5 Netflix Picks: What to Watch This Week Begins With Meryl Streep

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

Another week is about to begin, meaning five nights on the sofa surfing the long menus of Netflix, searching for what to watch. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. As usual, we’ve got a diverse list on hand, with a great action movie, a touching romance, a family-friendly pick and a pretty cool documentary to name a few. So get the popcorn ready and let’s dig into what to watch.

The River Wild

If there is anything to learn from the movies, it’s that taking any kind of journey by river is really bad. With director Curtis Hanson‘s 1994 adventure film The River Wild, such is the case as Gail Hartman (Meryl Streep) soon discovers, taking her family, including husband Tom (David Strathairn) and young son Roarke (Joseph Mazzello) on a river rafting excursion in Idaho. There, they meet other rafters, two of them played by Kevin Bacon and John C. Reilly, who seem like good people … at first … but rest assured, all is not right on the water. Great action sequences and a tough-as-nails Streep make this a unique thriller, even if the plot is undoubtedly water logged. Still, well worth watching Bacon versus Streep in the wilds of the American west.

The Great Gilly Hopkins

With a title like that, there’s no second guessing that this is a kid’s movie, but even still, this has plenty going on for the parents in the room as well, making it an easy pick to add to the list. It follows Gilly Hopkins (Sophie Nélisse), a twelve-year-old girl with a life drifting about in foster care, ending up with Maime Trotter (Kathy Bates), who is also raising a young boy. Gilly’s never met her mother (Julia Stiles), and dreams of doing so, being a not-so-lovable kid at the start, though no can bet Trotter will have something to do about that. Directed by Stephen Herek, this is a terrific family film with lots of heart and a genuinely touching ending that is well-earned. Hustle in the kids and give this a look. Read our full review. 

She’s Out of My League

There are plenty of goofy rom-coms out there and no kidding aside, director Jim Field Smith‘s 2010 entry She’s Out of My League is definitely one of them. Starring the gangly Jay Baruchel as a lonely TSA agent named Kirk Kettner, he soon meets the astonishing Molly McCleish (Alice Eve), who accidentally leaves her phone at airport security, giving Kirk a chance to see where he stands. Naturally, Molly is more than just a pretty face and a model’s body, happy to meet a nice guy who treats her right, lending the story a bit of heart as the two try to navigate through an unusual relationship. While it’s strapped to a bit of era-trendy raunchiness that is kind of distracting in places, She’s Out of My League manages to pull itself out of that muck and make for a really entertaining romantic comedy that, in the right mood, will surely satisfy. 

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

While our obsession with all things beautiful is nothing new, this recent documentary about a film star of the Golden Age shows that this lust of lovely blinds us to much that goes unseen. Lamarr’s tale is one that has captured the attention of many over the long decades since her rise to fame (and death in 2000), but this Alexandra Dean-directed film is an exquisite exploration of that often challenging and surprisingly enlightening life (she was an inventor with a US patent). Diggin deep into Lamarr’s past using archival interviews and footage, this is an inspiring investigation that will change your entire perception of the woman. Don’t miss it.

Slow West

While Westerns are a mixed bag at the movies, they are indeed stalwart, finding rebirth every few years or so and with many currently sinking into the brilliant world of RockStar’s latest western video game Red Dead Redemption 2, there’s some interest in extending that experience to the movies. With director John Maclean‘s superb Slow West, the same purposeful pacing and deliberate action of that game is felt in this film. It follows a young man named Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), searching the old west for his true love Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius), coming upon the mysterious Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender), whom he hires for protection. Changing the formula while sticking to the ingredients, this is a mesmerizing experience with great characters and a pulse-pounding narrative. It ain’t you typical Western, but don’t let that dissuade. Watch this movie. Read more about it here.