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The biggest original title coming to Paramount+ in October may be the revival of Frasier, with Kelsey Grammer reprising his role in the new series set in Boston. There are 10 episodes expected to be released this fall—the first two are dropping on the streaming service on October 12.
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Inbox management, like so much else, is a necessary evil in our day-to-day lives. As such, it’s best handled with the use of a strict system. Also like so much else, finding the right system is time-intensive and adds a new layer of stress onto an already annoying task. Here’s a system that’s simple, doesn’t take a…
Introduced in 2022, the 5th generation iPad Air is a well-reviewed tablet for a reasonable price (at least when compared to the Pros). If you’ve been eyeing one of these iPads to add to your Apple ecosystem, you might be tempted by this Amazon deal, which—at the time of this writing—sees the latest iPad Air on sale…
Do you constantly worry about not having enough money? Are you afraid to spend on things you want or need? This feeling of lack or limitation is known as a scarcity mindset, and it can seriously sabotage your finances. The good news is you can cultivate an abundance mindset instead: This involves focusing on all that…
Even when the market isn’t hurting prospective buyers, closing on a home is always tricky. When you’re securing a home loan, there are a lot of decisions to make—and for a first-time homebuyer, paying points on a mortgage can be particularly confusing.
While you might know that your emails are all worthy of a thorough read and should never be relegated to your recipient’s spam folder, there’s a good chance that some of them are ending up there anyway. And there are things you’re doing without realizing it that increase the chances your message never reaches its…
The next time you’re DJing a party, don’t hand your phone to someone to let them add a song to the playlist. Spotify’s new Jam feature allows you to add an entire group of people to a playlist so they can all add songs themselves, which could lead to spectacular or disastrous results.
Romantic comedy is one of cinema’s oldest and most reliable genres for good reason: Real-life romance is complicated and sometimes exhausting. That can be true for characters in movies, too, but their problems are generally funnier than our own and, anyway, they’re not our problems. We’re comforted either because we know everything will work out fine for our cinematic counterparts—or because we know we won’t have to deal with the hilarious and/or poignant consequences of interacting with other humans.
In that spirit, these are some of the best romantic comedies currently streaming on Netflix—everything from '90s favorites to non-English language imports to older classics.
Not all rom-coms need a high-concept, but some of the best rom-coms have them. And next to Groundhog Day we can slot 13 Going on 30, a time-hopping love story about a frustrated teen girl who can't grow up fast enough—until the day she wakes up to discover she's magically 30, and in way over her head when it comes to love. On the plus side, she looks like Jennifer Garner, and her childhood best friend has grown up into foxy Mark Ruffalo, so things could be worse. It's a delight merely for the mid-aughts setting, particularly for that fantastical time when working for a magazine was actually a cool and lucrative career path people could aspire to. Sigh.
Nancy Meyers is the queen of the glossy, escapist rom-com, and Something's Gotta Give is one of her best. Where many films in the genre focus on hapless twentysomethings, this one turns the clock forward a few decades to focus on fiftysomething Erica (Diane Keaton) looking for a new spark in her life, post-divorce and children. A trip to her (ridiculously gorgeous) home in the Hamptons gets awkward when her daughter (Amanda Peet) shows up with her much older boyfriend Harry (Jack Nicholson), who has sworn he will never date a woman over 30. Despite her infatuation with Harry's doctor (a particularly fetching Keanu Reeves), who has no qualms about dating above his age bracket, Erica feels drawn to Harry, but maybe only because they make such good sparring partners.
Want more Meyers? Netflix has you covered. In The Holiday, Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz play trans-Atlantic friends who swap homes for the Christmas season hoping to get themselves out of their respective romantic ruts—and Jude Law and Jack Black plays the two guys who might make it happen. Yes, all these people live in way nicer houses and have way more interesting jobs (and way more money) than you, and yes, the story is predictable, but who needs realism or surprises in their escapist romantic fare when you've got a cast as endearing as this one?
Martin Scorsese's name isn't exactly synonymous with movies starring women, let alone heartfelt romantic comedies, but one of his earliest films is a stellar example of both. Ellen Burstyn plays a small town widow who hits the road with her preteen son hoping to live out her dream of making a career out of singing, and along the way she gets waylaid working as a diner waitress in Arizona, where she meets a local rancher (Kris Kristofferson). Surprisingly funny despite some dark subject matter (including domestic abuse), it's a far richer film that its eventual sitcom offshoot Alice would have you believe.
Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney play Jules and Michael, college friends who, years earlier, promised to be one another's fallback if neither had married by 28. Now, though, Michael's getting married, and Jules—still single and frustrated by men in general—is none to happy about seeing him get hitched to Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), never mind that Michael asked to be his best man. Roberts' return to the genre after a few years of dramatic flops, it's also one of the best rom-coms of the '90s—if only for kinda working even though you know it would be best if they two of them don't get together in the end. (Also, Rupert Everett steals every scene his in as Jules gay bestie, even if the character is a total cliché.)
In the pantheon of rom-coms that loosely reinterpret higher-minded plays, She's All That's version of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion stands tall. Freddie Prinze Jr. plays the football jock who begins dating shy, artsy Rebecca Leigh Cook on a dare and soon finds himself falling for her for real. (Obviously.) It's all entirely predictable, but the '90s vibes are delightful, and I'm always a sucker for a movie starring a beautiful actress who now one can tell is beautiful because she (dun dun DUN) wears glasses.
Bradley Cooper and an Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence meet cute over their shared struggles with mental illness in this critically lauded rom-com from director David O. Russell, and base don the novel by Matthew Quick. The characters here are far more messed up (or at least, far more upfront about being messed up) than many a film romance protagonist, and you'll root for them to get together, even though it might be a disaster if they do.
Violet Jones (Sanaa Lathan) spends her life in near-terror of rain, for fear that her rigorously straightened hair will be ruined. That hair is a signifier in every aspect of her life, straightening sessions even having been a way to bond with her demanding mother (Lynn Whitfield). Following a breakup with her boyfriend because of her exacting nature (particularly regarding her hair), she experiments: different colors that her friends object to; a natural style that renders her either invisible or the subject of derision; she even shaves her head at one point, which only gets her invited to a cancer support group. Director Haifaa al-Mansour’s movie makes a great point about the fraught nature of Black hair, particularly when that hair belongs to a woman. Meeting a salon owner in the middle of a freak out, Violet begins a slow journey to learning to love herself, her hair, and maybe the hot salon owner (Lyriq Bent).
Romantic comedies are often (not always) comfort food, and so we often find familiar plots: Here, longtime friends who’d lost touch (Ali Wong and Randall Park) reconnect after a falling out years before. She’s a successful celebrity chef and engaged; he’s fixing air conditioners with his dad, which is how the two meet up. Nahnatchka Khan (creator of Fresh Off the Boat) brings a light touch here, and Wong and Park have great chemistry; they’re joined by a fun supporting cast that includes a really funny turn from Keanu Reeves playing himself.
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Some of the best romantic comedies involve a slightly outlandish scheme, and this reliably charming Netflix original has one of those great setups: Two overworked assistants (Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell) come up with the idea that, if they can get their bosses (Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs) laid, they’ll be less interested in stressing out their employees. So the two harried assistants plan to set their bosses up, which, not unexpectedly, goes very comedically awry in pretty much every way. Naturally these things never work out as planned, and the romance in the offing is not the one that anyone had expected.
Though Numa Perrier’s film hits plenty of the traditional rom-com beats, lead Gabrielle Union provides the spark that ignites the whole film (based on the Tia Williams novel). She’s never been better than she is here, playing Jenna, a woman in her 40s making a clean break of a long-term relationship and taking on a high-profile, high-stakes career in beauty journalism—only to wind up in a one-night stand with Eric (Keith Powers), 15 years younger and the son of her boss.
Writer/director Alice Wu made a splash with her queer classic Saving Face way back in 2004. Her long-awaited follow-up, a comedy-drama inspired by Cyrano de Bergerac, is better. Here, friendless high schooler Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis, from “Nancy Drew”) is tasked with writing love letters to her crush, Aster (Alexxis Lemire), on behalf of a football player named Paul. There’s plenty that’s familiar here, but Wu makes everything feel fresh and fun.
One of the most iconic and memorable rom-coms of the 1990s might be new to many American viewers, who are missing out on a movie that’s both wonderfully goofy and deeply poignant in the best tradition of the genre. Shah Rukh Khan plays Rahul Khanna, best friends in college with Anjali (Kajol), but smitten with Tina (Rani Mukerji). Rahul and Tina get married and time goes by, but Tina always feels a little bit guilty, like maybe she got in the way of something. With little time left to live following complications in childbirth (did I mention there’s also drama here?), Tina writes her daughter a series of letters—the last one asking that she make sure that dad and Anjali reconnect.
Indian director Ritesh Batra (The Sense of an Ending and The Lunchbox) brought together screen legends Robert Redford and Jane Fonda for this well-received romantic drama from a top-rate director. Despite the ominous title, it’s a quiet and sweet film that’s worthy of its stars. It’s not really a comedy, so I’m cheating a bit by putting it here, but it’s got such a satisfyingly light touch that it hits most of the same buttons as more straightforward rom-coms.
A high-end Hallmark movie in tone (nothing wrong with that!), A Perfect Pairing has a flawless setup: Harried Los Angeles wine exec Lola (Victoria Justice) comes across a little-known family-made wine from Australia, but a co-worker steals her idea and pitches it to the boss before she can. So fed-up Lola heads Down Under to secure the client for what she hopes will be her new company. Trying to work her way in, she volunteers to cover for a missing hand at the sheep farm owned by the family. The big-city girl down-on-the-farm premise comes, of course, with the slightly cocky but increasingly charming (and often shirtless) station boss (Adam Demos) with whom she works.
High schooler Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny) is psyching himself up to have sex with his girlfriend, Claire, for the first time—but something’s holding him back. Openly gay Elliott (Antonio Marziale) has an idea why Alex is so reluctant and, frankly, the audience ought to have a clue by that point, as well. It’s a perfectly sweet, good-natured coming-of-age story that has some fun with Alex’s awkward efforts to set expectations aside and just kinda be himself.
Asha (Pallavi Sharda) just broke off her engagement and left her Wall Street investment firm in favor of a Jersey City startup. Her concerned mother sets her daughter up on a dating app, and Asha acquiesces to a single date with the first match: Ravi (Suraj Sharma). It doesn’t go particularly well, but they’re both under a lot of parental pressure to get married, and Asha has about a dozen weddings to go to over the course of the summer, most of them filled with busybodies who want to see her in a relationship. So, naturally (for a movie), Ahsa and Ravi decide to play at being a couple to get people off their backs—which works out fine, until it doesn’t.
Class-busting romance is nothing particularly new, but this candid Saudi Arabian comedy-drama sees middle-class civil servant Barakah (Hisham Fageeh) strike up a relationship with Bibi, a boundary-pushing Insta celebrity. Just finding time and space to pursue a frowned-upon relationship in modern Saudi is challenging, but the movie explores the social and political obstacles with a light touch.
Imagine that everyone you’d ever had a crush on received a letter expressing your exact feelings. It’s a nightmare scenario, but a reality for shy high school junior Lara Jean (Lana Condor), who’d written the letters as a form of secret diary, only to show up at school one day to find that her little sister had mailed them all. Can you imagine? Condor is fantastic here, and the whole thing is delightful. It’s been followed by two also-very-good sequels, as well as an ongoing spin-off series (XO, Kitty).
We start out in familiar territory here: Dineo and Noni (Fulu Mugovhani and Tumi Morake, both very funny) are a couple of successful big-city women—this time in Johannesburg. Dineo is on the hunt for a long-term relationship, even after getting dumped via livestream at work, while Noni is perfectly content with one-night stands. Their romantic (and un-romantic) trials are alternately charming, horrifying, and hilarious. The heart of the movie is its two leads, and the friendship that sustains them.
Part of being an adult is feeling the constant need to replenish basic household supplies. One way to combat this loop is to be more mindful about recycling and re-purposing your stuff. But you can go one step further—there are many things we tend to treat as “single-use” that can, in fact, be used more than once.…
It’s the end of the season, and we’re all starting to tuck in our garden beds for winter. The soil in your raised garden bed has worked hard all season to impart nutrients to your vegetables and flowers, which leaves the soil depleted. The long winter sleep is a great time to let your soil build back up the supply of…
If you’re considering a kitchen remodel, or you just need to replace your worn-out countertops, finding the right type of countertop might seem daunting. With costs for materials seemingly ever-increasing, staying on budget is a challenge. Finding a DIY solution can be a great way to save money on your countertop…
Student loan bills are due once again after a pandemic hiatus (yes, even if the government shuts down). The Biden administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan allows many borrowers to lower their monthly payments—some all the way to $0—but some people may also qualify for grants or loan forgiveness…
Interoception is the ability to recognize internal bodily signals, such as feeling hot or cold, hungry or thirsty. In the same way that the nerves in our muscles and joints will send signals to our brain, letting it know where we are in physical space, the nerves in our organs will also send signals about how full our…
Summer ended abruptly this year. One minute, I was sweating profusely, hiding from the sun indoors, and the next thing I knew, I was bundling myself in blankets, hiding from the rain indoors. I wasn’t done with summer, but summer was done with me. As a result, I’ve found myself clinging to sunny-weather things, like…
All the different parenting schools of thought (gentle parenting, attachment, etc.) tackle the age-old dilemma of how to get your kids to listen and follow your directions. Turns out, a simple language adjustment might be the key you need to turn a kid who defies into a kid who complies. Declarative language—using…
This refurbished 7th generation iPad is on sale for $237.99 right now (reg. $499). It’s from 2019 and can update to iPadOS 17, and it’s compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil and smart keyboards (though they’re not included), and it features a 10.2-inch Retina display, 32GB of storage, Apple A10 chip with…
Amazon has announced that “Prime Big Deal Days,” a Prime-member-exclusive savings event, will run from Oct. 10 at 3 a.m. ET through Oct 11. “Member-exclusive” includes the millions of Amazon Prime users currently paying $14.99 per month or $139 per year for their membership.
No matter how dedicated you are to responding to and archiving all your emails, there will always be one villainous monster preventing you from hitting true inbox zero: mailing lists. These horrors come in at all hours of the day, clogging things up and making it harder to spot the truly important messages—and it’s…
Not to sound bossy, but if you’re planning to do anything but watch the Virginia Tech vs. Florida State game on Saturday afternoon, change your plans.
Just a few short years ago, the pickings were extremely slim for horror movies with explicitly queer characters and themes—plenty of great movies with subtext (some of which we’ll get to), but very few that made that subtext into text. That, despite horror movies having legions of queer fans (seriously, the biggest…
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Have you ever wanted to share a song or a playlist with a friend or a group online, only to find that they subscribe to Apple Music and you subscribe to Spotify? Earbuds, an iPhone and Android app, breaks down those walls so music nerds can share whatever they’d like.
Imagine, if you will, a time of wild economic inequality, global conflict, and Donald Trump every time you turn on your TV. But all of that in neon, and with a way cooler soundtrack. I’m talking, of course, about the ‘80s: the decade that gave us Spike Lee, Hayao Miyazaki, Tim Burton, John Hughes, and serious-actress Cher. Arnold blew up a whole bunch of stuff; Michael J. Fox went back in time to avoid sleeping with his mom; Eddie Murphy made cops seem fun and approachable; and people went around asking “Where’s the beef?” for reasons that remain unclear. It was quite a time.
It was also an era when beloved blockbusters could come in all shapes and sizes, and there were nearly 100% fewer Marvel movies. The massive hits of the decade include action movies, but also romantic comedies, horror movies, and family dramas. It doesn’t have the reputation of the 1970s as a cinematic golden age, but there’s something to be said for the sheer volume of enduring classics that the decade’s filmmakers produced. Here are some of the very best, and where to find them.
Cher won an Academy Award for her performance as an Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini, deciding whether to settle into comfortable middle age with the man her parents want for her—or` go wild with his brother, played by Nicolas Cage.
Where to stream: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Hoopla
Director Spike Lee had his greatest triumph with this funny, quotable, and ultimately explosive film about the racial tensions percolating in a Brooklyn neighborhood on a hot summer day.
Where to stream: MGM+, Fubo
Eddie Murphy was never hotter than in the first film of this action comedy that rocketed him from comic genius to international superstar. If you grew up in the 1980s, try listening to anything on the soundtrack without being transported.
Where to stream: Netflix, Paramount+
Joe Dante's supremely weird dark comedy didn't find much of an audience when it was first released, nor did the critics love it, but this epic of middle-class suburban chaos, about a regular family that grows convinced they are living among Satanic cultists, has a well-deserved cult following. It's also got a great cast: Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, Henry Gibson, and Tom Hanks nearing the end of the all-goofy, all-the-time phase of his career. Within a few years, he'd become a national treasure and we'd have lost something majestic.
Where to stream: Netflix
Tim Burton was at his weirdest and wildest in this tribute to the afterlife, in which the ghosts Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin team up with Michael Keaton’s raunchy poltergeist to scare a living family out of their home.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Tom Cruise feels the need for speed in this fast-paced movie about sweaty jock pilots who are definitely into girls. Definitely.
Where to stream: Paramount+
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This gorgeously animated Hayao Miyazaki favorite follows sisters Satsuke and Mei as they move to an old country house with their father to await their mother’s hoped-for recovery from an illness. What they find in the house are playful spirits who lead them on an adventure.
Where to stream: Max
David Cronenberg’s gooey body-horror classic stars Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis as a scientist and journalist at the center of a teleportation project that goes very wrong. The film cannily blends gory thrills with themes that were particularly relatable at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Where to stream: Digital rental
An about-to-be-divorced professor, Vivian (Helen Shaver) goes to stay on a cattle ranch where she meets Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), the ranch owner’s daughter who helps to bring Vivian out of her shell. A charming romance, it’s also, refreshingly, one of the few LGBTQ+ movies from the era that doesn’t lean to tragedy.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
Great Scott! Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd are brilliantly paired in this time-travel comedy that sees Marty McFly visiting the ‘50s and exploring the lives of his parents when they were in high school. And finding that his mom has a crush on him. Heavy.
Where to stream: Peacock
In a sea of teen slacker comedies that were popular in the early 1980s, Fast Times is something different: Director Amy Heckerling and writer Cameron Crowe’s capture the dumb minutiae of high-school life. There’s plenty of raunchy humor, but, at its heart, it’s a coming-of-age movie about the awkwardness of budding sexuality.
Where to stream: Peacock
Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze are on fire here in what is, without a doubt, the sexiest movie ever to be set at a family vacation resort in the Catskills. But also still heartwarming, somehow?
Where to stream: Hulu
Probably the purest example of the lamentably lost genre of ‘80s fantasy films, most of which involve glistening, muscular bodybuilders battling magical villains using only fists and swords. This one made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star, and James Earl Jones is a lot of fun as nemesis Thulsa Doom.
Where to stream: Prime Video
I’m sure nobody way back at the beginning of the 1980s thought that we’d still be going to Indiana Jones movies—but Raiders of the Lost Ark is just that good. Sequels might have diluted its power a bit, but this one is pure adventure.
Where to stream: Disney+, Paramount+, Pluto
Morgan Freeman plays the real-life Joe Louis Clark, principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey. The true story might have been a bit more complicated, but Freeman’s Clark is electric: a tough, no-nonsense educator willing to do whatever it takes to bring his students to the movie’s rousing finale.
Where to stream: Max
The 1980s offered up three different Bonds, to suit a variety of tastes. You could watch the (charmingly) goofy end of Roger Moore's run in A View to a Kill, or catch Sean Connery's return in Never Say Never Again. Timothy Dalton's second outing, though, feels like something new: as lean and mean as Bond films come, with a near-deadly maiming and a vendetta against vicious drug lords. The movie points toward the Daniel Craig era, while standing alone as the roughest and toughest Bond of all.
Where to stream: Max
Star Trek had a broader pop culture moment in the 1980s, capped by this heartfelt and genuinely funny time-travel adventure in which the crew has to travel back in time to save the whales. The result feels both like a time capsule of the era and a timelessly charming fishes-out-of-water story, filled with colorful metaphors and nuclear wessels.
Where to stream: Max
OK, it's not Shakespeare, but this Ivan Reitman buddy comedy gets a lot of mileage out of what sounds like a desperately one-note premise: thanks to some genetic tampering, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito are, yes, twins. DeVito's Vincent is a hustler, while Schwarzenegger's Julius is book smart but naive. The two wind up on a collision course when they seek out their biological mother. It's goofy, endearing, and memorable enough that it became a punchline at the 2024 Oscars ceremony, more than three decades later.
Where to stream: Netflix
This horror comedy with punk style is both a knowing parody of zombie movies while also managing to be an impressively gory thriller in its own right that moves the whole genre forward. Plus, it’s got a great death-rock soundtrack.
Where to stream: Tubi, The Roku Channel
Prior to creating the iconic In Living Color in the 1990s, Keenan Ivory Wayans directed this deeply goofy, but frequently hilarious, spoof of blaxploitation films of the previous generation. The cast includes not only up-and-coming (at the time) actors like Chris Rock and Dawn Lewis, but many of the stars of the movies that it parodies (Bernie Casey, Isaac Hayes, etc.)
Where to stream: Tubi, Pluto
Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda are one of the screen’s all-time power trios in this fast-moving comedy about women working for a sexist, egotistical, lying hypocritical bigot (the always-great Dabney Coleman), and who manage to take their revenge after accidentally almost killing him.
Where to stream: Peacock
Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the Alice Walker novel is both a deeply intimate story and an epic. The life of the poor, abused, abandoned Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) plays out like a hero's journey, as compelling as any in cinematic mythology, set agains the backdrop of the larger crisis of slavery and prejudice in the young United States. The recent musical adaptation is great, but there's still plenty of room for this quieter adaptation.
Where to stream: Max
Robert Townsend directs himself as Bobby Taylor, a satire about the perils of navigating the Hollywood system for an actor simultaneously too black and not black enough for the tastes of studio bosses. Through elaborate fantasy sequences and parodies of popular movies, Townsend creates a sharp and often extremely funny sendup that’s sadly still relevant.
Where to stream: The Roku Channel
One of the best Stephen King adaptations doesn’t qualify as horror at all, instead being a coming-of-age drama set in the 1950s about four best friends setting out on a quest to see a dead body. The movie captures both the real and imagined trials of growing up.
Where to stream: Hulu
The plot is thin, sure...but not really the point. Prince plays The Kid, who fled an abusive home to make his mark in the music world, and faces off against a rival trying to steal the spotlight and his girl. Part narrative, part concert film, and part music video, Purple Rain was conceived as a showcase for Prince's talents, and it absolutely captures him at the height of his purple powesz.
Where to stream: Digital rental
One of the most beloved sports films ever is also a dreamy fantasy about a farmer (Kevin Costner) building a baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield in order to attract a bunch of ghosts who might want to play a few games there—but who really just wants to play catch with his dad one last time. A silly premise? Maybe, but it plays out like a fairy tale, and generates real emotion.
Where to stream: Prime Video
The movie that kicked off not only a mania for karate in the 1980s, but also a franchise that’s had a surprisingly long life, this one has everything you need in a rousing underdog sports movie: Nerdy loser Daniel (Ralph Macchio) comes to a new town where he’s the immediate target of bullies (including William Zabka’s Johnny)—until he meets up with mentor Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). It all builds to a cheer-worthy finale with some rousing ‘80s tunes.
Where to stream: Starz
The second Star Wars movie remains the best of the entire series. Building on the Flash Gordon-inspired original, Empire goes deeper and darker, finding real emotional resonance among its core characters while also putting truly kick-ass space action front and center. This is a high the franchise (and perhaps all of blockbuster filmmaking) has been chasing for decades.
Where to stream: Disney+, TNT, TBS, TruTV
Maybe you're getting a little bored with Star Wars-style outer space action? No better antidote than the Mel Brooks classic that effectively skewers not just the sci-fi tropes on which that series leans, but the vast merchandising empire to which it gave birth ("Spaceballs: The Flamethrower!"). Even George Lucas loved it.
Where to stream: Max
In a war-torn Sicilian town, young Salvatore escapes from, his alternately mundane and terrifying everyday and life into the movies, befriending an old projectionist who later encourages him to pursue his love of filmmaking. It's a lovely ode to the power of cinema, packed with memorable, colorful characters and with an all-time great ending.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Paramount+, MGM+
One of John Hughes funniest (and—bonus—least problematic) movies is a joyous tribute to the power of blowing off whatever you’re supposed to be doing in favor of much cooler stuff. There’s no way that the movie’s core trio (Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck) would have learned nearly as much if they’d gone to school.
Where to stream: Paramount+, Apple TV+
The beloved horror host stepped onto the big screen for the first time with this gloriously silly movie involving Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) traveling to the small, conservative town of Fallwell, Massachusetts, where her revealing clothes and sassy attitude quickly turn most of the town against her. It’s like Footloose with black magic and boobs.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Hoopla, Plex
Mention this movie in the right crowd and watch the tears start to well up in eyes—but it’s also very funny, thoroughly quotable, and full of great performances from the all-star team of Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Julia Roberts, and Daryl Hannah.
Where to stream: Pluto
John Carpenter’s very loose take on the 1950s classic is more faithful to the original novella “Who Goes There?” on which they’re both based, but far gloopier than either. It’s a masterpiece, not just for its creature effects, but for its building sense of claustrophobic terror and its firm conviction that other people will always far more terrifying than threats from beyond.
Where to stream: Showtime
Immortal beings wander the earth, forced to fight each other to the death with swords—because there can be only one. Or something. The goofy premise is played with absolute seriousness by Christopher Lambert as the title’s highlander. As a result, the film works both as a sci-fi action epic as well as pure camp, ably assisted by Sean Connery’s Ramirez, an Egyptian immortal from Spain who, for some reason, sounds entirely Scottish. The Queen theme song, “Princes of the Universe,” kicks ass.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Freevee, Crackle, The Roku Channel
Brian De Palma’s very loose history lesson on Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) as he forms the title’s team (with help from Sean Connery) to bring down Al Capone (Robert de Niro). It’s a crowd-pleasing crime thriller that also offers up some brilliant performances and artful, smart direction.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Paramount+
In the wealthy (and fictional) African nation of Zamunda, crown prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is getting tired of his lavish lifestyle and hopes to meet an independent-minded woman who’ll care for him, not his status. What else to do but set off for Queens? It’s a blend of slapstick and rom-com that Murphy somehow pulls off.
Where to stream: Paramount+
Subsequent sequels made Freddy (Robert England) the star, but Wes Craven’s original is about Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), a high schooler whose friends are tormented in their dreams by the man their parents killed. Freddy was never quite this scary again, nor was he ever so evenly matched with an adversary.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Eddie Murphy directed and stars in this period piece set in a Prohibition-era speakeasy full of gangsters and gamblers. It doesn’t entirely work, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime cast that includes Murphy, Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, Della Reese, Jasmine Guy, Arsenio Hall, etc., and it’s a lot of fun to see them all share the screen together.
Where to stream: Paramount+
There was a craft to ‘80s comedies that I’m not sure still exists: Take something like Ghostbusters, or Back to the Future, sci-fi comedies that don’t feel excessively bombastic, and with jokes that land at least as often as they don’t. There’s a reason why we’re still watching them.
Where to stream: Hulu
As much as there is to love about the recent live-action remake, it’s unlikely to entirely replace the original, gorgeously animated Disney classic. With its subtly subversive themes and massive box office, it’s also the movie that almost singlehandedly revived a then-flagging Disney and made it the company it is today (with all the good and bad that implies).
Where to stream: Disney+
Awkward title notwithstanding, Steven Spielberg’s charming, big-hearted sci-fi story about a boy (Henry Thomas) who protects his alien friend from over-zealous government agents was a mega-blockbuster that charmed the world, and also briefly convinced us that Reese’s Pieces were the superior oblate spheroid candy.
Where to stream: Digital rental
David Lynch’s neo-noir starts with a college student finding a severed human ear in a field and leads to a world of weird sex and violence. It introduces several of the director’s major themes, particularly the idea of a small town that seems completely normal until you pull back the curtain, at which point it looks like, well, a David Lynch movie. Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, and Dean Stockwell lead the impressive cast.
Where to stream: Tubi, MGM+
Set in a dystopian 2019, this beautiful cyberpunk classic finds biker Kaneda forced to face down his friend Tetsuo after he gains telekinetic abilities in an accident. The wildly kinetic movie and its highly detailed world set a new standard for anime—we’re still living in the animation world that Akira gave birth to.
Where to stream: Hulu, Funimation
The metaphor isn’t particularly subtle in this John Carpenter classic, but that’s all for the better. Roddy Piper plays a nameless drifter who comes to understand that there are secret subliminal messages everywhere: telling us to shop more, to stick to the status quo—in other words, never question American-style capitalism. It all comes under threat when our lead gets a pair of glasses that allow him to see the truth all around him.
Where to stream: Starz
An all-star comedy murder mystery? Clue was doing the Knives Out thing before that movie was even a glimmer in Rian Johnson’s eye, and it’s delightfully silly. It wasn’t terribly popular upon its initial release, but it’s become a cult classic in the years since.
Where to stream: Paramount+
It’s the future as visualized in the 1980s and, well, it’s not all that far off, actually. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a framed criminal forced to compete in a competition program, the movie foresaw our reality-driven television culture, the use of AI and other technologies to alter perceived reality, as well as our ever-increasing willingness to let entertainment distract us from what’s really going on around us. This fun little action movie feels almost prophetic.
Where to stream: AMC+
A flawlessly entertaining fantasy, The Princess Bride works on almost every level: as a quotable comedy, a soaring romance, and a Robin Hood-style action movie that has fun with the tropes of those kinds of movies. Just a delight.
Where to stream: Disney+
It’s not always the first movie that comes to mind when we talk about the Coen brothers, but this deliriously over-the-top crime comedy about a kidnapping (by Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter) is, as deranged as it is, ultimately, pretty sweet.
Where to stream: Paramount+
It’s the Christmas movie that came along and kicked It’s a Wonderful Life right off the 35th floor of Nakatomi Plaza tower. A brilliantly entertaining action classic.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Like most carbs, rice freezes extremely well. When stored correctly and reheated with care, it’s as if you just steamed a fresh batch in a fraction of the time. But if you’ve been smashing all of your leftover rice into a storage container, you may have noticed that reheating is a struggle. You’ve been making life…
Imagine having everything your child wants for the holidays, already ordered and shipped. If you’re paying attention to some of the deals available with Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, you can make this a reality. The Prime-member-exclusive savings event runs from Oct. 10 at 3 a.m. ET through Oct. 11. And while there…
The iPad is a great device for watching movies, gaming, and working on the go. If you want to buy an iPad, there are some significant discounts going on adjacent to Amazon’s October Prime Day event, with up to $300 off on select models.
From water bottles to bike computers, there’s a ton of cool bike gear on sale during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days—provided you haven’t spent every last dime on your bike, of course.
Garmin’s watches are the most popular smartwatches for runners, and with good reason: They have accurate GPS, they collect statistics that runners care about, and they’re designed to be convenient to use while you’re running—hitting real buttons, for example, instead of trying to swipe a screen with your sweaty…
If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Thursday, October 12, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Beware, there are spoilers below for October 12, NYT Connections #123! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s…
I’m not being hyperbolic when I say salt is the most important seasoning of all time. It makes things taste salty, sure, but it also makes things taste like better versions the themselves, and more importantly, salt is a powerful preservative and natural anti-microbial. Long before refrigeration—all the way back to anc…
Though people talk about the auteur revolution of the 1970s, or the warm, populist glow of neon-soaked ‘80s movies, the 1990s were an incredibly assured time in filmmaking. Romantic comedies went deeper and darker; Black filmmakers were rising to the forefront and telling their own stories; and technology had advanced to the point that things that had never been possible before were suddenly up on the screen. Plus, it was still an era when a mega-blockbuster might be an Edwardian period drama set on a boat with not a single superhero in sight. Strange days, truly.
Writer/director John Singleton’s debut earned him an Academy Award nomination, and the movie’s reputation has only grown with time. The movie follows Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) as he’s sent to live with his father (Laurence Fishburne) in South Central LA, with the pressures of ‘90s gang culture all around him.
Where to stream: Netflix
It’s easy to forget that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan don’t meet for nearly the entirety of the movie—that’s how memorable their chemistry is. A kid’s request (to a very-1990s radio talk show) for a new girlfriend for his grieving dad culminates in a memorable meeting at the Empire State Building.
Where to stream: Max
Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell are entirely delightful in this holiday fantasy about a jerky meteorologist who learns to be a little better person by living day after day (after day) in a small town.
Where to stream: Fubo
Starting mid-decade, this Terry McMillan adaptation about the power of female friendships has an all-time great cast led by Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon.
Where to stream: Hulu
In spite, or perhaps because of, its behind-the-scenes tragedy, Brandon Lee's look and performance here made the movie a touchstone for an entire generation of tatted-up, moody goth kids. Director Alex Proyas' signature visual style is on full display here.
Where to stream: Prime Video
A surprisingly smart high school stoner movie from writer/director Richard Linklater, Dazed and Confused follows a bunch of rowdy Austin teens on the last day of school in 1976. The cast is great, and the ‘70s soundtrack isn’t bad, either.
Where to stream: Digital rental
James Cameron re-teamed Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger for this action-blockbuster sequel that took everything great about the first one and turned up the dial. A deeply satisfying sci-fi spectacle.
Where to stream: Paramount+, Showtime, Fubo
Both Sister Acts are great, but if it’s a ‘90s vibe you’re going for, this one involves Whoopi Goldberg’s Deloris Van Cartier putting the band (of nuns) back together to save a city school facing closure. It all culminates in a stage performance including jams, baggy overalls, white-boy rap, and Lauryn Hill. This will be a primary source for historians of the era.
Where to stream: Disney+
So convincing was the found-footage illusion here that people believed that they were watching the real thing. Of course, we’re far less gullible now.
Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, Mubi, Freevee
Cheryl Dunye’s indie rom-com finds lead Cheryl exploring the history of a fictional Black golden age film star while simultaneously looking for love and trying to hold on to her job at the video store. The movie explores complicated topics without ever succumbing to self-seriousness.
Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, Showtime
From an era during which Black characters in horror movies were pretty much exclusively victims, Tony Todd's chilling, seductive Daniel Robitaille stalks Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project to avenge the racial violence of the past, as well as to reclaim a lost love.
Where to stream: Digital rental
"Be a man," one of the movie's catchiest songs demands, but there's a double meaning; our lead is a young woman taking her father's place to defend Imperial China from a Xiongnu invasion. Slightly underrated, at least in Disney terms, it's a very fun and action-packed musical, and proves that women can do anything men can do and also that cross-dressing is an entirely viable path to success.
Where to stream: Disney+
The great King of the Hill was just a couple of seasons in, and fans of Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head might have been forgiven for not expecting the kind of trenchant satire of Office Space provides. If anything, the film's take on the pointless forms and stapler-hoarding that make up the world of the modern white-collar worker feels more accurate now than ever.
Where to stream: Max
Steven Spielberg’s dino-drama remains a favorite. Even more shocking, the special effects remain impressive despite decades of innovations. Still the dinosaur-rampage movie to beat.
Where to stream: Netflix
An indelible Harrison Ford performance, even as a one-off. Based on the 1960s TV show, this was part of a run of ‘90s reboots that worked.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Director Barry Sonnenfeld and company have a ton of fun in expanding Addams Family lore into a full-blown tribute to weirdness—just when we needed it most. Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, and Christina Ricci head the stacked cast.
Where to stream: Paramount+
The (very silly) joke here is that the goofy Brady family of the very ‘70s sitcom are living their lives in a pseudo-punk ‘90s. It shouldn’t work at feature length, but the commitment to the bit—and to replicating the look and feel of the beloved sitcom—makes it a camp classic.
Where to stream: Paramount+, Prime Video, MGM+
John Singleton followed up Boyz N the Hood with this more mellow romantic drama, with leads Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur offering up impressive, moving lead performances.
Where to stream: Digital rental
It’s not Shakespeare, but Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton are great fun as three divorcées seeking revenge on the husbands who left them for younger women. The finale, set to “You Don’t Own Me,” is cheer-worthy.
Where to stream: Showtime, Paramount+
After some darker adventures with 007, Pierce Brosnan brought just the right blend of style and action, with a lighter touch that was exactly what Bond fans were looking for. Extra points for introducing Judi Dench as a new generation’s M.
Where to stream: Digital rental
One of the decade’s great rom-coms has a requisite tragic setup that builds to not only a great romance, but several very memorable Bollywood dance numbers.
Where to stream: Netflix, Prime Video
Another triumph from Hayao Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke is set in a fantasy medieval Japan. Ashitaka is infected in an animal attack, and seeks a natural cure—only to discover that humanity’s activities have angered the gods and thrown the natural balance. If it’s not the director’s best, it’s one that best sums up his talents.
Where to stream: Max
Lola (Franka Potente) needs 100,000 Deutschmarks—fast. She’s got 20 minutes to get the money and save the life of her bagman boyfriend Manni from his boss. So she runs. And when she can’t get the money the first time, she tries again, literally running through different scenarios until she finds a way to get the money.
Where to stream: Digital rental
After the director's phenomenal Strictly Ballroom, Baz Luhrmann broke into the mainstream in a big way by going back to Shakespeare. His signature style blends operatic beauty with hyperactive camerawork, and that's all fully on display here, shining a new light on the tragedy with some help from then-teen heartthrobs Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
Where to stream: Paramount+, Hulu, Showtime
Quentin Tarantino made a giant splash with this retro-style, endlessly quotable, non-linear neo-noir packed full of memorable scenes. Uma Thurman is phenomenal, but there’s no weak link in the large ensemble.
Where to stream: Max
Rather artfully blending CGI and cel animation, Ghost in the Shell involves cyborg agent Maj. Motoko Kusanagi trailing a man who hacks minds. Like Blade Runner before it, the movie explores the nature of human consciousness and the idea that we might be just another kind of machine.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, Freevee
A Marvel movie before there was such a thing, Blade stars Wesley Snipes as the thoroughly bad-ass title character: he's a vampire who can walk in the daylight, hunting the world's more conspicuously evil bloodsuckers for funsies. The movie is appropriately bloody and endlessly stylish, and leads to an even better sequel directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Where to stream: TNT, TBS, TruTV
Nothing terribly groundbreaking here, just an engaging and very effective disaster movie in which Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and Philip Seymour Hoffman go driving into storms and crap goes flying through the air. With a solid cast and a slightly more grounded premise than some of the other big action blockbusters of the decade, it's just a bit smarter than many of its contemporaries.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick are perfect adversaries in this sharp comedy. It satirizes high school life, sure, but the movie is also as on-target a critique of American politics as you’re likely to find in a mainstream movie.
Where to stream: Max, Kanopy
Every generation, it seems, gets its own Tom Ripley: adaptations of the Patricia Highsmith novel series are, perhaps, more ubiquitous than viewers even realize: Purple Noon, The American Friend, and the John Malkovich-starring Ripley's Game are just a few examples, alongside the spiritual successor Saltburn and joined by the upcoming Netflix series Ripley. This one swims near the top in that sea of sociopaths, with Anthony Minghella's confident, stylish direction lending deniability and likability to Matt Damon's Ripley, a killer and a con man who you almost feel bad for.
Where to stream: Showtime
Director David Fincher broke out in a big way with this hyper-stylish, hyper-queasy serial killer drama with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as a pair of detectives hunting down a murderer that bases their work on the traditional seven deadly sins. Fincher's neo-noir style, and nearly unparalleled ability to get under his audience's skin, elevate what might have just been a gruesome shocker.
Where to stream: Max
Wong Kar-wai's romantic drama stars Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai as a pair of lovers in an extremely tempestuous and, frankly, ill-conceived relationship in Buenos Aires. There's not much of a plot here, but it's not necessary: these two are hypnotic, as are Wong's flawless pacing and Christopher Doyle's cinematography.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
As with most of Paul Verhoeven's other films, it's possible to view his notoriously trashy film as either dark satire, or as a bit of unintended camp. It's tremendous fun either way and, though it quickly gained a reputation as garbage, it's far more watchable than many other better-reviewed films.
Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, Tubi
Tim Burton was at the top of his game when he directed this deeply weird, but very sweet fable that also served as a fitting swan song for Vincent Price.
Where to stream: Max
Speaking of weird: This science fiction story about a cab driver (Bruce Willis) tasked with saving a girl who might be humanity’s salvation (Milla Jovovich) is full of high concepts, low comedy, and outer space arias. It doesn’t always all hang together, but there’s such an abundance of imagination at work here that it’s hard not to sit back and enjoy it.
Where to stream: AMC+
After returning from Vietnam and being unable to find work in their home in the Bronx, a group of friends lead by Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) plan a suspenseful bank heist. It’s based, loosely, on a true story.
Where to stream: Peacock
Having already made one of the definitive teen comedies of the 1980s, writer/director Amy Heckerling pulled a similar trick with this coming-of-age comedy, based on Jane Austen’s Emma, set among the popular kids in Beverly Hills.
Where to stream: Paramount+
Approaching 30, our leads (Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow) haven’t achieved much of significance, so they decide to beef up their resumes—with mixed results. Sorvino and Kudrow are so charmingly stupid here that it’s impossible not to root for them against the mean girls. Amid all the broad comedy, the movie makes a good case that it’s better to be a slacker than an ambitious jerk.
Where to stream: Digital rental
The chemistry between Larenz Tate and Nia Long is off the charts after they meet in a Chicago club. Their passionate connection is threatened by old relationships and her impending move to New York.
Where to stream: Paramount+
Before the very-good American remake, there was the excellent Japanese original about a mysterious tape that curses its viewers to death over the course of seven days. The image of Sadako climbing out of a TV is indelible.
Where to stream: Shudder, Tubi, Arrow
Spike Lee brings his signature directorial style to this epic, ensuring that this plays as far more than a typical biopic. Denzel Washington absolutely disappears into the lead role.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Richard Linklater follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) as two people who meet on a train and spend a night walking the streets of Vienna and chatting about life and love. That's really all there is to it, but it's all written and performed with such intelligence and emotional honestly that it feels as though we're getting a very full meal indeed, surpassed only by its even-better 2004 sequel.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Craig and Smokey (Ice Cube and Chris Tucker) are just a couple of guys hanging out hoping for something to do. They shoulda been careful what they wished for, as this one impossible Friday will see them involved with burglaries, shoot-outs, and excessively horny pastors. As in all the best buddy/stoner comedies, it's all in goofy fun.
Where to stream: Tubi
Mad Max director George Miller, alongside Chris Noonan (who was nominated for two Oscars here) crafted this big-hearted but darkly comic all-ages barnyard fable. It was so influential that star James Cromwell immediately gave up eating meat.
Where to stream: Starz
Michael Mann’s crime drama pits an LAPD detective against a career criminal, their cat-and-mouse game revealing that they’re as similar as they are different. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are at the tops of their mid-career games.
Where to stream: Hulu
Wes Craven reinvented slasher movies with this funny, bloody, clever film that breaks down and breaks apart everything we love about the genre. We’re still living in the horror flick world that Craven created, and not just because this franchise is still going, stronger than ever.
Where to stream: Max
The Hughes Brothers’ early masterpiece, Menace believably recreates the world of LA’s Watts and Crenshaw neighborhoods in the era, with Tyrin Turner’s Caine looking to escape from violence—only to find himself drawn deeper in.
Where to stream: Tubi
Wesley Snipes gives a smart, funny performance in this basketball-themed comedy-drama, as does Woody Harrelson—though, of course, Rosie Perez steals every scene she’s in. It was one of director Stanley Kubrick’s favorite movies.
Where to stream: Max
An irresponsible club kid (an absolutely unforgettable Parker Posey) gets bailed out of jail (she threw an illegal rave) by her librarian godmother and is forced to get a job cataloguing books to get her life back on track. It's a brilliantly funny indie comedy, but also a surprisingly authentic recreation of rave culture of the time, displaying some actual diversity and dodging all of the common tropes.
Where to stream: Peacock, The Criterion Channel, Tubi, Freevee
In a modern world of blockbusters designed to be as comforting and non-threatening as possible, be the movie that made an entire generation of moviegoers loudly sob.
Where to stream: Paramount+, Apple TV+
With another school year underway, parents and teachers of any of the six million children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, might notice that they are finding it challenging to keep up. Students might be struggling to pay attention, have trouble sitting still, or can’t control…
This new, open-box items iPad is from 2019 and has 10.2" Retina display, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage, and it’s on sale for $279.99 right now (reg. $459). (New, open-box items are typically excess inventory from store shelves; they go through verification that they’re still in new condition and put in clean…
The Roth IRA is a powerful retirement savings tool. For young people especially, it’s the best way to take full advantage of compound interest while minimizing your tax exposure. The money you contribute grows tax-free, and most people can withdraw funds in retirement tax-free, too. However, make some wrong moves…
A Thanksgiving turkey is a big purchase—or at least, it’s a big bird with big dreams riding on it. Even if you know how much turkey to buy (two pounds per guest to ensure leftovers, and/or two smaller birds if you need more than 14 pounds), it can be harder to figure out what kind of turkey to buy.
I’ve had TSA Precheck for years, with no regrets. The fee works out to just $15 annually, and every time I’ve taken a trip by air and faced shorter lines at security, I’ve been glad I signed up. The only real hassle was that I had to take several hours out of my day to drive to the airport for an in-person interview.…
When wading through all endless emails, Slack messages, and other notifications, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. When that happens, it’s best to have a strategy going in. There are a few different ways to approach it, but you have to find the one that works for you—and the “OHIO” technique is one to try if you need an…
As more and more fitness trackers and smartwatches come out, I’ve noticed that manufacturers are leaning more into their own ecosystems. Apple, of course, has been doing this for years, but Google is starting to do it with its new devices, too, and the Fitbit Charge 6 is a perfect example of how choosing a fitness…
From the earliest days of cinema history, cartoons were never just for kids, and it’s important not to confuse the medium with a genre. Animation has produced movies that are charming, romantic, harrowing, musical, magical, dystopian, funny...and pretty much every other adjective you might use to describe a story that…
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If you want to live in a newly constructed house, you have two choices: You can buy a finished home from a builder, or you can have one built from scratch. Either choice can be incredibly expensive: The cost of building a new house in the U.S. ranges quite a bit, with $332,397 being the national average, but the final…
Welcome to Training Diaries, a Lifehacker series about my journey to the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon. This series will cover all the ups, downs, and hill repeats on my journey to the biggest marathon in the world. Leading up to race day on Sunday, Nov. 5, I’ll go over proper fueling, injuries and setbacks,…
You’ve probably heard that strong, small magnets are dangerous for children. You would not give a toddler a neodymium magnet for any reason; you know that two of them, if swallowed, can connect inside their body, potentially causing severe injury. And yet, according to a recent survey presented to the American Academy…
Whether you’re building a new home or renovating your kitchen, you’ll have to make a decision about your countertops. If you’d like to go with a natural stone—as opposed to laminate countertops, for example—you can opt for granite, quartz, or marble.
In today’s fast-paced world, as glaring screens and blaring social media notification demand our attention, the allure of a cozy podcast offers a soothing respite. Picture yourself nestled under a warm blanket, a steaming cup of your favorite drink in hand, and the gentle voice of a host guiding you through a world of…
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In these interesting economic times when unemployment is low because everyone has, like, four jobs (but still can’t afford rent), you have to get creative. The good news is that no matter how chaotic things are out there, some fundamental economic rules always apply, like the fact that you can often substitute sweat…
Eventually at some point in your gardening journey, you’re going to run into a predictable problem—where to store all your damn seeds. At first, a box or stack will do, but eventually, you’ll realize you need some sort of library-esque organization system. Storage is important, because it also affects the viability of…
Modern smart TVs offer ways to connect to your favorite streaming services, but the results are often disappointing. Not only are the built-in solutions less than ideal out of the box, they quickly become outdated. That’s where a dedicated streaming device comes in handy. You have your choice, too, with devices from…
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Nintendo is the Apple of video game brands. They don’t often put their products on sale, so when they do, you’d better jump. Earlier this year, Woot sold limited quantities of the White OLED Nintendo Switch for $310. Then, during Prime Day, some third-party sellers at major retailers (including Walmart) sold the white…
The PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller is one of the best console controllers on the market. Not only does it offer a similar size and setup to Sony’s long-standing line of controllers, but it offers a ton of different features for you to take advantage of. While you can play PS4 games on the PS5 using the DualSense…
What exactly makes a movie a “classic” varies wildly and with the viewer, as does the appropriate timescale. For some, a movie from a decade ago might be eligible (I call these movie fans “children”). For others, you have to go back a lot further.
Today, I’m going to do the latter, taking a look at some of the great (or, at least, greatly entertaining) movies that were released no later than the tail end of 1970s. (Even if I find it personally distressing to label movies younger than I am “classics.”) Quibbling over semantics aside, these offerings prove how deeply rewarding it is to dig through the back catalog of motion picture history now and again.
Virgil Tibbs’ (Sidney Poitier) entry into Sparta, Mississippi, at the outset of this steamy, socially conscious cop thriller unfolds like a scene from a horror movie, making clear the peril of a Black man in a southern town after dark. That’s of course before the sheriff realizes that Mr. Tibbs is the only one who can solve a murder. Though its politics are dated, this Norman Jewison-directed Oscar winner remains a landmark film of the Civil Rights movement.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, Hoopla
The long-running franchise has had its ups (the Creed films) and downs (that robot butler in Rocky IV), but the original remains one of the ultimate sports movies, with a ton of heart buoyed by characters who feel like real people. (It beat out Network and Taxi Driver for Best Picture and it’s hard to be mad about it.)
Where to stream: Max
I’m not sure that Hollywood ever turned out a sharper, funnier script than this one. If Bette Davis had only done All About Eve, she’d still be a legend. Is it one of the best black and white movies ever made? Yes.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield are phenomenal in this drama about a family of deep south, Depression-era sharecroppers struggling to survive and to stay together.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi, Freevee
Everybody’s favorite golden-age Hollywood movie came by its reputation fairly: Bogart and Bergman have tremendous chemistry, and the film blends the doomed romance vibes with real suspense and a sense of humor that keeps the wartime atmosphere from getting too heavy.
Where to stream: Max
Recently named the best movie ever made in a stupidly controversial Sight & Sound critics’ poll, Chantal Ackerman’s three-hours-plus epic shows us three days in the life of a Brussels single mother; it’s gripping and tragic in its depiction of day-to-day drudgery, even as part-time sex worker Jeanne’s tricks turn out to be the least interesting parts of her day.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
The movie that brought international attention to sub-Saharan African cinema. Black Girl stars Mbissine Thérèse Diop as Diouana, who is isolated and treated as less than human by her French employers as she reflects on her earlier life in Senegal.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
Fritz Lang’s story of a future city starkly divided between the haves and the have-nots remains visually stunning, and its themes are no less relevant now than they were nearly a century ago.
Where to stream: Tubi, Crackle, Kanopy, Redbox, Pluto TV, Plex
Snappy dialogue, interesting, believable characters, and women who are at least as cool and interesting as the men: This Howard Hawks’ romantic adventure is mostly about pilots just hanging out in a South American town, with every takeoff and landing a potential tragedy.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Two musicians get in drag in order to escape from mobsters in this classic Billy Wilder vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, at the peak of her powers here. Nobody’s perfect, but this movie is close.
Where to stream: Max
A deliberately paced mind-bender, Stanley Kubrick and company take us from the origins of violence to a hypnotically engaging and highly detailed mid-century modern future where we come face to face with our own evolution.
Where to stream: Max
A very satisfying and thoroughly unpretentious crime thriller in which four men hijack a New York City subway train, demanding money in exchange for a release of their hostages and the car itself. The high tension and NYC setting are highlights, as is the cast: Walter Matthau as the lead police lieutenant is believably human while adding a touch of humor. Héctor Elizondo, Martin Balsam, Robert Shaw, Jerry Stiller, and Doris Roberts also put in solid performances.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, MGM+
Nostalgia’s nothing new. George Lucas’ American Graffiti takes us back to the last day of high school for a bunch of teenagers in the 1960s, as the director makes clear that some aspects of growing up are fairly universal, and that he has something to say about more than galactic space battles.
Where to stream: Tubi
Another flashback to a bygone era, this one set in a dying small town in Texas. One of the best movies of the 1970s, Peter Bogdanovich’s breakout is mercifully free of the rosy glow that the high school films of the ‘70s leaned into.
Where to stream: Digital rental
A cinematic slice of pure joy, with a number of truly great musical numbers punctuated by some genuinely hilarious performances. For my money, the best musical of the era (and far weirder than you’re probably imagining).
Where to stream: Max
A soaring, candy-colored musical about young lovers (Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo) separated by circumstance in the titular city. Pretty much every word is sung. In French. Watch it anyway!
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy
There's not a ton of plot here, with the film serving instead as a showcase for the talents of some of the biggest Black talent in Hollywood of the era. And that's plenty. Starring Bill Robinson, better known as Mr. Bojangles, the movie is presented as a retrospective of his life, with Lena Horne offering up an indelible, thrilling performance of the title song. Cab Calloway and Fats Waller also appear and perform, as does Casablanca's Paul Dooley.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Gloria Swanson was just 50 when she was cast as the horrifyingly outdated silent-film star at the center of this very dark comedy/film noir. Doesn’t matter, she kills it.
Where to stream: Paramount+
With some of the most brilliant cinematography and camerawork of the silent era, F. W. Murnau tells a story of romance (and attempted murder) that feels epic, even with stakes that, ultimately, aren’t any bigger than the marriage between the film’s troubled couple.
Where to stream: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Hoopla
The brilliant Melvin Van Peebles wrote, directed, produced, and scored this film that kicked off the Blaxploitation genre, and bested all its imitators by playing like a hyper-stylized slice of life. Made for $150,000, it pulled down over $15 million at the box office.
Where to stream: The Criterion Channel
Just an old-fashioned love story about the romance between a young engaged couple, a genderfluid scientist, and a jacked lab experiment. A cult classic now too famous to qualify as a cult classic, and for good reason.
Where to stream: Digital rental
A sweet-seeming Kansas girl heads off to the magical Land of Oz, announcing her arrival by murdering a lady and stealing her shoes. Only one thing to do at that point, really: take out her sister, as well.
Where to stream: Max
Near the tail-end of his career, Alfred Hitchcock reinvented American horror cinema and introduced the definitive screen slasher: Norman Bates’ mother and best friend, Norma.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Frank Capra’s risqué romantic comedy swept the Academy Awards in its year, with leads Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert making for a brilliant pairing in the movie that defined the rom-com, and remains among the best of the form.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Cochise (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs), a basketball star, and Preach (Glynn Turman), an aspiring playwright, plot to play hooky during their final weeks of senior year. Their plan leads to a series of adventures and misadventures that look very much like the stuff of a more typical teen comedy, before the comedy slowly gives way to more serious introspection. This movie had a profound influence on filmmakers from John Singleton to Spike Lee.
Where to stream: Tubi, Freevee
William Friedkin's adaptation of an off-Broadway play about several gay friends gathering for a birthday party with funny, bitchy, dramatic results. Gay audiences found it a little dated back in 1970, but it serves as a very effective (and engaging) time capsule, and stands as one of the first major American movies centered around queer characters.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Even if not as technically innovative as some of Disney’s earlier films, Bambi’s still absolutely gorgeous, and its simple, down-to-earth story is emotional, thrilling, and poignant in ways that the animator’s fantasy films couldn’t quite match.
Where to stream: Disney+
Fred Zinnemann’s Pearl Harbor drama is remembered for its all-star cast (Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, etc.) and swooning romance, but it’s also an impressive and harrowing recreation of the attacks in 1941, and their impact on the Americans at their center.
Where to stream: Digital rental
This Japanese anthology of horror-tinged stories isn't necessarily terrifying, but it is one of the most stunningly beautiful, and sumptuously designed films that you're likely to find this side of Japanese folklore. A highly influential film, it kicks off with the story of a horribly wronged woman and her very long, very black hair.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
This historical drama brings Medieval Europe to stunning life with its depiction of Arthur, King of the Britons (Graham Chapman), scouring the English countryside in search of men brave enough to join his Knights of the Round Table, desperate to figure out if swallows can, indeed, carry coconuts. It’s all deeply serious. (Cough cough.)
Where to stream: Netflix
With Lew Ayres in the lead, the original All Quiet remains a harrowing experience—a recreation of the events of World War I so realistic, it stands as one of the true, great anti-war films of all time.
Where to stream: Tubi
It’s said by many that the second film is better...and they’re not wrong, though the first is a similarly brilliant piece of filmmaking, and absolutely the place to start when watching or rewatching Francis Ford Coppola’s saga.
Where to stream: Paramount+
Peter Lorre is chilling as a murderer of children in Fritz Lang’s thriller. Aside from being a masterful film in its own right, M influenced every crime drama, serial killer film, and police procedural that’s come along since.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy
One of the greatest and most entertaining noir films of its era also foregrounds one of the hottest bisexual love triangles you’re likely to find in film.
Where to stream: Tubi
Joan Crawford is at her very dramatic best in this story of a mother dealing with a hyper-entitled snotbag of a daughter. Joan and director Michael Curtiz take all of the great noir trappings of the era (including murder) and put a single mother at the center of them. Now central in her filmography, this was a comeback for Joan at the time, and proved that she could still pack cinemas as a middle-aged woman.
Where to stream: Digital rental
In our highly dystopian present, every third movie is a superhero punch-'em-up...but not so in 1978, when Richard Donner directed the original (more or less) and best (more or less). Christopher Reeve remains a steadfast combination of believable sincerity and dorky charm, generating real chemistry with Margot Kidder's Lois Lane.
Where to stream: Max
Max von Sydow stars as a medieval knight in Ingmar Bergman's very dark fantasy about finding human connection in the absence of faith. The film tells its story using some of the most indelible imagery in the history of cinema—anyone for a game of chess? With death?
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
The pretentious film student's answer to the question: "What's the greatest film of all time?" is, as it happens, a genuinely great film; an appropriately dark and wildly innovative commentary on the corrupting powers of money and American-style capitalism. In those regards, it hasn't aged a day.
Where to stream: Max
So rousing is Sergei Eisenstein's film, set during the early Russian Revolution of 1905, that you'll be cheering on the rebellion that lead to the birth of the Soviet Union (where this film was no less controversial than elsewhere). Among the movie's many brilliantly directed moments is the iconic Odessa Steps sequence, which has been referenced by everyone from Laurel and Hardy to Denis Villeneuve.
Where to stream: Max, Tubi, The Criterion Channel
This all-star road race film is goofy, sure, but it's also got a mean-streak a mile wide—and I absolutely mean that as a compliment. The cast all compete to make it across the state of California to collect a chunk of money that they've learned is buried in a state park. It's cute watching Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Eddie Anderson, Sid Caesar and others team up to get the money...but it's even better when they fall out and start fighting tooth and nail, all alongside crooked cop Spencer Tracy.
Where to stream: Tubi
The all-star cast can be a little distracting, but Stanley Kramer’s courtroom drama remains powerful and depressingly relevant in its depiction of normal, everyday people driven to commit atrocities with only minimal encouragement.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, MGM+
Sidney Lumet's essential courtroom drama plays a bit differently in our era of rampant judicial mistrust, but nonetheless still has plenty to say about the danger, power, and virtue of defying the mob. A definitive rebuttal to the McCarthy-era Red Scare, it speaks to the ease with which we'll go along with a fearful crowd.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, MGM+, Freevee
The first in a series of charming, and increasingly inventive comedies from the great director (and star) Jacques Tati. M. Hulot feels like a silent film character in a world of sound, and, indeed, the focus here is less on dialogue than in the inadvertent ways in which our hero brings absolute chaos wherever he goes. There's a method to the comedy, as well, Tati finding satisfaction in seeing the thin veneers of the comfortable, snobby, rich vacationers worn away.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
This deeply haunting, low-budget independent beat George Romero's Night of the Living Dead to the punch by around five years, following a young woman (Candace Hilligoss) through a very dark night of her own. Thoroughly eerie, it's a movie that stays with you, like it or not.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Max, Tubi, The Criterion Channel, Crackle, Shudder, Freevee, Shout Factory TV
The hills are alive, etc., as a charmingly goofy nun-in-training gets a job at the home of an Austrian aristocrat. What starts out as a very hummable sing-a-long takes a dark turn as the shadow of Nazi Germany comes to loom—that genuine threat elevates Julie Andrews' breakout into something as meaningful as it is fun.
Where to stream: Disney+, Hulu
Its reputation is that of a beloved holiday classic, but few Christmas movies before or since have gone this deep and dark, turning on George Bailey’s very long, very dark night of the soul.
Where to stream: Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Plex
India’s answer to the French New Wave, Satyajit Ray’s gorgeous, but down-to-earth drama finds universal truths in the fraught relationships between desperately poor Apu, his sister Durga, and their mother, Sarbajaya. (The subsequent two films in what would eventually become known as the Apu Trilogy are just as great.)
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Collection, Kanopy
The General is often seen as Buster Keaton’s masterpiece, but I prefer Sherlock Jr., in which a normal schlub finds himself, literally, drawn into the movies. It’s an acrobatic and often hilarious journey into film history.
Where to stream: Tubi, Kanopy, Plex
Barbra Streisand broke through in a big way in this funny (naturally), moving, and ultimately epic story about the rise of real life comedian Fanny Brice and her troubled romance with Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif). It’s like buttah.
Where to stream: Prime Video
One of the films that defined the sharp, fast-talking screwball comedy genre, with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant as an ex-married newshound couple trying to uncover the truth behind the story of a convicted murderer.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, Crackle, Pluto TV, Shout Factory TV, Freevee
Otto Preminger’s gripping courtroom drama is less a crime procedural than it is an examination of the fallibility of memory and the dangers of relying too heavily on any individual’s ability to accurately replay our own narratives.
Where to stream: Digital rental
On the eve of his wedding, Dr. Frankenstein finds himself drawn into temptation when his old mentor shows up in town. The two run off together with every intention of giving birth to new life.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Ever feel like you’re just a cog in the capitalist machinery of life? Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece is the perfect movie for anyone who’s ever been stuck in a rut at work.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, Tubi, Kanopy
It might not be a brilliant piece of filmmaking, but Grease is the enjoyably goofy a bit of cinematic comfort food that we all need now and again.
Where to stream: Max
Akira Kurosawa’s samurai tale is not only wildly influential, it’s also film’s definitive statement on the unreliability of memory and the ease with which we spin stories for our own benefit. A warrior’s murder is recounted by a series of characters, each with a similar tale, but with details that vary in crucial ways.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel
Steven Spielberg created the thrilling, harrowing summer blockbuster to beat them all way back in 1975, shaping the cinematic landscape we’re still living in, for better or worse.
Where to stream: Digital rental
It’s hard to believe, all these decades later, that this simple story of a sheriff abandoned by a terrified town was one of the most controversial films of its era. There’s a lot going on here just under the surface, including a strong defiance of the Red Scare and its accompanying Hollywood blacklist.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Paramount+, MGM+
One of Stephen King’s earliest works translates into this memorably bloody coming-of-age story about a shy young woman (Sissy Spacek) with growing telekenetic powers, caught between her controlling mother at home, and her cruel classmates at school.
Where to stream: Max
Actor Charles Laughton's sole directorial effort is a wildly impressive one, with serial-killing preacher Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) charming, and then terrorizing a rural West Virginia family during the Great Depression. Audiences at the time found it impossibly weird and arty, and often weren't thrilled with Laughton's take on religious hypocrisy. Time has revealed it as a taut, idiosyncratic masterpiece.
Where to stream: Tubi, Freevee
Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn, and Louis Gossett Jr. star in this family drama about a Black family about to come into a small windfall, and the intergenerational conflict and trauma that impacts the ways in which family members want to spend it, and even their their definitions of a better life.
Where to stream: Digital rental
This month on Prime Video brings the second season of the animated adult superhero series Invincible. Based on Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel, the first half of the season will stream on November 3, while the second is expected sometime in 2024.
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