It's Friday, which for many exhausted people will mean an evening in front of the box watching Netflix.

It can be hard to keep up with the comings and goings on the world's favourite streaming service, so each week we're going to be highlighting the best of the latest film and TV releases.

This week we get off to a slightly serious start, with high-quality drama the name of the game. Don't worry, there's a little Kung Fu Panda to lighten things up.

Tallulah

Image: IMDb

Ellen Page and Allison Janney reunite nine years after starring together in everyone's favourite teen pregnancy comedy, Juno. This time, Page stars as a young woman who steals a baby and turns to her ex-boyfriend's mother (Janney) for help. It's written and directed by Sian Heder, who writes and produces for Orange is the New Black, which should give you a hint as to the tone and pedigree of this indie flick.

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll

At the opposite end of the spectrum to Tallulah we have Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll - an animated short film that spins off from the first two Kung Fu Panda films. It tells the story of the formation of the Furious Five, with most of the original cast (including Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, and Lucy Liu) reprising their roles. Perfect for little ones with short attention spans.

The Burning Plain

Image: IMDb

Netflix is great for highlighting those talent-packed films that have somehow slipped through the cracks. This week's case in point: The Burning Plain. Released back in 2008, it's the directorial debut of Guillermo Arriaga, and it has the kind of non-linear narrative (about the fallout from a cross US-Mexico border affair) you'd expect of the writer of 21 Grams and Babel. It also stars Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, and a young Jennifer Lawrence. Okay, so by all accounts the film is less than the sum of its parts. But what parts!

Hard Eight

Image: IMDb

The first full-length effort of one Paul Thomas Anderson, this classy 1996 crime drama stars Philip Baker Hall as an ageing gambler who takes down-on-his-luck John C. Reilly under his wing. If you're curious to see where the auteur behind Boogie Nights, Magnolia, The Master, and There Will Be Blood got his start - or even if you're not - Hard Eight is well worth a watch.

The Tenant

Written, directed by, and starring Roman Polanski, this 1976 psychological thriller isn't exactly the kind of thing you watch to cheer yourself up after a long week of work. Polanski plays the new tenant of a Paris apartment, which was vacated when the previous occupant committed suicide. Soon enough, our put-upon protagonist suspects that he's the victim of a sinister conspiracy of bullying from his fellow tenants and co-workers.