The five best movies to watch on Netflix this weekend
The five Netflix movies we have for you this week are not all masterpieces. There, we said it. But then, do you really want to watch all critically acclaimed films every weekend? Sometimes you just want something light; something with substance, sure, but easy to watch at the same time.
However, one thing common about these five picks is that they’ve all got a bit of mischief in them.
In fact, three of the five stories are about secrets and not the harmless ones. We are talking hidden pasts and disguises. The other two play it straighter, but they are no less watchable for it.
So, if you just want some entertaining watches this weekend, you’ve got options. Shall we get into them?
The five best movies to watch on Netflix this weekend:
The Equalizer (Antoine Fuqua, 2014)
One of the greatest things about Denzel Washington is that death stare of his, because it does an absurd amount of work before the man even opens his mouth; you just know somebody messed up! The Equalizer milks it heavily. Washington plays Robert McCall, a former intelligence operative who has packed all that in for a mundane job at a Boston hardware store, until Teri, a young woman he knows from his regular late-night diner, is put in the hospital by the Russian gangsters controlling her. At which point, well, retirement rather goes out the window.
This was Washington’s first film with Antoine Fuqua since Training Day, and thankfully, they don’t turn McCall into some chest-thumping action hero. He takes his time and only moves when he has decided what needs doing. McCall sounds like a smart man! But the effect of testing the waters only makes the violence worse. So if you’re in the mood for some action, know that Mr Washington will never disappoint.
Can You See Us? (Kenny Mumba, 2022)
The title gives you a major clue about what this Netflix film is getting at, because our lead, Joseph, spends a lot of his childhood being looked at by almost everyone and understood by, well, very few. Born with albinism in Zambia, he is rejected by his father and grows up dealing with people who treat his appearance as an invitation to judge him, which means a pathetic school life with his everyday life moments being ruined by friends as well as strangers. You can see why that would wear a kid down, can’t you?
What keeps the film from becoming one long misery parade is Joseph finding music, because for once he has something that belongs to him rather than something other people have decided about him. The story takes inspiration from Zambian musician John Chiti, and Thabo Kaamba has played Joseph with such grace that you’ll almost forget the pain behind the real story.
Scooby-Doo (Raja Gosnell, 2002)
Remember when we said that not all films have a harmless secret? We were talking about this one. Scooby-Doo has no interest in pretending to be serious cinema, and thank God for that, because sometimes Matthew Lillard yelling “Scoob!” while a shabby CGI Great Dane greets you with his presence is exactly what the evening calls for. Mystery Inc. have fallen out when the film begins, but Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby are all called to Spooky Island after its visitors start behaving like they’ve joined some very dodgy cult. Of course, nobody trusts anyone, and Shaggy wants nothing to do with danger, and Scooby is still Scooby.
James Gunn wrote the screenplay years before Guardians of the Galaxy, and you can see the same fondness for people arguing their way through a crisis. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr., who play Daphne and Fred, were a couple off-screen as well and married a few months after the film came out. Not a bad bit of casting, right? But keep the disguises in mind, mind you, because the next film makes concealment a far nastier business.
Passengers (Morten Tyldum, 2016)
Ready for some more mess? Because that’s exactly what Passengers throws at you. Jim Preston, played by Chris Pratt, wakes on the starship Avalon 90 years before it reaches its colony, while more than 5,000 passengers remain in hibernation, and after a year with only an android bartender for company, he makes the choice the whole film hangs on: he wakes Aurora Lane, played by Jennifer Lawrence, then lets her believe her pod failed on its own. You can see why that’s hard to shrug off.
The two grow close, but we know something Aurora doesn’t, so whatever nice moments they share together are sitting on a serious lie. When she finds out the truth, the romance takes a serious hit, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Avalon starts having problems of its own.
Pitch Black (David Twohy, 2000)
Before he became a household name through Fast & Furious, Vin Diesel played Riddick in Pitch Black, and you can see at once why the character stuck around. A transport ship crashes on a desert planet, leaving a bunch of survivors stranded with little water and one man in chains whom nobody trusts. Fair enough, really, because Riddick is a convicted killer. The useful part? His altered eyes let him see in the dark, and when the planet slips into an eclipse, that becomes the party trick because the creatures hiding underground have been waiting for the lights to go out.
So now the group has a serious problem: do you keep fearing Riddick, or do you follow the one man who can see what is coming for you? Diesel doesn’t have to put a lot of effort into making Riddick feel dangerous, and the character became such a hit that he ended up carrying the sequels.