Netflix struck it big at this year’s Oscars, winning seven awards for such films as Frankenstein and KPop Demon Hunters.
You’ve probably seen those movies, so Watch With Us has curated a list of under-the-radar flicks that are worth streaming this March weekend.
Fans of The Social Network will like BlackBerry, which chronicles the origins of the mobile device, while Elle Fanning fans can catch one of her best performances in Ginger & Rosa.
Finally, Small Time Crooks is a 2000 comedy that’s small in scope but big on laughs.
‘BlackBerry’ (2023)
Who would’ve thought a movie about the making of a mobile device could be so entertaining — and hilarious? That’s exactly what BlackBerry is, though — an outrageous comedy that mostly tells the truth about how the once-ubiquitous BlackBerry came to be.
When tech entrepreneurs Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson) need a quick infusion of cash, they reluctantly turn to recently fired businessman Jim Balsillie (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Glenn Howerton) for help. He agrees to be co-CEO, but after he joins, he realizes the duo’s company is in worse shape than he thought. With limited capital and a phone prototype that needs to be completely rebuilt, the three men are in a race against time to make their mobile dreams a reality. But can they stand each other long enough to make that happen?
You already know the answer to that question, but the fun is in finding out how they managed to pull off the improbable. The movie has a voyeuristic quality to it with some healthy doses of absurdity. If The Social Network and The Wolf of Wall Street had a baby, it’d look and sound kinda like BlackBerry. Like those two films, it contains a hypnotic lead performance — Howerton’s — that is infused with an intensity that’s as scary as it is funny.
BlackBerry is streaming on Netflix.
‘Ginger and Rosa’ (2012)
Ginger (Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert) are two girls who are as close as two people can be — after all, their mothers gave birth to them at the same time while holding hands! But as they grow into adolescence, the best friends take very different paths in life. Ginger becomes involved in the counterculture movement of the early 1960s, while Rosa is drawn toward a more traditional lifestyle of attending church and learning how to cook. When one of the girls finds love with an unexpected suitor, their friendship faces a test that it may not be strong enough to pass.
A tender coming-of-age drama, Ginger & Rosa convincingly recreates a specific time and place — early 1960s America — that defines the two girls’ relationship. With the threat of nuclear war looming over both, Ginger and Rosa react differently in ways that surprise even them. Fanning was just nominated for her excellent supporting performance in Sentimental Value, and she’s just as good here as a teen whose inner rebellion is waiting for a counterculture to emerge so she can fully express it. It’s not fully there yet, and part of the film’s appeal is watching Ginger reconcile her anti-establishment beliefs with her all-important relationship with Rosa.
Ginger & Rosa is streaming on Netflix.
‘Small Time Crooks’ (2000)
Ray (Woody Allen) is a professional petty criminal who is looking to strike it rich with his next big score. He has a potentially great idea to lease an empty pizzeria next to a bank so he and his crew of lowlifes can secretly dig a tunnel underneath and rob the bank’s vault. Ray’s wife, Frenchy (Tracey Ullman), provides some cover by baking cookies in the store’s kitchen so no one will get suspicious. But a funny thing happens — Ray’s robbery scheme fails, but Frenchy’s cookies are a hit with the public. Soon, Ray and Frenchy are flush with wealth, but as they navigate upper-class society, they soon realize their criminal lifestyle is hard to leave behind.
Part heist movie, part comedy of manners, Small Time Crooks takes a great idea and runs with it. It’s equally hilarious watching Ray’s futile attempts to rob the bank fail as it is witnessing Frenchy try to fit into a snobby society that looks down on her new-money status. Hugh Grant steals every scene he’s in as Frenchy’s society tutor, who can barely stand his pupil’s astoundingly bad taste.
Small Time Crooks is streaming on Netflix.
