5 Netflix Picks: What To Watch This Week Begins With A Dark Journey

5 Netflix Picks is our weekly list of random movies we recommend you move to the top of your queue, from comedy to romance to horror and everything in-between.

Winter blues got you down? Well let’s curl up on the sofa for another week of great movies now streaming on Netflix. Sure, there’s plenty on your homescreen to keep you distracted, but go a little deeper to find you something more. We’ve got you covered with a list that has us traveling into the past with a beautiful young woman then into the crops with a frolicking bunny before ending up in a tight thriller loaded with style. So let’s start with a film that earned a ton of praise and made a household name out of the director, who brings us into a weird and scary world of intrigue …

MONDAY: Pan’s Labyrinth

Every once in awhile, a film will come along that sort of resets expectations, igniting a flurry of conversation and imagination among both critics and audiences. Such is the case for visionary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro‘s haunting 2006 masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth. A fairytale to a degree, it is a dark and sometimes harrowing journey set in 1940s Spain on a young girl (Ivana Baquero), who travels to a mythical world filled with fantastical creatures. She’s told she is a princess and must survive three difficult tasks if she is to prove her worth and more importantly, see her real father. Wonderfully creative and thick with metaphor, the film won multiple Academy Awards for its style and production.

TUESDAY: Dangerous Beauty

Let’s go back to the 16th century, deep within Venice and visit a young woman who is stirring things up. Director Marshall Herskovitz‘s captivating Dangerous Beauty is based on a series of non-fiction books about the lovely Veronica Franco, played here by Catherine McCormack, a girl from a not very wealthy family who finds herself following in her mother and grandmother’s line, being a courtesan to the wealthy men of the city. While it’s not life she initially wants, it does give her access to the libraries, and soon a reputation for charms and intellect. However, she is soon tasked with something that tests her loyalties and the security of the city, leading to a troubling conflict that threatens her very life. Empowering and very well-written, this is not a typical period piece film, making it well worth exploring.

WEDNESDAY: Peter Rabbit

It’s family night and we’re going with a recent movie based on the classic stories by Beatrix Potter. A mix of live-action and CGI animation, the story is an adaption featuring the famous bunny Peter (voiced by James Corden) and his family, living a pleasant life in the countryside. A local human woman Bea (Rose Byrne) has sort of become a motherly figure to the lot to the rabbit, who enjoy stealing vegetables from McGregor’s farm. Things change though when one McGregor dies and then his great-nephew Thomas (Domhnall Gleeson) arrives. Funny and well-animated with plenty of good performances all around, this is a safe and yet contemporary retelling that should have children entertained and old fans of the books pleasantly pleased.

THURSDAY: An Education

You’ve probably not heard of director Lone Scherfig‘s excellent coming-of-age drama An Education, a film that slipped under many radars on release in 2009. However, this engaging and deeply authentic story of 1960s London is a real gem. It stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a sixteen-year-old girl under the strict roof of a father (Alfred Molina), who has high expectations for his daughter. One day while waiting in the rain after her rehearsal with the youth orchestra, she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man twice her age and clearly experienced. What follows is a shift in Jenny’s life as she struggles with what she wants versus what she can have. Delicate, intelligent, and arresting, this is a rare film that challenges.

FRIDAY: Brick

Director Rian Johnson has not been what one might call prolific, having only released four films in fourteen years. But then again, his latest was Star War: Episode VII – The Last Jedi and before that Looper and the Brothers Bloom. He’s done good is what we’re saying. His debut film was Brick, an ingenious little mystery with a clever story and a host of quirky characters that turned the backyards and locker room of high school into a deep noir-ish thriller. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Brendan, his world turn right upside down when his former girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin) calls one night in terror. What happens next – and we’d be rotten for spoiling anything further – is nothing short of great entertaining. Tense, funny, supremely well-written, and endlessly smart, this is a terrific little film you need to see.