8 Recommended Movies on Netflix
- The Movie Buff
- Dec 29, 2019
- 6 min read
Drive (2011)
Before Baby Driver, there was Drive.
The opening monologue that the driver, played by Ryan Gosling, gives to his employer before a job really sets the tone for the rest of the movie, "If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. Anything happens on either side of that, and you're on your own. Understand? Good. You won't be able to reach me on this phone again."
Ryan Gosling shines as the driver (the movie tries its hardest to not give you a name) who doubles as a car mechanic/stunt driver during the day, and LA's best damn getaway drive after dark. He's a man who believes he's a good person, even though he helps criminals. But his life gets turned upside down when he meets and falls for his neighbor, a mother named Irene (played by Carey Mulligan). The driver doesn't talk much, in fact you really don't hear much from Gosling through much of the movie, but don't worry he's got enough blabbermouths around him to fill the silence.
This movie is just straight cool. Good luck getting behind your 2013 Honda Civic and not pretending you're about to drag race that 2016 Chevy Malibu that just pulled up next to you. I highly recommend this movie if you want a good thriller.
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind (2019)
Chiwetel Ejiofor impressed me with his first directorial debut with this feel-good film. Based on the memoirs of William Kamkwamba, the story follows a young schoolboy in the village of Wimbe, Malawi. He's a brilliant child who dabbles in collecting tech parts from junkyards and fixing his friends' radios. When drought strikes his village, William devises a plan to build a windmill to power an electric water pump that he had scavenged earlier.
Is the plot predictable? Totally.
Do we care since it's a true story? Of course not.
This movie makes you wish you didn't have to ask your smarter STEM roommate for help every time your Microsoft Word document freezes in the middle of writing your essay the night before its due. A great feel-good family film.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Not "What's Gilbert Eating Grape".
This movie has always fallen under a lot of people's radar, but if you're old enough, you probably remember it as that movie when Leonardo DiCaprio stunned audiences with his very convincing portrayal of a young boy with a mental disability.
I mean, oh my god, Leo really commits himself to this role and even got his first ever oscar nomination for it.
The story follows a 24-year-old named Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) as he tries desperately to get out of his small town in Iowa. He cannot, however, because he is depended on by his morbidly obese mother who needs around-the-clock care, and his young, mentally-disabled brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio).
The story is a simple one, but one with great emotional significance and great execution. The performances really carry the movie too, I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants an emotional, but ultimately feel-good movie.
The Witch (2015)
Fun Fact: The reason it's spelled like two V's instead of a W is because back in the early 1630's (when this movie takes place), W's were not actual letters yet, but V's were. We see what you did there Robert Eggers, you twisted mind.
The Witch is a horror movie based on an old New-England folktale of the same name. I don't usually watch horror movies because they require a special type of movie-lover to truly appreciate. But this time, my roommates and I felt like giving it a shot. I was up all night being ever so thankful I was not born in the 1600's.
The movie follows a very devout Christian family in the middle of the New England wilderness. Suddenly, their newborn boy disappears and their crops begin to fail. Slowly, the family begins to turn on one another as they suspect multiple things could be the culprit. One thing is for sure, there is some evil force that is responsible, but nobody knows who or what it is, or where it hides.
This is a distributing, but bone-chilling movie so be aware you're not watching a charming Hallmark special.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Okay hear me out, but this is the best spider-man movie to date. Yes, the plot is a tad ridiculous: Teenager Miles Morales gets bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes the Spider-man of his reality, but when Kingpin tears a hole in space and time, the Spider-men from all different realities and dimensions get thrown into a mix. It's now up to Miles to step up to the mantle of being Spider-man and fix reality and help the different spider-men get back to their own realities.
First off, This movie is gorgeous looking, with a new animation style designed to mimic an actual comic book. Second, this movie is absolutely hilarious. Almost every joke lands and the other spider-men from other realities are goofy and unique. There's Peter Porker, a spider-pig voiced by the talented John Mulaney. There's Spider-Man Noir, a black-and-white hard-boiled detective version of spider-man voiced by Nicolas Cage. There's Spider-woman (aka Gwen Stacy) who is played by Hailee Steinfeld. And lastly, my favorite, Peter B. Parker, an older spider-man who is down on his luck in his universe who has to step up and teach Miles how to be Spider-man who is voiced perfectly by Jake Johnson.
All in all, this movie has something in it for all ages and has amazing rewatch value, so if you see it, you'll want to watch it again.
Hell or High Water (2016)
A great modern-western hit from writer Taylor Sheridan is Hell or High Water. This movie was brilliantly written to show the frontiers that are relatively disconnected from the rest of the country. In this case, it's the poverty-stricken areas of Texas.
The story follows Chris Pine and Ben Foster as two brothers develop a scheme to rob a string of banks to get the money they need to save their family ranch from being taken by the Texas Midlands Bank. Hot on their tail is Jeff Bridges at his very best, playing a veteran ranger trying to keep himself from retirement. The premise is simple, but has so many layers that you'll be hooked the whole time.
The performances in this are A+ and I thought Ben Foster should have gotten an award for it. Sheridan is very keen on showing the audience how desperate people get in the face of poverty. Ben Foster's character is a criminal deep down in his heart who commits crimes because he likes it, but Chris Pine just wants the money to save his family. Together, however, they share truly humane moments that pull at the heart strings.
The movie has a best picture Oscar nomination under its belt and is a modern-western done right.
Hostiles (2017)
Speaking of modern westerns, Hostiles is something special.
This movie is an unfiltered look at the life of the old west back in post-Civil War times. It stars Christian Bale, who plays a very respectable army captain who is tasked with delivering a Native American Chief to his home with his family. Rosamund Pike plays a settler who is picked up in the way and has a very violent and tragic past.
Come to think of it, every person in this movie has a tragic past. But that's the point of this slow, but very important movie. It is very careful not to demonize any one person. There were good Natives and there were bad Natives. There are good soldiers, and there are bad soldiers. One thing is certain, everyone is just trying to survive.
This movie is carried by some REMARKABLE performances by literally everyone. This is not a movie to watch while you're doing homework or cooking dinner. This is something to settle into and appreciate for what it is: a look into two opposing sides of a long-fought dispute and how they learn to come together to survive.
District 9 (2009)
Wow, did District 9 come out of nowhere when it first came out in US theaters. The breakout movie from South African director Neill Blomkamp, District 9 became one of the highest-nominated sci-fi movies ever. It even got an Oscar nomination for best motion picture.
And for good reason, it's highly entertaining and thought-provoking.
It starts when an alien ship suddenly descends to Earth in 1982 over the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. The story begins 28 years later when the initial welcome party we gave the aliens has faded and we now have realized they came as refugees. In response, the local government has quarantined these aliens in slums as they confined and exploited in squalor. A man named Wilkus is hired as an government official who is evicting the aliens for a new location. So, we follow Wilkus, a harmless good guy, who has to go to the alien slums and tell families that they are being relocated (again). He happens upon an alien father and his son who are hiding a plan to reactivate their mothership and escape back to their home planet. What follows is a race against time as the government is determined to keep the aliens on Earth for their own personal gain.
The movie is kind of a documentary-style for most of the run time and makes for a very entertaining watch.
The CGI is incredible and the attention to detail when making this alien race was remarkable. Highly recommend if you want a good sci-fi movie.
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