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Nick Reiner was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If he is convicted, he could face a life sentence without parole or the death penalty.
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Nick Reiner was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If he is convicted, he could face a life sentence without parole or the death penalty.
Abel Ferrara at Piazza Vittorio Emanuele Il in his adopted home city.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which agreed last month to sell most of its business to Netflix, advised its shareholders on Wednesday to reject Paramount’s latest rival bid.
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Gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts just over two decades ago and has been the law of the land in the U.S. since 2015, yet somehow, queer movies are still mostly a trickle at the box office (unless you count Barbie...which you can). The last big one was 2022's Bros, marketed as the first mainstream gay romantic comedy ever released by a major studio. In fact, 2022 was an all-time high for queer rep in movies: 28.5% of films released that year had at least one LGBTQ character (though most of those showed up for fewer than five minutes of screen time). We've been on a downward slide since, and the current zeitgeist seems to find studios shying away from diversity of any kind.
On another level, though, Hollywood has been making gay movies since the advent of film—albeit with plausible deniability. The late 1920s and early 1930s were a golden age for movies that explicitly (or nearly so) dealt with queer characters (Garbo, Dietrich, and Hepburn were bisexual icons before that term was commonly used); the same can be said of the independent-minded 1970s. At other times, representation was all about subtext—the filmmakers sneaking in themes that would go over the heads of the censors but land with the right audiences, or arising as unintended subtext. Which is to say, sometimes even the straightest movies are gay as hell—the inevitable result of straightness trying too hard.
That is to say, while ostensibly straight, the following 33 movies are totally gay, and as such, make for perfect Pride programming.
Following the events of Frankenstein, the eponymous doctor is all ready to settle down with his fiancée when his old college mentor shows up: Dr. Septimus Pretorius, who lures Henry away from the arms of his promised in favor of the two of them getting together after hours and building more bodies. Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), given to sassy retorts and chain-smoking in mausoleums, was high-camp before the notion was codified. Although there’s nothing explicit here, there’s no real queer-coding, either: the fascinating Thesiger never made any effort whatsoever to hide his queerness, nor to accommodate anyone’s ideas of masculinity, and he certainly doesn’t in this role. Following an injury while serving in World War I, he took up needlework and passed the skills on to other injured soldiers, despite formal warnings that the work was too “effeminate.” Later, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for both his embroidery skills and his acting career. Even with all that, he remains most famous for luring Colin Clive’s Frankenstein out of retirement.
This movie is so gay it inspired 1998's Gods and Monsters, a super queer biopic of its director, James Whale, played by Ian McKellen, who came out publicly in 1988. You can rent Bride of Frankenstein from Prime Video.
Most of these movies have queer themes running throughout; I'm not sure that's the case here, although I'd be thrilled to be proven wrong. Still, I'm going to let Peter Lorre’s Joel Cairo speak for all of the many queer-coded villains in classic Hollywood. It wasn't always a great trope, but audiences have always been open to spinning straw into gold by giving extra love to the meager, often problematic representations of LGBTQ+ characters in classic films. Characters made to be mocked or hated become appreciated figures, and that's the case here. Overtly gay in Dashiell Hammett's novel, Hollywood censors of 1941 of course wouldn't allow Joel Cairo to be explicit in a film version. So Petter Lorre sashays his way into Sam Spade's office with pretty clothes, fancy gloves, a cane that he can hardly stop from fondling and, of course, gardenia-scented calling cards...because the planned lavender cards were seen as too on-the-nose by censors. You can rent The Maltese Falcon from Prime Video.
Directed by Jacques Tourneur and, crucially, produced by the unconventionally highbrow Val Lewton, Cat People stars Simone Simon as Irena Dubrovna, who believes that she's descended from a line of, well...cat people. Convinced that she'll shape-shift into a panther if she ever allows her true and repressed sexuality to come out, she avoids engaging sexually with her new husband. The metaphors involving otherness work on multiple levels, but seeing Irena as a woman stuck in a straight marriage that she was never meant for is the reading that sticks. You can rent Cat People from Prime Video.
Two strangers, each in an unfulfilling marriage, meet by chance at a train station, kicking off a relationship that starts as one of convenience and evolves into an intense emotional affair—complicated by their personal lives and the ever-present danger of discovery. A 2015 staging of the original Noël Coward play (called Still Life) put two men in the lead roles, making clear that while the story works beautifully with a straight couple, it’s also a brilliant encapsulation of the particular challenges facing same-sex encounters. I’m not sure what director David Lean had in mind, but I shouldn’t be at all surprised if Coward wasn’t thinking, at least in part, of the inherently dangerous nature of chance queer meetings. You can stream Brief Encounter on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
In 1924, Leopold and Loeb, two wealthy University of Chicago boyfriends kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old largely to prove that they could, the pair having read just enough Nietzsche to convince themselves that they were the Übermensch of whom he wrote. They weren’t, of course, but they wouldn’t be the first rich white boys to believe themselves inherently superior.
The murder was a tragedy, but for someone with Alfred Hitchcock’s sensibilities, it was also too juicy a story to pass up. Rope is most famous because of its unique filming technique: it’s presented as one continuous take, though in reality the takes were about ten minutes long, limited by the film technology of the era. But Rope is based on a play loosely inspired by the Leopold and Loeb murders, and in the play the pair are explicitly gay. The movie, being a product of its time, obscures that without really suggesting anything else. These effete and sassy “roommates”—played by Farley Granger (who came out late in life) and John Dall (who is widely believed to have been gay, though he never came out publicly)—hold a party at which the body of their murder victim has been concealed. Screenwriter Arthur Laurents, who was gay, was an expert at dodging the restrictions of the Hays code in order to sneak in subtext that was just subtextual enough, a trick Hitchcock likewise excelled at.
Was it truly lost on 1940s audiences that these characters were more than friends? Apparently Laurents and company didn’t clue in Jimmy Stewart about his character, and the actor never caught on. You can rent Rope from Prime Video.
Nobody tell John Wayne, but the queer subtext of Red River has been discussed for decades, which makes a special kind of sense given that it provided a breakthrough for gay actor Montgomery Clift, who plays Matt, the more sensitive ward of a typically butch Wayne. Complicating life during the film's core cattle drive is the introduction of John Ireland as Cherry Valance—the scene during which Matt and Cherry compare guns is justifiably memorable as euphemism, and even characters in the movie seem not unaware of what's going on: Wayne describes them as pawing at each other, and Walter Brennan's old-timer character describes them as "...having some fun. A peculiar kind of fun." You can stream Red River on Tubi, MGM+, and Pluto TV or rent it from Prime Video.
Lesbian writer Patricia Highsmith wasn't afraid of gay subtext (see: The Talented Mr. Ripley), nor text-text, for that matter (see: The Price of Salt); neither was director Alfred Hitchcock afraid to inject queerness into his films, as we learned from Rope and Rebecca (among others). Given all that (as well as the presence of Farley Granger), it's not surprising that Strangers on a Train is rather delicious in its preoccupations. Granger's Guy Haines has a kind of meet-cute with Bruno Antony (Robert Walker) on a train (naturally), and they have a rather intense conversation about dual murders: Guy should kill Bruno's hated father, and Bruno will kill Guy's wife. Fun hypothetical, except that Bruno is absolutely serious and follows through with his part of the deal. The whole thing plays a bit like a straight man's fever dream—even giving into a momentary dalliance with another man could ruin one's life. You can stream Strangers on a Train on Tubi and Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video.
This low-budget Nicholas Ray film isn’t one of Joan Crawford’s better known movies, but it is one of her best and most fascinating, earning its entry into the vaunted Criterion Collection. Playing a saloonkeeper in the wilds of old-west Arizona, Crawford’s character is introduced by one of her employees just so: “I never met a woman who was more man.” Her arch-nemesis is a “cattle baron” played by Mercedes McCambridge, a straight (as far as we know) actress who became a gay icon for her portrayals of strong, queer-coded women. There are male love interests here, but they’re largely incidental. It’s the seething energy between the two leading women—frequently facing off while decked out in black leather that borders on the fetishistic—where the film’s true heart lies. You can stream Johnny Guitar on Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video.
One of the essential thrillers of the 1950s, the film version of Boileau-Narcejac’s novel removes the explicit lesbian relationship between the two women at the plot’s center, the wife and mistress of a man whom they team up to murder, radically altering the ending in the process. Much of that relationship remains regardless; the closeness between Nicole and Christina is remarked upon by the students and faculty of the boarding school where the two live. They travel together, sharing rooms and even a bed. A climactic moment is played very much as a breakup scene. Simone Signoret and Véra Clouzot are one of French cinema’s most memorable couples, even if their romantic pairing is never made explicit. You can stream Diabolique on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Moody, sensitive teen Jim Stark (James Dean) meets Plato Crawford (Sal Mineo) and Judy (Natalie Wood) at the police station, and one of cinema's great emo love triangles was born. Though restrained in the finished film, it's impossible not to see the attraction that Plato has for Jim, nor was it unintentional—worried censors told director Nicholas Ray during production that “It is of course vital that there be no inference of a questionable or homosexual relationship between Plato and Jim.” Still, Mineo spoke later about how Dean instructed him to "Look at me the way I look at Natalie...” None of it is terribly ambiguous in retrospect, and the pin-up of then-heartthrob Alan Ladd in Plato's locker is just one of the many winks to a savvy audience. You can rent Rebel Without a Cause from Prime Video.
Don’t tell Charlton Heston, but everyone else involved in crafting Judah Ben-Hur’s relationship with his old friend Messala was down with the idea that the two were lovers. Script doctor Gore Vidal claims to have convinced the producer, director William Wyler, and actor Stephen Boyd that none of the rest of the film’s high drama involving the relationship would make any sense if there weren’t strong hints that the two had been knocking sandals. Everyone was in on the bit, except for Heston (who was pissed when he found out about it decades later, calling the suggestion an insult to the director). You can stream Ben-Hur on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
The more recent Haunting of Hill House Netflix series, also based on the Shirley Jackson novel, made the subtext text, but the gay vibes between chic and sassy Theo (Claire Bloom) and repressed, mousy Eleanor (Julie Harris) radiate through the early ‘60s original. Theo rebuffs the men who flirt with her in favor of making eyes at shy Eleanor, the two forming a charmingly traditional idea of a lesbian couple: one glamorous and fashion-conscious, the other more of an awkward tomboy. You can rent The Haunting from Prime Video.
A low-budget cult classic with a tone that’s absolutely all over the place, Fear No Evil follows a somewhat effete young man (Stefan Arngrim) who slowly comes to learn that he’s the literal antichrist. He’s bullied relentlessly by the middle-aged actors playing high school jocks, who love nothing more than to strip down to their buff, bare asses and case him around locker rooms (so many male butts on display!). When he finally comes into his own as a Satan figure, our hero announces it by throwing on some make-up and getting revenge. The movie muddles its message; we’re not necessarily meant to cheer for gay Satan climactic rampage, but plenty of viewers have. You can stream Fear No Evil on Tubi and Prime Video.
The subtext here comes through so strongly that it can hardly even be considered subtext, but back in 1985, plenty of straight audiences still missed it. There’s a role-reversal in the film’s basic premise, which puts Jesse (Mark Patton) in the position that would be taken up by the “final girl” in most slasher films of the era. Freddy toys with Jesse, at one point caressing his lips with those finger blades; Jesse flees from danger and his girlfriend in equal distress, and nearly always half-clothed. He runs into his gym teacher in a leather bar, and that same jerk later gets bare-ass spanked to death in a locker room. As a metaphor for the torments of being a closeted teen, you could do a lot worse. You can rent Freddy's Revenge from Prime Video.
When Chris Sarandon and Jonathan Stark move in next door, it’s the usual formula: “I did hear he’s got a live-in carpenter. With my luck, he’s probably gay,” says the main character’s mom. It’s usually “friends” or “roommates,” so “live-in carpenter” is an innovation, but it’s not hard to see what’s really going on. The two turn out to be vampire and familiar, but they share an easy rapport and a genuine concern for each other—a picture of a healthy, supportive relationship, even if they are evil vampires. You can rent Fright Night from Prime Video.
Coming out in the military in 1986 would have seen one dishonorably discharged, which is surely why Top Gun takes a time out, every so often, to reinforce the fact that Tom Cruise really, really likes kissing Kelly McGillis—even though the movie’s central relationship, and heat, is found between Cruise’s Maverick and Val Kilmer’s Iceman. The rest of the movie? Frequently shirtless, often sweaty (well, oiled) Navy boys do things like play volleyball to Kenny Loggins’ “Playing with the Boys,” with sample dialogue including lines like: “I want somebody’s butt! I want it now!” and “I’d like to bust your butt, but I can’t!” Late director Tony Scott copped to using books of gay beefcake photography as his primary reference for how to photograph the movie’s man meat—which probably explains the proliferation of slightly porny mustaches. You can stream Top Gun on Paramount+ and Prime Video.
There’s a lot going on here, and I’m not sure how much of it was intentional (out director Joel Schumacher, later of Batman & Robin, wasn’t known for subtlety). Leather-clad bad boys who want nothing more than to suck (the blood) of slightly more straight-laced teenagers, with a climax that turns on vampiric seduction; a poster of a sweaty Rob Lowe placed prominently in Corey Haim’s room without explanation; that oiled and gyrating sax man, who almost singlehandedly queers the entire film. It’s not straight, I’ll tell you that. You can rent The Lost Boys from Prime Video.
Writer/director Walter Hiller described Red Heat as a “love story” between devoted cops played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Belushi, and though I’m not sure he meant it literally, you wouldn’t have to alter much of the screenplay to make their relationship explicit. This one serves as a stand-in for a lot of hyper-violent, hyper-masculine movies of the 1980s (many of them featuring Schwarzenegger): full of the kind of sweaty man-on-man action that you’d expect, with an entire opening sequence that takes place at a bath house. It’s co-ed, but the male characters are overwhelmingly the focus, fighting in coverings that could barely be described as loincloths. You can rent Red Heat from Prime Video.
As with Hitchcock’s Rope, Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson was inspired, in part, by murderous couple Leopold and Loeb when he created the movies-and-murder-obsessed duo of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard). Even before he spoke about it explicitly in interviews, however, queer fans got it; at the very least, Stu is obviously way into Billy. You can stream Scream on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Start with the generally camp sensibilities of gay director Joel Schumacher (who once claimed to have had sex with tens of thousands of men during his life; not that queer cred is a function of mathematics...but damn), and throw in a batsuit with pronounced nipples, a massive codpiece, and deeper-than-strictly-necessary ass cleavage, and you’ve got a recipe for the gayest superhero epic ever. And that’s all before George Clooney’s Batman adopts a nearly grown man only nine years his junior. You can stream Batman & Robin on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
There’s a point at which hyper-masculinity starts to look an awful lot like homoeroticism, and you have to wonder how many sweaty, shirtless men you can literally toss together in a space that excludes women entirely before it starts to look like a gay club. Oh, and let’s make sure not to mention anything that goes on here to our wives, girlfriends, or co-workers. You can stream Fight Club on Hulu and Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Beloved by cinema kids and dudebros alike, The Matrix broke ground back in 1999 for its blend of trippy philosophizing and fast-paced (and sometimes veeeery slow-paced) action, but there was something else going on under the surface, with themes speaking to the experience of trans people who saw in its fable of transformation from an artificial outward image (life in the Matrix) to one that's truly authentic (awakenening in the real world) as a mirror for the challenges of gender dysphoria. Its story of breaking free from societal constraints has inspired thoughtful analysis and appealed to some of the worst people imaginable (when Elon Musk and Ivanka Trump invoked the film's "red pill" imagery, co-director Lilly Wachowski famously responded with a hearty "Fuck both of you"). Sometimes queer themes emerge from art without much conscious thought on the parts of the creators, but Lily Wachowski has been clear that the trans allegory was always part of this very dense soup. You can stream The Matrix on MGM+ and Peacock or rent it from Prime Video.
Rumor has long held that, as originally conceived, football teammates Jess (Parminder Nagra) and Jules (Keira Knightley) were intended to end up together in a romantic sense, but that changes were made in deference to more conservative American and Indian audiences. Even without that, though, the chemistry between the two star players is palpable, and the moments of hand-holding and even kissing allow for more romantic readings of this above-average entry in the underdogs-win-at-sports genre. You can stream Bend It Like Beckham on Disney+ and Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
If the characters of Sam and Frodo were of different genders, it would be almost impossible not to view their relationship through a romantic lens. Even if we dodge queer readings, though, it’s certainly the case that their story (as in the novels) is a model of male intimacy rare enough in film as to be almost nonexistent. The trilogy is full of male relationships that are almost shockingly supportive and healthy—Sam and Frodo hold hands, cuddle, and literally carry each other at various points. The wise old drag-queen-as-mentor is an age-old trope of explicitly gay movies, and, though his wardrobe is limited, Ian McKellen’s Gandalf, with his luxuriant hair and mid-trilogy glow-up, fits the role flawlessly. You can stream Return of the King on Max and Prime Video.
I'm cautious about reading queer themes into any given male-male bromance—men can just be friends (or so I'm told), and there aren't exactly a ton of great cultural models for healthy male intimacy. But then something like 2 Fast 2 Furious zooms along, with its two leads displaying such sweaty, sassy chemistry alongside Eva Mendes' Agent Monica Fuentes (she refers to them as "girlies") that the whole thing plays like a bisexual fever dream. Paul Walker is Brian O'Conner, returning from the first movie as a disgraced LAPD officer tasked with teaming up with his old friend (or more than friend?) Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson). The two spend the entire movie bickering, wrestling, and putting each other in ostensibly no-homo headlocks while Brian struggles with his attraction to Agent Fuentes, knowing that it will hurt Roman. A key moment comes when Brian does that stare-and-drive flirt thing that we see in car movies; he drives at top speed while never taking his eyes off of Monica. When it's all done, Roman cattily pronounces: "he got that from me." You can rent 2 Fast 2 Furious from Prime Video.
300 practically screams “no homo!” whenever Leonidas or some other nearly naked character talks about the general hardness of the Spartans, but Zack Snyder’s comic book-based breakthrough is also literally every fetish party I’ve ever been to. There's nothing new in the queer-coding of the heavily made-up and bejeweled Persians (the orientalist stereotypes about easterners and their decadent, feminine ways wouldn't surprise the ancient Greeks), but that feels like a movie missing its own point, while also wildly overestimating the heterosexuality of the ancient Spartans. You can stream 300 on MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video.
The story of four young men (oddly old for high schoolers) who are descended from witches and have to fight some kind of evil or something...the plot doesn’t really matter, and the movie’s not very good. But it is an unintentional cult classic, one in which a series of soon-to-be-famous guys do a Craft-lite, but with more locker room scenes. A movie doesn’t have to be good to subvert the typical male gaze of the genre; it’s nice to see the camera leering at the men for once. You can stream The Covenant on Prime Video.
Let it go, Elsa. It’s partly that Elsa is hiding a secret about which she’s terrified that people will discover, and the subsequently joyous sense of liberation that she experiences when she finally does own her power. That all speaks to queer people, but there’s also the fact that there’s no love interest for Elsa in Frozen, when the story of pretty much every other Disney princess has been centered around getting a boyfriend. Frozen 2 left the question of Elsa’s romantic interests open, which feels like a teeny-tiny step forward for a company that’s notoriously desperate not to offend its straight audience. Plus, that climax where she races across the sea on her magic horse is super gay. You can stream Frozen on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video.
The Babadook became a gay icon quite by accident. Though there had been a bit of social media discourse on the topic previously, it all exploded when Netflix lumped the movie into its LGBTQ category for no particular reason. Queer readings were suddenly validated—and fairly, I think. Though on the surface, The Babadook represents grief and the dangers of trying to sweep trauma under the rug, he works every bit as well as a metaphor for closeting. With flawlessly goth style, he torments a mother and young son who try to ignore him and pretend he isn’t real. The more mom tries to shove him back into the metaphorical closet, the more horror he inflicts. It’s only through acceptance that their small family has any hope at all of moving forward. You can stream The Babadook on AMC+, Kanopy, Shudder, Mubi, and Pluto TV or rent it from Prime Video.
Fans felt a great disturbance in the Force around the release of The Force Awakens in 2015, but the millions of voices that were set to applaud the acknowledgement that gay people might exist in Star Wars were slowly, agonizingly silenced. The chemistry between then-new characters Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) seemed to go well beyond friendship, and the movie (and it's direct sequel, The Last Jedi) left open the possibility that there might be more. Alas, the final film in the trilogy introduced heterosexual love interests for both the men, despite both actors strongly suggesting that they would have preferred to play a romantic relationship; given that The Rise of Skywalker almost entirely wrote out Kelly Marie Tran's Rose following "fan" resistance to the franchise's first woman of color and targeted harassment of the actress, the sudden appearance of girlfriends for Poe and Finn feels...very convenient. Bones thrown to the very worst type of SW fan. Still, if one ignores that last movie (not the worst idea), it's still possible to see the seeds of what might have been a groundbreaking moment for the franchise. You can stream The Force Awakens on Disney+ and Starz or rent it from Prime Video.
Tom Hardy broods his way through Venom, the story of a couple of "roommates" who happen to share a body. Possessed by an alien symbiote, Eddie Brock bickers incessantly with his newfound partner before the two start to learn to appreciate, and maybe even love each other. Just a couple of bros out to fight crime? Maybe, but the chemistry is real, and, when Venom takes over the body of Eddie's girlfriend Annie (Michelle Williams) in the final act, it's unclear who exactly is kissing who. Real throuple energy there. You can stream Venom on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video.
You’ll never convince me that the story of two men who meet-cute during an impromptu coordinated bridge rescue and then proceed to spend every waking minute together except for the ones they spend agonizing over the secrets that might tear them apart is not an action-packed rom-com. These guys love three things: taking off their shirts, fighting colonialism with tigers, and each other. You can stream RRR on Netflix.
Loretta Swit, in costume as Maj. Margaret Houlihan, on the set of the hit TV series “M*A*S*H” in 1975.
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HBO was, for at least a couple of generations, the home of movies on cable—no one else could compete. For a while, it seemed like HBO Max Max HBO Max could well be the ultimate streaming destination for movie lovers, but the jury is still out.
Even still, HBO Max maintains a collaboration with TCM, giving it a broad range of classic American and foreign films. It's also the primary streaming home for Studio Ghibli and A24, so even though the streamer hasn't been making as many original films as it did a few years ago, it still has a solid assortment of movies you won't find anywhere else.
Here are 30 of the best of HBO Max's recent and/or exclusive offerings.
The latest from Bong Joon Ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer), Mickey 17 didn't do terribly well at the box office, but that's not entirely the movie's fault. It's a broad but clever and timely satire starring Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, a well-meaning dimwit who signs on with a spaceship crew on its way to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Because of his general lack of skills, he's deemed an Expendable—his memories and DNA are kept on file so that when he, inevitably, dies (often in horrific ways), he'll be reprinted and restored to live and work and die again. Things get complicated when a new Mickey is accidentally printed before the old one has died—a huge taboo among religious types who can handle one body/one soul, but panic at the implications of two identical people walking around. It's also confusing, and eventually intriguing, for Mickey's girlfriend, Nasha (Naomi Ackie). Soon, both Mickey's are on the run from pretty much everyone, including the new colony's MAGA-esque leader (Mark Ruffalo). You can stream Mickey 17 here.
Paul Reubens participated in dozens of hours worth of interviews for this two-part documentary, directed by filmmaker Matt Worth, but from the opening moments, the erstwhile Pee-Wee Herman makes clear that he is struggling with the notion of giving up control of his life story to someone else. That's a through line in the film and, as we learn, in the performer's life, as he spent decades struggling with his public profile while maintaining intense privacy in his personal life. Reubens' posthumous coming out as gay is the headline story, but the whole thing provides a fascinating look at an artist who it seems we barely knew. You can stream Pee-Wee As Himself here.
Brady Corbet's epic period drama, which earned 10 Oscar nominations and won Adrian Brody his second Academy Award for Best Actor, follows László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who emigrates to the United States following the war. His course as a refugee follows highs and devastating lows—he's barely able to find work at first, despite his past as an accomplished Bauhaus-trained architect in Europe. A wealthy benefactor (Guy Pearce) seems like a godsend when he offers László a high-profile project, but discovers the limitations of his talent in the face of American-style antisemitism and boorishness. You can stream The Brutalist here.
Nicole Kidman stars in this modern erotic thriller as CEO Romy Mathis, who begins a dangerous (i.e. naughty) affair with her much younger intern (Harris Dickinson). After an opening scene involving some deeply unfulfilling lovemaking with her husband (we'll have to suspend disbelief on the topic of Antonio Banderas as a schlubby, sexually disappointing husband), Romy runs into Samuel (Dickinson), who saves her from a runaway dog before taking her on as his mentor at work. She teaches him about process automation while he teaches her about BDSM, but his sexy, dorky charm soon gives way to something darker. For all the online chatter (Nicole Kidman on all fours lapping up milk!), the captivating performances, and the chilly direction from Halina Reijn, elevate it above more pruient erotic thrillers. You can stream Babygirl here.
This documentary, centered on the illegal rhinoceros horn trade, gets extra points for going beyond poaching in southern Africa to discuss the global networks involved, and by focusing on the activists and veterinarians working to protect and preserve the endangered species. The broader story is as awful as it is fascinating: webs of smuggling that start with pretend hunts, allowing for quasi-legal exporting of horns to Europe countries (Poland and the Czech Republic being particular points of interest), and often coordinated by Vietnamese mafia organizations. You can stream Bloody Trophy here.
Katie Corwin and Delaney Buffett co-write and star as a pair of lifelong friends, now in their 30s, who find their lives going in very different directions. Delaney (Buffett, who also directs) who has no interest in settling down or committing to one guy, while Katie (Corwin) is afraid to tell her hard-partying bestie that she's getting married. Katie plans a BFF weekend to break the news, only to see that the trip back to their childhood home town fall prey to a string of wild and wacky complications. You can stream Adult Best Friends here.
Inspired by Chris Marker's 1962 featurette La Jetée, which itself inspired the feature 12 Monkeys, docudrama 2073 considers the state of our world in the present through the framing device of a woman (Samantha Morton) gazing back from the titular year and meditating on the road that led to an apocalypse of sorts. Her reverie considers, via real-life, current, news footage, the rise of modern popular authoritarianism in the modes of Orbán, Trump, Putin, Modi, and Xi, and their alignment with tech bros in such a way as to accelerate a coming climate catastrophe. It's not terribly subtle, but neither is the daily news. You can stream 2073 here.
A gorgeous, wordless animated film that follows a cat through a post-apocalyptic world following a devastating flood. The Latvian import, about finding friends and searching for home in uncertain times, won a well-deserved Best Animated Picture Oscar. It's also, allegedly, very popular with pets—though my dog slept right through it. You can stream Flow here.
Two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) show up at the home of a charming, reclusive man (a deeply creepy Hugh Grant) who invites them in because, he says, he wants to explore different faiths. Which turns out to be true—except that he has ideas that go well beyond anything his two guests have in their pamphlets. It soon becomes clear that they're not going to be able to leave without participating in Mr. Reed's games, and this clever, cheeky thriller doesn't always go where you think it's going. You can stream Heretic here.
Director Luca Guadagnino followed up his vaguely bisexual tennis movie Challengers with this less subtle (it's in the title) William S. Burroughs adaptation. Daniel Craig plays William Lee (a fictionalized version of Burroughs himself), a drug-addicted American expat living in Mexico City during the 1950s. He soon becomes infatuated with Drew Starkey's Eugene Allerton, and the two take a gorgeous journey through Mexico, through ayahuasca, and through their own sexualities. You can stream Queer here.
Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn) invite both their sets of parents to a remote country rental so that everyone can meet, which sounds like plenty of horror for this horror-comedy. But wait! There's more: A demon conjured from the wifi router enters the body of Rohan's dad (Brian Cox), an event further complicated by the arrival of the house's owner (Parker Posey). It's wildly uneven, but there's a lot of fun to be had. The supporting cast includes Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, and Dean Norris. You can stream The Parenting here.
Clint Eastwood's latest (last?) is a high-concept legal drama that boasts a few impressive performances highlighted by his straightforward directorial style. Nicholas Hoult stars as Justin Kemp, a journalist and recovering alcoholic assigned to jury duty in Savannah, Georgia. The case involves the death of a woman a year earlier, presumably killed by the defendant, her boyfriend at the time. But as the case progresses,Kemp slowly comes to realize that he knows more about the death than anyone else in the courtroom, and has to find a way to work to acquit the defendant without implicating himself. You can stream Juror #2 here.
While Godzilla Minus One proved that Japanese filmmakers remain adept at wringing genuine drama out of tales of the city-destroying kaiju, the American branch of the franchise is offering up deft counter-programming. That is to say, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is every bit as ridiculous as its title suggests, with Godzilla and Kong teaming up to battle a tribe of Kong's distant relatives—they live in the other dimensional Hollow Earth and have harnessed the power of an ice Titan, you see. It's nothing more, nor less, than a good time with giant monsters. You can stream Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire here.
Director John Crowley had a massive critical success with 2015's Brooklyn, but 2019's The Goldfinch was a disappointment in almost every regard. Nonlinear romantic drama We Live in Time, then, feels like a bit of a return to form, with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield displaying impressive chemistry as the couple at the film's center. The two meet when she hits him with her car on the night he's finalizing his divorce, and the movie jumps about in their relationship from the early days, to a difficult pregnancy, to a cancer diagnosis, without ever feeling excessively gimmicky. You can stream We Live in Time here.
Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is a pretty cool dad in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest, taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see a very cool Billie Eilish-ish pop star in concert. But we soon learn that Cooper is also a notorious serial killer (this is not the patented Shyamalan twist, in case you were worried about spoilers). The FBI knows that "The Butcher" will be at the concert, even if they don't know exactly who it is, and the whole thing is a, yes, trap that Cooper must escape. Of such premises are fun thrillers made, and Hartnett has fun with the central role, his performance growing increasingly tic-y and unhinged even as Cooper tries to make sure his daughter gets to enjoy the show. You can stream Trap here.
While we're on the subject of M. Night Shyamalan, he produced this trippy thriller that spends a big chunk of its runtime looking like a working-class drama before going full whackadoo in ways best not spoiled. Eliza Scanlen stars as Ellie, who lives near the title lake with her family, and where it appears that her 8-year-old stepsister has vanished. Dylan O'Brien plays Paris, who works dredging the lake while dealing with survivor's guilt and the trauma of his mother's slightly mysterious death. Their stories (and backstories) merge when they discover that one doesn't always leave the lake the same as they went in. You can stream Caddo Lake here.
Denis Villeneuve stuck the landing on his adaptation of the latter part of Frank Herbert's epic novel, so much so that Dune zealots are already looking ahead to a third film, adapting the second book in the series. The chilly (metaphorically) and cerebral sequel was a critical as well as a box office success—surprising on both counts, especially considering that the beloved book was once seen as more or less unadaptable (with the deeply weird David Lynch version serving as Exhibit A in support of that assertion). If you're playing catch-up, HBO Max also has the first Dune, and the rather excellent spin-off series (Dune: Prophecy). You can stream Dune: Part Two here.
Julio Torres (creator of Los Espookys and Fantasmas, also available on HBO Max) wrote, produced, directed, and stars in this surreal comedy about a toy designer from El Salvador working in the United States under a visa that's about to expire. What to do but take a desperation job with quirky, volatile artist Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton)? The extremely offbeat and humane comedy has been earning raves since it debuted at South by Southwest last year. RZA, Greta Lee, and Isabella Rossellini also star. You can stream Problemista here.
The final (for now, anyway) film in Ti West's X trilogy once again stars Mia Goth as fame-obsessed Maxine Minx. Moving on from adult films, Maxine gets a lead role in a horror movie, only to find herself watched by a leather-clad assailant. This film-industry take-down includes Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon, and Giancarlo Esposito in its solid cast. You can stream MaXXXine here.
An anime-infused take on Tolkien's world, The War of the Rohirrim boats the return of co-writer Philippa Boyens, who helped to write each of the six previous LOTR movies. In this animated installment, we're taken back 200 years before Peter Jackson's films, to when the king of Rohan (Brian Cox) accidentally kills the leader of the neighboring Dunlendings during marriage negotiations, kicking off a full-scale war. Miranda Otto reprises her role of Éowyn, who narrates. You can stream War of the Rohirrim here.
Though it was all but shut out at the Oscars (getting only a nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling), A Different Man made several of 2024's top ten lists, and earned Sebastian Stan a Golden Globe (he got an Oscar nomination for an entirely different movie, so the erstwhile Winter Soldier had a pretty good year). Here he plays Edward, an actor with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that manifests in his body as a disfiguring facial condition. An experimental procedure cures him, and Edward assumes a new identity—which does nothing to tame his deep-rooted insecurities, especially when he learns of a new play that's been written about is life. It's a surprisingly funny look into a damaged psyche. You can stream A Different Man here.
Alternating between Christopher Reeve's life before and after the horse riding accident that paralyzed him, this heartfelt and heart wrenching documentary follows the Superman actor as he becomes an activist for disability rights. Archival footage of Christopher and wife Dana blends with new interviews with their children, as well as with actors and politicians who knew and worked with them both. You can stream Super/Man here.
A fictional story based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, this Best Picture nominee follows Diving G (Colman Domingo), an inmate who emerges as a star performer in the group. The movie celebrates the redemptive power of art and play with a tremendous central performance from Domingo, who was also Oscar-nominated. You can stream Sing Sing here.
Real-life married couple Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne directed this comedy based, loosely, on Allyne's own life. Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a directionless 32-year-old woman in Los Angeles who finds that her unsatisfying romantic life might have something to do with her being other than straight. She navigates her journey of self-discovery and coming out with the help of her best friend Jane (House of the Dragon's Sonoya Mizuno). You can stream Am I OK? here.
In a world of movies that are very carefully calibrated to be as inoffensive as possible, it's nice to see something as muscular, frenetic, and uncompromising as Love Lies Bleeding. Kristen Stewart plays small-town gym manager Lou; she's the daughter of the local crime boss (Ed Harris), with a sister (Jena Malone) suffering from the abuse of her no-good husband (Dave Franco). It's all quietly tolerated until bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) stops off in town. She's 'roided up and ready for action, falling hard for Lou before the two of them get caught up in an act of violence that sends everything spiraling toward a truly wild final act. You can stream Love Lies Bleeding here.
A provocative title for a provocative documentary film, Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. sees playwright Jeremy O. Harris exploring the creative process behind the title work, a play that earned a record number of Tony nominations, won none, and that is equally loved and hated (it's about interracial couples having sex therapy at an antebellum-era plantation house). The narrative here is entirely non-linear, and the rules of a traditional making-of are out the window, with Harris instead taking a nearly train-of-thought approach to examining the process of creating the play, and in understanding reactions to it. You can stream Slave Play here.
While the live-action DC slate went out with a whimper (at least until next year's Superman reboot), the animated series of films has been chugging along more quietly, but also with more success. This trilogy adapts the altogether biggest story in DC history, as heroes from across the multiverse are brought together to prevent an antimatter wave that's wiping out entire universes. Darren Criss, Stana Katic, Jensen Ackles, and Matt Bomer are among the voice cast. You can stream Crisis on Infinite Earths, starting with Part One, here.
Adapted from a short story by Susan Hill (The Woman in Black), The Front Room gets a fair bit of mileage out of its in-law-from-hell premise. Brandy plays Belinda, a pregnant anthropology professor forced to quit her job by hostile working conditions. Her deeply weird mother-in-law Solange (a scene-stealing Kathryn Hunter) makes Brandy and husband Norman an offer that could solve the resulting financial problems: if they'll take care of her in her dying days, she'll leave them everything. Of course, the psychic religious fanatic has no interest in making any of that easy. It's more silly than scary, but perfectly entertaining if that's the kind of mood you're in. You can stream The Front Room here.
We spend a lot of time fearing new technology, often with good reason, but Quad Gods offers a brighter view: for people with quadriplegia, for whom spots like football are out of the question, esports offer a means of competing and socializing among not only other people with physical restrictions, but in the broader world of what's become a major industry. While exploring the contrast between day-to-day life for the Quad Gods team and their online gaming talents, the documentary is an impressively upbeat look at the ways in which technology can put us all on a similar playing field. You can stream Quad Gods here.
There's not much new in this Anthony Mackie-lad post-apocalyptic thriller, but Elevation is nonetheless a well-executed action movie that never feels dumb. Just a few years before the film opens, predatory Reapers rose from deep underground and wiped out 95% of humanity. Now, single dad Will (Mackie) is forced to leave his sanctuary to travel to Boulder, Colorado, the closest place he can get air filters to help with his son's lung disease. On the way, he's joined, reluctantly, by scientist Nina (Morena Baccarin), whose lab may contain a way to kill the Reapers. You can stream Elevation here.
Nasir Shaikh at a trailer launch in Mumbai, India, in February for a new film about his life and work.
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The tendency in movie runtimes seems to be trending toward length, and even if the data doesn’t really bear this out, recent, super-long installments in big box office franchises at least mean the bloat feels real. For some reason these wildly popular series feel the need to justify their existence by lashing us to our seats for well over two hours, when many of us might have happily paid the same price for a flick that would give us the hope of ever getting home to see our dogs again.
Still, a movie’s quality isn’t determined by its length, and most of us are watching these things at home anyway. Some stories are just more effective when they take their time—either because they have so much to say and do that nothing feels wasted, or because it allows them the freedom to luxuriate in setting a mood and building a compelling world filled with interesting characters. As the critic Roger Ebert once said, no good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough.
An interesting case here is the 1984 classic Amadeus: There are plenty of stories of studios butchering films only to have a director step in later with fixes. This might be a case of the opposite, at least to many critics: the film was released at around 161 minutes, only for Miloš Forman to create a director's cut in 2002 adding back in an additional 20 minutes or so. There's a lot of debate about the value of the extra bits (I've only ever seen the shorter version), but rough consensus is that the shorter, tighter theatrical version is superior. For a couple of decades now, the longer Amadeus is the only one that's been readily available, which is about to change as the original theatrical cut has been subject to a restoration and a forthcoming release.
So here are 35 good (or great) movies, all of which run to nearly three hours (or much longer), all of which also justify their runtimes by generally making every second worth the sit.
Running time: 2 hours and 52 minutes (director's cut) or 2 hours and 31 minutes (theatrical cut)
Why it’s worth your time: The late, great Miloš Forman directs this unconventional biopic of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapting the play by Peter Shaffer, who also wrote the screenplay (they both won Oscars for it, as did lead F. Murray Abraham). Unlike the typical plodding biography, Amadeus tells its story not through the eyes and experiences of Mozart (Tom Hulce) himself, but those of his archnemesis, Antonio Salieri (Abraham), a composer doomed to exist forever in the shadow of the greater talent. The result is an epic, bitchy meditation on relative mediocrity—Salieri is good, maybe even great, but struggles to achieve a portion of what seems to come to Mozart without effort. It’s got all of the gorgeous period trappings you’d expect, while also telling a deep, juicy story about the price of (understandable) jealousy. You can rent Amadeus (Director's Cut) from Prime Video.
The Oscars gave a big boost to the limited-release period drama from director Brady Corbet. Adrien Brody stars as Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor László Tóth, a Bauhaus-trained architect who struggles over the course of decades to achieve anything resembling the American dream. The American immigrant experience frequently provides a rich tapestry against which to create an epic film; it's a topic we'll return to in this list. You can buy The Brutalist from Prime Video.
Running time: 2 hours and 40 minutes
I was skeptical, to say the least, when I learned that the adaptation of the musical (itself based on the Gregory Maguire book) would be split into two films, the first one alone running nearly the length of the entire stage show. I needn't have worried. Director Jon M. Chu has been on a bit of a roll since 2018's Crazy Rich Asians, and Wicked sees him at the height of his powers. It's a wonderfully old-school musical extravaganza, and by "old school" I mean that it's almost entirely free of the cynicism and self-consciousness that have grown so tiresome in other big-budget movies—no one makes awkward jokes about how wacky it is that they're singing. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande sell every note while hitting all the right emotional beats, as well. Here's hoping that the sequel sticks the landing. You can buy Wicked from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Steven Spielberg's most beautifully photographed film is also his most devastating, exploring the brutality of the Holocaust from the perspective of the real-life Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson). The German industrialist saved the lives of over a thousand Polish–Jewish refugees in his factories during World War II, but not out of a sense of innate heroism: His actions, as the movie makes clear, were born of compromise—a desire to do some little thing to help that grew in heroism and righteousness. Rather than wallow in the horrors, the movie explores the cost and the power of saving even a single life, and that bit of hopefulness propels it through its runtime. You can stream Schindler's List on Netflix or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 2 hours and 49 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: While mileage may vary when it comes to the film's more metaphysical final act, everything that leads up to it is an uncommonly smart space spectacle—one that works very hard to get the science right without sacrificing the emotional beats. From a blighted Earth of the near future, a group of astronauts set out to explore a wormhole discovered near Saturn with hope of finding a new home for humanity. Blending human drama and existential dread with some truly breathtaking cinematography, Christopher Nolan's film explores outer space with scientific rigor while ultimately telling a story about human hearts. You can stream Interstellar on Paramount+ and Netflix or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 49 minutes
After a string of genre-defining spaghetti westerns, Italian director Sergio Leone capped his career with one helluva swan song: among the most epic crime films ever made, and one of the most searing and astute films about the promise and peril of America. The movie depicts the lives of best friends David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and Maximilian "Max" Bercovicz (James Woods) as they become power plays in the world of New York City organized crime. Unlike, say, The Godfather, Leone has no rose-colored glasses when it comes to the trials of the immigrant experience, nor of the violence and horrifying misogyny of the criminal underworld. For all of that, it's so skillfully and mesmerizingly made that it's impossible to look away. The movie was shockingly mistreated on its initial release, such that efforts to restore missing scenes are still underway. Nevertheless, the restored 229-minute version currently commonly available is a massive improvement over the approximately two-hour version originally released in U.S. theaters. You can stream Once Upon a Time in America on Prime Video.
Running time: 2 hours and 45 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: It might have come across as a gimmick, but Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, Before Sunrise) is far too good and consistent a filmmaker to fall into that trap. By design, this coming-of-age story was produced over the course of 12 years, filming year by year in order to capture the growth and changes in the lead characters, particularly the titular boy-to-man, Mason Evans Jr., played by Ellar Coltrane. It won overwhelming praise for its extraordinary sense of realism and emotional power, with great performances all around. You can stream Boyhood on The Criterion Channel.
Running time: 2 hours and 47 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: First of all, bear in mind that the running time listed above is for the short version. There’s a much longer cut that I’d recommend, generally (it’s the only one I’ve seen), but perhaps isn’t for everyone. Director Ingmar Bergman is joined by Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson (two of the most impressive modern film actors) to create this fascinating portrait of a disintegrating marriage. It’s not a soap opera, and not a movie of screaming fights and thrown ashtrays, but instead a story of two people who haven’t fallen out of love, precisely, but who definitely no longer know how to live with each other. As beautiful as it is brutal, its realism and believability is such that it often feels like we’re peeking around a corner, seeing something that we ought not be seeing. Director and actors returned to these characters 30 years later for Saraband, a poignant epilogue and Bergman’s final film. You can stream Scenes from a Marriage on The Criterion Channel and Max.
Running time: 2 hours and 50 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: This documentary, about two Black teenagers (William Gates and Arthur Agee) recruited for a predominantly white high school’s basketball program, is every bit as fascinating and relevant today as it was back in 1994, in ways both inspiring and depressing. Their stories of their lives, told over the course of six years, are fascinating and engaging, though they speak to much larger issues: These teenagers see success in professional basketball as their only way out and up in the America they inhabit—that vanishingly small chance of success still representing their best hopes. Through Gates and Agee, documentarian Steve James explores daily life beyond media depictions of “the ghetto” as merely a place for white people to avoid, as well as the grift that’s at the heart of anyone promising the American dream. You can stream Hoop Dreams on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 2 hours and 50 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Released just a year after the conclusion of World War II, this William Wyler drama tells the stories of three United States servicemen readjusting to civilian life following harrowing tours overseas. Al left home as a successful bank employee, but risks his post-wartime promotion with excessive drinking and a soft touch when it comes to giving loans to fellow vets; Fred suffers from PTSD and has trouble finding a job; Homer lost both hands and struggles with being an object of pity. Given the era and the timing, it's almost shockingly prescient in its depiction of the struggles that veterans would face following not just WWII, but each war that would follow (and probably all preceding, though no one ever talked about it). The film always pulls back from melodrama in favor of sobering realism. You can stream The Best Years of Our Lives on Peacock and Prime Video.
Running time: 2 hours and 54 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer star in this popular musical with gorgeous scenery and some of the most sing-along-able songs in musical history. It's all delightful, until the encroaching shadow of Naziism threatens the budding, unlikely romance between a novitiate nun and a stern, wealthy former naval officer. Its blend of big-screen style and at least a little bit of substance have made it one of our most beloved musicals for decades. You can stream The Sound of Music on Disney+ and Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 2 hours and 56 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Wildly kinetic, Da 5 Bloods doesn’t feel nearly as long as its runtime. Revisiting the Vietnam War film genre with an insistent focus on the (often ignored) experience of Black Americans, Spike Lee brings new relevance to stories from the period by drawing some stark and straight lines between then and now with the story of four veterans who return to Vietnam in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader—and the gold he helped them hide. Every actor in it is incredible, including Chadwick Boseman in one of his final roles. You can stream Da 5 Bloods on Netflix.
Running time: 3 hours
Why it’s worth your time: The wellspring of nearly all modern wuxia filmmaking (think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), A Touch of Zen is a gorgeous widescreen martial arts epic, worth watching for the cinematography alone, though the fight choreography is equally thrilling. It’s the story of a noblewoman-turned-fugitive who seeks refuge in a remote village and winds up using stories of the location’s rumored hauntings as a weapon against her pursuers. It has big ideas on its mind, as well: Yang, the fugitive, struggles with issues of social order versus corruption, as well as ideas of traditional womanhood that defy her role as a warrior. You can stream A Touch of Zen on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours
Why it’s worth your time: This Best Picture Oscar winner follows brilliant, conflicted Cillian Murphy as the titular theoretical physicist, who helped America to develop the world's first nuclear weapons during World War II. Amid a talky screenplay peppered with occasional bravura effects sequences, writer/director Christopher Nolan never loses sight of his complicated lead, nor of the muddy, ugly morality behind Oppenheimer's work. You can stream Oppenheimer on Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours
Why it’s worth your time: Look: Inland Empire is not for everyone. It's possibly the most purely Lynchian of any film in the director's oeuvre, and that's either a massive selling point, or a reason to stay far away. I love it, but I also have no idea what it's about. I'm not sure anyone does, but Laura Dern gives a brilliant, shattering performance as a Hollywood actress whose life descends into utter madness, and that's worth taking in all on its own. You'll feel as though you're walking through a nightmare with her, in ways both draining and thrilling. You can stream Inland Empire on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 1 minute
Why it’s worth your time: It probably requires at least a passing familiarity with the 20+ films that preceded it—I doubt that this would have nearly the power it does for someone who hadn’t seen a key handful of them—but there is power here, at least in terms of cinematic spectacle. For all of our sequel-obsessed movie culture, no one else has ever made it to this point, to be able to offer an effective summing up of a series that’s been so successful over so many films. The whole “time heist” bit allows a clever way to revisit scenes from the past, while the climactic action set piece is one for the ages. The movie even manages to end, once the fighting’s done, on a several impressively emotional notes. It’s not a jumping-on point, really, but it’s a satisfying climax— even if as a conclusion, it’s really more of a pause. You can stream Avengers: Endgame on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 2 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: So much springs from Akira Kurosawas’s Seven Samurai: it was remade in Hollywood as The Magnificent Seven, and thus became the template for a certain type of “team is assembled/goes on mission” style of movie (other versions include A Bug's Life). It’s been a tremendous inspiration to George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, and even Zack Snyder. The coming together of a band of misfits and outsiders, theretofore virtually unheard of in Japanese filmmaking, is also an element that’s frequently referenced. Samurai’s length (it’s the longest film of Kurosawa’s career) is justified by its performances, as well as by writer/director Kurosawa himself: He’s best known in the west for his samurai movies, but his filmography encompasses quiet, meditative character dramas as well, and so he brings sharp characterization alongside the action. And yes, it's long, but you should see it on the big screen (TV or otherwise) if you can—it was restored in 4K in 2024. You can stream Seven Samurai on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 7 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Action movies should almost certainly not be as long as RRR, but unlike many examples of American blockbuster, there is not one single dull moment in this Tollywood epic. Likewise, a historical drama that touches on the national trauma brought on by the British Raj and depicting two real-life revolutionaries who died as martyrs to the cause of independence shouldn’t be this much fun, but somehow the context only makes it more satisfying. Find me a more thrilling moment in the movies than the bit where a truck full of wild animals is forcefully unleashed upon a sedate gathering at a British politician’s estate. You can stream RRR on Netflix.
Running time: 3 hours and 5 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: The Leopard is absolutely gorgeous, no question. Probably one of the most beautifully directed and photographed films in history—which still wouldn’t be enough to justify its length if it wasn’t also dramatically compelling. But that it is, and it’s also challenging: It’s a portrait of an oppressive way of life among the extraordinarily wealthy Sicilian aristocracy of the 19th century as they have their last big fling, whether they knew it or not. Built on the backs of the poor and working class, their lifestyle deserves to die out (if only), and witness to it all is Burt Lancaster’s Don Fabrizio Corbera, a generally good man of his time whose gaze turns the display of excess into something almost funereal. Director Luchino Visconti was a Marxist who had no love for the aristocracy, so the fact that he’s willing to present a sympathetic portrait of a social class on the verge of extinction (in that time and place, anyway) provides enough tension to keep you glued to the couch. There are a few different versions, but the director's preferred version runs at 185 minutes, and that's mostly the one you'll find streaming. You can rent The Leopard from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 8 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: It’s been joked that Paul Thomas Anderson’s films aren’t long because the stories call for it, but because they need more editing. That’s unfair, particularly here, in a film that is certainly meandering by design: Full of stories of love and loss intersecting, often by coincidence, the film’s core thesis has to do with the cycles of abuse that we’re locked into as children—but explores that idea in ways that are frequently funny and surprising. Like the Aimee Mann song sung by all the characters at the impressive, infamous, amphibious climax, it’s all about the hurt we’ll keep inflicting on ourselves if we refuse to wise up. You can rent Magnolia from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 8 minutes
Originally conceived as a television miniseries, the three-hour+ theatrical version of Ingmar Bergman's later-career triumph actually represents something like a director's cut; the full version is more than five hours. Fanny and Alexander stars Pernilla Allwin and Bertil Guve as the young siblings of the title, living happily with their theater-people parents. Then, their father dies and their mother remarries a joyless jerk of a bishop. Intended to be the director's swan song, the autobiographical story feels like a summation of Bergman's career, exploring many of the very heavy themes that he'd tackled earlier, but with a greater sense of perspective, and even a little whimsy. You can stream Fanny and Alexander on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 10 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Spencer Tracy leads an all-star cast (Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Montgomery Clift, among others) in this genuinely gripping legal drama depicting a fictionalized version of one of the 12 Nuremberg Military Tribunals that determined the horrifying extent of Nazi war crimes following World War II. If the familiar faces in the cast can be a little distracting, it remains a sober, serious film that builds to a climax simultaneously moving and disturbing. Some 60 years later, it remains depressingly timely in its conviction that everyday, ordinary people are capable of monstrous behavior, given the right incentive. You can stream Judgment at Nuremberg on Tubi and MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 14 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Say what you will about the occasionally clunky characterization and dialogue, James Cameron makes tremendous use of the lengthy running time here. By the time the iceberg appears onscreen, more than an hour in, Cameron and company have provided us a thorough tour of the ship without our even realizing it: We’ve poked our heads into the bridge, the engine rooms, parlors, staterooms of every class and decks on nearly every level—even gotten a thoroughly sweaty look at the cars in cargo. When the ship meets its destiny during the real-time sequence that takes up most of the rest of the movie, we’re nearly as familiar with it as we would be had we been onboard—which makes the action easier to follow, and the tragedy hit harder. You can stream Titanic on Hulu, Paramount+, and MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 17 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Stanley Kubrick's first foray into epic-scale filmmaking feels like an outlier in his oeuvre, blending the director's stylistic trademarks with the elements that feel a little more traditionally Hollywood. It all works, especially given the subtext at play: Written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, the slave revolt depicted here draws strong parallels to America's communist witch hunts. (The insistence on the part of lead Kirk Douglas that Trumbo be given credit under his own name, rather than a pseudonym, helped put the blacklist—well, that particular blacklist—to bed once and for all.) What's on screen, then, is an uncommonly smart old-school action spectacle—sword-and-sandal action with plenty to say about modern American life and politics. You can rent Spartacus on Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 20 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: There’s an awful lot to tell when it comes to the life of Malcolm X, even given his murder—his story crosses continents and political eras, bringing various disparate elements of the Civil Rights Movement into its orbit. It’s hard to imagine any sort of comprehensive biopic not taking up a lot of time. There are standard beats to these types of movies, but Spike Lee is one of the most accomplished and significant directors in modern history, and so manages to sidestep the obvious choices and sameness that often plagues the “important biopic.” Likewise, Denzel Washington’s performance is uncanny and essential. You can stream Malcolm X on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 20 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: It’s tempting to joke about those cascading faux-endings, but, in truth, this movie justifies its runtime—and that of the entire trilogy. It’s a crowning achievement in terms of spectacle and pure watchability, but also impressively emotional in the ways in which it brings various character arcs to often poignant conclusions. It didn’t win a (still unmatched) record number of Academy Awards, including Best Picture, for nothing. Honestly, when watching it I’ll always go for the extended version, which is an hour longer still, though that length is much easier to handle at home. You can stream Return of the King on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 21 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Over three suffocating days (and three hours of runtime), single mother Jeanne Dielman (Delphine Seyrig) cooks, cleans, and engages in a bit of light but joyless sex work in order to pay the bills. Chantal Akerman’s weird and funny masterpiece crafts the drudgery of one woman’s daily life into an unconventional, uncompromising, and mesmerizing epic. Many critics at the time felt that there had never before been quite such an exploration of the feminine experience (not surprising given the dearth of women directors), and it inspired filmmakers of later decades to reconsider what a movie about women could achieve. (It's worth noting that a 2002 Sight and Sound critics poll of the best films ever made put this one right at the top.) You can stream Jeanne Dielman on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 22 minutes (in the “Roadshow” version)
Why it’s worth your time: First of all: There are a couple of versions of Stanley Kramer’s zany road movie—the cut you’ll find most readily is the shorter 2 hour and 43 minute one, but viewers with exceptionally strong bladders might opt for the premiere-length 3 hour and 22 minute version (The Criterion Collection has it). Neither feels nearly so long, and that’s to the credit of the film’s light touch. Lead by Spencer Tracy and a huge cast of ‘60s-era stars, it’s about several different groups of motorists who get wind of $350,000 in cash buried in a park at the other end of the state, and set off on a race for the money. What makes it work as more than a setup for slapstick driving antics is the incredibly smart decision to have these beloved stars play universally terrible people who only get worse as various setbacks they encounter on the road serve to feed their greed; that shading adds some delicious schadenfreude to the silliness. You can stream It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World on Tubi and Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 22 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Each film in this series is on the long side, but Part II is the longest by quite a bit. Perhaps unusually, it’s also the best, justifying all those extra minutes with a subplot as compelling as the film’s primary thread: While Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone continues the long descent that concludes with a fatal kiss, we visit the origin of the Corleone family in America through Robert De Niro’s portrayal of young Vito Corleone. There’s hardly a moment here that isn’t thoroughly compelling. You can stream The Godfather II on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 28 minutes
While there's no question that it would be nice had this story been told by Osage filmmakers, we could do a lot worse than to have Martin Scorsese behind the camera for an epic account of unspeakable greed in a specifically American vein. Lily Gladstone is transcendent as the real-life Mollie Burkhart, who finds herself at the center of the Osage Indian murders. when a blessing of oil discovered on tribal land turns to a nightmare. You can stream Killers of the Flower Moon on Apple TV+ or buy it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 47 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: It’s probably the most obvious choice for a list like this, but David Lean’s epic has retained its power for so many decades (and over so many minutes of screen time) for a reason. It is, in many ways, the platonic ideal of a Hollywood epic—the one by which all others are judged. But it’s also impressively complex, set during a period with continued relevancy, and starring a title character who skirts the line between philosophical hero and delusional megalomaniac. At nearly 60 years old, it’s still a transporting work. You can stream Lawrence of Arabia on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 4 hours and 2 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Historically, even most stage versions of Hamlet(Shakespeare’s longest work) are truncated; there are entire scenes even devoted fans of the Bard have likely never seen performed. Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 adaptation doesn’t take any such shortcuts—it's the rare instance (and the only filmed version) of the play presented in its entirety. There are compensations for your time, though: Branagh eschews Hamlet’s traditional gloominess for gorgeous, bright visual spectacle; he also presents an impressive cast (with himself at the lead) that includes Julie Christie, Kate Winslet, and Derek Jacobi. There are even appearances by several very unexpected performers in bit parts (Billy Crystal, for example, is shockingly good as the First Gravedigger). And, unlike a live performance, you can stop this one for snacks whenever you want. You can stream Hamlet on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 2 hours and 56 minutes
Another three-hour comic book movie? At least Avengers: Endgame had the decency to be the climax of a 22-film saga—surely the eighth solo Batman flick (depending on how you count) has no excuse. And maybe not—but co-writer/director Matt Reeves' first go-round with Robert Pattinson under the cowl actually manages to keep you engaged for the entire time by allowing Batman to be a detective again. Watching a younger, (even more) emotionally damaged Bruce Wayne methodically piece together the clues in a vast conspiracy tied to his own origins and involving familiar baddies like the Riddler (Paul Dano), the Penguin (Colin Farrell under pounds of makeup), and Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) feels like binging a season of one of those Swedish crime procedurals on Netflix. It's gorgeous to look at, too, with moody black and red cinematography from Oscar nominee Greig Fraser. You can stream The Batman on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 5 minutes
Why it’s worth your time: Ryan O’Neal’s Barry Lyndon is hardly the type of protagonist we’re used to in this type of epic period drama: he’s largely a character without any defining morality, and one to whom events occur that he doesn’t take much hand in shaping. When it suits him to tell the truth, he’s conspicuously honest—but he’s perfectly content to lie if that’s the easiest route. Kubrick is one of the very few filmmakers who could draw us in to the story of this 18th century gold-digger, and Ryan O’Neal makes him compulsively watchable, if not particularly sympathetic. You can rent Barry Lyndon from Prime Video.
Running time: 3 hours and 9 minutes
Sure, this thing totally bombed in theaters, and its excesses are definitely not for all tastes. But as screen spectacles go, they don't get much grander than La La Land helmer Damien Chazelle's literally and figuratively orgiastic Hollywood coming-of-age story. It's an unhinged three-hour dive into the glitz, glamor, and wild indulgences of the movie business circa the switchover from silents to talkies. It's loud, garish, and buzzing with cocaine-fueled energy, but for every misstep (an opening sequences featuring a mountain of elephant excrement sprayed directly into the camera) there are two bravura sequences (my favorite being a tortured depiction of what it's like to film a movie scene under intense pressure that could be a short film all on its own), and the cast is full of movie stars (Brad Pitt and a pre-Barbie Margot Robbie being the standouts) the way they used to make 'em—bigger than life, and too much to crame into a standard runtime. You can stream Babylon on Prime Video and MGM+.
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During his Presidential campaign, new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised an eight-year halt on infectious disease research, presumably because our chances of encountering any sort of infectious disease will be nearly zero once the fluoride is gone from our water supply. As we celebrate the disease-free world of the very near future, let's take a look back at movies that explore worlds in which viruses and diseases (or related metaphors) run rampant.
These movies vary wildly in their tones and styles, but there are some recurring themes: Science and scientists (however flawed) are almost always a source of hope, while the efficacy of politicians and bureaucracy in harnessing technology to provide assistance is mixed, reflecting our deep ambivalence about the power and willingness of government to help us in times of crisis. Some of these movies suggest that we're largely on our own in times of viral crisis, but only where medicine is absent. Others, ones with less of a sense of the inevitable, turn on the development of vaccines or related cures. In the movies, at least, it seems that medical science is where hope lies.
Blending virology with disaster-movie swagger, Wolfgang Petersen's medical thriller might not be the most rigid in its adherence to science, Outbreak finds an all-star cast fighting to stop an epidemic of Motaba, a fictional Ebola-esque disease that mutates after having been smuggled into the country via an infected capuchin monkey from the jungle of Zaire. It's very '90s, I suppose, that the terror would come from the heart of Africa, while efforts by to prevent the virus from killing everyone in a small California town are complicated by factions in the U.S. military who want to keep it a secret, potentially to use as a weapon. Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, and Cuba Gooding Jr. are among the film's scientists and co-conspirators. You can rent Outbreak from Prime Video.
It's tempting to say that a smallpox epidemic runs rampant in the margins of this decent, if middling, noir—but the outbreak story is, ultimately, what elevates this 1950 crime drama. Based around a very real 1947 smallpox epidemic in NYC, the title's inadvertent killer is Sheila Bennett (Evelyn Keyes), a diamond smuggler on the run who's unaware that she's spreading disease in the wake of evading the authorities (the real patient zero was a traveling rug merchant, not a jewel-smuggling femme fatale). In real life, and as depicted in the movie, a massive vaccination campaign saw civic authorities, pharmaceutical companies, and the military team up to provide vaccines alongside thousands of volunteers. 600,000 New Yorkers got shots in just the first week, and the outbreak ultimately saw only two smallpox fatalities. The movie, rather, turns on the hunt for Sheila in the hope that she'll do the right thing and provide the contact tracing necessary to ensure that those most directly affected get their shots. You can stream The Killer That Stalked New York on Prime Video and Pluto TV.
A group of scientists approach James Cole (Bruce Willis), a prisoner in the (rapidly approaching) year 2035 with a mission: They're going to send him back in time to 1996, the year a deadly plague began wiping out most of humanity, in the hope that he can gather a sample of the original virus to help them develop a cure. Not the wildest medical idea we've heard lately! Unfortunately, Cole gets sent back too early and finds his mission jeopardized when he winds up in a mental institution. The movie's themes are around the general stickiness of our choices, and the ways in which the ball of fate, once started rolling, is very, very hard to stop. You can rent 12 Monkeys from Prime Video.
One of the very best, and almost certainly most psychedelic, of Roger Corman's collaborations with Vincent Price, this Poe adaptation is a sumptuous descent into hell. Price plays Prince Prospero, a sadistic nobleman in Medieval Italy. When a local woman dies of the mysterious titular plague, Prospero orders the village burned and invites the wealthy nobility to his castle. With the desperate, now homeless villagers baying at the gates, the local gentry party their way through the end of the world, oblivious to the suffering they've caused—at least until a procession of the world's illnesses finds them all drunk and unprepared. A happy ending, you might say. You can stream Masque of the Red Death on Pluto TV or rent it from Prime Video.
The relative accuracy of Steven Soderbergh's drama is as fascinating as it is frustrating: The idea of a bat-evolved respiratory virus with a death toll in the millions that leads to mass quarantines as well as social distancing, while also providing plenty of material for conspiracy theorists—well, it suggests that there were things we might have been better prepared for. While hitting a few of the same disaster-movie beats as Outbreak, this one is, on the whole, more subdued and, apparently, far more scientifically accurate. You can rent Contagion from Prime Video.
The always-reliable director Robert Wise adapts Michael Crichton's novel about a microorganism from Earth's upper atmosphere that causes nearly instantaneous blood clotting. Which is bad. The paranoid responses are worse. It works much like other Crichton stories: A somewhat outlandish premise played absolutely straight (think Jurassic Park), such that you almost start to freak out about it happening. You can rent The Andromeda Strain from Prime Video.
The first of three major adaptations of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Matheson himself worked on this one, though wasn't terribly happy with the results. The film's comparatively low budget, though, sets it apart from later, more action-heavy takes (The Omega Man and I Am Legend, specifically)—this one is comparatively more contemplative as a result. Vincent Price is Dr. Robert Morgan, the only person in the world (to his knowledge) not infected by a plague that has left everyone else into, well, vampires. An encounter with a mysterious woman leads Dr. Morgan to believe that the contagion might be treatable, but can't ever be cured (it might help if there were more than one human scientist left alive, but you work with what you've got, I suppose). You can stream The Last Man on Earth on Tubi, Pluto TV, and Prime Video.
There are better films about the darkest days of the first HIV/AIDS crisis, but few had more of a cultural impact than this mainstream, all-star legal drama. It was the first time that Hollywood had approached the topic in any meaningful way, and one of the very first times that queer characters were portrayed positively—it's also a reasonably good depiction of the legal challenges and consequences that come with an unhindered pandemic. Tom Hanks plays Andrew Beckett, a successful senior associate at a major corporate law firm in the title city who starts displaying lesions (Kaposi's sarcoma, specifically) related to the AIDS diagnosis that he'd been concealing. When he's fired with very little reason given, he hires Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), one of the few lawyers who will take his wrongful termination suit. It's based, loosely, on the real-life case of Geoffrey Bowers, whose case was settled eight years after his death. You can rent Philadelphia from Prime Video.
An unsung classic from producer Val Lewton and director Mark Robson, Isle of the Dead's plot belies its lurid title with the story of a Greek general (Boris Karloff) trying to maintain a quarantine on an isolated island. Taking a break to visit his wife's tomb during the Balkan Wars of 1912, Gen. Nikolas Pherides arrives with an American reporter at exactly the wrong time: Deaths attributed by some locals to supernatural forces are diagnosed by a local doctor as the first stirrings of an outbreak of septicemic plague. He's battling not only local superstition and defiance of modern(-ish) science, but also attempts by less credulous locals to escape the island, and thus expose the mainland to the otherwise contained plague. Fortunately, we modern types are incapable of such unscientific silliness. You can rent Isle of the Dead from Prime Video.
Ronald Colman stars as Dr Martin Arrowsmith in this pre-Code John Ford film that, while occasionally veering into melodrama, takes its science relatively seriously, at least in the abstract. When he meets the love of his life, Leora (Helen Hayes), the young medical student gives up scientific research for a more lucrative practice. An outbreak of a bubonic plague in the West Indies, though, sees him reunited with an old mentor to explore the efficacy of a new antibiotic serum that Arrowsmith helped to develop. Is it more important to get the serum into the hands (or, rather, veins) of as many dying people as possible? Or to pursue a study with more scientific rigor that could lead to greater benefits in the long run? You can stream Arrowsmith on Tubi and Prime Video.
This superior found-footage horror film from Spain sees reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and her camera operator on a seemingly sleepy assignment covering the night shift of one of Barcelona's local fire stations. Zombie hell breaks loose, though, when a call about an old woman trapped in her apartment finds them all trapped inside a quarantined building in which people are becoming infected, one by one, by a mysterious pathogen. There are clever nods to contact tracing and some fun twists on actual science (maybe don't do science experiments and definitely don't do demon stuff in your residential penthouse thx), but the vibe here is largely howling terror and also paranoia: They've all been locked in by the authorities, and it's unclear if anyone from outside is helping or just waiting for them to die. In the wake of COVID, it feels a bit like the pandemic squeezed into a single building. The American remake (Quarantine), in which it's the CDC that's locked everyone in, is also decent. You can stream Rec on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
Larry Kramer adapted his own, largely autobiographical, play for this NYC-set drama depicting the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in the city between 1981 and 1984. Mark Ruffalo plays Ned Weeks, Kramer's alter ego, who helps a sick friend during a Fire Island birthday party only to return to New York and discover that several dozen gay men have been diagnosed with a "rare cancer." The film conveys the raw immediacy of those early days, as well as the medical and public relations battles that were fought to draw attention to an illness that politicians and mainstream media sources couldn't have given a shit about. Even after decades of social and medical advances, queerphobia remains prevalent and HIV/AIDS-related funding is on the chopping block, so the rage of these characters feels depressingly immediate. You can stream The Normal Heart on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
In an outdated council flat in Weston, artist Mark (Lee Ross) wakes to discover that he's been sealed into his apartment with no means of escape. The electricity's out, and the only information comes via the intercom—presumably offered up by the people in Hazmat suits patrolling the exterior of the building. The scenario goes a bit Lord of the Flies, but more disturbing is the sense that, in a disaster, the scariest thing might well be a lack of solid, reliable information. You can stream Containment on Prime Video and Tubi.
A family hides in their house while a plague ravages the planet in this very slow-burn psychological thriller that finds the group gradually succumbing to paranoia and terror as they cling to increasingly ad hoc methods of preventing infection. Ultimately, the enemies here are isolation and paranoia, a reminder that the worst impacts of disaster and trauma are often the hurts we inflict upon ourselves and our loved ones. You can rent It Comes at Night from Prime Video.
Science is, as in real life, usually a source of hope in outbreak movies—but not always. Here, a well-intentioned scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer's accidentally creates a race of super-intelligent apes and puts them on a course to conquer the planet (on second thought, maybe the message here is: Stop animal testing). Spreading like an infection, the poor humans are rather quickly back-footed by the new threat. The apes, lead by Andy Serkis' chimp Caesar, can't really do much worse as rulers of the Earth, so I hail our simian overlords. Feels hopeful. You can stream Rise of the Planet of the Apes on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, there's no science to the rescue in Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece. With lush and generous detail, we're transported to a Medieval village during the height of the Black Death, following returned knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) as he confronts the personification of Death (Bengt Ekerot) in a chess game for his life. The characters respond to Death's rapaciousness in various, and very human ways: Block is contemplative but defiant, his squire is practical and grounded, flagellates whip themselves as penance, a woman is nearly burned at the stake as a witch, while a young couple awaits the birth of a child—holding on to hope amid the misery. Bleak and beautiful in equal measure, Bergman's movie explores a sick world in which neither God nor science are coming to help, but maybe, if we're lucky, we have people to walk through it with us. You can stream The Seventh Seal on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
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Love is hard, but movies? Movies are easy (well, watching them, at least). The trials and tribulations of modern dating and romance are inevitably going to feel, at one point or another, like they're way too much work—so, by all means, let your favorite (or soon-to-be favorite) movie couples do the work for you. Some of these movies are funny, some spicy, and some are tear-jerkingly tragic, but they all have one thing in common: They're not you, so feel free to take a couple hours out of your real life and let some other people do the work for once.
An impressively realistic depiction of a long-term friendship that develops into romance, When Harry Met Sally is sweet, but not cloyingly so. A movie that includes the most famous orgasm (real or otherwise) in cinema history clearly has more on its mind than schmaltz. You can stream When Harry Met Sally on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video.
We've all wished we could stop time in the hope of a few more days or a few more minutes with someone we care about, and this very charming sci-fi rom-com from Japanese director Junta Yamaguchi has a lot of fun with the idea. Mikoto (Riko Fujitani), waitress at a sleepy spa, wishes so hard for a little extra time with her boyfriend that it, seemingly, breaks time, forcing everyone to repeat the same two minutes over and over again while the staff try to keep their clients happy. One of my favorite comfort movies. You can stream River on Tubi and Prime Video.
Childhood friends Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) both have hopes of playing professional basketball, life getting in the way of their sports dreams as well as their increasing mutual attraction. The movie takes place over a number of years, and the searing chemistry between the leads makes it impossible not to cheer them on. You can stream Love & Basketball on Max and Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
This very dark satire of greed and misogyny, '60s-style, throws together Jack Lemmon's Bud Baxter and Shirley MacLaine's Fran Kubelik as two of the purest but most damaged souls at a New York City insurance company. He's an up-and-comer without a killer instinct but with an apartment that higher-ups like to use for trysts, while she's an elevator operator having an affair with the boss. Their relationship is hard-won, but director Billy Wilder's absolute classic makes clear that love is worth sacrifice. You can stream The Apartment on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
David Lean's beautiful, and very British, romance finds a married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) meeting at a train station, kicking off a passionate emotional affair that each knows is doomed. A classic of love and longing from director David Lean. You can stream Brief Encounter on Max, The Criterion Channel, and Prime Video.
Baby (Jennifer Grey) falls for her dance instructor (Patrick Swayze) at a Catskills retreat in the 1960s. It's a blend of the believable with the silly, and it has no business working as well as it does. You can stream Dirty Dancing on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
Writer and bachelor Harper Stewart (Taye Diggs) is determined to hide from his friends the fact that his new bestseller is based on their messy lives—all the more complicated as they're all about to gather for a wedding. Everyone gradually realizes that they're characters is a saucy novel, and each has to decide if they like what they've read—that includes Harper, dealing with the consequences of his choices involving his girlfriend Robyn (Sanaa Lathan) and his old flame Jordan (Nia Long) You can rent The Best Man from Prime Video.
Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell are a couple of ambitious reporters involved in a murder case in this fast-talking screwball comedy (my favorite of that genre) from Howard Hawks. Forced to work together, the divorced couple gradually find their ways back to each other—but not without plenty of incredibly sharp dialogue and sass. You can stream His Girl Friday on Tubi and Prime Video.
Mina's (Sarita Choudhury) Ugandan-Indian family has relocated to Mississippi after Idi Amin's expulsion of Asians, surviving and trying to thrive despite the resulting clash of cultures. Mina falls for carpet cleaner Demetrius (Denzel Washington), a young carpet cleaner, triggering a feud between their families that spreads to the local community. Mira Nair's movie is as much about these two convincing characters as it is about racial tensions, though, and their relationship is also thoroughly sexy. You can stream Mississippi Masala on The Criterion Channel and Max or rent it from Prime Video.
A glance across a department store in 1953 puts wealthy Carol (Cate Blanchett) on a path to forbidden romance with a young photographer (Rooney Mara). Lush and eloquent, it's justifiably regarded as one of cinema's greatest queer romances. You can stream Carol on Netflix, Tubi, The Criterion Channel, and Prime Video.
The tears start welling in my eyes when I think of the repressed affections between stuffy English butler Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) and the housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson). Their love non-affair simmers against a backdrop of their employer's increasing acquiescence to rising European fascism, and Hopkins and Thompson have never been better. You can rent The Remains of the Day from Prime Video.
A great American film from Melvin Van Peebles that takes some smart cues from the French New Wave, The Story of a Three-Day Pass follows Turner (Harry Baird), a Black United States Army G.I. in France, who spends a weekend with a white shop clerk named Miriam (Nicole Berger). The movie doesn't in any way soft-pedal the implications of this interracial romance, contrasting reactions among Parisians with the harsher assessments of Turner's comrades, but the necessarily brief affair is, nevertheless, lovely and entirely believable. You can stream The Story of a Three-Day Pass on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
It still seems surprising that Cher and Nicholas Cage make up one of American cinema's most beloved couples, but here we are. Young widow Loretta Castorini throws off convention, family tradition, and her boyfriend in order to smack around a sweaty baker. It's glorious. You can stream Moonstruck on Tubi, The Criterion Channel, and Prime Video.
Romance and tragedy done in extravagant Baz Luhrmann style against a jukebox of pop songs. The movie is almost overwhelming in its incomparable bigness, but still capable of wresting tears. You can stream Moulin Rouge! on Hulu.
Two Japanese high school students intermittently swap bodies after viewing the same comet, gradually falling in love not directly, but by experiencing the life of the other. An all-time-great anime and among the most beautifully animated. You can stream Your Name on Crunchyroll.
Self-absorbed Yorkshire sheep farmer Johnny (Josh O'Connor) gets some seasonal help from Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe. With very little in common, the two soon learn that sex is great, but maybe emotional connection is even better. You can rent God's Own Country from Prime Video.
What's left to be said about Casablanca, the World War II romantic love triangle starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid? A stunningly photographed story about the sacrifices required to fight fascism. You can stream Casablanca on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Wong Kar-wai's lush, extravagant story of sex and yearning finds Chow (Tony Leung) and Su (Maggie Cheung) developing feelings for each other after their spouses have affairs. The '60s-set movie is much more than just style, but that style is impeccable. You can stream In the Mood for Love on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
What seems at the outset like a conventional love story, the movie finds aspiring writer Darius (Larenz Tate) and photographer Nina (Nia Long) forming an instant bond after meeting at a club. The resulting, complicated relationship is endearing, but tempestuous in believable ways, leading to an impressively unexpected conclusion. You can rent Love Jones from Prime Video.
There are a couple of love stories in the margins of Ang Lee's martial arts masterpiece (and international blockbuster), but the most poignant is in the central story of retiring swordsman Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) and his confidante and associate, Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh). Despite a mutual traction, honor and loyalty keep the two apart until a lovely, tear-soaked final act. You can stream Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Against the backdrop of a comparatively more open, less overtly racist backdrop of 1960s Paris, the film stars Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman as a couple of American expats and musicians living in the City of Lights. The two find themselves caught up in romance with a couple of tourists (Diahann Carroll and Joanne Woodward), drawn in by the allure of the city and the two women, but struggling with the idea of getting serious and returning to the United States, which would have life and career consequences for both men. You can stream Paris Blues on Tubi and Prime Video.
The poignant (OK: heartbreaking) romance at the center of Up is really only seen in a short sequence—but it's the center of gravity around which the movie spins. Ed Asher plays cantankerous widower Carl Fredricksen who finds an unlikely ally in a 13-year-old wilderness explorer in his plan to relocate his entire house to Paradise Falls in South America to honor his late wife. You can stream Up on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video.
A beautifully acted, very sweet rom-com starring Michelle Hendley as Ricky Jones, a young trans woman looking for love—and also a way out of her barista job in Kentucky. She dreams of moving to New York City to go to school for fashion design, dreams she shares with her bestie, Robby (Michael Welch). The arrival of Francesca (Alexandra Turshen) in Ricky's life triggers both a passionate affair while also forcing Robby to reckon with long-simmering feelings. You can stream Boy Meets Girl on Tubi and Prime Video.
A rom-com that is, by turns, silly, musical, and deeply poignant, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (the title doesn't really translate, but it's literally "something something happens") is a classic of the '90s rom-com form, done with ebullient Indian style. A deceased mother's letters to her daughter leads her to track down her dad's old flame, mother and daughter conspiring across the years to give Dad the freedom to love again. Shah Rukh Khan leads the all-star cast. You can stream Kuch Kuch Hota Hai on Netflix and Prime Video.
The beautifully acted drama stars Tom Cullen and Chris New as a couple of guys who meet for a hookup, and then wind up staying around for the titular weekend. It's not the story of a long-term romance, as you might have guessed, but it is about the connections people can make even when time is limited. You can stream Weekend on AMC+ and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
There are some absolutely indelible pairings between Katherine Hepburn and her long-time life and screen partner Spencer Tracy, but I still slightly prefer her chemistry with Cary Grant in this George Cukor classic. Grant's Johnny Case has risen from a humble start to make enough money that he's just looking promising enough to marry Julia, daughter of an extravagantly wealthy and ambitious New York family. Enter Julia's unconventional sister, Linda (Hepburn), who forces Johnny to rethink his impending marriage and the entire course of his life. You can rent Holiday from Prime Video.
Listen, there's a lot going on right now, and it may feel indulgent to get excited about something frivolous like the Academy Awards. But watching movies is self-care, and trying to catch up on the nominees before the ceremony on Sunday, March 2 will definitely be a good distraction. (The show, hosted by Conan O'Brien, will air on ABC but also stream on Oscars.com and its associated digital platforms—whichever ones still exist by March).
To help you prepare, I've rounded up all the nominees and done the work to figure out where they're available to watch on streaming—though some are still only in theaters as of this writing, I'll keep it updated as more things drop on digital platforms.
Biggies that you can't yet watch at home include The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, I’m Still Here, Sing Sing, Nickel Boys, September 5. Then there's the documentary No Other Land, which doesn't even have a formal distribution deal in the U.S. as yet. Still, you already have quite a bit to catch up on (even before you branch out to would-be contenders like Challengers, Queer, and The Last Showgirl). Happy disassociating!
Despite being, shall we say: not universally loved by queer audiences, Spanish-language musical crime drama Emilia Pérez managed to net a whopping 13 nominations, the most ever for a movie not in English. Among those is Karla Sofía Gascó for Best Actress, Oscar's first nod to an openly trans actress.You can stream Emilia Pérez on Netflix.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Actress (Karla Sofía Gascón), Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña), Directing (Jacques Audiard), Adapted Screenplay, International Feature, Cinematography, Original Score, Original Song x 2 (El Mal AND Mi Camino), Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound
Next up in the nomination tally is Wicked, the movie that dominated the end-of-year zeitgeist and the box office—it's tied for noms with The Brutalist, which isn't yet streaming. And it's another musical! No directing nomination for Jon M. Chu, which is always interesting for a film with this many nominations. Being the first of a planned two parter, Academy voters could be holding off until next year to send some witchy love Chu's way. You can rent Wicked from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Actress (Cynthia Erivo), Supporting Actress (Ariana Grande), Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Original Score, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, Visual Effects
You might not have heard of the epic immigrant drama The Brutalist, as it's a limited release that has not done terribly well at the box office. Nonetheless, it includes a big-name cast including Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce, all of whom received nominations. Brody plays László Tóth, a Hungarian-Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor who emigrates to America to start a new life. At more than three-and-a-half hours (it plays with an intermission in theaters!) it earns its artsy rep, but it's less intimidating a watch than it might sound. You can purchase The Brutalist from Prime Video starting Feb. 18.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Actor (Adrien Brody), Supporting Actor (Guy Pearce), Supporting Actress (Felicity Jones), Directing (Brady Corbet), Original Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Original Score
Juicy, Vatican-based political thriller Conclave scored eight nominations—not bad for the kind of straight-down-the-middle grownup movie that is rarely made these days. The nomination for Rossellini marks a first-ever Oscar nod for the actress, a surprise given her impressive career. You can stream Conclave on Peacock or rent it from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Actor (Ralph Fiennes), Actress (Isabella Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Original Score
Timothée Chalamet is the latest actor to take on the role of Bob Dylan in an off-center biopic. This one focuses on, and builds to, the moment when Dylan blew people's minds by using electric instruments at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. It's hard to do a musical biopic after Walk Hard eviscerated the tropes of the genre, but this one does a good job of being massively entertaining. You can watch A Complete Unknown in theaters right now.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Actor (Timothée Chalamet), Supporting Actor (Edward Norton), Supporting Actress (Monica Barbaro), Directing (James Mangold), Adapted Screenplay), Costume Design, Sound
Director Sean Baker has created a string of critically acclaimed films (Tangerine, The Florida Project, Red Rocket) that haven't broken through in terms of Oscar love. His latest, a comedy-drama following the troubled marriage between sex worker Ani and the son of a Russian oligarch, has earned six nominations this year, including four nods for Barker (Best Picture, directing, writing, and editing). I haven't seen it yet myself, but I'm a huge fan of his other films. You can rent Anora from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Actress (Mikey Madison), Actor (Yura Borisov), Directing (Sean Baker), Original Screenplay, Editing
Five nominations definitely isn't bad, but it feels a little like Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic got lost in the shuffle this year. Still, a Best Picture nomination and a massive box office haul are no small consolation prizes. You can stream Dune: Part Two on Max and Netflix or rent it from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound, Visual Effects
I can't think of many (any?) body horror pictures that have made it to the top-tier of Oscar hierarchy (Best Picture and Best Director nominations!) but the lion's share of attention for this one comes down to Demi Moore. She's received her first ever Oscar nomination here, and it's about time. You can stream The Substance on Mubi or rent it from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Actress (Demi Moore), Directing (Coralie Fargeat), Original Screenplay, Makeup and Hairstyling
Robert Eggers' lush, chilly vampire remake was polarizing to audiences (I loved it), but it managed good box office and did even better with critics. The movie's four nominations are all down to its striking visuals. You can rent Nosferatu from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling
A service robot (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) is shipwrecked on an island where she learns to make new relationships and adopts an orphaned goose. The poignant animated movie earned three nominations. You can stream The Wild Robot on Peacock or rent it from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Animated Feature Film, Original Score, Sound
Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries, On the Road) directs this adaptation of Marcelo Rubens Paiva's 2015 memoir about a mother and activist dealing with the forced disappearance of her dissident politician husband during the military dictatorship in Brazil. A surprise contender in the Best Picture race, it has drawn particular attention for Fernanda Torres' performance as Marcelo's mother, Eunice. You can watch I'm Still Here in theaters right now.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Actress (Fernanda Torres), International Feature Film
Based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Prison, this drama stars professional actors Colman Domingo and Paul Raci working alongside a number of actual program alumni. You can rent Sing Sing from Prime Video and other digital services right now.
Nominations for: Actor (Colman Domingo), Adapted Screenplay, Original Song ("Like A Bird”)
Jesse Eisenberg writes, directs, and co-stars (with Kieran Culkin) in this sweet, sad road-trip movie about a couple of mismatched Jewish America cousins who travel to Poland to honor their late grandmother. Each of the leads picked up nominations: Culkin for acting and Eisenberg for his screenplay. You can stream A Real Pain on Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Supporting Actor (Kieran Culkin), Original Screenplay
Director RaMell Ross previously earned an Oscar nomination for his documentary, Hale County This Morning, This Evening. Here, he adapts the Colson Whitehead novel, itself based on a true story, about two African-American boys sent to an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida. Somehow the film wasn't nominated for its cinematography, despite a daring conceit that sees every shot filmed from the direct point of view of one of the characters. You can purchase Nickel Boys from Prime Video right now.
Nominations for: Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay
A gorgeously animated saga about a cat displaced by a flood, this Latvian film has been picking up awards left and right—despite being dialogue-free and having been animated using open-source software. You can stream Flow on Max starting Feb. 13 or rent it from Prime Video.
Nominations for: International Feature, Animated Feature
The discussion around this Donald Trump biopic had more to do with various legal actions by the Trump campaign, and the movie sunk at the box office following mixed reviews. Nevertheless: two acting nominations ain't bad. You can rent The Apprentice from Prime Video.
Nominations for: Actor (Sebastian Stan), Supporting Actor (Jeremy Strong)
The rather delightful Inside Out sequel made well over $1.5 billion at the box office, and might also get an Oscar for the trouble. You can stream Inside Out 2 on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Nomination for: Animated Feature
A new Wallace & Gromit adventure is always a cause for celebration, awards or no. You can stream Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl on Netflix.
Nomination for: Animated Feature
This searing documentary, directed and produced by journalist and filmmaker Shiori Itō, follows her investigation and analysis of her own sexual assault case, one that takes her to the highest levels of Japanese media and government. You can stream Black Box Diaries on Paramount+ with Showtime.
Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch star in this historical thriller set in and around the events of the terror attacks at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The focus here is on the ABC Sports crew on hand to cover the news. You can buy September 5 from Prime Video right now.
Nomination for: Original Screenplay
“Flight Risk” is Mel Gibson’s first movie as a director since the Oscar-nominated “Hacksaw Ridge” in 2016.
Clockwise from top left, Adrien Brody, Ariana Grande, Timothée Chalamet and Zoe Saldaña are on track for nominations. But there are few shoo-ins this year.
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Governments lie. They cheat. They steal. Sometimes the blame comes from within: corrupt individuals who’d conned their ways into the halls of power with no moral compass beyond their own self-aggrandizement. Sometimes, the fault lies within ourselves: We’re drawn to populist politicians who tell us what we want to hear even when we ought to know better.
The 1970s, in particular, loom large in movies about government corruption, even in later films. It’s not that no one had ever mistrusted the government before, but it’s the era when anti-government feeling truly entered the zeitgeist. Then, as now, people couldn’t agree on much, but they could agree that political leaders weren’t to be trusted. From there, the ‘80s saw Iran-Contra, the ‘90s saw the Clinton impeachment, the ‘00s the Iraq War—and those are just the marquee scandals.
The less said about the modern era of politics, perhaps, the better. But we may find it helpful to go back a bit in time, and/or overseas, to find movies that hold up a harsh mirror to government corruption.
John Frankenheimer’s follow-up to The Manchurian Candidate sees President Fredric March working on a nuclear disarmament deal with the Soviet Union, a development that doesn’t impress a popular general played by Burt Lancaster. He’s planning a coup, one that's uncovered by Kirk Douglas over the course of the title’s seven days. It’s another trenchant look at the ways in which both personal charisma and military power can have undue sway over American politics. You can rent Seven Days in May from Prime Video.
The Conversation isn’t about Watergate or Vietnam, but it speaks as well as any movie to the well-earned political paranoia of the era. Gene Hackman (never better than he is here) plays surveillance expert Harry Caul, already desperately paranoid when he overhears a conversation he shouldn’t about a potential murder. Though ostensibly about private peccadillos, the film was released in the same year as Richard Nixon’s resignation (aided by his own White House tapes), and is prescient about the growing surveillance state, but also deeply conflicted. Harry means well, and there are clearly benefits to the work he does, but there are also the very obvious privacy concerns, as well as the potential to misinterpret situations and entire lives based on out-of-context bits of information. There’s nothing broached here that we’re not still grappling with, over 50 years later. You can stream The Conversation on Paramount+ and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
If you only know Andy Griffith from Mayberry, prepare yourself for his greatest performance, one that's as chilling as it is prescient. Here, he plays Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, an alcoholic drifter whose folksy good humor and facility for the guitar land him a radio deal with the help of journalist Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal), who becomes his promoter and girlfriend. It all ultimately steers him into the world of politics, with Jeffries discovering much too late that she’s created a monster. If you can imagine a politician telling his supporters everything they want to hear while sneering at them behind their backs, you might even say that the rise of populist Larry Rhodes foretells the Donald Trump era. You can stream A Face in the Crowd on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Sitting squarely in the middle of the Vietnam War and sandwiched between the assassinations of the 1960s and Watergate, director Alan J. Pakula created a masterpiece of political paranoia that conveys a sense of mounting dread with each and every noir-inspired frame. Warren Beatty plays Joseph Frady, a journalist who gets caught up in an incredibly complex conspiracy after he witnesses the murder of a sitting senator and presidential candidate. There’s much more than simple assassination going on, but there’s also more to Frady’s quest for truth than simple heroism; unsettlingly, the movie’s thriller plot line conceals a believably complex world in which there are no easy answers. In a broken and corrupt system, even the best of intentions can make things much worse. You can rent The Parallax View from Prime Video.
What became Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove began life as a drama: Based on the thriller novel Red Alert, Kubrick intended, initially, to play it straight. It wasn’t very far into the screenplay-writing process, however, when the director realized that real-world concepts like the nuclear “balance of terror” and “mutually assured destruction” were better suited to farce than serious drama. The result is one of cinema’s most perfect send-ups of government overreach, personality politics, and the behind-the-scenes dust-ups that have frequently had devastating consequences for humans without the privilege of their own quiet war rooms. You can rent Dr. Strangelove from Prime Video.
The Nixon administration served as the wellspring of 1970s cinematic paranoia, and it's fortunate that one of the best of the decade's thrillers is based on the true story of everything that went down when a couple of plucky Washington Post reporters (played here by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman) started sniffing around a seemingly innocuous burglary in Washington's Watergate complex. The resulting investigation, involving secret recordings, slush funds, and a secret informant known for decades only as "Deep Throat" revealed a criminal cover-up tied to the President himself. A fun throwback to a time when we were bothered by such things. You can rent All the President's Men from Prime Video.
Clearly inspired by the paranoid thrillers of the 1970s, the Russo Brothers (and company) crafted a Marvel movie in the same spirit. The Disney-owned heroes typically fight to uphold, rather than upend, the status quo, so Winter Soldier is all the more impressive for seeing Cap as an outlaw. Working as part of espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve uncovers a massive government conspiracy (Hail Hydra!) tied to Cabinet member Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) that puts him on the wrong side of the law. Before it's over, he's hunted for having learned about a secretive surveillance operation with ties back to Marvel's version of Operation Paperclip, the real-life program that secretly brought German scientists (including Nazis) to the United States. Great Marvel movie or best Marvel movie? You can stream The Winter Soldier on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video.
What sounds like a sci-fi action movie about the first crewed mission to Mars quickly reveals itself to be something else entirely: a conspiracy theory born of Watergate but tying in, however inadvertently, to Moon-landing denial conspiracies. Starring Sam Waterston, James Brolin, Elliott Gould, Brenda Vaccaro, and O.J. Simpson, the movie finds the Mars crew pulled from the mission at the last minute—it seems that the government wants the boost that would be provided by a successful mission, but isn't at all confident that they'd actually make it. The empty craft is launched, the crew are essentially held hostage, and, when the capsule blows up on reentry to Earth, it quickly becomes clear that anyone who knows the truth has to be eliminated. You can stream Capricorn One on Tubi, Prime Video, Peacock, and Freevee.
Just before the Bill Clinton impeachment (and a suspiciously timed bombing in Iraq), and a few years before themes and obfuscations of the Iraq War, Barry Levinson made this all-star, Strangelove-esque satire about a Hollywood producer tasked with creating a fake war with Albania in order to conceal a Presidential sex scandal. Though a dark comedy, the film’s plot wouldn’t be the dumbest reason we’ve gone to war—not by a long shot. You can rent Wag the Dog from Prime Video.
Korean filmmakers, in film and television, have had no trouble whatsoever with exploring both the excesses of capitalism nor government corruption—perhaps that’s part of the appeal to American audiences saddled with an increasingly status-quo friendly Disney/Marvel hegemony. Here, writer/director Woo Min-ho manages to mine action from the story of a rising Presidential candidate who only gets as far as he does because a conservative newspaper and its biggest sponsor want him in the top job (big media colluding with candidates to swing an election—who'd have thought?). The corrupt connections between corporate media and political candidates are problems that are hardly limited to the Korean peninsula. You can stream Inside Men on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
It’s been suggested that Brill Lyle, Gene Hackman’s character in Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State, is so close in temperament to The Conversation’s Harry Caul that they might very well be the same character. Which is interesting, especially given that it caps Hackman’s long run of political thrillers—but they’re also very different movies. This one is everything The Conversation isn’t: big, loud, flashy, and more interested in action set-pieces than in saying anything coherent about surveillance. That doesn’t mean that it’s not a lot of fun, with large helpings of that X-Files-ish style of heightened political paranoia that was soon to give way to actual events. Will Smith plays well-meaning lawyer Robert Clayton Dean, who’s caught up in a wild conspiracy following the government-sponsored assassination of a political candidate. You can rent Enemy of the State from Prime Video.
A stylish and fast-moving genre mashup, They Cloned Tyrone spins plenty of plates—and mostly manages to keep them from crashing down. John Bodega stars as Fontaine, a drug dealer in a world just this side of our own (there’s definitely some Blaxsploitation influence in the dress styles). Following a showdown with one-time Pimp of the Year, Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), Fontaine is shot dead before waking up in his own bed with nothing, seemingly, having changed. Teaming up with Slick Charles and sex worker Yo Yo (Teyonah Parris), he leads the three of them into an unlikely web of a government conspiracy lead by Keifer Sutherland's appropriately named "Nixon," one that involves using poor Black men (think the real-life Tuskegee Experiment) as test subjects. You can stream They Cloned Tyrone on Netflix.
A relatively early masterpiece from director John Frankenheimer, the film was a victim of its own tragically prescient timing: Released just a year before the assassination of President Kennedy, that real-life event overtook the movie and interest in revisiting it waned until a critical reevaluation decades later. On one level, the movie is a Cold War thriller about a Medal of Honor recipient brainwashed to serve as a communist agent. If that’s all it were, it wouldn’t be much more than a period piece; Frankenheimer and company, instead, take aim at the ways in which Americans are easily manipulated and distracted—Lawrence Harvey’s Raymond Shaw is able to go as far as he does because people are blinded by his military achievements. Meanwhile, Joseph McCarthy-esque demagogues use accusations to deflect from real dangers. It also boasts an absolutely chilling performance from Angela Lansbury as Shaw’s scheming and vaguely incestuous mother. You can rent The Manchurian Candidate from Prime Video.
The conspiracy surrounding the real-life Tuskegee Experiment continues to this day, inasmuch as discussions of the 40-year government medical study that used poor Black men as unwitting test subjects remain minimal. By the end, hundreds had been deceived about their medical treatments and conditions, and over 100 had died as a result of deliberately ineffective medical treatment, all in the name of medical research on syphilis. The film tells the story from the perspective of Nurse Eunice Evers (Alfre Woodard), based on the real-life nurse who became a trailblazer as one of the very first African-Americans to be employed by the U.S. Public Health Service, only to find herself in the role of collaborator. You can stream Miss Evers' Boys on Max.
John Carpenter's gloriously unsubtle satire of commercialism capitalism, American-style, finds a drifter (Roddy Piper) discovering, via a pair of sunglasses, that the world as we know it is a facade run by a ruling class that's concealed subliminal messages everywhere: messages like consume, breed, conform. You know, the stuff that we're really good at. Knowing the truth about the ultimate conspiracy, our musclebound protagonist isn't going to give in without a fight. You can rent They Live from Prime Video.
It’s the ending here that makes Z so darkly memorable—which is not to say that the movie isn’t a classic through and through. Costa-Gavras’ satire of government corruption was released smack in the middle of a period of military junta control in Greece, but also in a global period of political assassinations and wars of false pretenses. A magistrate investigates the political murder of a left-wing politician, only to come up against an increasingly absurd, but nevertheless believable, series of walls and obfuscations. You can stream Z on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
The X-Files’ overarching mythology was always far too broad to ever really amount to anything coherent; it’s also hard to get too worked up over secret alien colonists (or something) when the real world poses so many more immediate threats. Still, there’s no question that the show and its spin-offs exemplify a ‘90s style of anti-government paranoia—one that imagines political officials as being competent, focused, and forward-thinking enough to manage any number of conspiracies over the course of decades. Where X-Files, and this movie in particular, was surprisingly prescient was in its imagined world of conspiracies, one in which everyone wants to believe everything all the time. As a standalone, the first movie summarizes the X-Files experience fairly adeptly, with government agents concealing the existence of an ancient alien virus with the help of some nasty bees. Its most memorably goofy moment, in which Martin Landau reveals the truth about "FEMA—the secret government!" has evolved into an actual conspiracy theory over the decades because of course it has. You can rent The X-Files movie (sometimes subtitled Fight the Future) from Prime Video.
We know “cabin in the wood”-style horror movies, and we know how they're meant to work. So, while Cabin in the Woods initially looks like a Scream-style deconstruction of the genre, it quickly reveals itself to be something far more ambitious, veering from near-parody to apocalyptic stakes. A couple of slightly goofy government agents are watching everything that goes on with our horny and hunted campers, all of whom find themselves part of a bloody global conspiracy—at least the ones who survive. You can stream Cabin in the Woods on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video.
A very silly but nonetheless surprisingly smart comedy about two big-hearted teen friends who are, perhaps, not the brightest (think a ‘70s-era Romy & Michele), Dick stars Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams as deeply naive D.C. residents who become entangled in the events surrounding the Watergate break-in. At first enamored with President Nixon (a perfectly cast Dan Hedaya), the two gradually come to realize that he’s not the well-meaning charmer that they’ve taken him for; their resulting revenge is deeply satisfying. It’s often hilarious, but also serves as a pretty solid metaphor for the comedown that we face as a nation, and as individuals, when our political hopes are dashed. It's a reminder to not get too attached and, for my money, as good a movie about Watergate as you're likely to find. You can rent Dick from Prime Video.
A superior paranoid thriller, as long as you're willing to buy Robert Redford as a nerd. Here he plays a bookish CIA analyst codenamed Condor who shows up to work one day to find that everyone in his office has been murdered. It seems their analysis of a thriller novel with real-world implications was getting a little to close to something. The ensuing cat-and-mouse game leads Condor into the heart of a government plot involving global oil supplies—the assumption being that Americans would tolerate literally anything in the name of cheap gas. And where's the lie? You can stream Three Days of the Condor on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video.
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We've gone through numerous news cycles about the deaths of the movie theater, though the height of COVID certainly seemed like it could have been the breaking point. Since then, though, audiences have been back to the movies in big numbers, with the last couple of years buoyed by some major events: Barbenheimer in 2023, and huge numbers for several sequels in 2024, alongside the definite cultural moment being had by Wicked. While there's a lot of pre-existing IP in the mix, there's always hope for an original movie to make a dent at the box office in 2025. TBD.
Though the era of everything-goes-to-streaming is largely behind us, there are at least three big movies you won't get to see on the big screen: Section 31, the first Star Trek film to skip theaters and also the first to star Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh, will stream on Paramount+ starting Jan. 31; star-packed old-school comedy You're Cordially Invited (with Reese Witherspoon and Will Farrell) will stream on Prime Video starting Jan. 30; and the fourth Bridget Jones movie, Mad About the Boy, will stream on Peacock starting Feb. 13.
With short release windows, there's every reason to stay home these days, but there's still something kinda magical, and worth saving, in the experience of going to a movie theater. Here are the 2025 movies that you might want to check out on the big screen. Dates, particularly toward the end of the year, are subject to change, and refer to North American wide releases.
A biopic about venerable British pop star Robbie Williams in which Williams voice himself over a motion capture chimpanzee. I have no idea who this movie is for, but the film-festival reviews have been overwhelmingly positive; it could be perfect for Take That fans waiting on the next Planet of the Apes installment. It opens in limited theaters on Christmas Day, with a wider release in January.
Universal has been aiming for a reboot of its beloved monster library, with mixed results: The Tom Cruise-led Mummy movie was entirely ill-conceived, while the Leigh Whannell-directed Invisible Man was a rather brilliant new take. Whannell's return here bodes well for a fresh take on the oft-revisited trope.
Steven Soderbergh shows his range here, following up Magic Mike's Last Dance with this ghost story. Lucy Liu and Chris Sullivan play the new owners of a haunted house who are observed by an increasingly threatening presence. The trick here is that the movie is filmed from the ghost's perspective.
Academy Award-winner Ke Huy Quan finally gets to be the leading man in this action comedy about a seemingly mild-mannered realtor whose past as a hitman comes back to haunt him. Fellow Oscar winner Ariana DeBose co-stars. Sounds fun.
This Stephen King adaptation about a vengeful toy monkey has more buzz surrounding it than you might expect, largely because of the presence of writer/director Osgood Perkins. His police procedural Longlegs was one of the buzzier films of 2024, and has drawn interest in his follow-up.
Following a long but fruitful detour into Creed and Black Panther movies, Ryan Coogler writes and directs his first original project since 2013's stunning Fruitvale Station. Coogler fave Michael B. Jordan plays a dual role in this thriller as a pair of brothers who return to their hometown only to discover an evil tied to their childhood.
Wait, you may say to yourself, didn't I already see a Steven Soderberg movie this year? Like, just a couple of months ago? While Presence is a ghost/horror-type situation, Black Bag is a spy thriller with Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender. It's written by David Koepp, also from Presence, and who, likewise, is responsible for the screenplay for the Jurassic Park movie coming in July.
Robert De Niro plays a dual role as real-life competing mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello circa 1957. It's directed by Barry Levinson and written by Nicholas Pileggi (Goodfellas, Casino) so this could, in spite of its slightly weird double-De Niro conceit, be a welcome return to old-school gangster cinema.
Writer/director Bong Joon-ho has never made a movie that was less than brilliant, so we can presume/hope that his new sci-fi comedy (following Oscar Best Picture-winner Parasite) will follow suit. Robert Pattinson stars as the expendable employee of a space colonization company—when he dies, his memories are downloaded, mostly, into a new body that can get right back to work. Except that the 17th Mickey survives where he's meant to die, setting up a conflict between himself and his next iteration.
The previous installment of the series saw a small drop in box office, but that movie pulled in reviews every bit as good as previous entries in the venerable franchise (it sits at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, for whatever that's worth). Filmed back-to-back with Dead Reckoning, there's no reason to believe that this concluding Mission will self destruct.
The fifth film in the John Wick-verse (the full title is, unfortunately, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina), this one stars Ana de Armas as an assassin-in-training with a burning desire to avenge her murdered father (who is, apparently, not a dog so whatever). Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, and Keanu himself pop over from the Wick movies, joined by Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, and Norman Reedus.
Color me skeptical that we need a live-action Dragon reboot already, but Dean DeBlois, writer/director behind the animated films, is heading up this one, as well. It could be the next big thing in fantasy.
Pixar’s 28th feature film follows awkward 11-year-old Elio, who finds himself mistaken for an ambassador when he's inadvertently beamed up by some aliens. Looks cute. Definite chance of tears.
A return to the world of the zombie Rage Virus, reuniting the first film's director Danny Boyle, writer Alex Garland, and star Cillian Murphy. They're joined by new potential victims Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes. Just as exciting, Nia DaCosta is directing a second sequel with a release date TBD.
The viral sensation, dance icon, and mass-murdering AI robot returns, along with the first movie's core cast of Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, and Brian Jordan Alvarez. No details on the plot (though it probably deals with robot murder), but screenwriter Akela Cooper is also back. A spin-off, SOULM8TE, is scheduled for 2026.
I feel like we're all kind of over this whole thing, but dinosaurs are fun and Dominion made (literally) a billion dollars. So here we are, with a soft reboot starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey. Rogue One and The Creator director Gareth Edwards is behind the camera, and the first movie's screenwriter, David Koepp, returns to the franchise after a couple of decades.
Another day, another superhero reboot. This one has a bit more promise than most—writer/director James Gunn was behind the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, three Marvel cinematic standouts. After a run of gloomy, dour DC movies, this one promises a bit more light and maybe even a bit of fun; it's also probably make-or-break for the entire DC movie project. If nothing else, it includes the cinematic debut of Krypto the Superdog, for whom I will be seated.
Is this where Marvel's first family finally takes off? Previous attempts at building a franchise around Sue, Reed, Ben, and Johnny have fallen flat, but WandaVision's Matt Shakman feels like a good choice to direct, and the promised retro-futuristic 1960's-inspired look and feel sounds, likewise, just right. Marvel Studio's output has been increasingly a mixed bag, but here's one to (cautiously) look forward to.
We know pretty much nothing about the next Paul Thomas Anderson movie (even the title might change), but the cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, and Benicio del Toro. So it's guaranteed to be some kind of event.
Maggie Gyllenhaal follows up her impressive directorial debut, 2021's The Last Daughter, with this new take on Bride of Frankenstein, billed as a "sci-fi musical monster film." Sold. Jessie Buckley has the title role, joined by Christian Bale as Frankenstein's monster.
As always, this one won't be for the squeamish, but the franchise that had its "Final Chapter" back in 2010 has had an impressive resurgence in recent years, with the previous film, a prequel, earning some of the best reviews of the series. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, so expect this one to pick up where X left off. Other than that, all we really know is that Tobin Bell is back as Jigsaw.
I feel like I'm the only one who kinda loved the second Tron movie from 2010, so maybe I'll be the only one in the theater. Jared Leto stars as Ares, a sophisticated program who escapes into our world on a mission. Jeff Bridges is back as Kevin Flynn, and Gillian Anderson is here, too.
It wasn't entirely unanticipated that the first part of the Wicked duopoly would be a hit at the box office; it's maybe a bit more surprising that it's actually a pretty great movie, and certainly an impressive theatrical experience. Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, and company will all be back for the conclusion.
You could wait until the crowds die down in Oz and instead pop in for this remake of the (wildly entertaining) Arnold Schwarzenegger action classic from 1987. Once again based on the Stephen King short story, this one's directed by Edgar Wright and stars Glen Powell as the titular runner. The story of a dystopian reality-TV-driven capitalistic hellscape might be a hair on-the-nose in 2025, but there's still fun to be had.
Everybody likes to dismiss the Avatar series right before they drop everything and run to the theater. James Cameron is back with the third installment of a series that's made somewhere in the neighborhood of 5.5 billion dollars.
