A number of movies are set to leave Netflix at the end of June, which means the streaming service is on the verge of having its film library transformed yet again. Before that happens, the streamer’s best movie titles include a late ’80s sports drama that knows how to tug at its viewers’ heartstrings and a 1990s dramedy that remains one of Hollywood’s most iconic and beloved big-screen romances. There is an underrated, deceptively watchable comedy from “The Mandalorian” creator Jon Favreau currently streaming on the platform as well.
Here are the three best movies on Netflix you can watch this week.
“Chef” (2014)
Nearly a decade into his “Mandalorian” era, it is easy to see writer-director Jon Favreau at this point as nothing more than a franchise craftsman. But in 2014, coming shortly after his stint directing 2008’s “Iron Man” and 2010’s “Iron Man 2” for Marvel Studios, Favreau helmed a film about holding onto one’s artistic freedom in a mercenary corporate world. That film, 2014’s “Chef,” stars Favreau as a celebrity chef who, following a public meltdown over a negative review, starts a food truck business with his friends and young son.
Featuring a handful of charming supporting performances from the likes of John Leguizamo, Sofia Vergara and Oliver Platt, as well as more than a few mouth-watering cooking sequences, “Chef” is funny, heartwarming and light on its feet. It is, fittingly, the kind of film that feels a bit like the cinematic equivalent of comfort food, and that is a high, high compliment.
“Pretty Woman” (1990)
Romantic comedies do not get much more iconic than “Pretty Woman.” Director Garry Marshall’s beloved, enduring romantic dramedy about a wealthy corporate raider (Richard Gere) who hires and quickly falls in love with a Hollywood escort (Julia Roberts) is a movie that should not work, and yet it does. That is due, in no small part, to Gere’s well-tuned, purposefully understated lead performance and Roberts’ immensely charismatic, star-making turn opposite him as the film’s eponymous leading lady.
The chemistry between the two ripples off the screen, further elevating a film that, despite its cliché-ridden premise, feels like it is floating on air for much of its runtime. As with any great Hollywood romance, watching it feels a bit like witnessing a magic trick unfold in real time.
“Field of Dreams” (1989)
1989’s “Field of Dreams” is a love letter to the spirit and appeal of American baseball and one of the greatest sports movies ever made. Directed with expert control by filmmaker Phil Alden Robinson, “Field of Dreams” tells a story of wonder, grief and how cultural touchstones like baseball can become vessels for intense emotional catharsis. Kevin Costner leads the drama as an Iowa farmer who finds himself haunted by a voice telling him to convert part of his family’s cornfield into a baseball field for the ghosts of long lost players.
Magic ensues in a film that defies convention and expectation at nearly every turn, and which mines unforgettable performances from Costner, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster.
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