Neon continues to bring in a convoy of quality shows and films. See our handpicked highlights below followed by the full release schedule.
Top picks: TV
Parks and Recreation + 30 Rock (February 2 + 5)
Two NBC shows, each alike in having seven critically-acclaimed seasons, each made by one part of a pair of iconic SNL besties. First up is Parks and Recreation on February 2, starring Amy Poehler as go-getting councilwoman Leslie Knope: made by the guys behind The Office, it’s a sweeter, mockumentary-style look at building community in the midst of widespread dysfunction. Then on February 5, 30 Rock arrives on NEON, with Tina Fey as its acerbic creator and star. For my money, Fey’s show is meaner, funnier, and more of a 2000s comedy juggernaut than the former series. But since they’re both on the platform in the same week, why not bounce erratically between episodes of both shows? We promise your brain/sides won’t explode with comic overstimulation.
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 12 (February 5)
It’s the end of Larry David’s long-running cult comedy as we know it, and he feels…fine? The trailers for the supposed final season of Curb show an unsettlingly chirpy Larry, admitting that his life is going far better than he’d ever expected. Don’t worry, though: we’re sure the show’s newest episodes will sic plenty of miserable social dilemmas upon the guy, ready for him to plant his foot in his mouth as usual, Ourouborous-like. We also doubt, deep in our hearts, that it’s the last we’ll see of the show’s Hollywood-razing, perma-grouchy world: after 20 years and 12 seasons, it feels like we may never definitively say goodbye to David and co.
Key and Peele (February 14)
Every season of this celebrated sketch show drops on NEON this month, and you’ve certainly caught some of the best-known bits as memes, TikToks, or YouTube shorts. Whilst watching episodes in their entirety can be necessarily hit and miss, comic pair Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele are pretty astonishing in their ability to script high-concept, hilariously committed bits about everything from race to office politics, dating, and Gremlins 2. It’s wild to fast-forward and see where both men’s careers are now: Peele’s one of Hollywood’s most thrilling directors, and Key pops up in practically every comedy project, often showing off his musical chops.
Top picks: Movies
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (February 8)
A sequel to one of the best Spidey movies of all time, and “part one” of an ongoing, multiverse-mashing saga, Across the Spider-Verse packed so…so many (perhaps too many?!) Spider-People into its elaboration of Miles Morales’ reality-hopping heroic arc. There wasn’t ample time to delve into Oscar Isaac’s domineering baddie, a spot-flecked minor villain (Jason Schwartzmann), or our old faves Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, etc. What we did get in spades was a deeper look at Hailee Steinfeld’s Spider-Woman, plus the usual eye-popping, web-slinging action scenes. Pay close attention, comic book nerds: there’s more going on in this film than one watch can possibly reveal.
You Hurt My Feelings (February 14)
In the latest collaboration between writer-director Nicole Holofcener and her muse Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a writer’s world is shattered when she learns that her husband isn’t actually a fan of the book she’s been working on for years. Is it a cruel personal betrayal, or just a tough truth to accept: that our loved ones might not always understand our deepest inner workings? Such big questions of marriage, work, and identity are played out in funny, authentic detail, through biting dialogue and twisty, passive-aggressive turns. Clearly Louis-Dreyfus is the master of this, and she never shies away from her character’s worst impulses here.
Stylebender (February 15)
Flamboyant, violent, outspoken, self-reflective: Nigerian-born MMA champ Israel Adesanya is a man of many contradictions, each of them captured brilliantly in this feature-length documentary. Our own Liam Maguren even got to chat with director Zöe McIntosh last year about her probing portrait, who explained her subject’s magnetic persona: “I couldn’t resist this delicious combo of a very macho fighter who was also in touch with his feminine side, explores therapy, dances, and gets his nails done. On a surface level, there were great contrasts.” Don’t miss Adesanya’s story when it arrives on the streaming service: it offers illuminating and uncompromising insight.
Everything Coming to Neon this February
February 1
Big Nate: Season 1
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
River Wild
February 2
The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Price Ivandoe: Seasons 1-3
Kick-Ass
Kick-Ass 2
Parks and Recreation: Seasons 1-7
February 3
Kelly’s Heroes
The Lady from Shanghai
February 4
Devil’s Peak
Dynamic Planet: Season 1
My Happy Ending
February 5
30 Rock: Seasons 1-7
80 For Brady
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 12
Fury
Living Hell: Apartment Disasters: Season 2
February 6
The Aviator
February 7
The Hook
Katy Keene: Season 1
The Last of the Mohicans
February 8
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
February 9
Cold Pursuit
Hellboy (2019)
In The Long Run: Seasons 1-2
February 10
Body Double
Free Birds
Exchange Student Zero: Season 1
February 11
Passengers
February 12
Cahill, U.S. Marshal
Wifelike
February 13
The New Boy
Simulant
February 14
Key and Peele: Seasons 1-4
Sweet As
You Hurt My Feelings
February 15
FBI: Season 6
FBI Most Wanted: Season 5
The Lake House
Stylebender
February 16
Craig of the Creek: Seasons 2-4
The Machine
February 17
The Color Purple
February 18
The Victim: Season 1
A Star is Born
February 19
The Good Mother
February 20
Cats in the Museum
February 21
Catfish: Season 8F
The Spy Who Dumped Me
February 22
The Good Doctor: Season 7
Lone Star
Miles from Nowhere: Season 1
February 23
Homefront
Regular Show: The Movie
Regular Show: Season 8
Somewhere In Queens
February 25
The Blackening
Glory
February 26
The Crime of the Century: Season 1
Out for Justice
February 27
The Dirty Dozen
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
February 28
Starsky and Hutch
