March is nearing its end, and the weekend holds the promise of freedom. But what is there to do? There’s Road House, the new Amazon Prime Video remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze “classic.” If you’re a gamer in need of another open-world adventure, Rise of the Ronin has been getting decent reviews.
If watching movies at home is more your thing, then relax, we have you covered. Hulu has some of the best films around, and the following three movies are worth a watch this weekend. One is a classic 1980s comedy, another is a B-movie hybrid of genres, and the final recommended movie is a heartwarming biopic about a beloved entertainer.
Baby Boom (1987)
Some comedies are terribly dated, while others seem timeless. Baby Boom is the rare comedy that’s both. This comedy starring Diane Keaton is very much of its time, but it still holds up today. Keaton stars as high-powered NYC exec J.C. Wiatt, whose life primarily consists of stock reports, business lunches, and timeshares until a close relative dies and leaves her an odd inheritance: a cute toddler named Elizabeth. What’s a modern career gal who doesn’t like children to do?
There’s no denying that Baby Boom is formulaic (pardon the pun) and leaves no stereotype unused. A cute baby who softens a hardened woman? Check. A city gal who runs to the country to change her life? Yes. There’s even a kind, handsome doctor who thaws J.C.’s hardened heart and a shady yuppie played by a young James Spader. But damn, this movie works, and that’s due to the slick direction by Charles Shyer and the winning lead performance by Keaton, who had one of her best starring roles ever. It’s no Annie Hall, but it’s far better than most rom-coms of the era.
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
It’s not often the horror and Western genres blend together in one movie, but that’s what makes Bone Tomahawk so unique. Kurt Russell stars in S. Craig Zahler’s film as Franklin Hunt, a grizzled sheriff who leads a deputy, a gunslinger, and a cowboy to rescue three people from a group of cannibalistic cave dwellers. Try to find that plot point in a Clint Eastwood Western!
The movie features an eclectic supporting cast that includes Patrick Wilson, David Arquette, Sean Young, Richard Jenkins, and Matthew Fox. They’re all good, but Russell commands the spotlight here in a role reminiscent of his R.J. MacReady in John Carpenter’s The Thing. If you’re craving something a little bit different this weekend, you can’t go wrong with Bone Tomahawk.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
Now, here’s one of the most gentle movies made in recent years, and it’s no coincidence that it stars one of the nicest actors around. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood tells the story of a cynical investigative journalist, Lloyd (Matthew Rhys), who is assigned to do a magazine feature about Mr. Rogers (Asteroid City‘s Tom Hanks) toward the end of his decades-spanning career. Lloyd wants to dig up some dirt on Mr. Rogers, who can’t possibly be as nice as his squeaky image implies.
Lloyd’s cynicism quickly disappears as he realizes Mr. Rogers is exactly the good guy everyone thinks he is. The beauty of Hanks’ performance is that while his Fred Rogers is nice and squeaky clean, he’s still a regular man with flaws, just like everyone else. The film strikes a difficult but winning balance between respecting its subject and being an engaging movie that is more than just a superficial hagiography.
