Netflix's 10 best original movies and 5 of the worst

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• Netflix's 10 best original movies and 5 of the worst

When Netflix first launched as a DVD-by-mail rental service, making movies wasn't part of the plan, and why should it be? At the turn of the 10st century, the switch to video was seen as a movie's kiss of death, and few self-respecting Hollywood stars willingly walked away from the big screen. However, times have changed, and these days, there's no shame in making movies for a streaming platform; in fact, it's something that Hollywood's biggest actors have adopted wholesale. Netflix regularly draws huge budgets on its movies, attracts some of the biggest names in cinema to work on its original movies, with lists like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver all making movies under the banner. From Netflix Now that movies like The Irishman, Roma, and Marriage Story have become top contenders in awards season talks, Netflix has taken its place at Hollywood's top table. Although it's quite successful, however, its movies don't always get it right... So, we've put together a list of 5 of the best Netflix original movies you can watch right now, and, for balance, we've also selected XNUMX of the worst that you can avoid, which you will find below. of this page

Irish

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) Yes, the CG technology used to turn Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci into younger men is a game changer, but if that's all that you take from the Irish, you are wrong. Martin Scorsese's return to the gangster genre that made his name certainly lacks the energy of Goodfellas and the Casino, and at half past three is dangerously close to excessive length for its reception. However, the carefree pacing seems appropriate in a film that is as much about aging as it is about competitors. Proof that some of the biggest Hollywood movies are now made by Netflix.

Marriage story

(Image Credit: Netflix) (Image Credit: Netflix) The wedding story was released with The Irishman on this year's awards circuit; in fact, with Laura Dern, who won an Oscar for best supporting actress, it is arguably more successful. Squid and the Whale / Frances Ha writer-director Noah Baumbach crafts the perfect story of a crush, an anti-romance that charts the painful divorce of a New York couple. It's excruciating to watch at times, but Baumbach clings to the humanity of his characters to find the tenderness of his story, stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver in riveting form.

Roma

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) With this decade, wins for Alejandro Iñárritu (Birdman, The Revenant), Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) and Alfonso Cuarón himself (Gravity), Mexican filmmakers had already left their mark on the Academy's best director. Prize when Cuarón took over the brilliant Roma. Despite this, this semi-autobiographical story of growing up in 1970s Mexico City still managed to break new ground as one of the first Netflix movies to be a smash hit at the Oscars. Shot in gorgeous black and white, it's a candid, understated masterpiece that would have received the award far more deserved than the Green Book winner.

Ballad of Buster Scruggs

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) Despite an eclectic career that saw them embark on film noir, opposite comedy and The Guy, the closest thing to the Coen brothers that had previously appeared on the small screen was the super spin-off Fargo TV (which they didn't make). Netflix persuaded them to break their television duck, however, tempting Joel and Ethan to return to the western genre that served them so well in True Grit and (something) No Country for Old Men. Featuring six typically idiosyncratic tales from the Old West, this anthology features an all-star cast including James Franco and Liam Neeson, while O Brother, Where Art Though? veteran Tim Blake Nelson returns to Coen as the eponymous cowboy.

Okja

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) Before making a searing satire on wealth, class and modern society with the superlative parasite, director Bong Joon-Ho took aim at animal rights. and industrial agriculture. Co-written with Jon Ronson, author of The Men Who Stare at Goats, Bong's story begins as a surprisingly moving tale of a girl and her genetically modified "superpig" BFF: the eponymous Okpon, an adorable triumph of GC. However, things take a darker turn in the final act, as villains led by a wonderful OTT, Tilda Swinton, attempt to return the pig to its corporate roots. A unique collaboration between storytellers from East and West, and all the better.

The two potatoes

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) As soon as Pope Francis was elected head of the Catholic Church in 2013, people began to wonder when Jonathan Pryce, who shares a striking resemblance to the Pontiff, I could interpret it on the screen. Netflix finally managed to do it, Fernando Meirelles, director of City of God / The Constant Gardener, took a look at the holes in the Vatican. How accurate the portrayal of François's meetings with Benedict XVI, his more conservative predecessor (played by Anthony Hopkins), is, we'll never know, but it's an odd drama as a couple, especially when the duo get carried away. watching his team face to face in the 2014 World Cup final.

High flying bird

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) Netflix has a habit of goading top Hollywood directors to make movies for the platform, but few have gone through anything quite like Steven Soderbergh. In fact, while Netflix is ​​generally synonymous with massive budgets, the Out of Sight and Erin Brockovich director has chosen a slightly more frugal path, converting his latest movies to smartphones. This sports drama is much more than your average home video, however, as André Holland (star of Netflix's new series The Eddy) stars as an agent running the basketball establishment. It's a captivating story with a lot to say about racing issues in sports, and with the extremely talented Soderbergh behind the camera - or should it be a phone? - It is said as impeccably as one would expect.

Dolemite is my name

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) Every once in a while, a new Eddie Murphy movie is hailed as a return to form. Dolemite Is My Name is the latest to follow in the potentially resurrecting footsteps of Shrek and Dreamgirls, and there's no doubt that the star's performance justifies the hype. Murphy returned in the 1970s to play actor-comedian-singer Rudy Ray Moore, most famous for the blaxploitation movies he made about his Dolemite character. While Moore's rise from the clubs to the big screen is straight out of the biopic manual, it's a wonderfully atmospheric recreation of the era, with an intriguing character at the heart of it.

I lost my body

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) You didn't think Netflix was going to let Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks do everything their own way, did you? A few weeks after the release of Christmassy Klaus, the streaming service's first local feature, he was back in animation action with this weirder and more grown-up. For all of Pixar's spirit of creative adventure, they never dared to present a film with a disembodied member, but here a severed hand, making its way across France to find its owner, is the star of the series. . . Part horror, part love story, I Lost my Body is a beautifully animated story and a refreshing antidote to a CG-dominated medium.

Atlantic

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) Just to prove that Netflix isn't just about the great Hollywood directors, they also debuted French actor-turned-director Mati Diop: with Atlantics, he became the first woman of color to make a film competing for the Palma d'Or at Cannes. Set in the Senegalese city of Dakar, Atlantics centers on a group of construction workers who get lost at sea as they search for a better life elsewhere, and most importantly, the people they leave behind. It's a surprising and offbeat mix of romance, hard-hitting drama (the problems migrants face are inevitably real), and the supernatural, all tied to Diop's remarkable skill.

And here are five of the worst

As with its television productions, not everything Netflix does is slam dunk.

IO

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) For all the success Netflix has had with genre series (from Altered Carbon to The Umbrella Academy via The Witcher), its science movies fiction continue to catch up. Despite the talents of Anthony Mackie (Marvel's Falcon) and Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers), this doomsday drama is as lifeless as the futuristic Earth it depicts.

Death threat

(Image Credit: Netflix) (Image Credit: Netflix) Sometimes Hollywood takes classic Japanese manga and creates something as brilliant as Edge of Tomorrow. Other times, they make Death Note... It's the story of a teenager who discovers a notebook whose pages have the ability to kill: there are supernatural powers at work, but paper cuts would be scarier. A huge waste of You're Next director Adam Wingard's talents.

The open day

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) We're pretty sure it wasn't Netflix's plan when this haunted house story went green, but it has become a useful resource for students. who want to learn how not to make a horror movie. . Genuine fears are dangerously rare when a teenager and his mother enter a beautiful mountain retreat; in fact, the biggest surprise about the movie is that they thought they could get away with one of the worst wingers in recent years. .

Sandy Wexler

(Image credit: Netflix) (Image credit: Netflix) UK-based Netflix subscribers can take advantage of Adam Sandler's uncut gems vehicle (and US subscribers can watch it from the May 25, 2020). Unfortunately, Sandy Wexler reminds us that the Happy Gilmore star's entire output is not gold. Going back in time has served Sandler well on The Wedding Singer, but sadly, this '90s story about an over-the-top Hollywood talent manager is mired in too many missing jokes.

How it ends

(Image Credit: Netflix) (Image Credit: Netflix) From Mad Max to Dawn of the Dead to A Quiet Place, there have been many classic movies depicting the fall of civilization. Despite its title about what is said on paper, however, How it Ends will not join this list. A blanket shutdown is the catalyst for an apocalypse fueled by a questionable course and away from List A effects. You're supposed to worry about the family feuds of Theo James, Kat Graham, and Forest Whitaker; unfortunately, no. I will not do anything.