It’s the second weekend of March, and bad movies like Madame Web and Netflix’s Lift are in the past. Dune: Part Two has saved the multiplex, and streaming finally has some worthwhile options like Shōgun and Damsel.
Beyond new releases, there’s a treasure trove of older movies that are still worth watching. Hulu has some of the best library titles, and the following three movies are worth a watch this weekend. One is a British sex comedy, another is an overlooked thriller from 2014, and the final recommended movie is a cringey 2023 film about modern relationships.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
When it was released in the summer of 2022, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande received polite reviews, but no one seemed that passionate about it. Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis were on everyone’s mind, so a small movie starring just two people locked in a hotel room didn’t seem like it was big enough to warrant too much attention. Yet, not even two years later, Leo Grande still intrigues and is even better when seen in 2024.
The premise is intriguing, even daring: a fiftysomething British woman, Nancy, hires an Irish male sex worker, Leo, for a couple of lovemaking sessions to fulfill her long-neglected sexual desires. During their sessions, the two will share more than just casual sex, as Nancy probes Leo about his profession, while Leo inquires Nancy about why she’s waited so long to be satisfied. Much praise was given to Emma Thompson’s nuanced work as Nancy, as it should’ve been, but Leo Grande is just as interesting due to its lead actor, Daryl McCormack. The up-and-comer holds his own with the respected English actress, and is someone to watch in the future.
The Two Faces of January (2014)
Patricia Highsmith is one of those authors who has become more famous after dying than she ever was when she was alive. Her most famous novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, is being adapted yet again, this time into a prestige Netflix miniseries, and one of the most acclaimed movies of the last decade, Carol, was based on one of her books. So it’s a good time as any to go back and watch one of her lesser-known movie adaptations, The Two Faces of January, a neglected thriller starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, and Dune star Oscar Isaac.
It’s 1962, and Chester and Colette MacFarland are vacationing in Athens, Greece when they encounter Rydal, a charismatic young American who is estranged from his family. Over the course of a few weeks, the three will grow closer, particularly Colette and Rydal, and a murder will forever bind them in a toxic triangle that threatens to destroy them all. The Two Faces of January isn’t as good as Ripley, but it contains the same intoxicating brew of gorgeous people, stunning locations, and shocking violence that make that 1999 movie, and most of Highsmith’s suspense novels, so damn entertaining.
Cat Person (2023)
It’s now accepted that 2023 was a great year for movies. The downside to that is that some films got lost amid the pop culture noise created by Barbenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and even indie hits like Poor Things and The Zone of Interest. Cat Person is one of those neglected movies, and it deserves to be watched now that it’s available to stream on Hulu.
When college student Margot (CODA actress Emilia Jones) meets 33-year-old Robert (Succession‘s Nicholas Braun) at the movie theater where she works, the two establish an instant rapport. Soon, they build a relationship over texts and, in the process, idealize one another. But when they finally go on an actual date, things don’t quite match their own perceptions of one another. The result is chaotic and surprising, which also sums up the appeal of Cat Person. It’s different, quirky, and just a little bit unsettling.
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