So you’re technically “working from home” right now, but we know that really means lying in front of your TV with Slack open on your laptop.
If you’re going to give yourself over to the gods of streaming while you avoid COVID-19, you may as well watch something worthwhile. Here are 10 movies that you need to see before you die, and since they’re available on Netflix right now and you don’t have anything better to do, you really have no excuse not to watch them.
A Quiet Place
While the apocalyptic themes of this movie may hit a little close to home right now, it’s a gripping enough film to distract you from how tired you are of the person you’re stuck in quarantine with. Written, directed, and starring John Krasinski, A Quiet Place explores a world that’s been overrun by monsters with super-sensitive hearing. The few people left on earth are forced to exist and communicate in almost total silence in order to stay alive.
Jaws
Now’s the perfect time to revisit this thrilling classic. No matter how tired you get of staying indoors, at least you aren’t being stalked by a massive shark like the characters in this Spielberg masterpiece.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
If you like the Coen Brothers, you’ll love this quirky, episodic Western. If you don’t like the Coen Brothers, you ought to watch this anyway, because it’s so completely different than any other movie, you’re sure to feel strongly one way or another. This anthology style film has no problem breaking the fourth wall and forcing you to reconsider everything you thought you knew about the Western genre.
Roma
Winner of three Oscars, this movie from director Alfonso Cuarón will stick with you long after the closing credits. The story follows a maid working for an upper-middle class family in Mexico City in the 1970s, and it’s sure to put your personal struggles into perspective.
Ex Machina
This mind-bending thriller will have you on the edge of your seat (even if that seat is the sofa you’ve been sitting on for days now). Ex Machina follows a computer programmer named Domhnall Gleeson who wins the opportunity to spend a week with the enigmatic creator of the world’s leading AI technology. Soon, Gleeson finds out that all is not as it seems in the high-tech mansion.
Ghost
Is there any scene in the history of cinema that’s more iconic than the pottery scene in this classic movie? Patrick Swayze plays the ghost of a banker seeking to warn girlfriend Demi Moore she’s in danger via psychic Whoopi Goldberg. This film is as cheesy as it is excellent, and you really have to see it given its lasting cultural impact.
Coraline
This stunning animated adaptation of a Neil Gaiman book is an absolute treat. This film from Laika, the company behind Kubo and the Two Strings and ParaNorman, is as visually appealing as it is creepy. If this isn’t the kind of film you’d normally watch, maybe now is the perfect time to branch out.
Frances Ha
There’s nothing like Greta Gerwig’s and Noah Baumbach’s cutting wit and moving observations about life and friendship to help you forget about a building global pandemic. This semi-autobiographical film has become a cult classic and has arguably one of the best scripts of all time.
The Irishman
Honestly, we wouldn’t normally recommend you spend 3 hours of your one short life on this movie, but what else do you have to do right now? Settle in, pop some popcorn, and prepare to squint at the special effects that only do an okay job at making Robert De Niro look younger. If you can stick it out, it really is an excellent film.
12 Years a Slave
This Oscar-winning historical drama, based on Solomon Northup’s autobiographical book, stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch and Brad Pitt. It follows the life of a free black man living in pre-Civil War America who is abducted and sold into slavery. It’s a searing portrait of the brutality of slave life, and it should be mandatory viewing for everyone.
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