There's always something to watch on Netflix, but finding something that's both new and good can be a chore. The selections below are my top "what to watch" picks of new and new-to-Netflix movies. There's high quality animated film Orion and the Dark, way-above-average rom-com Plus One, and a ton more.
Orion and the Dark (2024)
This animated Netflix original was written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) so don’t expect a cookie cutter kid flick. Based on a children’s book by Emma Yarlett, the title character of Orion and the Dark is a shy elementary school kid who is filled with fears. His biggest is a fear of the dark, and when the embodiment of darkness shows up, he’s about to be taken deep into the darkness to face his worst phobia.
Plus One (2019)
This genial romantic comedy stars Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine as Ben and Alice, usually-single best friends. To deal with an onslaught of upcoming wedding invitations, they decide to be each other’s “plus ones” for wedding season. Anyone with a pair of brain cells to rub together knows how this story ends, but the way it gets there is charming and honest with just enough meta-commentary on the rom-com genre to spice things up. Plus, playing out the story against a backdrop of various weddings inspires some hilarious comedy.
Ready Player One (2018)
Steven Spielberg's bigger-than-big science fiction epic takes place in both the future and the past. Hero Wade Watts may live in dystopian 2045, but The Oasis, the virtual world everyone lives in, is heavily informed by nostalgia for the “good old days” of 2024’s recent past. It seems far-fetched that pop culture junk from the 1980s will be remembered so fondly in 20 years, but it still makes a great backdrop for a ripping adventure as Watts and his pals join everyone else in the world in a race to find an easter egg hidden by Oasis’s enigmatic creator.
Fury (2014)
War, as they say, is hell, but it's also a never-ending source of inspiration for great movies. World War II, as depicted in 2014's Fury, is an ugly nightmare. There's no sugar-coating the violence, cruelty, and psychological horror combat visits upon the soldiers in Fury, but their intense trauma-bonding is beautiful in its way. Brad Pitt plays Don “Wardaddy” Collier, a tank commander in the final days of the war, when the Nazis, bastards to the end, exhorted German civilians to rise up against the heavily armed Allied forces invading their country.
Last week's picks
Dumb Money (2023)
A likable cast including Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, and America Ferrera hold together this (kind of) true David and Goliath tale of Reddit cretins vs. Wall Street ghouls. While the real story is more complicated than the movie, the basic beats are the same: in 2021, a bunch of very-online people boosted GameStop’s stock to heights it should not have achieved, to the irritation of financial types.
Open Wide (2024)
This Netflix documentary profiles controversial creators of “orthotropics,” John and Mike Mew, the father/son duo behind the “mewing” craze that taken over the incel-y corners of TikTok. Mewing, if you’re not familiar, is a combination of tongue exercises and gum-chewing designed to give you straight teeth and a more defined jaw. It’s pure crackpottery, but the rabbit hole around how an orthodontics heretic became an internet messiah is fascinating.
Train to Busan (2016)
Train to Busan sets itself apart from the horde of zombie movies through its breakneck-pace, interesting setting—it takes place almost entirely on a train—and its surprisingly heartfelt emotional core. Busan uses the dead rising to explore capitalism, class, and the price of modernity, but you can ignore that if you want to simply enjoy a rip-roaring undead explosion instead.
The Hill (2023)
If you want an inspirational sports movie, jump on The Hill. It details the true story of Rickey Hill, who overcame degenerative spinal disease to play professional baseball. It features all the faith-and-hard-work-moves-mountains stuff that cynics like me sneer at, but we’re wrong, because Hill actually made it—not to the Bigs, but close, closer than he would have if he hadn’t tried so hard anyway.
Apollo 13 (1995)
Apollo 13 tells the true story of the famous near-disaster of the Apollo 13 moonshot, in which courageous astronauts played by Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon learn they’re going to die if they don’t figure out how to fix their malfunctioning spaceship. Apollo 13 takes a just-the-facts approach because the actual story is so gripping it plays like a thriller. Just an amazing movie that will keep you on the edge of your couch.
King Kong (2005)
Peter Jackson’s remake of 1933’s King Kong is as huge as its main character, but its amazing special effects and over-the-top set pieces never overshadow the small, human moments that connect us to the story. Kong is such a noble and admirable character that his eventual fate will make anyone with a heart shed a tear.
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