Your Netflix Picks of the Week

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Searching for a good movie on Netflix Instant is like looking for top-shelf liquor at a frat party. You look and look and ask around for way too long, and when you finally find a little bit hidden somewhere, you’re ready to ditch the party.

We’ve all been there. And we agree that ain’t nobody got time for all that searching. So to spare you some time and a lot of agony, we will do the sifting for you and, each week, provide a fresh list of cinematic masterpieces you can find right in your friend’s your Netflix account and watch at a moment’s notice.

Our Netflix Picks of the Week will be the product of eclectic minds coming together to give you the créme de la créme (or what’s made available by the powers that be over at Netflix) of comedies, dramas, independents, documentaries and thinkers. Sometimes we’ll even throw in a good television show.

You’re welcome.

Comedy

“The Fisher King” (1991)

In “The Fisher King,” Jeff Bridges plays Jack, an early 90s New York DJ, who is well known for insulting and mocking his listeners and anyone else on the airwaves. That is, until a regular caller opens fire with a shotgun in a busy restaurant and his life tailspins from up-and-comer to has been. After a drunken late night walk through New York, he’s saved from attackers by Parry (Robin Williams), a homeless crusader who lost his mind after his wife was murdered. But he believes he has a mission: to find and steal the Holy Grail. Directed by Terry Gilliam (“12 Monkeys,” “Brazil,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”), “The Fisher King” flows seamlessly from dark comedy to drama to fantasy. This is a another classic display of the late Robin Williams excellent comic range.

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Drama

“Nymphomaniac” (2014)

Anyone who has seen a Lars Von Trier film can tell you they are not for the faint of heart. And as the title suggests, “Nymphomaniac” is no exception. Charlotte Gainsbourg, a veteran of LVT films, plays Jo, a woman found badly beaten in a snow-covered ally by Stellan Skarsgard’s Seigman. Over the course of her recovery, Jo recounts her provocative and sometimes dangerous sexual life. Told over two volumes (roughly four hours total), “Nymphomaniac” is dramatic, experimental and at times surprisingly funny. Each chapter spans a different period in Jo’s life and her personal battle with the competing forces of love and sex.

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Action

“Charlie Countryman” (2013)

If you’re like me and have a hard time appreciating Shia LaBeouf is any role but “Even Stevens,” this movie might take you by surprise.

This action-psychological-romance-thriller takes a normal dude from Chicago named Charlie Countryman (LaBeouf) on an adventure through Bucharest on advice from the spirit of his dead mother.

From an old man dying in his arms on the plane ride to him falling madly in love with a woman (Evan Rachel Wood) married to Bucharest’s biggest, baddest jackass, the plot will keep you engaged from start to finish. The violence is randomly interrupted with snippets of comedy, so you’re not white knuckling the whole time. Ie: Charlie’s friend takes too much Viagra at a nightclub and chaos ensures.

There are times you want to strangle the love-sick Countryman, but ultimately LaBeouf does a solid job with the part and it’s a film worth checking out.

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Independent

“Frances Ha” (2012)

There are very few movies that accurately depict female friendships. “Frances Ha” is one of them. Frances, played by Greta Gerwig in a stellar breakout role, is a lost 20-something in New York City. She struggles as she navigates through a difficult period in her life, and as her platonic romance with her best friend and roommate Sophie is compromised.

The screenplay was penned by both Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach. (And if you haven’t seen Baumbach’s “The Squid and the Whale” yet, that’s next on your list). “Frances Ha” is funny and sad and honest and relatable — just a blend of emotions that most romantic comedies lack nowadays.

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Documentary

“Jesus Camp” (2006)

Whether you’re into religion or not, this documentary will open your eyes to the extremist child soldiers being trained in the U.S. to spread the word of Jesus. At a summer camp called Kids on Fire in North Dakota, evangelical Christian Becky Fischer teaches young children to give sermons to their peers, pray for George W. Bush and dance only through the Holy Spirit. Fischer caught my attention after telling her soldiers that Harry Potter, my beloved childhood hero, is the devil and that they are banned from reading such content. Throughout the documentary you see a lot of children, 12 and younger, speaking in tongues, professing their sins aloud and chanting in unison. So is it brainwashing or just a group of passionately religious kids? See for yourself in this must-watch documentary.

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Thinker

“Upstream Color” (2013)

When you’re watching “Upstream Color,” just go along with it. The plot is already so mind-boggling that it’s not worth looking deeper into anything until at least the second time you watch it. Not that there’s anything so absurd, but there are a few plot devices you just need to accept as facts. It’s not worth explaining the complicated plot. Shane Carruth has created one of the most visually stunning films I’ve ever seen, using very ordinary backdrops for his story. Every bit of music, every angle, every line of script has as much purpose as a Scorsese film. Carruth creates a deeply emotional story with sparing use of dialogue and a perfectly paced plot. “Upstream Color” is one of those movies you need to turn off your phone for, watch again, then watch again high, and then watch it one more time before you can fully understand all that Carruth has created. “Upstream Color” is a mindfuck and a piece of art.

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Classic

“Spice World” (1997)

Whether you like it or not Birkenstocks are back and so are the 90s, including this so-bad-its-unreal Girl Power movie. Follow the Spice Girls on their European tour, clad in platforms and other questionable wardrobe choices. (Shout out Mel B’s spacesuit.) Try not to spend too much time focusing on the logistics of how five fully equipped rooms fit inside a coach bus or how the hell it jumped across the London Bridge, but rather, sit back, grab a few friends and more than a few glasses of wine and enjoy singing along to your favorite childhood songs. And the men in the purple assless chap jumpsuits.

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Featured photo courtesy of: Igm