Top 10 Movies &
Shows Watched in Quarantine (So Far)
The world has always
been a crazy place, but lately, it’s been even crazier than usual, as we’ve
plunged into a worldwide pandemic that has forced most of us to stay home in
self-isolation for over a month as of writing this. While this obviously isn’t
ideal, there’s always a bright side. I’ve had time to catch up on plenty of
things that I’m normally too busy to do, and one of those is, of course,
watching movies and TV shows.

A few things to note: these are the ten
best new things I’ve watched in quarantine so far (expect a part two at some
point), but I am only going to talk about things I’ve watched for the first
time. As easy as it could be to talk about watching Jurassic Park again for the thousandth time, I wanted to keep it
fresher and share what new viewing pleasures I’ve had in these trying times. Not all of these are brand-new movies or even very new at all,
but a few of them are, and nearly everything is available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or YouTube.
10. Hot Rod (2007)
This indie comedy starring Andy Samberg before he was quite
as well-known as he is now (thanks to the popularity of the show Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the Lonely Island
music videos) was a box office failure when it came out, but it’s become
something of a cult comedy, and now, having seen it, I get why. Samberg plays a
stunt man who tries to raise money for his step-father’s life-saving surgery,
but his biggest hurtle to overcome is his own incompetence. It’s honestly not
that great, but there was just something about it that kept me watching all the
way through. It’s full of strange characters and incredibly idiotic jokes, but
is kind of endearing and pretty amusing, with plenty of supporting actors who
went on to much bigger and better and funnier things. It’s a goofy little
comedy that I probably wouldn’t watch again, but it’s still worth a one-time
viewing if you’re a fan of Samberg and this particular brand of dimwitted
humour.
9. The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Matthew McConaughey made a strong comeback in the 2010’s,
but The Lincoln Lawyer is often
forgotten as one of the earlier films in the so-called “McConaissance”. It’s based on the novel of
the same name by Michael Connelly, and follows a lawyer who conducts his
business in his car rather than an office and deals with some really scummy
criminals. He takes on a particularly rough case that links back to another
older case of his, and the safety of his colleagues, friends, and family become
jeopardized. It’s not really anything special, but reasonably suspenseful and
well-cast, with great actors like William H. Macy, Marisa Tomei, and Bryan
Cranston in supporting roles. The camerawork is overly shaky and the
cinematography isn’t that appealing, but it works mostly thanks to the
performances and source material. If you’re into courtroom dramas but want
something different than the usual fare, this does this trick.
8. The Platform (2019)
This is the newest movie on my list, having just hit Netflix
last month. It’s a dark science fiction tale of a prison with hundreds of
different levels, and prisoners are always paired up, but are switched around
at random to different levels. Food comes on a large square block that descends
from above, down through the middle of the levels, stopping at each one for
just long enough for the prisoners to get some food. This means whoever is at
the top eats well, and whoever is at the bottom starves. We follow one guy’s
attempt to beat the system and figure out the secret behind the platform, but
it’s a brutal endeavor. The problem with The
Platform is the mostly dissatisfying ending, but I won’t spoil it in case
you still want to give it a watch. It’s a Spanish film, and very much R-rated,
with some truly disturbing content, but is also an intriguing concept with some
apt social commentary.
7. The Quick and the Dead (1995)

6. Jungle (2017)
Danielle Radcliffe stars as a backpacker who embarks on a
journey down a river in the Amazon with a shifty guide and a couple other
friends. It’s supposed to be a fun experience, but survival in the jungle is
rough, and it gets even rougher when Radcliffe becomes lost and has to get back
to civilization all alone. I think Jungle surprised me the most of all the
movies on this list. I had heard nothing about it when it came out and thought
it looked a little over-Hollywood-ized, as these kinds of survival movies
sometimes are, but it’s actually a very realistic and suspenseful film—one of
the best survival films I’ve seen in a while—with a great performance from
Radcliffe. It’s from the director of the crocodile movie Rogue, which is also a survival film, though Jungle is a lot more hopeful and better directed. The jungle
scenery is dazzling, there are moments that made me squirm and sit up on the
edge of my seat, and it’s fascinating to know it’s all a fact-based story and
the characters are based on real people. Definitely an underrated film that
deserves to be more well-known.
5. Jelle’s Marble
Runs

4. RedLetterMedia’s
Quarantine Catch-Up

3. The Beach Bum (2019)
Matthew McConaughey is Moon Dog, a stoner poet in the
Florida Keys, and the movie is literally just him vibing for ninety minutes.
It’s certainly not the kind of movie for everyone, but I found it thoroughly funny
and enjoyable. Moon Dog is high the entire movie, he just stumbles through
life, and with the exception of one major tragedy early in the film, things
mostly just work out for him and he continues to vibe. The supporting cast is
great too, with the likes of Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg, Jonah Hill, Zac Efron,
and Martin Lawerence. It has a great lead performance, a somewhat
unconventional narrative, and is highly recommended. I’ll leave it at that.
Watch The Beach Bum.
2. Doctor Sleep (2019)
This Stephen King adaptation came and went with little
fanfare last fall, likely because audiences were leery about a sequel to The Shining, which doesn’t hold up too
well for younger audiences today, and it came out the week after Halloween, so
everyone had had their fill of scares by then. It’s unfortunate, though,
because Doctor Sleep is 1) an
extremely faithful adaptation of the novel, with great care taken in capturing
the themes and bringing scenes from the book to life in exact detail, 2), a
satisfying follow-up to the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of The Shining, which made many changes from that source material, and 3) a wonderful fusion of Stanley
Kubrick’s directing style with director Mike Flanagan’s style. With Oculus, Hush, and The Haunting of
Hill House, Flanagan proved himself one of the better horror directors
working today, and now with Doctor Sleep
in addition to Gerald’s Game, he’s
also one of the preeminent Stephen King adaptors, joining the ranks of Frank
Darabont (Shawshank Redemption) and
Rob Reiner (Misery).

1. The Boys (2019)

It kicks off with a guy named Hughie walking down the street
with his girlfriend and a superhero with super speed called A-Train (obviously
a riff on The Flash) literally running through
his girlfriend at high speed and brutally killing her (by accident, allegedly),
which sets off a chain reaction of events that lead to Hughie teaming up with
Billy Butcher, played oh-so-perfectly by Karl Urban. Butcher hates supes for
reasons that become clearer as the show goes on, and he pulls Hughie into the
world of anti-superhero investigation. The curtain is pulled back on the
seemingly heroic, friendly superhero team called “The Seven” (basically meant
to be like The Justice League), led by Homelander, who has the powers of
Superman, but in truth is far from the friendly face he puts on for the public.
Through the experiences of Hughie and Starlight, the innocent newcomer to the
superhero team, we see this world is not as black and white as most superhero-filled
worlds are. It’s not just good vs. evil. It’s…complicated.
I found The Boys
to be extremely compelling, funny, and just a solid piece of entertainment. The
first season has eight one-hour episodes, which felt like the perfect amount,
and a second season is on its way. It’s gleefully violent and over-the-top in
ways mainstream theatrically-released PG-13 superhero movies can’t be, but not
in the same way something like Deadpool
is violent and comedic. While often funny, I wouldn’t say The Boys is primarily comedic. It gets pretty dark at points, and
almost every episode had at least one moment that made my jaw drop. If you
aren’t completely burnt out on superheroes, or want to see something a little
different than the do-no-wrong heroics we’ve seen too many times now, The Boys will be worth your time.
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