Credit: Netflix

Netflix has more than enough new releases elbowing each other for your weekend this time, but how about we take a little trip to, let’s say, a few years ago? Yes, you can eventually catch up with the new ones, and Netflix’s algorithm will keep showing them to you, but if you are in the mood to take a small trip to Nostalgia-ville, we have got some great picks for you.

Four of these were produced or distributed as Netflix originals. The odd one out first made waves on the festival circuit, where its lead performance became one of the year’s most talked-about comedy turns.

There is a bit of awards sparkle in the mix too. One selection received an Academy Award nomination, while another came from a filmmaker whose earlier work had already gone toe-to-toe with the Best Picture crowd.

Watching all five would take just over nine hours, so a full marathon is absolutely doable without your whole weekend disappearing in poor decisions. Or pick one based on your mood. Either way, the list has enough variety to keep things fresh.

The five best movies to watch on Netflix this weekend

The Pale Blue Eyes (Scott Cooper, 2022)

So, picture West Point in 1830. A cadet is found dead, then someone removes his heart. Grim enough, right? Christian Bale plays Augustus Landor, the detective called in when the academy wants the mess handled without the country hearing about it. He teams up with a young Edgar Allan Poe, played by Harry Melling, who looks like he has not slept since birth. Together they pull at the case, and before long the place feels like somewhere you should leave before sunset. Yes, it’s that scary!

The fun bit is that Poe is not treated like a walking literary reference here. Melling gives him nerves, while Bale keeps Landor worn down. Scott Cooper adapted Louis Bayard’s novel, and this was his third film with Bale. Melling also visited cemeteries while preparing. Of course he did. Honestly, who else would?

Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre, 2014)

After all that snow and murder, if you are looking for something closer to real life, though, Obvious Child is not a breather. Jenny Slate plays Donna, a stand-up comic whose boyfriend dumps her before she loses her job. Soon enough, she has a one-night stand with Max and discovers she is pregnant. Get your priorities in order, girl! In order to do so, she decides to have an abortion, but the film is not interested in punishing her or turning the choice into a lecture. Thank God for that.

And Slate has done a splendid job as Donna. She jokes when she is scared (which explains the stand-up comic boyfriend) and says the wrong things, but then she tries again. You know, like an actual person. Gillian Robespierre first made the story as a short before expanding it into her feature debut. The title comes from Paul Simon’s song The Obvious Child. It broke out at Sundance because it let a woman be funny while making a serious decision. Imagine that. Revolutionary, apparently.

Apostle (Gareth Evans, 2018)

Some horror films let you breathe a bit before they start making you uncomfortable and believe us when we say Apostle has no interest in being that polite. It starts with a missing woman and a brother desperate enough to follow her trail to a remote island, then keeps peeling back the place until the whole thing feels rotten from the ground up. Dan Stevens plays Thomas Richardson, who arrives in 1905 after his sister is kidnapped for ransom. The island’s leader, Prophet Malcolm, acts like everything is under control. As if.

Thomas plans to blend in, find his sister and leave before anyone recognises him. That plan has no chance. The crops are dying, and something beneath the island wants feeding. Gareth Evans wrote and directed the film after The Raid movies, but this time he was in a different mood. By the end, the island has gone from strange to unhinged.

Triple Frontier (J. C. Chandor, 2019)

Imagine five former Special Forces soldiers deciding to rob a drug lord because, in their minds, who is he going to complain to? That is the setup of Triple Frontier, and for a while the plan looks sensible. Oscar Isaac pulls the team together, where Ben Affleck plays their old leader, and they find far more cash than expected. Lovely problem to have, you would think. Except the money becomes dead weight, and the escape starts falling apart.

This is where the film earns its keep. It is not about whether these men can fight; of course they can. It is about what happens when greed gets inside a group that once trusted one another. J.C. Chandor directed it and wrote the script with Mark Boal, who wrote The Hurt Locker. The project spent years in development, with Tom Hanks once linked. By the end, nobody is counting money with a smile.

Project Power (Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, 2020)

At last, we hand you Project Power on Netflix, which has one of those ideas that sounds daft until the film starts having fun with it. A pill gives you a superpower for five minutes, but you do not know what power you will get until you take it. That could mean bulletproof skin. It could also mean your body catches fire. Bit of a gamble, then. Jamie Foxx plays Art, a man hunting the people behind the drug after they take his daughter, while Dominique Fishback’s Robin sells the pills to survive.

The powers were based on animal abilities, which is why one character burns like a bombardier beetle and Art channels a pistol shrimp. Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman wanted each gift to hurt, so nobody gets a clean superhero moment. Machine Gun Kelly’s fire scene used practical effects with digital work. Loud? Yes. Boring? Not a chance.