This weekend, a whopping five new movies will be unleashed in multiplexes nationwide. Since Warfare, King of Kings, The Chosen, The Amateur and Drop appeal to wildly different audiences, there’s a good chance you’ll find something to watch at your local movie theater this weekend.
But what if you want to stay home and chill? Netflix is always an option, and as the world’s most popular streamer, there’s a good chance you’re a subscriber.
If that’s the case, Watch With Us recommends these three underrated movies to watch over the weekend. One is a recent horror movie that’s famous for its GIFs, another is an ’80s comedy starring Tom Hanks and the last one is a John Grisham thriller with the late Gene Hackman.
‘Ma’ (2019)
You might know of Ma even if you’ve never seen it. The 2019 horror thriller was a minor hit when it was released in early 2019, but it’s gained a new life on social media through GIFs and memes highlighting the film’s fun, campy appeal.
Octavia Spencer stars as Sue Ann “Ma” Ellington, a lonely woman who befriends a group of teenagers after she helps them buy alcohol at a drugstore. To further ingratiate herself with them, she offers her place for them to throw parties and hang out. But Ma is needy, and her efforts to grow closer to the group drive them away. Soon, she resorts to stalking, violence and even murder to get what she wants.
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Ma is easy to enjoy on multiple levels. The scenes with Spencer dancing with her new teen friends and Ma coldly killing a perky blonde jogger are a hoot to watch, and the film is in on the joke.
But Ma is also a surprisingly effective portrait of a woman scarred by a traumatic event she never quite recovered from, which causes her to turn toward violence to cure her loneliness. Spencer’s performance both matches the material she’s working with and rises above it, resulting in a memorable character that is on the verge of becoming a genre icon.
Ma is streaming on Netflix.
‘Runaway Jury’ (2003)
John Grisham’s movie adaptations were all the rage in the ’90s, but by 2003 — the year Runaway Jury was released — moviegoers’ interest had waned. That’s a pity, as the movie is a top-notch legal thriller with a dynamite cast that includes John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Dustin Hoffman and the late Gene Hackman.
After her husband is killed in a mass shooting, a widow (Joanna Going) sues the company that made the gun used to shoot him. A high-profile trial begins, but someone wants to exert control over the jury to guarantee a verdict in favor of the gun company. Nick Easter (Cusack) is the only juror who realizes something fishy is at play, and he’s determined to stop it at all costs.
The price may be his life, though, and the only person who can help is a mysterious woman named Marlee (Weisz), whose loyalties may be guided by her desire for money rather than her morals.
Runaway Jury is streaming on Netflix.
‘The Money Pit’ (1986)
If you own real estate or have ever worked on a fixer-upper house, it’s probably not wise to watch The Money Pit. The 1986 comedy stars Tom Hanks and Shelley Long as Walter and Anna, a yuppie Manhattan couple who stumble upon an amazing deal: a mansion in upstate New York is on the market, and the price is absurdly low. The only catch? They have to buy it right away without seeing it in the daylight or having an inspector look at it.
As you can guess, the deal turns out to be too good to be true, and Walt and Anna have to deal with sinks not working, walls falling apart, and even a floor collapsing late one night. All this is played for laughs, and The Money Pit usually gets them.
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It’s a blast to see the usually serious Hanks in full Jim Carrey mode, and Long has her best movie role ever as the perpetually exasperated new homeowner. Look for the late, great character actor Philip Bosco as a comically shady contractor who constantly promises his never-ending work will be over in just “two weeks.”
The Money Pit is streaming on Netflix.
