3 Netflix movies you need to add to your watchlist this week (February 9

Netflix’s new crop of movies for February has come with a handful of must-see gems to make your work week sail by a bit smoother, so let’s get right to it, shall we?

We recently lost a giant in the world of comedy with the passing of Catherine O’Hara, so in honor of the Canadian SCTV legend, I’ve included one of my favorites that’s currently streaming on Netflix. To keep things interesting are two more titles, including a sci-fi AI thriller with chilling realism and a Wes Anderson classic.

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Best in Show

Comedy legend Catherine O’Hara was in the midst of another renaissance in her 35+ year career when she sadly passed away on January 30th, with scene-stealing award-winning roles such as Schitt’s Creek’s Moira Rose and most recently The Studio’s quietly-lethal exec, Patty Leigh. O’Hara’s brilliance will be sorely missed, but luckily it lives on in her formidable body of work, standouts of which include several of Christopher Guest’s genre-defining mockumentaries: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.

If I were to pick one to throw on this week, it’d be Best in Show, hands down. In it, Guest takes aim at the hilariously serious world of competitive dog shows with one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled. In the film, five teams of owners and their pooches converge in Philadelphia to compete in the annual Mayflower Dog Show, including Eugene Levy and O’Hara’s awkwardly cute Gerry and Cookie Fleck and their Norwich terrier, Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock) and their depressed Great Dane, and Harlan Pepper (Guest) and his “talking” Blood Hound, among others.

What makes Guests films so brilliant is that much of the dialogue is improvised in the moment, which makes for some of the quirkiest and weirdly funny moments in film. Take that and use it to skewer the seriousness in which those in the world of dog shows operate—the fierce politics, status-flinging, the vapid commentary of the press—and you have an uncomfortably real comedy that will have you rolling.

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Ex Machina

New to Netflix for February is Alex Garland’s (The Beach, 28 Days Later) hauntingly quiet AI sci-fi thriller Ex Machina. Still as relevant as it was in 2014, it was a groundbreaking exploration of artificial intelligence when we were all starting to ask questions and wonder about how human AI could be. When it came out, I remember thinking that if AI humanoids are heading in this direction, let’s put it back in the bottle and bury it.

Ex Machina follows Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a talented coder at search-engine giant Blue Book. Young and eager, Caleb is thrilled when he wins a contest that sends him to the remote and secluded jungle facility of the company’s brilliant CEO Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). But Caleb soon learns that he’s been chosen for a more specific purpose, to meet and evaluate Ava (Alicia Vikander), a highly evolved humanoid robot. Ava is beautiful, intelligent, and alarmingly human, and Caleb finds himself drawn to her.

But what makes Ex Machina so chilling, for one, is its claustrophobic setting inside the sealed compound that starts to feel more like a prison. And we soon understand why, as Nathan’s true motives (and Ava’s) are revealed in a tense and thrilling climax that makes this thriller a true gem. Ex Machina is a visually stunning winner of the best visual effects Oscar, beating out Fury Road, The Martian, and even The Force Awakens. It also has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson’s brilliantly sweet and quirky seventh film, Moonrise Kingdom, signaled the auteur’s commitment to what has become known as his “dollhouse aesthetic,” the hyper-stylized look of his films that make them feel like self-contained, diorama-like sets. The film was a box office and critical success, which earned Anderson his third Oscar nom—for original screenplay.

At its core, however, it’s a story of first love. Set on the fictional New England island of New Panzance in 1965, it follows young Khaki Scout Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and rebellious bookworm Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), who become pen pals, fall in love, and decide to run away together to the island’s hidden cove they call Moonrise Kingdom. Their disappearance sends the whole island into a chaotic man-hunt. Everyone is looking for them—local cop, Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), Khaki scoutmaster Ward (Edward Norton), and Suzy’s bickering parents Mr. and Mrs. Bishop (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand)—who must find them before a looming hurricane rolls in.

Moonrise Kingdom is soaked in Anderson’s vivid pastel color palate, making every frame feel like a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. And the music by legendary composer Alexandre Desplat and Benjamin Britten create a well-suited and timely soundtrack that works with the film’s themes of childhood whimsy and adult overcompensation. It’s one of Anderson’s best.

Set up your weekly movie watch list with these three suggestions, or if you’re more in the mood for a TV series binge, we’ve got you covered there, too.

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