100 Movies for You: A Streaming Recommendation Mega-Mailbag

Cats 2019

Back in the news after sweeping the Razzies and the 'release the butthole cut' rumor. Sean's verdict is unchanged: don't watch it.

Parasite 2019

World-premiered at Cannes, which was postponed this week for the first time in its history.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019

Also premiered at that same Cannes, which set the table for last year's awards season.

Minions: The Rise of Gru 2022

Its July release was pulled because production couldn't be finished. Sean was bummed his bits were getting canceled.

A Star Is Born 2018

Venom 2018

Cited with A Star Is Born as the kind of stacked release weekend the fall may now bring.

Bloodshot 2020

Sony pushed it to VOD, one of the first studios to break the theatrical window during the shutdown.

Four Rooms 1995

Sean picks Tarantino (nine and a half films if you count this), which Amanda calls a terrible low-volume choice.

North 1994

Amanda leans Rob Reiner; Sean counters that Reiner made this and other duds.

When Harry Met Sally... 1989

Reiner's, with a Nora Ephron script, part of Amanda's case for his range.

A Few Good Men 1992

Another Reiner, an Aaron Sorkin script.

This Is Spinal Tap 1984

Comforting Reiner, per Amanda.

The Bucket List 2007

LBJ 2017

Reiner's Woody Harrelson biopic, which Sean throws back at Amanda.

Singin' in the Rain 1952

Amanda's pick: old musicals are her comfort.

An American in Paris 1951

Funny Face 1957

Guys and Dolls 1955

Amanda had a real connection to the old one as a kid.

Bye Bye Birdie 1963

Morning Glory 2010

Amanda's pick, with Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, and Diane Keaton.

It's Complicated 2009

Amanda's pick, the Nancy Meyers/Meryl Streep one.

My Best Friend's Wedding 1997

Amanda's pick, a Julia Roberts movie she's done a Rewatchables on.

The Wizard of Oz 1939

Sean's pick, technically a stressful movie, but it always leaves him happy.

The Big Lebowski 1998

Sean's most-watched comfort food from roughly 18 to 30.

Billy Madison 1995

Tommy Boy 1995

Sean's pick: turning 25 and it horrifies him.

Green Book 2018

Both liked it in the room, then spent months relitigating how they should feel about it.

Roma 2018

Amanda's point: sometimes the Oscar frustration is that a better movie is losing.

1917 2019

Its front-runner status made it hard to judge on its own terms.

A Quiet Place 2018

Richard Brody read it as a red-state allegory; John Krasinski flatly said that wasn't his intention.

A Quiet Place Part II 2020

Krasinski was asked about Brody's reading during press before it was postponed.

Emma 2020

Sean is trying to get amped to rent it for $20 'like a psychopath.'

Spenser Confidential 2020

The counter-example: he felt no urgency to watch it early.

Bacurau 2019

The Brazilian grindhouse mashup you can rent for $12 through Kino Now and route the proceeds to an indie theater.

Mary Poppins 1964

Amanda's near-miss answer: she watched Supercalifragilistic a million times.

Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even 1992

Amanda's pick, a Joan Micklin Silver movie she watched 40 times before age 10, then forgot entirely.

Crossing Delancey 1988

Silver's best-known film.

Chilly Scenes of Winter 1979

A Silver 70s drama Sean rates; it was on Criterion recently.

Between the Lines 1977

Another good early Silver.

Just One of the Guys 1985

Sean's pick, a loose Twelfth Night riff that ran constantly on HBO; he watched 80-90% of its airings.

She's the Man 2006

Amanda's shorthand for what Just One of the Guys sounds like.

Never Been Kissed 1999

Raised as another high-school movie with 'a whole lot of problems.'

The Sting 1973

Produced by Julia Phillips, whose memoir is one of Amanda's picks.

Taxi Driver 1976

Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977

The Last Picture Show 1971

Peter Bogdanovich directed it; his 'Who the Devil Made It' is Sean's pick.

What's Up, Doc? 1972

Apocalypse Now 1979

Eleanor Coppola's 'Notes' about its making is Amanda's last pick.

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming 1966

Sean's example of a Pauline Kael review that teleports you back into the era.

Psycho 1960

The Haunting 1963

Night of the Living Dead 1968

Rosemary's Baby 1968

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974

The Exorcist 1973

Carrie 1976

The Shining 1980

Saul had already seen it, which Amanda gently points out.

Halloween 1978

Suspiria 1977

The bonus pick: Dario Argento.

Dracula 1931

From the 30s/40s wave Sean gestures at but skips.

Bride of Frankenstein 1935

High Fidelity 2000

Amanda liked the Hulu series least when it leaned hardest on the movie.

Fargo 1996

Sean's example of a movie-to-anthology that worked.

Catch Me If You Can 2002

Sean's actual answer: a weekly grift procedural around Frank Abagnale.

The Fugitive 1993

The template he'd use for the Catch Me If You Can series.

It Happened One Night 1934

On both lists.

Citizen Kane 1941

On both lists.

Seven Samurai 1954

2001: A Space Odyssey 1968

The Last Picture Show 1971

Blue Velvet 1986

Chungking Express 1994

Zodiac 2007

Sean's 2000s pick, the one that won't relax you.

Casablanca 1942

Amanda's number-one comfort movie of all time.

His Girl Friday 1940

Rear Window 1954

The Philadelphia Story 1940

Barry Lyndon 1975

Sean's pick: best paired with painkillers and pudding, in his experience.

Judgment at Nuremberg 1961

Sean's real pick, a courtroom drama with a strong cast.

Titanic 1997

Amanda's reminder that it's also over three hours.

Eyes Wide Shut 1999

Where Sean says Cruise went to the limit in 1999 and wasn't recognized.

Magnolia 1999

Jerry Maguire 1996

'Ludicrous' that he didn't win, per Sean.

Exorcist II: The Heretic 1977

Top of Adam Nayman's Ringer list of maligned movies worth a look; John Boorman directed.

Deliverance 1972

Cited to establish Boorman's credentials.

Striptease 1996

Sean defends it: a Carl Hiaasen-style satire with a strong Burt Reynolds performance.

Freddy Got Fingered 2001

One of the worst movies ever made and it still makes Sean laugh.

The Thomas Crown Affair 1999

Amanda's answer, per her husband: 'fake Bond,' and she likes Bond.

Bonnie and Clyde 1967

Sean saw it too young to have the tools; now he's read too much about it.

Goodfellas 1990

The one anyone would want to experience fresh again.

When Harry Met Sally... 1989

Amanda's pick: formative, and she'd love to see it either without or fully aware of its influence.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019

A generational split: younger staffers liked it less.

A Star Is Born 2018

The opposite: the office rallied around it.

Bohemian Rhapsody 2018

Consistently hated internally.

Alita: Battle Angel 2019

Loud enthusiasm from a small group, not real divisiveness.

1917 2019

Genuinely divisive; impossible to separate from its front-runner status.

Parasite 2019

Already plausible; it just takes 30-40 years for the generations to cycle.

Moonlight 2016

No Country for Old Men 2007

2007 keeps getting named the decade's biggest year.

There Will Be Blood 2007

Sean's guess for the aughts film that goes into the annals.

Michael Clayton 2007

Same year, but not quite in that top tier for Sean.