Netflix has been putting out original programming for almost six years — so
it'll come as no surprise to find they've gotten pretty good at it. From thrilling
adventure flicks to sci-fi spectacles, these are the best Netflix originals in 2021 so far.
The rise of the gig economy has changed the way people get ahead in the world,
and The White Tiger plays with this idea in a masterful way. The film focuses on a young man
named Balram, who grows up in India and decides at a young age that he's destined for greatness.
However, India's rigid class system has other things in store for him.
Balram tries to get ahead as best he can with the situation he's put in, working as a driver
for a wealthy family. However, opportunities are few and far between, and Balram has to do some
pretty awful things in order to achieve what he believes is his destiny. Lead actor Adarsh
Gourav is so charismatic, and The White Tiger is shot so beautifully that it's easy to get caught
up in the film's world — making the horrific nature of its third act even more shocking.
The White Tiger has been noted for its similarities to the Oscar-winning classic
Parasite, and like that movie, it defies any kind of genre-tagging. With a killer cast,
great script, and near-faultless direction, this is a compelling under-the-radar watch.
It's easy to dismiss Finding 'Ohana as a retread of a movie you've seen a dozen times before. A
ragtag group of kids band together to discover a set of clues, find some hidden treasure,
and of course, learn more about themselves along the way. It's The Goonies; it's Holes;
it's Stranger Things. But Finding 'Ohana stands out from these stories in some very distinct ways.
For one, the movie is well aware that the audience knows this song already. Finding 'Ohana has been
praised by some critics for wasting no time on its first act and instead setting up higher stakes
once the protagonists start hunting for treasure. Even more impressive is the beautiful backdrop
of Hawaiian scenery and culture. Finding 'Ohana does a great job of showcasing its breathtaking
vistas and unique cultural components to make the whole film feel new and exciting.
Finding 'Ohana is a family-friendly adventure with just enough nostalgia and beauty to
keep adults invested, alongside a heap of adventure and goofiness to win over the kids.
"That smells like the butthole to hell."
Unless you happen to live in the British countryside, it's likely that you could do with a
little more scenery like this in your life. Throw in a fascinating period piece and a few fantastic
actors, and you have what's probably Netflix's highest-profile film of 2021 so far: The Dig.
Based on the 2007 novel by John Preston, The Dig stars Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan.
Set in the late 1930s, Mulligan plays a woman named Edith Pretty,
who hires archeologist Basil Brown to excavate the land around her property. As Brown gets further
along in his dig, however, he realizes that he may be unearthing the discovery of a lifetime.
The Dig is one of those movies that will have history hounds scrambling once it's finished to
learn more about the true story surrounding it. But despite concerning itself with a
monumental and historic find, this is mostly a character-driven tale. Mulligan and Fiennes both
give it their all, and many critics have lauded the film's subdued pacing and moving drama.
"Life is very fleeting. I've learnt that. It has moments you should seize."
It would be incredibly easy to just scroll right past Space Sweepers,
but if you're a fan of sci-fi action, that would be a huge mistake. This adventure film has been
referred to by several outlets as Korea's first "space blockbuster," and it features some great
character work, a fun and compelling story, and some surprisingly strong visual effects.
Space Sweepers takes place in a future where Earth is on the verge of being uninhabitable.
Select wealthy individuals are given a chance to live on a space station,
but most of the human population is stuck breathing the poisoned air of our atmosphere.
In this world, the eponymous "space sweepers'' are essentially sky pirates, cruising through the
atmosphere to collect debris and sell it for cash. The movie's main cast is doing just that when they
discover something extremely valuable — both for the ruling classes and the future of the planet.
Space Sweepers is a pretty wild ride, and has even been cited by some critics as a decent
substitute for a Star Wars or Marvel movie. Who knows? Maybe they're right.
Sometimes, all you want is a little rom-com convenience to pick you up.
To All the Boys: Always and Forever is the third film in the franchise,
and it'll give you exactly that — namely, high school drama, blown up to the nth degree,
with everything working out and wrapping up nicely in the end. Based on the book trilogy
by Jenny Han, Always and Forever is a fitting and fun conclusion to the All the Boys saga.
The trilogy follows Lara Jean, a high schooler who writes letters to boys she has a crush on and then
locks the notes in her closet. One day, those letters get sent out as a prank, and Lara Jean
has to navigate some very awkward situations when the recipients come asking about them.
More specifically, Always and Forever finds Lara and her boyfriend preparing for college
and the possibility of having to navigate a long-distance relationship. Sure, it's silly,
but it's remarkably well-acted and pretty darn charming for a high school rom-com.
If you're not really a fan of romantic comedies,
let your guard down a bit and give it a whirl — it's way better than you think.
What's that? Idris Elba riding a horse?
“Sold!"
And hey, turns out there's a whole movie centered on the premise:
Concrete Cowboy. On top of being a really impressive piece of character drama,
it's also based on a real-life group. The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club is made
up of inner-city cowboys who still operate in downtown Philadelphia.
Concrete Cowboy is about a young man named Cole who moves to Philadelphia
to hopefully set his life straight through his estranged father, played by Elba. Cole becomes
enamored with the urban cowboy lifestyle, but trouble tends to follow him around.
It all comes to a head when some of Cole's friends cross paths with a local drug dealer.
Caleb McLaughlin and Elba give great performances here, and their supporting
cast also put on a good show. The big draw of Concrete Cowboy, however, is the fascinating
culture of the riders — and, naturally, lots of lovely shots of beautiful horses.
Apparently, a fear of people stuck in small spaces struggling to survive gained some traction during
the pandemic. Who would've guessed it? And if you're a fan of foreign films, then you'll find
Oxygen to be a breathtaking thriller — one that'll keep you guessing right up until the end credits.
This French-language film stars Mélanie Laurent as a woman who wakes up inside a cryogenic sleep
chamber, because her oxygen is running dangerously low. She has no memory of what she's doing there,
and is forced to fix things before the air runs out. It doesn't help that her AI assistant isn't
giving her the answers she needs, either. Worse still, her near-total isolation
and oxygen deprivation leads her to question everything she's experiencing in the first place.
Oxygen is directed by horror regular Alexandre Aja, who recently helmed
the surprisingly entertaining Crawl, so it's got some bona fides attached to it.
It's also carried almost entirely by Laurent's impressive performance,
and despite that hugely stressful premise, the central mystery is actually a whole lot of fun.
When a movie boasts a cast like Stowaway, it's hard not to take notice. Stowaway is a thriller
that follows a small team of scientists headed to Mars. Toni Collette plays the captain of the
mission, Anna Kendrick the medical officer, and Daniel Dae Kim a biologist researching ways to
bring plant life to the red planet. Of course, the title of the movie should tip you off that there's
someone else involved — someone who isn't supposed to be there. What follows is a claustrophobic and
intense look at how far these people will go to keep everyone safe on an already dangerous trip.
One of the most interesting choices Stowaway makes is not letting the
audience hear any of the communications the team has outside of one another.
"I still need this crew to perform critical tasks.
No, they cannot do that if they are devastated by guilt!"
It all feels incredibly intimate, as any chatter with mission control is entirely one-sided.
You want to know what they're saying down there, but you're stuck on the
ship with the characters instead. It really doesn't get much more intense than this.
If you only stick to the English-language section of Netflix, you're gonna miss out
on some really great titles. A perfect example is Skater Girl,
a film about a young girl from a rural community in India falling in love with skateboarding.
Skater Girl is a classic fish-out-of-water sports movie. You know the drill:
A teenager is introduced to some new activity with wide-eyed amazement,
overcomes difficulties and prejudices to learn it, and eventually begins inspiring others with
their passion. But a few other aspects of Skater Girl help it stand out from the pack.
The first is the impressive casting. There aren't a lot of recognizable actors here
unless you regularly watch Hindi-language films, but everyone puts on a great performance — most
notably the lead, Rachel Sanchita Gupta, in her first-ever professional role.
And then there's the cinematography. Everything about Skater Girl is beautiful to look at,
and the skateboarding scenes are nothing less than stunning. The whole movie feels full
of life and kinetic energy, making it that much easier to lose yourself in its story.
It seems unlikely you missed Army of the Dead, as Netflix put a whole lot of hype behind its
release. Even still, this is one of their most ambitious original titles in quite some time,
and it ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of people. After all, it's a zombie-heist
movie with an impressive ensemble cast, written and directed by Zack Snyder.
And if that caught your attention, then this one is probably right up your alley.
Dave Bautista stars as a former special ops soldier who's tasked with taking a team into
Las Vegas to steal millions of dollars from a casino vault. Oh, and Vegas has been barricaded to
contain a zombie outbreak inside the city. Oh, and a nuke is going to be dropped on it in a few days.
Army of the Dead is a fun mashup of "one last job" heist and zombie horror,
and a truly motley crew of international stars join Bautista on his mission.
"I'm not trying to be the bad guy, but we should be incentivized to let him die."
All in all, this makes for a lot of fun, a ton of slow-mo,
and even more crazy violence. This is Zack Snyder at his Snyderiest.
Some of the best horror movies explore the lengths to which people will go in order to
protect the people they love, and Blood Red Sky is an excellent example of this.
This brutal and gory creature feature has a surprising amount of heart packed in there,
considering all that violence. And it's far more fun than the plot might lead you to believe.
Here are the basics: A woman named Nadja and her son are on an overnight flight,
and she's clearly suffering and trying to hide it from him. But when a group of terrorists
hijack the plane and kill the flight crew, they get much more than they bargained for.
Nadja is unable to keep her inner beast at bay, and she transforms
into a savage vampire that begins picking off the many threats to her son's life.
More than anything, the movie's creature design and inventive kills are a blast to watch.
Fans of more brutal, feral vampire flicks are sure to enjoy this one — and
horror lovers in general will almost certainly get a kick out of it, too.
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