No matter how smart the algorithms of streaming services get, sit in front of the television and it’s always tough to decide what you’re in the mood to watch.
If you don’t feel like committing to an entire series and want to simply kick back with a movie, here’s a potpourri of movies randomly picked from a variety of genres to help you decide what you should watch next. Or bookmark for the next time ‘what should I watch?’ strikes.
- Pride and Vengeance
A devoted soldier turns killer and bandit after he falls obsessively in love with a free-spirited woman named Carmen. The Spaghetti Western film is adapted from Carmen, a novella, and is one of the few to be filmed and set in Europe. - Doctor Bull
A small-town maverick doctor finds himself in a fix when he fails to save a young girl. With the locals turned against him, he must contain a typhoid outbreak to prove his mettle. The iconic Will Rogers plays Dr Bull in this comedy from the 1930s. - The Grudge 2
The Grudge 2 was announced soon after the success of its predecessor in 2004. In this 2006 sequel, American social worker Karen’s sister Aubrey arrives in Japan, taking the supernatural horror forward as she dodges the endless curse that continues to pass from one victim to the next. - Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
A young couple moves into a 19th-century mansion in Rhode Island with 8-year-old Sally. Terrifying creatures that feed on humans and live in the basement’s old fireplace await the new residents. When Sally hears them call out her name, she follows the voices to the sealed fireplace. - Andaz Apna Apna
Andaz Apna Apna is a cult film that stars A-listers from the Hindi film industry of the 1990s. Lines from this buddy-romantic comedy are quoted to this day, 25 years since it first hit theatres. It follows the story of two friends on the quest to get rich by marrying heiresses. - Much Ado About Nothing
A nobleman, living with his daughter, niece and brother in Messina, an Italian town, is hosting a bunch of friends returning from war. The party play cupid to a couple in love for a long time. The British-American romantic comedy is based on a Shakespearean play of the same name. - The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
In this second film adaptation of the ever-famous TV series, SpongeBob and his friends are on their way to the ocean’s surface to confront a pirate who’s stolen the secret Krabby Patty formula. The American live-action animated comedy film was a box office success when it was released in 2015. - The Moonlighter
Wes Anderson gets tangled up with a lynch mob who accidentally hang the wrong man. His brother too gets involved in Wes’ bid to seek revenge, turning his former sweetheart against him. The Moonlighter is an American 3D Western film which released in 1953. - A Man Apart
Sean Vetter, a former criminal and US DEA agent, accidentally loses his wife when he becomes the target of a mysterious drug lord named Diablo. The 2003 action film follows Vetter, played by Vin Diesel, on a mission to avenge his wife’s death. - Moonstruck
Moonstruck follows the story of a 37-year-old Italian-American widower who falls in love with her fiance’s younger brother. The romantic comedy starring Cher was released to critical and commercial success in 1987. The movie’s screenplay, direction and performances received high praise in particular. - Far from Heaven
The life of a suburban housewife in 1950s America is turned upside down when the police detain her husband for visiting gay bars. She catches him in the embrace of another man soon enough. Her new friendship with a black man becomes town gossip as she questions her new realities. - Yes Man
A recently divorced man, disillusioned by life, decides to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity that comes his way no matter what it may be. Yes Man is a romantic comedy based on a book of the same name. - Mean Girls
After spending 12 years in Africa with her parents, a homeschooled teenager returns to the United States. On joining a public school, she struggles to make friends and soon learns about the social rules that need to be followed to fit in with her peers. Mean Girls is a teen comedy with a cult following. - Serenity
Over 500 years in the future, humanity has colonized a new solar system in which the alliance of inner planets is up against the independent outer planets. The crew of spaceship Serenity cross paths with a psychic passenger who reveals a dangerous secret to them. - Jackie Brown
To make ends meet, a flight attendant working for a Mexican airline smuggles money into the United States for a weapons dealer and soon finds herself on the wrong side of the law. This crime film by Quentin Tarantino is adapted from the 1992 novel Rum Punch. - Contact
As hope in extraterrestrial life exploration dwindles, a SETI scientist stumbles upon a sequenced signal. She is faced with the challenge of deciphering the message under massive global scrutiny. This science-fiction drama is an adaptation of Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel of the same name. - Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Down relives on the big screen the US military’s 1993 raid of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The Academy Award-winning war film, made by Ridley Scott, is based on a 1999 non-fiction book of the same name. - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Two American women on a holiday in Barcelona discover a mutual attraction for an artist who is yet hooked to his former wife. Emotions are on a picturesque roller coaster ride in this romantic comedy-drama by Woody Allen. - Lincoln
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln takes you back in time to watch the making of a historic moment as the US President gets the House of Representatives to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution which abolished slavery. - Snowpiercer
After attempts to prevent global warming failed, a new ice age sets upon the earth. Meanwhile, the last of humanity, still divided by class, fights to survive on a circumnavigational train in 2031. Snowpiercer is based on a French graphic novel. - Olympus Has Fallen
A United States Secret Service agent, who was removed from the presidential detail after a failure, fights to save the president when the White House is attacked by a North Korean guerilla outfit. Olympus Has Fallen is the first of the Fallen film series. - Scent of a Woman
A scholarship student takes up a temporary job over Thanksgiving weekend taking care of a blind retired army officer. Soon he is busy preventing the alcoholic veteran officer’s moody misadventures including attempting suicide. This award-winning drama is the remake of a 1974 Italian film. - A History of Violence
A diner owner’s small-town life is turned around overnight when he kills two men attempting to rob his restaurant. After short-lived fame, relationships and trust are tested when a gangster turns up alleging that the diner owner is, in fact, a professional hitman. - Ender’s Game
After being attacked by an alien race, humans have set up an advanced military academy in outer space where gifted children are trained to prepare for a future alien invasion. One extraordinary student’s wits are challenged in particular. - Pitch Black
A dangerous criminal escapes after the spaceship transporting him makes an emergency crash landing on a desert planet. When predatory alien creatures arrive, the criminal returns to hatch an escape plan with the rest of the survivors. - Chappie
With crime at an alarming high, the city of Johannesburg commissions a weapons manufacturer to build a force of robots to support the overwhelmed human police. Things turn when a prototype attack robot, equipped with near-human artificial intelligence, is stolen and trained by a criminal gang. - Road to Perdition
Set in Chicago during the great depression, this crime-drama film follows a hitman working for an Irish mobster who raised him. Road to Perdition is adapted from a graphic novel of the same name. - Hook
Peter Pan has grown up and forgotten all about his childhood. He is now Peter Banning, a successful and workaholic lawyer who lives with his wife and two children. When Captain Hook, his arch-enemy, kidnaps his children, Peter returns to Neverland to save them. The journey brings back his memories and transforms him. - Modern Times
Charlie Chaplin’s iconic Little Tramp returns as a factory worker dealing with the challenges of a modern and industrialised world. The silent comedy film, written and directed by Chaplin, is a commentary on the socio-economic problems that arose during the Great Depression. - Per un pugno di dollari
A stranger arrives in a small town on the Mexico-United States border and finds two smuggler families engaged in a fight for power. Smelling a chance to make money, the stranger decides to pit the families against each other. A classic Italian Western film that invented the genre. - This Means War
Two CIA agents who are also best friends end up dating the same woman. On finding out, they turn the best of their combat skills against each other. - The Golden Compass
In a parallel universe where the ruling power detests free thinkers, an unknown group is kidnapping children. An orphan joins a bunch of sailors, on their way to the far North, to look for the missing children. This fantasy adventure is based on the 1995 book Northern Lights. - Scream 2
Scream 2 is the second movie from the Scream film series which became highly popular thanks to its cocktail genre of mystery, thriller, slasher violence and comedy. The second film is set two years after the events of the first film when a Ghostface-like copycat killer emerges. - Horrible Bosses 2
Horrible Bosses 2 returned three years after the tremendous success of its first instalment. The lead trio decides to start a business and find an investor after much struggle. When the business deal turns sour, they kidnap the millionaire investor’s son in a bid to blackmail him. - The Last of the Mohicans
This epic historical drama is set in 1757 during the French and Indian War and follows the life of a British Army Major after he moves to New York state to serve under a new colonel. The film was a success at the box office when it was released. - Monsters vs. Aliens
Far away in space, an unknown planet explodes sending a meteorite towards earth which strikes a bride just before her wedding ceremony. Her appearance changes, the authorities take charge of her and soon she finds herself in a secret facility with monsters of all shapes and sizes. - Wyatt Earp
This American biographical Western film was released in 1994 and follows the life of Wyatt Earp, an Old West lawman and gambler. The movie follows his story from being a farm boy in Iowa, growing up into a terrifying marshal and finally leading up to the O.K. Corral gunfight. - Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
In this second instalment of the Scooby-Doo live-action film series, the gang are visiting an exhibition held in their honour. All of their successful cases and monster costumes are on display. When two of them go missing, the gang get to work suspecting an old enemy’s hand. - Fighting Back
This vigilante action-thriller film is set against the backdrop of increasing violence in society in the years that followed JFK’s assassination in 1963. The 1982 movie follows the story of a proud Italian-American deli owner in Philadelphia who turns activist and then councilman after being fed up with neighbourhood crime. - Repulsion
Carol is a disturbed young woman from Belgium, living and working in London as a manicurist. She suffers from an unusual fear of men and their advances trigger violent hallucinations and nightmares. The British psychological-horror film follows Carol’s point of view and her vivid visions. - Deconstructing Harry
This comedy film, written and directed by Woody Allen also stars him in the lead as a successful writer named Harry Block. It follows Block on his way to receive an honorary degree from the university which once threw him out. Accompanying him on the drive are a prostitute, a friend and his son. - Roseland
This 1977 anthology film features three connected short stories and follows their protagonists as they try to find the right dance partner at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. - MacGruber
This American action-comedy is based on the Saturday Night Live sketch of the same name which is a parody of the action-adventure TV series MacGyver. The movie has bagged the title of a cult classic since its release in 2010. - Baby’s Day Out
This 1994 American comedy cult film follows the adventures of a baby around Chicago after it manages to escape its three abductors. While the movie was a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release, it has since become a household name. - The Hitman’s Bodyguard
A private bodyguard struggles to make a living after one of his clients is assassinated on his watch. The film follows him on his latest assignment which needs him to protect a convicted hitman who is on his way to testify in the International Criminal Court. - Keeping Up with the Joneses
A quintessential suburban couple is convinced that their new neighbours are undercover agents. Their good looks and over friendliness raise the couple’s suspicions and they begin to follow their doubts in a bid to find out the truth. - Skatetown, U.S.A.
This American comedy musical film is set in a local roller disco rink called Skatetown, U.S.A. in Los Angeles. Released in 1979, the movie features many popular TV stars of the ’60s and ’70s and follows the rivalry of two skaters who eventually become friends. - Mississippi
This American musical comedy is based on a novel called Magnolia. It follows the story of a young singer who is labelled a coward and banished from his town when he refuses to fight for his fiance’s honour. He joins a riverboat where his meek personality transforms thanks to the commodore. - J W Coop
This American Western Drama film follows the story of its title character, a former rodeo star, who is released from jail after a decade. As he comes to terms with the huge cultural changes in the society around him, he strives to regain his former rodeo star glory. - The River Wild
Gail and Tom are a Boston couple facing marital problems. Gail is taking her son on a rafting trip down the Salmon River when Tom joins them unexpectedly. On their trip, they meet two men who seem friendly but the couple soon realizes that they are violent criminals on the run. - From Here to Eternity
The movie follows the lives and love interests of three US Army soldiers deployed in Hawaii and is set in the months leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This Academy Award-winning American war drama-romance is based on a 1951 novel of the same name. - Happy Feet Two
In this sequel to the 2006 computer-animated family musical film Happy Feet, Mumble and Gloria’s son Erik is on a mission to stop the Apocalypse from taking place in Antarctica. Mumble unites the entire penguin population with the help of his family and friends in a bid to save their species. - Jab We Met
A disillusioned business tycoon finds himself next to a larger-than-life woman on an overnight train. Their journey turns into a series of adventures when they miss their train in the wee hours. The duo discovers each other’s personalities as they hitchhike to their destination. - Hell Below
A wounded former submarine commander’s love affair with his successor’s married daughter is set against the backdrop of the US Navy’s fight in the Adriatic Sea during World War I. Hell Below is based on Commander Edward Ellsberg’s novel Pigboats and the movie is packed with submarine warfare action. - Son of Sinbad
Kristina, the daughter of a Greek scholar, holds the Greek Fire formula that rulers and thieves from far lands are vying for. Set in ancient Baghdad, this fantasy-action film follows the adventures of Sinbad to keep Kristina and the formula safe. - We Live Again
A young servant girl is seduced and impregnated by a Russian prince. After she loses the baby and moves to the city, she descends into a life of poverty and prostitution. When the prince learns of her crimes, he feels guilty and attempts to redeem her and himself. - Wild Oranges
John, a reclusive widower, falls in love with Millie who’s been taken hostage by an escaped convict. The silent drama is based on a novel of the same name. - Sonic the Hedgehog
A scientist chances upon an extraterrestrial hedgehog who can run at sonic speeds. While the scientist plans to use Sonic’s superpowers for his evil deeds, Sonic takes the help of a local sheriff to escape the scientist. The 2020 family comedy is based on Sega’s Sonic video game franchise. - The Prince & Me
An ignored and playboy prince flies from Denmark to the US to study at a university in Wisconsin. He soon meets and falls in love with Paige Morgan, a pre-med student who doesn’t know he’s a prince. - The Kidnapping of the President
Ignoring his Secret Service agent’s warnings, US President Adam Scott carries on with a state visit to Canada. He is soon kidnapped by a South American terrorist who keeps the president captive in an armoured truck packed with timed explosives. - Los abrazos rotos
The death of millionaire Ernesto Martel sets off Harry Caine, a blind writer and former film director, on a trip down memory lane. The Spanish romantic thriller was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Golden Globe Awards and serves as a tribute to filmmaking and cinema. - Balto
An elderly woman tells her granddaughter the story of Balto, a wolf-dog hybrid, in Nome, Alaska in 1925, who saves the town from a deadly epidemic. The British-American live-action animated adventure film is loosely based on the true story of a dog of the same name. - Deadfall
Addison and Liza, siblings on the run in Michigan after a failed casino heist, decide to cross the US-Canada border and part ways. On her way, Liza meets and falls in love with Jay, a newly-released from prison former boxer, on his way home for Thanksgiving. - The Twilight People
An adventurer is kidnapped while diving and taken to an island where a mad scientist is running experiments in an attempt to make a human-animal hybrid super race. However, the scientist’s daughter begins to doubt his ability to succeed. - Affair with a Stranger
The arrival of an actress brings the happily married life of a playwright on the rocks. The film follows the famous couple’s story through a series of flashbacks as their friends and acquaintances recollect incidents and rumours from the past. - Zelig
Woody Allen plays Leonard Zelig in this mockumentary written and directed by him. Zelig’s fly on the wall personality gives him the unique ability to look and act like the people around him. When his skills gain popularity, he catches the fancy of Eudora Fletcher, a doctor who wants to study him. - Southland Tales
Set in dystopian Los Angeles, a fictional United States is under threat of a nuclear attack in this sci-fi-thriller satire. Activists, corporations and governments seek their agendas in the backdrop of mass paranoia. Meanwhile, a movie star plans his next movie with a porn star and policeman. - Three Secrets
Three women claim to be the biological mother of a five-year-old boy left orphaned after a private plane crash kills his adopted parents in the California mountains. Susan Chase, Ann Lawrence and Phyllis Horn each have their own secrets that prove the boy is theirs. - The Disappearance
A Montreal-based hitman comes home to find his wife missing and learns that his last kill may have something to do with her disappearance. Despite suspecting his next assignment in England to be a setup, he takes it up, convinced that it may lead him to his missing wife. - Mickey’s Nightmare
Mickey Mouse gets into bed after his nighttime prayers and soon falls asleep. He dreams about proposing to Minnie Mouse. One day, after they’re happily married, Mickey is in the garden with Pluto when a stork sends a bunch of baby mice down their chimney. But the stork never stops. - Made in Paris
A young woman from New York, an assistant buyer at an upscale clothing store, is sent to attend fashion shows of major European designers in Paris. She finds herself being pursued by many men including her employer’s son, a handsome French designer and a columnist. - Masterminds
Employees of a company plot, plan and recruit fellow colleagues to rob their employer. The 2016 American crime comedy movie is based on the real-life Loomis Fargo robbery in North Carolina in 1997. - Lock Up
Frank Leone is a skilled mechanic and model prisoner nearing the end of his sentence in a low-security prison in New Jersey. One day he is forcibly shifted to a maximum-security prison where he learns the warden has a vendetta against him. - Hollywood Homicide
Sergeant Joe Gavilan and KC Calden are homicide detectives and partners in LAPD’s Hollywood Division. The story follows them juggling their side jobs with the murder investigation of four members of a rap group. The action-comedy film is based on the real-life experiences of its writer Robert Souza. - Jumpin’ Jupiter
This short by Warner Bros. is a Merrie Melodies cartoon featuring Porky Pig and Sylvester. It’s part of a three-part series of horror cartoons starring the two. The story shows the duo encountering aliens when they’re spending the night in a desert. - High-Ballin’
This Canadian action-comedy-thriller follows three truckers – Duke, Rane and Pickup – as they put up a tough fight against King Carroll and his goons, who wants to put all the local independent truckers out of business. - No Love for Johnnie
A cynical and burnt-out middle-aged Labour MP finds himself in a stalled career and failed marriage, all thanks to his stubbornly leftist leanings. After a brief affair with a younger woman, he has the chance to salvage his marriage but it may come at the cost of his career. - Secret in Their Eyes
A former detective reinvestigates her daughter’s death after her friend, a former FBI agent, finds some new clues thirteen years later. The American thriller-mystery is a remake of a 2009 Argentine film of the same name, both of which are based on a novel. - Maps to the Stars
A multi-millionnaire child star is trying to bag a comeback after his return from rehab when his estranged sister turns up with dark family secrets. Meanwhile, an ageing actress is trying to return to the big screen with a remake of her deceased film star mother’s movie. - The Invisible
A high school senior discovers he is near death and invisible to the living after his classmates fatally attack him following a robbery gone wrong. When he realises that one of his attackers can hear him, he convinces her to save him. - The Last Starfighter
After achieving a high score on his favourite arcade game Starfighter, teenager Alex Rogan, an avid video game player, finds himself recruited as a pilot to fight a real-life interstellar war. This American space opera film is one of the earliest to use extensive CGI. - A Flirtatious Woman
A young woman imitates a gesture she’s seen prostitutes make to passing men. This nine-minute black and white comedy short is based on a story titled Le Signe by Guy de Maupassant. - Greenberg
Recently discharged from hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown, New York City resident Roger visits Los Angeles to house sit for his brother, where he meets the family’s personal assistant and soon falls in love with her. - Uri: The Surgical Strike
Major Vihaan Singh Shergill is at the head of an Indian Army operation against a militant group that attacked a base in Uri, Kashmir. The military-action film is a dramatised version of the real-life Uri Attack in 2016. - The Trap
After spending most of his youth in a reform home for his brother’s crime, Ralph is returning to his remote hometown in California as an adult lawyer and meeting his estranged father and brother after many years. - Echoes of a Summer
Eleven-year-old Deirdre’s incurable heart condition has her staring death in the face. While her parents argue over the best course of action in response to her untreatable condition, Deirdre finds a friend in her nine-year-old neighbour. - Gold Is Where You Find It
The romance of Jared, a mining engineer, and Serena, the daughter of a prominent farmer, is set against the backdrop of a gold strike in California, where farmers are protesting the mining methods that are destroying their wheat farms in Sacramento Valley. - Sabrina
Sabrina Fairchild, the Larabee family chauffeur’s daughter, loves David, the younger Larrabee son. Linus, his older brother, has business interests in David’s marriage to a billionaire. In a bid to save it, Linus diverts Sabrina’s affections to himself and ends up falling in love with her. - Mister Cory
From growing up poor in Chicago and working as a busboy in a posh resort, Cory goes on to become a professional gambler and open his own club. All of it in a bid to win the affections of glamourous socialite Abby Vollard whose sister Jen helps him too. - Count Three and Pray
Luke Fargo’s experiences in the American Civil War have left him a changed man. When the former goon and womaniser returns to his Southern hometown as a minister to rebuild the town’s only church, he is met with resistance from friends and locals alike. - Apache Territory
Logan Cates, a drifter crossing the Arizona desert, helps and rescues a bunch of people being targeted by a band of Apache Indians. The American Western action film is based on a 1957 novel and was shot on location at the Red Rock Canyon in California. - Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai
Albert Pinto is a young car mechanic who idolises the rich and despises workers who go on strike. He has a change of heart when his father, a mill worker, is abused at work. Albert realises the rich are to blame for the workers’ pitiful conditions. - Hot Spell
Alma Duval is a Louisiana housewife who has pulled all stops to keep her husband John Henry interested in her and their family. Meanwhile, John is having an affair with a younger woman behind his wife’s back. - The Green Promise
An old farmer, his son and three daughters are leaving behind a failing farm for newer pastures. A county agent, who is attracted to the farmer’s eldest daughter, offers to help but the farmer refuses. Much to the children’s despair, their father stubbornly sticks to his old ways. - Sophie’s Choice
Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn to work on his first novel in 1947. He meets Sophie and Nathan, her mentally and emotionally unstable lover. Stingo soon finds himself entangled in the couple’s affairs. - Mr. Woodcock
A successful self-help author returns to his hometown in Nebraska to discover that his widowed mother is dating his former high school gym teacher, who he remembers to be an abusive bully. The American sports comedy follows his attempts to keep them from getting married. - The Last Time I Saw Archie
Archie is a lazy American in the Civilian Pilot Training Program at the end of World War II, who dominates everyone and doesn’t do any work, whiling away time with his friend Bill and their love interests Cindy and Peggy. Things take a turn when Bill suspects Cindy to be a spy. - Bullets Over Broadway
David Shayne is a young and idealistic playwright who moves to Broadway in 1928. A gangster agrees to fund his debut play on the condition that David casts his demanding and talentless girlfriend as the actress. David turns into a cheating writer by the time of the opening night. - High Note
A mischievous musical note keeps going missing, keeping an irritated music conductor on his toes during a waltz. This American animated silent but musical short film is part of the Looney Tunes series. - The Secret Garden
After Mary, a 10-year-old girl, loses her parents to an earthquake in British India, she moves into her uncle’s mansion in Yorkshire, England. While the strict head housekeeper keeps Mary from exploring the mansion, she allows her to play in the massive grounds where Mary soon discovers a secret garden. - Wild Target
Ferguson, a dreaded gangster, hires Victor Maynard, who comes from a family of professional assassins, to eliminate Rose, a beautiful con artist, who just cheated him off 900,000 pounds. Victor keeps missing his opportunities to kill Rose and eventually falls in love with her. - Paranoia
Billionaire Nicholas Wyatt blackmails and threatens his employee Adam Cassidy into becoming a corporate spy. The movie follows Adam’s attempts to infiltrate the company run by Wyatt’s former mentor. The drama thriller is loosely based on a 2004 novel of the same name. - Cyrus
Soon after his ex-wife tells John about getting re-married, he meets and falls in love with Molly, the woman of his dreams. The new couple’s honeymoon phase comes to a crashing end when John finds out about Molly’s son Cyrus who is not too happy about sharing his mother. - Up in Smoke
Anthony, an unemployed drummer and stoner, leaves his parents and hitchhikes across the country with Pedro, who he befriended on the road. The buddy comedy film follows the duo’s misadventures on the road. It opened to poor reviews at the time of its release but is now considered a cult classic. - The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
When multiple women come forward accusing Dr Motts of sexual assault, he commits suicide to avoid being arrested, leaving behind his pregnant widow who loses her baby and home. Swearing revenge on the woman who first reported her husband, Mrs Motts turns up at their home as a nanny.
[Originally written for The Filmography]
