Late March is a weird time to be a moviegoer. The blockbuster summer movies are still around the corner, and all the big winter movies have been playing for weeks. Snow White is the newest release in theaters, but Disney’s latest live-action remake isn’t everyone’s cup of poisoned tea.
It’s times like these that make you grateful for streaming. Netflix, Hulu and others always seem to have something interesting to offer.
Amazon Prime’s movie library was already impressive, but the streamer’s March lineup has its competitors beat. This weekend, What to Watch recommends you stream the following three underrated movies starring Glen Powell, Debra Messing, Michael Keaton and more.
‘Twisters’ (2024)
Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a meteorologist who used to chase tornadoes before a traumatic incident forced her to quit. Five years later, she’s lured back by her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos). But chasing after town-destroying tornadoes is just as dangerous now as it was then, and she’ll have to team up with charismatic YouTuber Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) to overcome her past trauma and somehow make it out alive.
Twisters is a spiritual sequel to 1996’s Twister and possesses many of the qualities that made that movie so appealing: charismatic leads, a simple, bare-bones story and spectacular special effects. The director, Lee Isaac Chung, never loses the humanity amidst the CGI chaos and Edgar-Jones and Powell exude star quality as the film’s weather-beaten lovers.
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Hollywood used to make movies like these all the time, but it’s been so rare nowadays that Twisters almost feels like an abnormality — it’s one of the few competently made blockbusters of the last few years.
Twisters is streaming on Amazon Prime.
‘The Wedding Date’ (2005)
Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) is a single New Yorker dreading her half-sister Amy’s (Amy Adams) upcoming wedding in London. She had a good reason — the groom’s best man, Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield), is her former fiancé. He broke her heart, and she wants him to pay.
What’s a gal to do? Why, hire a male escort to pose as her new beau, of course. But Nick (Dermot Mulroney), her hired wedding date, proves to be too good at his job and soon, Kat begins to develop real feelings for her fake boyfriend.
The Wedding Date makes the most of its slightly absurd premise. As Kat, Messing doesn’t stray too far from the Will & Grace playbook, and since the movie plays like a sitcom anyway, it works. Mulroney makes Nick more suave instead of sleazy, and Adams shines in an early role as Kat’s peppy sis. Anglophiles will get a kick out of the movie’s beautiful English locations, which include scenes set in the lush Parliament Hill Fields area of Britain.
The Wedding Date is streaming on Amazon Prime.
‘Pacific Heights’ (1990)
Lovebirds Drake and Patty (Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith) purchase an expensive Victorian home in San Francisco’s exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood. To help pay off their mortgage, they rent one of the rooms to Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton), a mysterious man with a Porsche and a lot of cash on hand.
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But Carter turns out to be a tenant from hell, and he soon terrorizes the couple for undisclosed reasons. With the law against them and their debts mounting, can Drake and Patty force Carter out and determine what his motives are before it’s too late?
Landlords and property owners shouldn’t watch Pacific Heights, an all-too-effective thriller about the pitfalls of real estate. Directed by Midnight Cowboy’s John Schlesinger, the movie is an effective thriller that casts Keaton in a rare villain role. As Carter, he’s deliciously nasty, and he’s so convincing you’ll think twice about rewatching his Batman movies.
Pacific Heights is streaming on Amazon Prime.
