Closer is now on Netflix – Picture: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Welcome to your first weekly roundup of our favorite new movies that have been added to Netflix over the past seven days. Below, we’ll pick out five movies you should be spinning up on Netflix this weekend for those living in the US (and globally in the case of a couple of picks).
Want to check out some of our TV picks for the week? The week was headed up by The Walking Dead and Ginny & Georgia.
Lion (2016)
Rating: PG-13
Language: English
Genre: Biography, Drama
Director: Garth Davis
Cast: Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara
Writer: Saroo Brierley, Luke Davies
Runtime: 118 min / 1h 58m
Unavailable on Netflix’s ad tier.
Our first movie was among the first of the month additions and one that’s yet to feature in the Netflix top 10s this week.
Nominated for six Oscars, the movie revolves around a man who returns home years after he was adopted to find out his true background and, hopefully, his birth family.
The touching movie was a bonafide hit with critics and is an inspiring family watch.
Of course, it’s a good time to get invested in Dev Patel, with at least two major projects featuring or coming from the actor. He’s set to star in the Wes Anderson movie, The Wonderful of Henry Sugar and Monkey Man.
Closer (2004)
Rating: R
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Clive Owen
Writer: Patrick Marber
Runtime: 104 min / 1h 44m
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars.
Staying on the theme of Oscar-nominated movies, we rewind back nearly 20 years to 2004 when this ensemble romantic drama movie was released to the world.
Closer is about what happens when a writer, a stripper, a photographer, and a dermatologist engage in a series of romantic encounters with each other. The end result is a complicated entanglement.
The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
Rating: R
Language: English
Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Fred Hechinger
Writer: Louis Bayard, Scott Cooper
Runtime: 128 min / 2h 8m
Netflix’s first major new movie for 2023 is Christian Bale and Harry Melling’s crime period movie, The Pale Blue Eye.
The title, which has also been in select theaters over Christmas, is about a retired detective recruiting an astute cadet named Edgar Allan Poe who assists him in solving a grisly murder mystery at the Military Academy.
In our review of the movie, we concluded:
“Given the cast and use of Poe as a character in a murder mystery, this film should have been much stronger than it was. Melling’s performance and strong ending save a very slow & tedious early going.”
King Kong (2005)
Rating: PG-13
Language: English
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody
Writer: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson
Runtime: 187 min / 3h 7m
Awards: Won 3 Oscars.
Next we move onto a movie that has featured in the top 10s this week and for good reason. We’re referring to Peter Jackson’s iconic take on the classic story, which Netflix even adapted itself with the kid’s series Kong: King of the Apes.
The Guardian at the time of release said the movie “certainly equals, and even exceeds, anything Jackson did in Lord of the Rings.”
Long-time subscribers of Netflix will know this isn’t the first time King Kong has been available on the service, but it is the first time in nearly 3 years, so it’s well worth revisiting.
Mars One (2022)
Rating: TV-MA
Language: Portuguese
Genre: Drama
Director: Gabriel Martins
Cast: Cícero Lucas, Carlos Francisco, Camilla Damião
Writer: Gabriel Martins
Runtime: 115 min / 1h 55m
For our international spotlight this week, we’re going to recommend the latest ARRAY release on Netflix in the form of the Brazillian LGBTQ drama Mars One.
Releasing on Netflix exclusively on January 5th, the new movie follows a close family navigating their life together but also separately, with one having the express goal of living on Mars.
The film has a 100% score on RottenTomatoes from critics.
Most Watched Movies on Netflix US This Week
Picture: Netflix
On track to become the third biggest movie on Netflix of all time, it’s no surprise that Glass Onion continued its reign in the Netflix movie top 10s throughout the week:
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – 79 points
- White Noise – 63 points
- Trolls – 56 points
- Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical – 55 points
- No Escape – 33 points
- The Invitation – 30 points
- Sing 2 – 28 points
- Bullet Train – 23 points
- King Kong – 16 points
- The Pale Blue Eye – 10 points
- Life – 10 points
- The Longest Yard – 8 points
- Side Effects – 8 points
- After Ever Happy – 8 points
- Jak zostałem gangsterem. Historia prawdziwa – 7 points
- The Bad Guys – 5 points
- 7 donne e un mistero – 1 point
What are you watching on Netflix this week? Let us know down in the comments below.
