4 excellent Netflix movies to watch this week (July 27-August 2)

Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek Published Jul 27, 2026, 4:30 PM EDT Derek Malcolm has been covering the worlds of tech and entertainment for more than two decades. Before coming to How-To Geek in 2025, Derek was a contributing editor and writer for the A/V and Home Theater section at Digital Trends, where he wrangled and wrote everything from what to watch on Netflix to reviews, explainers, and guides on the latest Bluetooth speakers, turntables, projectors, and other A/V gear. Based in Toronto, Derek graduated from Humber College's Journalism program in 1999, after which he started covering the worlds of music, movies, TV, and celebrity for publications such as TV Guide, Hello! magazine, and Inside Entertainment. He then got the bug for covering tech and gadgets in 2006, when he served as editor-in-chief of Canadian tech magazine Connected for more than a decade. An avid skier, when all the snow's gone Derek can be found at home spinning vinyl with his daughter or cheering on his favorite F1 team, McLaren. Sign in to your How-To Geek account It's the last week of July, and Netflix has already shown us what it has in store for U.S. subscribers in August—including the claustrophobic sci-fi horror The Last House, a chilling thriller starring Robert De Niro and Adam Scott (The Whisper Man), and some great documentaries, too. But you need a good movie to watch now, which is where we come in. For this final July countdown, there are still some good titles to choose from: Tobey Maguire's classic webslinger to get you prepped for Brand New Day, Kevin Hart crashing a Gen Z bachelor party, the slasher that gave horror its sense of humor back, and my top pick this week, Cate Blanchett gives an acting masterclass as a maestro who spectacularly falls from grace. 4 Spider-Man Swing back with Tobey to where the modern superhero movie began Don't get me wrong, I like all the Spider-Men—Holland, Garfield, Cage, all the animated ones. But I'll always have a soft spot for Tobey Maguire. His Peter Parker was awkward, nerdy, and endearing, and Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man is arguably the movie that kicked off the modern superhero blockbuster era. With Tom Holland's Brand New Day hitting theaters this weekend, it's time for a rewatch of this linchpin (all three are streaming on Netflix, too, but they all leave August 4th, so watch them now!). You know the drill—based on Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Marvel Comics hero, it follows shy Queens teen Peter Parker (Maguire), who's bitten by a genetically engineered spider and wakes up with wall-crawling superpowers. After a tragedy teaches him that great power comes with great responsibility, Peter takes on the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) while swooning over Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). It also features that famous upside-down kiss. Spider-Man Cast Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Joe Manganiello, Gerry Becker, Bill Nunn, Jack Betts, Stanley Anderson, Ron Perkins, Michael Papajohn, K.K. Dodds, Ted Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Elizabeth Banks, John Paxton, Tim DeZarn, Taylor Gilbert, Randy Poffo, Larry Joshua, Timothy Patrick Quill, Lisa Danielle Runtime 121 minutes Director Sam Raimi Writers David Koepp Producers Ian Bryce, Laura Ziskin Sequel(s) Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 Franchise(s) Spider-Man Main Genre Superhero Executive Producer(s) Avi Arad, Stan Lee 3 72 Hours Kevin Hart is too old for this wild Miami weekend This week's freshest arrival (July 24) isn't winning any awards, but it's wild and ridiculous enough to shoot its way to the top of Netflix's most-watched list. 72 Hours is a raunchy R-rated comedy that reunites Kevin Hart with Ride Along director Tim Story, and also teams him up with some of SNL's current top talent. Hart plays Joe, a 40-year-old ad exec whose bosses think he's lost his connection with today's youth, so he invites himself on a three-day Miami bachelor party with a group of wild twentysomethings (SNL's Marcello Hernández, Kam Patterson, and Ben Marshall, and Scream's Mason Gooding) where chaos ensues. 72 Hours Release Date July 24, 2026 Cast Kevin Hart, Teyana Taylor, Michael Mando, Marcello Hernández, Andy García, Mason Gooding, Kam Patterson, Ben Marshall, Kevin Dunn, Zach Cherry Runtime 102 minutes Director Tim Story Writers Matt Mider, Kevin Burrows, Hayden Schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz Producers John Davis, Josh Heald, Kevin Hart, Will Packer, Hayden Schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz, John Fox, Bryan Smiley, Tim Story, Luke Kelly-Clyne Main Genre Comedy Executive Producer(s) Dina Hillier, Jeremy Stein, John Fox, Kayla Stamps, Vicky Mara Story, Prescott Ashe, Bill Block, Ross T. Fanger 2 Scream Wes Craven's meta masterpiece still slays, 30 years on Thirty years on and Wes Craven's Scream holds firm as the movie that brought the slasher genre back from the dead, while lovingly making fun of it in the process. That opening Drew Barrymore "inside the house" sequence is movie gold, and is still parodied and copied today, while Ghostface has become a staple of Halloween mask sales. A year after her mother's murder, high schooler Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is tormented by a masked killer with an obsession for horror movies. As the bodies keep piling up around town, it draws the attention of tabloid reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and lovably inept Deputy Dewey Riley (David Arquette). Meanwhile, Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) is looking pretty suspicious. Scream launched a massive franchise that's still going today, with the seventh chapter, which landed back in February. Scream 2 and 3 are also streaming on Netflix, with all three leaving the service on August 23. Release Date December 20, 1996 Cast Neve Campbell Sidney Prescott David Arquette Dewey Riley Courteney Cox Gale Weathers Matthew Lillard Stu Macher Runtime 112 minutes Director Wes Craven Writers Kevin Williamson Producers Bob Weinstein, Cary Woods, Cathy Konrad, Harvey Weinstein Sequel(s) Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, Scream, Scream VI, Scream 7 Franchise(s) Scream Main Genre Horror Budget $14 Million Studio(s) Woods Entertainment Distributor(s) Dimension Films Where To Stream Paramount Plus 1 Tár Cate Blanchett conducts a symphony of self-destruction Writer-director Todd Field has a knack for creating Oscar-worthy movies, with 2001's In the Bedroom, 2006's Little Children, and 2022's Tár, all raking in 14 nominations between them. The 91% rated psychological drama stars Cate Blanchett in one of the greatest roles of her career, where she plays the titular Lydia Tár, the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic—a performance that convinced people that the character was based on a real person—it isn't. The movie is a haunting examination of a woman at the peak of her powers, working towards a career-defining performance of Mahler's Fifth, when her meticulous life starts to fall apart around her. Bearing witness to the tragedy are Lydia's wife, Sharon (brilliantly played by Phoenix's Nina Hoss), and watchful assistant Francesca (Lee's Noémie Merlant), as the movie builds to a finale you won't see coming. Tar Release Date October 7, 2022 Cast Cate Blanchett, Noemie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong Runtime 158 minutes Director Todd Field Writers Todd Field Budget $25 million Studio(s) Universal Pictures, Focus Features Distributor(s) Universal Pictures, Focus Features One last queue before the calendar flips By the time you've worked through all four of these movies this week, August's newcomers will be waiting at the door. Keep the momentum going with more of How-To Geek's streaming recommendations. Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four Live TV No Price Starting at $8/month