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As box-office records are broken by The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Netflix counterprogrammed in the first few days of the month with one of its biggest updates of the year. The slow trickle of catalogue titles became an unexpected deluge in early August, leading to an edition of our monthly highlights column that’s bursting with variety: a horror classic, a kids’ movie for MLB fans, a Best Picture winner, an underrated indie comedy, and, oh, some needed background in the battle of the best webslinger movies. Pick your faves.
Year: 2008Runtime: 1h 35mDirector: Joel Coen
Joel and Ethan Coen followed their Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men with one of their most cynical and hysterical movies, a comedy of errors about some incredibly stupid people. Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Richard Jenkins, John Malkovich, and J.K. Simmons star in a movie that’s basically about, well, a bunch of total idiots. No one drops an F-bomb like John Malkovich. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 1995Runtime: 1h 37mDirector: Amy Heckerling
You can keep all those stuffy Jane Austen adaptations — one of the best remains Amy Heckerling’s updating of the 1815 classic Emma to mid-’90s L.A. Is this the most ’90s movie ever? From its fashion to its references to its beloved characters, it’s certainly one of the most iconic, a movie that made a small impact when it was released but feels like it grows even more popular with each generation that discovers it. (And that fan base will only continue to grow with the just-announced legacy sequel featuring Alicia Silverstone.) ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2018Runtime: 1h 33mDirector: Bo Burnham
Bo Burnham’s feature directorial debut is old enough now that we can start wondering what’s taking him so long to deliver a follow-up. Until he does, check out one of the best A24 movies of its era in this nuanced coming-of-age tale. Elsie Fisher gives a breakthrough performance as a young lady who makes YouTube videos that pretty much only she sees and struggles her way through the most socially awkward years of existence. Smart, moving, and incredibly clever, this is a great comedy that rings of so much truth that it hurts. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2020Runtime: 1h 37mDirector: Evan Morgan
This low-budget dramedy always had a bit of a low ceiling in terms of national attention, but a 2020 Toronto International Film Festival debut didn’t help given a little thing called COVID. It’s exactly the kind of movie that should gain cult-classic status on a service like Netflix. The title is misleading. This is not a kids’ movie. It’s the story of Abe Applebaum (Adam Brody, never better), a guy who once was a local celeb as the “kid detective” but now has to face a very adult case. Smart, funny, and twisting, it also packs an unexpected emotional wallop. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2015Runtime: 1h 30mDirector: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
It’s a bit depressing that the best Minions movie yet, the truly funny Minions & Monsters, was kind of a box-office disappointment, but it’s still a good time to go back to the beginning of this franchise and see why people can’t get enough of these little yellow idiots. Put on your best suit and sit down for an origin story about the little dudes who stole so many scenes in the Despicable Me movies that they got their own unstoppable franchise. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2014Runtime: 1h 57mDirector: Dan Gilroy
Jake Gyllenhaal does what is arguably still the best work of his career as Lou Bloom, a Los Angeles stringer who discovers that the violent events he records late at night in the City of Angels can make him a TV-news star. Propulsive and kind of terrifying, this is a brilliant examination of the underbelly of journalism and the people on the fringe of society who are willing to cross any moral boundary to find their brief time in the light. It now looks ahead of its time. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 1993Runtime: 1h 45mDirector: Daniel Stern
