The Killer – Picture Credit: Netflix
Netflix has had its fair share of awards contenders over the years ever since it’s gotten into the statue-chasing game. Most of them are dramas, per usual with FYC and voting groups. However, the streamer has released plenty of action, comedy, and thrillers that were maybe as deserving of recognition for creative and technical merits over the years.
Maybe a few of these titles don’t scream Best Picture contenders, but many are exceptional pieces of entertainment. Here are 10 films that should’ve gotten a little more awards love in a variety of categories:
Do Revenge
Do Revenge Netflix Dark Comedy Coming To Netflix In September 2022 Maya Hawke And Camila Mendes
Pretty good dramas — not to mention mediocre ones — get nominated for awards all the time, so why not a pretty damn good high school revenge comedy? Jennifer Kaytin Robinson directs a blast with Do Revenge, a movie with a little bit of Mean Girls and Heathers running through its veins. Twisty teen thrillers aren’t typical awards fare, but sometimes well-crafted entertainment, whether it’s a fun protagonist played by Camila Mendes or playful costume design by Alana Morshead, deserves more accolades for crowd-pleasing in style.
Gerald’s Game
Carla Gugino is, to be unapologetically hackneyed, a tour de force in Gerald’s Game. Based on the Stephen King novel, the film treats audiences to the full might of Gugino’s talent, bringing both her theater and film chops to this almost one-woman show. Yes, there’s a dead body, a hungry dog, and maybe a hungrier stranger, but Mike Flanagan’s film rests heavily on Gugino’s shoulders. She makes the film’s main location, a bedroom, a cinematic nightmare. With mostly just her face, as the character is handcuffed to a bed, Gugino paints a vivid portrait of a protagonist you root for to survive.
His House
His House is the best horror movie released by Netflix. Even with the lights on and the comfort of home, Remi Weekes’s film terrifies. The haunted house scares are familiar but unpredictable. What makes the scares truly unsettling, though, is the emotional weight behind them. Two asylum seekers, played by Sope Dirisu and Academy Award nominee Wunmi Mosaku, make the themes of regret, survivor’s guilt, and fear as terrifying as the creature and lost lives that haunt them. Remove the horror, and there’s still a fantastic drama in His House about identity and survival.
I Care a Lot
Picture Credit: Netflix
I Care a Lot is a mean-spirited piece of fun. It’s led by a dominating performance from Rosamund Pike. Pike plays a scam artist running a guardianship scheme, and she sharpens all edges instead of softening them in J Blakeson’s thriller. It’s an eye-catching, amoral protagonist that Pike plays with panache. It’s impossible not to get swept up in the character’s misdeeds and, maybe once or twice, root for her against all odds and reason. It’s a ruthless, less-is-more performance that’s comical and sinister.
The Killer
David Fincher distinguishes his work between movies and films — the former for crowds, such as Panic Room, and the latter for more personal projects like Zodiac. All are personal works, of course, but The Killer falls somewhere in the middle. It’s a crowd-pleaser without the usual bells and whistles, just the main ingredients cooked to perfection. Fincher tracks his killer, played by Michael Fassbender, with a clean, clinical eye. It’s an immersive yet fittingly cold experience that Quentin Tarantino called the best film of 2023.
The Night Comes for Us
The Night Comes for Us is nirvana for action movie fans. Timo Tjahjanto, who also directed The Shadow Strays, is a master craftsman of bone-crunching brutality. The gunshots, punches, kicks, and stabs are presented with a clarity often lacking in major blockbuster set pieces stitched together in post-production. The storytelling is smooth, the characters are colorful, but the action choreography and stunt team’s work is the kind of artistry that awards bodies and voters need to finally champion.
The Ritual
Once again, the technical merits of horror are overlooked. Filmmaker David Bruckner (Hellraiser) makes you invested in a group of friends before they get picked off one by one by a creature whose creation is magnificent. The VFX company Nvizible put together a terrifying creature in the Jötunn — otherworldly, beautiful, and frightening. The VFX team The Ritual worked chilling wonders.
Rebel Ridge
Picture Credit: Netflix
If Rebel Ridge had been released in the 1970s, roaring with tension on the big screen, it would have been a Best Picture contender. It’s Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier at the height of his game, constantly ratcheting up the tension. The suspense is top-notch, in large part thanks to its star, Aaron Pierre, who commands every scene with towering charisma. Rebel Ridge is propulsive, lean and mean action-packed storytelling at its finest.
They Cloned Tyrone
What a satisfying, genre-bending piece of work They Cloned Tyrone is. It never hits the brakes on fun. Juel Taylor’s film, which stars Jamie Foxx and John Boyega, is a socially conscious popcorn movie, both thoughtful and invigorating. For Francine Jamison-Tanchuck’s costume design alone, it deserved more awards love, delivering eye-popping style with as much substance behind the good time.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Picture Credit: Netflix
The beginning of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series is pure charm. It’s the kind of romantic comedy that looks easy and effortless, meaning it was anything but. Director Susan Johnson’s adaptation of Jenny Han’s novel brings John Hughes’ DNA into the modern age. Sofia Alvarez’s script, paired with Lana Condor’s performance, made an exceptional pairing. Dramatic roles may appear more demanding, but Condor’s consistent comedic timing is as worthy of accolades as an intense dramatic turn.
