It’s almost the end of the month, which means another batch of movies and shows will be cycling in and out of various streaming services. It can be hard to keep track of all of this stuff, which can make deciding on a weekend at-home watch even more daunting, especially if you subscribe to multiple services.
The good news is, there’s plenty of worthwhile titles out there, whether new, classic, or somewhere in between. To get the most out of those streaming services, here’s a roundup of some great movies on Netflix you might have missed, including a few titles that will be off the service after this weekend, as well as some binge-worthy shows on HBO Max.
Top Movies on Netflix To Watch This Weekend:
David O. Russell’s starry caper is one of the few movies of the 21st century to score Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress all at once. (The other one? Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook from the previous year and featuring many of the same actors.) It’s a testament to the movie’s all-star cast. Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence all do superlative, high-wire work in this crime picture crossed with a love quadrangle, where a pair of con artists (Bale and Adams) must work with a gung-ho fed (Cooper) without tipping off the unstable wife (Lawrence) that the male con artist wants to leave but can’t. Though its use of multiple narration tracks and wild/dark humor earned it comparisons to Martin Scorsese, the movie is (for better or worse) very much in Russell’s own style, as previously seen in Silver Linings as well as Three Kings. That means lots of overlapping yelling, yammering, and over-the-top antics — which might be a problem if they weren’t so impeccably well-performed by the central quartet. Cooper and Adams in particular are doing career-best work here.
Presumably, Field of Dreams is exiting Netflix because Father’s Day already happened last weekend. But baseball season continues, and despite not being about an actual game (at least not in the traditional sense), this is one of the best baseball movies ever made. Kevin Costner plays a farmer who hears voices compelling him to build a baseball diamond in the middle of Iowa, which is then visited by ghosts (of a sort) of famous past players. Recent Oscar winner Amy Madigan has one of her better roles (at least pre-Aunt Gladys) as Costner’s feisty wife. James Earl Jones and Ray Liotta are also on hand for affecting supporting roles. The movie’s reputation as one of the great “boy” tearjerkers is justified; non-dudes may well shed a tear, too.
Leaving Netflix June 30: Wild Things
For a less sentimental watch, try out this summer-appropriate, Florida-set neo-noir that has more sex and nudity than you often see in an entire year’s worth of studio movies these days. More twists, too; this mystery/thriller about a teacher (Matt Dillon) accused of sexual assault by a pair of very different students (Neve Campbell and Denise Richards) keeps adding new wrinkles to its plot well into the end credits. Also: Bill Murray is in it, too! Sex, twists, Murray, and nostalgic late-’90s nudity; what else could you ask for?
Another Father’s Day-related movie from 1989 that isn’t leaving Netflix quite yet: This ensemble dramedy (and the basis for a well-liked NBC TV series in the 2010s) is one of the best features from director Ron Howard, with Steve Martin as an angsty dad alongside his grown siblings played by Dianne Wiest, Haley Jane Kozak, and Tom Hulce (in one of his best post-Amadeus film performances). The cast also includes Jason Robards, Rick Moranis, a young Keanu Reeves, and an even younger Joaquin Phoenix, rounding out the family in a movie that understands the innate messiness of raising children, relating to siblings, growing up, and so on.
Best of Netflix: Relay
This thriller hit theaters last summer to little attention, and that’s too bad because it’s a tense, involving movie that crosses the paranoia classics of the ’70s with the slickness of ’90s-era revivals. Riz Ahmed plays a reclusive man who helps protect corporate whistleblowers from retaliation, using a phone relay system intended for the disabled to protect his anonymity. When he’s approached by a woman (Lily James) who has rethought her decision to expose a company, attempting to give back stolen materials and wipe her slate clean, he’s drawn into a dangerous conflict that threatens his carefully concealed identity (among other things). The film manages to be both tautly suspenseful and character-driven, with outstanding work from Ahmed and James.
Best Shows on HBO Max to Watch This Weekend:
On the other hand, if you’re more in the mood to binge a series this weekend, HBO Max is one of the best bets for consistently high quality. They also have a ton of shows that are already complete, so you can burn through them without having to face the suspense of when the next season or episode will drop. Here are three of the best shows currently streaming in full on HBO Max, assuming you’ve already watched Succession and The Sopranos:
When Emmy nominations are announced next month, look for a strong showing from this critically acclaimed limited series, which manages to be funny, suspenseful, and surprisingly affecting all at once. What starts off seeming like a seedy suburban murder mystery full of sex and betrayal reveals itself as something far more nuanced and insightful about male loneliness, class divides, and different forms of desire. It’s easily one of the best shows of the year, on HBO or otherwise.
The third in a (so far) trilogy of Danny McBride-starring comedies about various seedy underbellies of American institutions, The Righteous Gemstones delivers soap-opera-level conflict involving a powerful televangelist/megachurch dynasty led by Eli Gemstone (John Goodman). Goodman largely plays his role straight. The biggest laughs come from his trio of scheming, misbegotten, oft-dimwitted children played by McBride, Adam DeVine, and the absolutely brilliant Edi Patterson, whose lack of Emmy acknowledgment for her work on this show was a crime. The characters’ abrasiveness won’t be for everyone, but those who vibe with it will have a hell of a time.
Best Shows on HBO Max: Girls
Lena Dunham has been back in the news this year with the release of her memoir Famesick, about her relationship, professional, and especially health struggles during her work on her signature HBO series Girls (and beyond). The book might complicate readers’ relationship with the show, whose production was apparently more fraught than most knew at the time. But the show itself, whether watched for a revisit or a first-time curiosity, remains one of the great TV works of the 21st century, an astonishingly assured, varied, and hilarious chronicle of young women in 2010s-era New York City. Dunham will likely be back in the spotlight later this year with the release of Good Sex, a romantic comedy starring Natalie Portman. Why not prepare by bingeing her crowning achievement so far?
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.