Sometimes it’s tough to decide what to do for the weekend. Tax season is over, spring has sprung and outdoor activities like hiking and biking are more attractive now that the weather is good again.
You could stay in and watch a movie or two, but it’s hard to know what’s good or bad. Watch With Us is here to help you spend your time wisely with these three underrated movies that deserve your attention.
One is a legendary 1990s bomb that’s actually enjoyable, another is a movie spinoff of a popular Netflix TV show and the final selection is a Steven Spielberg film almost no one has seen.
‘Waterworld’ (1995)
Everyone’s heard about Waterworld, but have you actually seen it? The movie is known as one of the most notorious box office flops of all time, but that doesn’t make it bad. On the contrary, it’s quite good in a B-movie kind of way, and it’s a fascinating relic of a previous time in Hollywood when bloated action epics were the exception rather than the norm.
In 2500, the polar ice caps have melted and almost the entire world is underwater. For survivors like the Mariner (Kevin Costner), life consists of drifting aimlessly on the high seas and converting his urine into drinkable water. When he encounters Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and young Enola (Tina Majorino) fleeing from the evil Deacon (Dennis Hopper), the Mariner’s life turns into one breathless escape after another. What secret does Enola keep that Deacon so desperately wants? And does the Mariner care enough to help save her and maybe the entire world?
Waterworld is streaming on Netflix.
‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’ (2018)
Black Mirror recently returned for season 7 with one episode, “Plaything,” a sort of sequel to the show’s only feature-length movie, Bandersnatch. While not as critically praised as Black Mirror’s TV episodes, the film is worth watching for several reasons, with an interactive component (viewers can choose different narrative paths for the lead character) still standing out as an innovative feature that was ahead of its time.
It’s 1984 England, and Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead) is a computer programmer who wants to adapt a “Choose Your Own Adventure”-type book into a revolutionary computer game called Bandersnatch. But as Stefan becomes more obsessed with developing the game, his life soon spirals out of control as he begins to experience hallucinations that involve a traumatic incident from his past. Can Stefan face his inner demons to achieve professional success?
It’s hard to describe how good Bandersnatch is because it depends on which narrative choices the viewer makes. For instance, at the beginning of the film, Stefan (and the viewer) is asked if he wants help developing his game. If he says “yes,” the movie is over in five minutes. But if he says no, Stefan’s strange journey continues, and you experience more of the plot’s twists. Like a video game, Bandersnatch has endless replay value and is just as fascinating to play and watch today as it was seven years ago.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is streaming on Netflix.
‘Always’ (1989)
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Pete Sandrch (Richard Dreyfuss) is an aerial firefighter who craves excitement and accepts risky jobs that jeopardize his life. But after his longtime girlfriend Dorinda (Holly Hunter) pleads with him to quit, he agrees — but only after he’ll fly one last dangerous mission. Tragically, Pete dies, but his time on Earth isn’t over. Now a guardian angel, he has to make sure Dorinda doesn’t make the same mistakes he did and reassure her that it’s OK to move on without him.
A strange mix of throwback romanticism (the movie is a loose remake of 1943’s A Guy Named Joe) and spiritual fantasy, Always was one of Steven Spielberg’s few box office bombs. It doesn’t quite work — Dreyfuss is miscast as the film’s daredevil hero (Mel Gibson would’ve been better) and the film never decides whether or not it wants to be an action movie or a full-fledged romance. But it still has some terrific sequences that only Spielberg could pull off, and Hunter is appealing as the spunky Dorinda.
Always is streaming on Netflix. It leaves the subscription service on April 30.
