Netflix Pix #3

Hey everyone! Monday has come around again and I'm here to make your week better. It's time for this week’s Netflix Pix and since there isn't really anything to get excited about at the theaters this weekend I just went through and selected five movies that I simply have fun with. Summer is winding down and the weekend box office is cooling off so we all need some good movies to tide us over until the awards season comes around. So kick back this week and open up your Netflix queue because these five flicks are all streaming and more than worth your time.

1. Charlie Bartlett (2007) Directed By: Jon Poll

Anton Yelchin and Robert Downey Jr. star in this oddball coming-of-age story that centers on an eccentric high school student and his relationship with the principal's daughter. This movie has popped on and off of Netflix for the past few years and I have gone back to it multiple time. Offering a new take on the coming-of-age story, Charlie Bartlett isn't your average high school story. When he finds himself with access to a large amount of prescription drugs he winds up becoming the make-shift psychiatrist to his trouble classmates. Offering sessions in the boy’s bathroom he deals out scripts on his own diagnosis in a weird sort of teenage underworld. This is a film that takes a real look at the mentality of youth today, through the bathroom sessions we get a look into the real problems kids in high school face today. This film does an incredible job at showing the changing of the times and the rise of the next generation, and their problems. Anton Yelchin, Kat Dennings, and Robert Downey Jr. headline the cast and all put in wonderful performances making this a film worth checking out.

2. Heathers (1988) Directed By: Michael Lehmann

Keeping with the high school theme, Heathers is the perfect 80's teenage comedy. A clear inspiration for the modern classic Mean Girls, this film centers on an outcast high school girl named Veronica (Winona Ryder). All she wants is to fit in and to do so she gets close with a group of girls known as the "Heathers". This is because they are all named Heather and much like the girls in Mean Girls, they run the school. Upon befriending these girls she quickly finds out that they are terrible people and she wants nothing more to do with them. Before she can break the friendship however she meets a cute boy (Christian Slater) and he convinces her to use their relationship to enact some serious revenge. This is Winona Ryder in her prime, right around the time of Beetlejuice and her chemistry with Slater makes the film. It is completely eighties in the best way right down to the ridiculous plot twist that arises midway through the film, this is a must-see.

3. Explorers (1985) Directed By: Joe Dante

I am a bit of a sucker for a good coming-of-age story, even more so when you blend it with other genres. Explorers is a film that does just that, mixing a clever science fiction story into a classic tale of coming-of-age. Starring Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix in their first performances and directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins) this flick isn't afraid to get silly. When young Ben Crandell (Hawke) has repeating dreams of a mysterious blueprint he decides to draw them down and send them on to him super genius, inventor friend (imagine a 1980's Jimmy Neutron). Wolfgang (River Phoenix) is almost too smart for school so when he receives the plans he is more than happy to ditch school and figure them out. It doesn't take him very long and once it is built they realize they have just broken the puzzle to interstellar travel. Now him and his two friends decide to try and build their own spacecraft and become the first children in space.

4. WarGames (1983) Directed By: John Badham

This is proof that even when a film has dated technology and concepts that it can still be enjoyed decades later. Keeping it in the eighties, WarGames stars a young pre-Ferris Bueller's Matthew Broderick and a pre-Breakfast Club Ally Sheedy. David (Broderick) is a young high school student with an affinity for computers in a time before they were common household items. He loves to sit behind the keyboard and hack into whatever he can, doesn't matter what it is, he just likes to cause problems. When he unknowingly finds a back door into a military computer he sets in motion the biggest conflict he and the world have ever seen. His actions may potentially start World War III and he is now one of the only people who can potentially stop it. This film is littered with dated technology and concepts but it doesn't detract from the movie as a whole at all. Broderick and Sheedy have fantastic chemistry and their performances keep this movie from falling to its dated story.

5. I Know That Voice (2013) Directed By: Lawrence Shapiro

For the final film I wanted to highlight a documentary, Netflix is a wonderful place to find the best of these and this is easily one of my favorites. Animation is becoming one of the most successful sources of television comedy and since the beginning it has all been hinged on the voice acting involved. This documentary explores that world and the people who have been doing it since the beginning. Featuring interviews with John DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama), Kevin Conroy (the voice of Batman), Hank Azaria (The Simpsons), and countless more this documentary will make you appreciate the hell out of what they do. You get to see how much work it really is for these people and how much talent is really behind the voices of our favorite characters.  I have an absolute blast watching this and have gone back to revisit it multiple times. If you are at all interested in the world of voice acting this is a must watch as it will give you a whole new appreciation for the craft.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!