Unless you just fell out of a tree, you’d know that the biggest movie out right now is Twisters. The quasi-sequel to the 1996 hit movie has received unusually ecstatic reviews for a summer popcorn flick, which may tempt a lot of people to make the brave trek to a crowded movie theater to watch it.
Not me, though. Nope, I’m content with maximizing my too-expensive Netflix subscription and watching some underrated gems. No, I’m not talking about Hillbilly Elegy, I’m taking about ignored movies with Gerard Butler on a submarine, German teachers freaking the hell out, and Michael Keaton desperately trying to get a newspaper story right before his deadline approaches. The three movies below are all guaranteed to entertain you this weekend. If they don’t, may the heavens curse me with a bad plate of pasta on my birthday.
The Paper (1994)
Ron Howard is no one’s idea of an exciting director. Even though he won a Best Director Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, his work is generally brushed off by critics as unmemorable. Yet, Howard’s created some fine movies in his career, and The Paper, an ensemble drama-comedy about one day in the life of a fictional newspaper not unlike the New York Post, is one of them.
Former Batman Michael Keaton heads a stellar cast (which includes Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Marisa Tomei, Jason Robards, Catherine O’ Hara, and Randy Quaid) as Henry Hackett, the paper’s fast-talking metro editor. Henry is juggling a pregnant wife who is about to give birth, a job interview at a rival paper he doesn’t want to work for, an inability to find the correct change for the office Coke machine, and a developing story about two teenage kids who may or may not be guilty of a double murder in Brooklyn.
It’s the latter event that fuels the movie, and all credit should be given to Howard, who expertly balances the inherent drama in reporters trying to get a story right under punishing deadlines and barely-there budgets with screwball comedy that involves a klutzy photographer, a city worker with an itchy trigger finger, and an unexpected showdown at the paper’s printing plant. The Paper is never boring, and by the end, you’re about as breathless and happy as Keaton’s character.
The Paper is streaming on Netflix.
The Teacher’s Lounge (2023)
How can a movie that was just nominated for an Oscar be underrated? Well, blame Anatomy of a Fall. That acclaimed French film took up most of the spotlight from almost every other foreign film last year, and that’s why The Teacher’s Lounge, a dramatic thriller from Germany, was largely left unnoticed by the general public. Now that it’s on Netflix, it’s a good time for audiences to see one of 2023’s best movies.
Someone is stealing money from the teacher’s lounge in a quiet elementary school somewhere in Germany. Carla, the seventh grade teacher, is initially silent on the issue, but her fellow teachers pressure her to find the culprit, whom they believe is in her class. As Carla descends further into her investigation, she loses control of her classroom and possibly her own sanity as accusations fly back and forth between the teachers, the students, and the angry parents who feel their children’s rights have been violated.
The Teacher’s Lounge is one of those thrillers that makes you cringe as you see almost everyone make the worst choice possible. But you just can’t help but keep watching to see how badly everything will turn out.
The Teacher’s Lounge is streaming on Netflix.
Hunter Killer (2018)
Unlike The Teacher’s Lounge, Hunter Killer was not nominated for any Oscars, nor did it deserve to be. Derivative, unoriginal, and clichéd, the 2018 action movie boasts a cast that’s largely there to cash a paycheck and move on to bigger, better things. Still, there’s something about a movie that is so shameless in ripping off other, superior genre flicks like Crimson Tide that gives it an odd, B movie appeal. It’s a film made for eye rolls.
The film’s plot involves a missing American submarine and a Russian coup d’état that endangers the Russian president and, by extension, America. It’s up to Gerard Butler‘s gruff hero, Captain Joe Glass, to find out what happened to the missing submarine and, with the help of Gary Oldman’s Charles Donnegan, thwart the overthrow of Russia and preserve world peace.
Yeah, the plot may seem by the numbers, but the movie is competently made, and Butler and Oldman never fail to captivate even when spouting subpar dialogue. If you’re nostalgic for ’80s action movies like Red Dawn or Red Heat, give this a spin.
Hunter Killer is streaming on Netflix.
