3 Best Movies to Watch on Netflix This Weekend
Netflix may have its new Emily Henry adaptation “People We Meet on Vacation” premiering this weekend, but that is far from the only noteworthy film it has available for you to watch over the coming days. Whether it be two underrated efforts from Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach or an animated superhero movie that still stands proudly apart from the rest of its genre, Netflix has a wide variety of choices for you to pick from on its platform.
In an effort to narrow some of those choices down a bit for you, though, here are the three best movies you can watch on Netflix this weekend.
“Moonrise Kingdom” (2012)
In between the ultra-manicured, dollhouse-like “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” director Wes Anderson made one of his most free-wheeling films in 2012’s “Moonrise Kingdom.” A coming-of-age story about a young outcast boy (Jared Gilman) and girl (Kara Hayward) who run away together into the woods of a fictional New England island, only to be pursued by their concerned parents and appointed chaperones, “Moonrise Kingdom” wears all of its emotions on its sleeves.
Its young heroes are driven by a palpable, often stated mix of young love and youthful rebellion. Its adult supporting characters, conversely, find themselves haunted by the melancholy of old age, regret and loneliness. Featuring a career-best, quietly heartbreaking performance from Bruce Willis, “Moonrise Kingdom” is a rambunctious dramedy about the restlessness of youth and the absence that is left in its wake when we inevitably grow up.
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018)
The superhero genre was never more crowded than it was in the late 2010s and early 2020s. It would have taken something truly groundbreaking, truly new to come out at that time and not just feel like more of the same. Enter: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” This exuberant, eye-popping animated comic book adventure follows Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) as a bite from a radioactive spider not only turns him into Spider-Man, but also opens the door for him to cross paths with Spider-People from other universes.
A superhero blockbuster that actually takes full advantage of its multiversal potential, “Into the Spider-Verse” turns a story about different universes crashing together into an unexpectedly profound exploration of identity — of how even the most heroic of us can struggle and get lost. Miles’ transformation into himself lands with spectacular force in “Into the Spider-Verse,” and that is in no small part to the fact that it takes place in a film that has no interest in being anything but itself.
“Frances Ha” (2013)
As both Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have grown into two of Hollywood’s most celebrated working filmmakers, it has become increasingly easy to forget or look past “Frances Ha,” the 2013 film that first propelled both of them toward new heights of their careers. Co-written by the pair and directed by Baumbach, this black-and-white gem follows Frances (Gerwig), a struggling 27-year-old dancer who is forced to find a new apartment after her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) moves to a different New York neighborhood.
What follows is a late 20s coming-of-age story made with so much sensitivity and clarity that it could have only been made by Baumbach and Gerwig. Frances’ journey toward becoming, as she says at one point, “a real person” is rendered in all its awkward, triumphant and delicately heartbreaking glory across the film’s 86 minutes. Its jubilant “Modern Love” sprint through the streets of New York will sit in your brain forever. Its simple, exhale of an ending will move you more than you expect.
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