This weekend, the big movie being released in theaters is Red One, an action-packed holiday movie starring The Rock. Yeah, no thanks. I don’t know who asked for that or why they want to see Santa throwing down with Black Adam, but chances are, you’re not one of those people.
If that’s true, I’ve compiled a list of three underrated movies on Netflix that are worth your time. One is a cheesy action movie that tells the origin story of one of literature’s greatest character, another is biopic about a great politician, and the last one is a thriller that has plenty of sax … and sex. Trust me, you’ll understand after you’ve watched it.
We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
Dracula Untold (2014)
I know, I know, it’s the middle of November, and October probably tired you out for all movies with a hint of horror in them. But Dracula Untold is less of a scary movie and more of an action-oriented origin tale retelling the early days of the most famous vampire of all time: Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Count Dracula.
The Hobbit actor Luke Evans steps into the title role, playing Vlad Dracula as a warrior prince who must defend his native homeland of Transylvania from invading Ottomans. Vlad soon crosses the path of the Master Vampire, who offers him his own blood that will give him the super strength and speed of a vampire. As long as Vlad doesn’t drink the blood of a human within three days, the results will be temporary. But that proves to be a harder task than Vlad initially thought, and soon he must make a decision that will change him, and Transylvania, forever.
Dracula Untold is streaming on Netflix.
Sea of Love (1989)
It’s hard to recall a time when Al Pacino wasn’t revered as one of the best actors ever, but that was the case in the mid to late 1980s, when critical and commercial disasters like Revolution nearly sank the Serpico actor’s career. He came back with 1989’s Sea of Love, which cleared the path for Dick Tracy, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Scent of a Woman, which finally snagged Pacino his long-overdue Oscar. Ironically, Sea of Love is the movie that’s now forgotten about, and it deserves a second chance in the spotlight.
Pacino plays Frank Keller, a NYC cop at the end of his rope. HIs wife has left him, he’s a hopeless alcoholic, and his two decades on the police beat has him weary of the world. His ennui is interrupted by a new case: a man has been brutally murdered and the only clues are a lipstick-smeared cigarette and an old record that was playing the 1959 song Sea of Love when the murder took place.
More similar murders occur and all roads lead to Helen Cruger (Ellen Barkin), a beautiful woman who is not only a potential suspect, but soon becomes Frank’s lover. Can Frank solve the murder mystery before it’s too late? Or will he too drown in a sea of love that claimed all the other victims?
Sea of Love is streaming on Netflix.
Darkest Hour (2017)
Biopics are tricky; stay too faithful and it feels like a long Wikipedia article. But if you veer too far off from the subject, you risk failure at capturing what it is about the subject that was so appealing to begin with. Joe Wright’s 2017 film Darkest Hour more or less escapes this trap by focusing on crucial time period in the life of Winston Churchill, whose long, eventful life could fuel a dozen biopics. But it’s his actions during the lead-up to World War II, and specifically the battle at Dunkirk, that are the focus of the movie, and that allows it to reveal the essential nature of Churchill’s character.
It helps that Wright has two major assets at his disposal: Slow Horses actor Gary Oldman, who plays Churchill as an ornery, but always quick-witted man, and makeup artist Kazu Hiro, who transformed Oldman into Churchill with one of the most convincing makeovers in cinema history. Both men won Oscars for their work, and it’s justified; whenever Oldman as Churchill is onscreen, the film works, and because he’s center stage for most of the film’s 125-minute runtime, Darkest Hour is almost always captivating to watch.
Darkest Hour is streaming on Netflix.
