Depending on what part of the country you're in, you could be looking at some seriously low temperatures this weekend. And that's all the more reason to cancel any commitments in favor of having a very warm movie marathon, right in your own home. To help you plan it, we've put together a list of some of the most interesting movies to drop on Netflix in the past couple of weeks. Among them you'll find a soulful sci-fi flick, the final performance of one of the most acclaimed actors in the world, and a time-slipping Italian romantic comedy. Read on to find out what you should be watching this weekend.
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1 | Phantom Thread
Focus FeaturesWhile film fans fawn over and debate filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson's most recent release, Licorice Pizza, they can also take the opportunity to revisit his 2017 film about a fragile personal and professional relationship, Phantom Thread. In what he claims was his last role, Daniel Day-Lewis stars as fastidious designer Reynolds Woodcock, who takes on a muse and a romantic partner in former waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps). Phantom Thread racked up several Oscar nominations that year, winning, quite fittingly, for Best Costume Design.
2 | This Is Not a Comedy
NetflixDespite its title, you'll probably get at least a few laughs out of This Is Not a Comedy, a Mexican film about a standup comic (Gabriel Nuncio, also his character's name) who's presented with a new opportunity to find his place in the world when his best friend asks him to be her sperm donor. At the same time, he channels his feelings of disconnection into a science fiction screenplay that only he seems to get.
3 | Brazen
Sergei Bachlakov/NetflixIn this feature adaptation of a book by prolific novelist Nora Roberts, Alyssa Milano stars as a mystery writer who becomes entwined in a real-life investigation: the hunt for her own sister's killer. Along the way, she unpacks the secret life of her sibling and, because it wouldn't be a Nora Roberts' story if she didn't, becomes romantically involved with the dashing detective assigned to the case.
4 | The God Committee
Vertical EntertainmentIf you had the authority to decide who survives a sickness and who doesn't, how could you live with the choice? That's the question posed by The God Committee, a drama about a group of experts who are tasked with determining which patient should receive a donated heart. Starring Kelsey Grammer, Colman Domingo, and Julia Stiles, the movie also finds the committee members several years in the future, showing how the responsibility they hold has weighed on them.
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5 | The Colony
Saban Films/YouTubeMore commonly in the movies, we see things the other way around: humans, forced to leave Earth because of increasingly inhabitable conditions, colonize space or another planet. But in The Colony, matters are a little more complicated. In this future, wealthy people have long since departed Earth, but their new planet is also posing some problems—namely, no one can seem to have children. So they send a team back to the planet they abandoned to see if they can make another go of it there. After a deadly crash, two surviving astronauts find that Earth isn't as lifeless as they expected, which leads to a renewed class conflict and some big existential themes.
6 | Four to Dinner
NetflixIn this Italian rom-com, every one of the four lead characters is attractive and single. So who pairs up? It depends what timeline you're following. Four to Dinner plays with time and chance to explore how different combinations of its handful of main characters would play out, making a case that there isn't just one route to happiness, and, as the song says, you just need to love the one you're with.
