice Season 2 (Feb 8) – Loosely based on Jake Adelstein’s memoir about his time covering the police beat and the Yakuza in 1990s Tokyo, Jake (Ansel Elgort) plugs into the Tokyo Vice squad and finds himself drawn into the city’s criminal underworld. Season two tightens the knots of Jake’s entanglement as he seeks to expose the mafia’s dark deeds but comes to realize that his life (and everyone close to him) is in terrible danger. Elgort, who learned Japanese for the neon-tinged period noir, is a baby-faced counterpoint to Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, Inception) who stars as an organized crime investigator guiding Jake through the Yakuza’s menacing world.

Also playing:

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Season 11 (Feb 18)

Visit Max for a full list of releases.

Disney+

Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold (Feb 5) – Join professional climber and Free Solo star Alex Honnold in Greenland on a (literally) gripping science expedition and the first-ever ascent of Ingmikortilaq, one of the world’s tallest rock walls. Honnold and two fellow pro alpinists battle gravity, subfreezing storms and falling rocks to guide a French scientist up the virgin gneiss of the slippery, crumbling four-thousand-foot face to gather crucial climate data. Honnold’s wife Sanni McCandless says the fearless mountaineer seemed “lost” after conquering El Capitan without ropes for Free Solo. But watching Honnold’s eyes light up at the sight of what he calls the “horrendous, death-defying wall” is a reminder that, while joints, tendons and odds against gravity continue to decline over time, the drive to seek out the ultimate adrenaline thrill is as immutable as granite.

The Space Race (Feb 13) – The sky’s the limit for barrier-busting heroes in an inspiring documentary profiling Black excellence among the stars. Through decades of archival footage and interviews, The Space Race delves into the experiences of the first Black astronauts including Guion Bluford, Charles Bolden and Ed Dwight, whose 1963 mission to the moon was derailed when JFK was assassinated. The three-part series also explores the legacy of pioneering Black pilots, scientists and engineers at NASA, illuminating their extensive contributions to the space program while fighting for equal rights on earth.

Iwájú (Feb 28) – Disney’s first Nigerian animation series imagines a futuristic Lagos based on the “everyday reality of life in Nigeria and other parts of the world,” according to director Ziki Nelson. Iwájú, which roughly translates to “the future” in Yoruba, follows wealthy island girl Tola and her best friend Kole, a self-taught tech expert from the wrong side of the tracks, as they discover the hidden secrets and dangers in their different worlds. Written and created by an all-African team, the series features visual elements and technological advancements inspired by the spirit and culture of Lagos. Iwájú also uses African, Eastern and Western animation styles to explore how class inequality affects everyday society and aims to inspire social engineering for better living.

Also playing:

The Marvels (Feb 7)

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 (Feb 21)

Visit Disney+ for a full list of releases.

Apple TV+

 Constellation (Feb 21) – When an astronaut (Noomi Rapace) returns to earth after a space disaster and realizes pieces of her life are missing, she vows to recover her memory and expose the truth behind the mission. But is she about to unravel a sinister conspiracy, or just unravel? The moody sci-fi thriller series explores “the dark edges of human psychology” as Rapace grapples with PTSD, her fraught relationship with her daughter, and the specter of something even darker floating in the depths of space. The series also stars Clare-Hope Ashitey (Children of Men) and Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul).

The Dynasty: New England Patriots (Feb 16) – A new ten-part docuseries goes inside the Patriots’ 20-year journey from struggling franchise to pigskin royalty, their athletic chemistry winning six Super Bowls before internal conflict sparked a turf war that toppled one of the biggest NFL teams in history. Featuring brand-new footage and interviews with the Belichick-Brady-Kraft regime, The Dynasty traces the Patriots’ historic run while addressing Tom Brady’s Deflategate suspension and Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction. Diehard supporters can console themselves after an abysmal season by reliving the team’s glory years, and the off-field drama will make a fan out of the most football-averse.

The New Look (Feb 14) – The 10-episode historical drama chronicles the rise of fashion designer Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and his haute-couture rivalry with Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche) in postwar Europe. The series follows Dior as he leaves the French army and creates his iconic label in Nazi-occupied Paris— threatening to dethrone Chanel as the world’s top clothing designer. As music, art and culture revived in defiance of the conflict’s dehumanizing horrors, their creative innovations would launch the concept of modern fashion. The stylish series also features John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Emily Mortimer and Maisie Williams.

Also playing:

Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend (Feb 21)

Visit Apple TV+ for a full list of releases.

Paramount+

Halo Season 2 (Feb 8) – With the galaxy on the brink of destruction, Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) leads his team of elite Spartans against the alien threat known as the Covenant. At the climax of season one, his AI companion Cortana (Natasha McElhone) purged his personality and memories when she took over his body to win a crucial battle. As the Covenant prepare to attack humanity’s greatest stronghold, Master Chief embarks on a journey to rediscover himself and find a mysterious alien structure that holds the key to humankind’s salvation, or its destruction: the Halo. Season two will reveal more of the Covenant’s history and motivations, possibly setting up an alliance to combat an even greater alien threat– the Flood.

#Cybersleuths: The Idaho Murders (Feb 6) – Social media detectives help unravel a chilling murder in a new docuseries that explores how online true crime fans impacted the investigation of the 2022 University of Idaho massacre. A group of true crime sleuths on TikTok sift through clues and explore leads after four students are found stabbed and slashed to death at an off-campus house. The case galvanized armchair sleuths in unprecedented numbers, with a Facebook discussion group pushing 230,000 members and similar Subreddits boasting 100,000 participants. Along with films like Crime Scene: the Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, The Killing Season, and Don’t F**k with Cats, #Cybersleuths addresses the strengths and weaknesses of forensic populism as a crime-solving tool in the digital era.

The Tiger’s Apprentice (Feb 2) – After his grandmother dies, Chinese American teenager Tom (Brandon Soo Hoo) meets mystical tiger-man Mr. Hu (Henry Golding) and learns he’s a descendant of a long line of guardians who get their powers from the Chinese zodiac. Sworn to protect an ancient phoenix from those who wish to use its powers for evil, Tom teams up with a band of mythological misfits and embarks on the difficult but magical path to becoming Hu’s apprentice. The animated series weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a contemporary San Francisco setting and features the voice talents of Michelle Yeoh, Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh and Bowen Yang.

Also playing:

The 66^th Annual Grammy Awards (Feb 4)

Visit Paramount+ for a full list of releases.

Peacock

Kings from Queens: The Run DMC Story (Feb 1)– It’s tricky to rock a rhyme that’s right on time, but a new three-part series tells the full, uncensored story of rap pioneers Run DMC just as trial opens in the 2002 murder of the group’s DJ, Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell. Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, and Mizell met in Queens and became the most influential rap group in the game, making history with their genre-crossing, chart-topping sound and building a dynasty that touches music, fashion and popular culture today. Two decades after their breakup following Mizell’s death and DMC’s struggles with alcoholism and mental health, the two surviving members reunite to tell their story and celebrate their hard-built legacy. Big-name musical peers including Ice-T, Doug E. Fresh, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, Eminem, MC Lyte, Beastie Boys, Questlove and Chuck D, join the fun.

Bosco (Feb 2) – Based on a true story, this prison drama finds Quawntay “Bosco” Adams (Aubrey Joseph) facing 35 years in federal lockup on a marijuana charge— but he’s not about to give up on life just yet. With the help of a lonely Missouri woman (Nikki Blonsky) he met online, Bosco escapes the maximum-security prison to attend his first child’s birth, but must face his past and take responsibility for his future. The film, which spotlights multigenerational cycles and inequities in the prison system, also stars Tyrese Gibson, Vivica A. Fox and Thomas Jane.

Also playing:

Vigil Season 2 (Feb 15)

Oppenheimer (Feb 16)

Visit Peacock for a full list of releases.

AMC+:

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (Feb 25) – The bloated horror franchise delves into Rick and Michonne’s complex relationship with an epic love story starring Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, following a romance that becomes irrevocably changed by the horrors of their postapocalyptic world. Can they fight their way back to each other and their old selves across a physical and emotional distance filled with unstoppable peril? Or will they find that there’s more than one way to become the walking dead? Fans can chew into more content with The Ones Who Live Cast Diaries, a collection of special bonus episodes featuring exclusive interviews with cast and creators, premiering February 29. Deadheads can also catch Best of Michonne and Best of Rick out February first, offering a look back at the zombie smashing pair’s legendary moments with a collection of fan-favorite episodes from the original series.

Dario Argento Panico (Feb 2) – Shudder’s new documentary retrospective of giallo master Dario Argento dreamwalks through his horror catalogue while glimpsing the 83-year-old’s creative demon in his present-day efforts to write a new screenplay. Argento’s color-saturated nightmares immersed stunned theatergoers in a malignant world that stirred deep unease, and his body of work continues to unnerve new generations of fans. Panico features archival interviews, behind the scenes footage and commentary from a slew of industry peers and collaborators including daughter Asia Argento, Guillermo del Toro, Gaspar Noé and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Far North (Feb 15) – Inspired by the true story of New Zealand’s largest meth bust, this drug smuggling caper follows comically inept thugs who manage to smuggle half a billion dollars of gak into the country–but the deal goes south, stranding the small-timers with over a thousand pounds of crank. When a 70-year-old Māori diesel mechanic and his aqua-aerobics instructor wife get caught up in their increasingly desperate pursuit of the ultimate payday, the ordinary Kiwi couple must navigate treacherous waters to thwart the gang and survive the ludicrous ordeal.

Also playing:

The Fall Season 1 (Feb 22)

Visit AMC+ for a full list of releases.