Credit: Netflix

Picking a film often depends more on your mood than on genre. One moment you might want to watch a crime story, and the next, you open Netflix and see some dramedy on the home page, and before you know it, you are thirty minutes in.

That variety is one of the biggest advantages of Netflix. It’s like, you name it, we’ve got it. Instead of committing to one type of movie night, you can watch very different kinds of stories depending on what sounds appealing in the moment.

That’s why we say that many times the catalogue becomes less about categories. It now totally depends on you whether you want your film to match your mood or change your mood according to the film.

Hence, this week, the list has a bit of everything from a comedy drama to a neo-noir. Now it’s your turn to pick.

The five best movies to watch on Netflix this weekend

The Little Things (John Lee Hancock, 2021)

Start watching The Little Things, and you will quickly realise this isn’t the type of crime thriller built for the masses, where the twist is rather flamboyant. It starts with a tired deputy sheriff played by Denzel Washington, who gets involved in a serial killer investigation while visiting Los Angeles. Soon, he teams up with a younger detective, played by Rami Malek, who is determined to solve the case and prove himself.

As the investigation moves forward, you start noticing how much the case begins to weigh on both men. Washington’s character Joe isn’t only worried about the investigation but is also struggling with the burden of past mistakes. On the other hand, Malek’s detective slowly becomes more obsessed with catching the killer. We also have Jared Leto as a strange suspect who keeps the detectives on edge. Instead of chasing constant twists, the film focuses on the pressure of the investigation and the difficult choices that come with catching a criminal.

The Discovery (Charlie McDowell, 2017)

The idea behind The Discovery is simple but quite fascinating. Imagine a world where scientists have proven that an afterlife exists. Once that discovery becomes public, millions of people begin taking their own lives, all in hopes of reaching whatever comes next. But our main character is a young man named Will Harbour, played by Jason Segel, whose father is the scientist responsible for the discovery.

When he arrives at a remote research facility run by his father, he meets a woman, Isla (Rooney Mara), and the two begin trying to understand what the afterlife might actually look like. We often see sci-fi movies with romance as a guest genre, but The Discovery mixes them both so beautifully with yet another genre: mystery, and forces you to ask big questions about life and death. This film focuses more on the emotional side and shows you the consequences of knowing what happens when you know the truth about the afterlife.

Apostle (Gareth Evans, 2018)

But if dark and unsettling stories are your taste, then Apostle is the best Netflix has in its catalogue right now. This film takes you into a very disturbing world. This story is about a man, Thomas Richardson, who travels to a remote island to rescue his sister after she has been kidnapped by a mysterious religious cult. It’s necessary to mention that Dan Stevens has done a great job playing Thomas.

Coming back to the story, once he arrives on the island, he pretends to be one of the followers while secretly searching for his sister. As he spends more time on the island, he begins to discover the strange beliefs and violent rituals that keep the cult in control. While on one hand, just the setting is eerie enough to make you uncomfortable, we also experience this constant feeling that something bad can happen at any moment. Advice for viewers with anxiety: don’t.

The Night Comes for Us (Timo Tjahjanto, 2018)

And if none of the above films suits your taste, then this action film can never go wrong. The Night Comes for Us is a pure action film with a mix of thrills. The film follows a gang enforcer, Ito, who suddenly decides to protect a young girl instead of executing a violent order from the criminal organisation he works for.

It’s obvious that the decision turns him into a target, and soon nearly every assassin in the city is trying to hunt him down. But here comes the best part, because as soon as that happens, we see a series of intense fight scenes and so many of them that Ito barely gets time to rest. If you are a martial-arts enthusiast, you will have a good time. For viewers who enjoy hard-hitting action films, this Netflix film is an intense experience.

Win It All (Joe Swanberg, 2017)

And to end the list with a light watch, we have Win It All after the darker and more intense films on this list. Actually, you can say that it makes a pretty decent watch for a Sunday afternoon. The film follows a small-time gambler, Eddie Garrett, who finds himself responsible for watching over a bag of money that belongs to a criminal.

At first, he promises to keep the money safe, but temptation quickly gets the better of him (duh). Soon, he begins gambling with cash that was never his to begin with, and that goes on, creating a problem that grows bigger with every risky decision. The story is simple, yet the film makes a brilliant watch because of its humorous look at a man who keeps making bad choices. Win It All is easily one of those Netflix watches that match the description of an “underrated” film pretty well.