It’s always sad when another month passes, signifying the slow but inevitable march to a future we all reach eventually – a future with fewer hit movies on Netflix.
Yes, even a massively popular streamer like Netflix has to pull a handful of movies each month for a variety of reasons.
Next week, over two dozen films will be pulled from the streaming platform. Not all of them are great, but Watch With Us has selected three movie masterpieces you should watch before the month ends.
Featuring such stars as Keira Knightley, Dustin Hoffman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeff Bridges and more, these pictures have won Oscars and even spawned several hit pop songs.
‘Atonement’ (2007)
It’s 1935, and all is quiet on a wealthy English estate in the countryside. 13-year-old amateur writer Briony (Saoirse Ronan) is restless, so she spies on the housekeeper’s handsome son, Robbie (James McAvoy). She might have a crush on him, but he has eyes for her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley). This ignites Briony’s jealousy and curiosity, and she begins to create a tale of love, betrayal and tragedy that, with her help, spills over into real life.
Director Joe Wright’s masterful adaptation of Ian McEwan’s acclaimed novel of the same name threads the line between an intimate drama, a ravishing romance and an epic war film. Those different genres should clash, but Wright makes them work because Atonement’s story is so elliptical and ever-changing – just when you think you know what it’s about, it springs another surprise at you. The movie contains some lyrical images you won’t forget, accompanied by a dazzling, Oscar-winning score by Dario Marianelli that will make you feel you’re falling into someone else’s memories. In a way, you are – Atonement is all about Briony’s memories, both of what really happened and what she’s invented, so she can give the ending Robbie and Cecilia deserved all along.
‘Tootsie’ (1982)
Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is one of New York City’s best theater actors. He’s also one of its most unemployed because he gives everyone around him – actors, directors, writers, even stagehands – a hard time. When his agent suggests he quit acting because no one will hire him, he does the unthinkable – he tries out for a trashy daytime soap opera. That doesn’t sound too far-fetched – work is work, after all, and Michael has bills to pay – except he auditions as an older woman, Dorothy Michaels – and lands the part. Soon, Dorothy becomes popular with the show’s bored housewives audience and, to Michael’s dismay, her horny male costars, too. Even worse, Michael falls for his costar, single mom Julie (Jessica Lange), who thinks Dorothy is one of the best friends she’s ever had. Michael’s never been more successful as an actor, but what good is all that success if no one knows it’s really him as Dorothy?
There’s a reason why Tootsie’s screenplay is considered one of the best of all time. It’s a masterfully structured comedy, complete with perfectly timed jokes and a story that gradually escalates the underlying tension of when Michael’s Dorothy identity will be exposed as phony baloney. It’s also a genuinely sweet romance, both between Michael and Julie and Dorothy and Julie – you believe both pairs could work as a romantic couple.
Every actor is at the top of their game in Tootsie, from a brilliant Teri Garr as Michael’s flighty, put-upon friend Sandy to Sydney Pollack (who also directed the film) as Michael’s fed-up agent. But Tootsie begins and ends with Hoffman, who gives his best performance of his career as Dororthy Micahels. When the inevitable happens, and Michael has to retire his Dorothy persona to save his romance with Julie, it’s sad. When Michael confesses he already misses Dorothy, you believe him because you miss her, too.
‘The Mirror Has Two Faces’ (1996)
Rose Morgan (Barbra Streisand) is an ugly duckling who doesn’t realize she’s a swan in disguise. A successful English literature professor at Columbia University, she doesn’t think too highly of herself since she constantly compares herself to her glamorous sister Claire (Mimi Rogers), who’s between marriages right now. Rose wants to get hitched too, but she thinks she has to settle for a platonic romance with disillusioned Math professor Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges). But is being with Gregory enough? Or does she want something more, like passion, romance and true love?
The answer is yes, to all of the above, and if you think that’s corny, you should watch another movie. The Mirror Has Two Faces is a big, sloppy ode to the kind of love that only exists in films – the kind that makes you hear Puccini in an empty New York street as you embrace your partner. Yes, that actually happens in The Mirror Has Two Faces, but its shameless romantic spirit is infectious – it will make you want to hear Puccini in your life, too. The classy cast includes Pierce Brosnan as Claire’s current husband and future ex and Oscar nominee Lauren Bacall as Rose’s beauty queen mother, who still can’t believe she’s grown old.
