Paramount+’s film library is overflowing with gems of just about every genre, decade and tone.
Right now, the streamer’s greatest feature-length offerings include a 2002 dramedy that ranks as, perhaps, the best movie that Steven Spielberg has released this century, as well as a 2015 ensemble comedy that manages to turn one of the most economically convoluted moments in American history into decipherable drama. Paramount+ also has a mid-2010s drama that marked “Dune” director Denis Villeneuve’s first real, ambitious foray into the world of science fiction.
Here are the best movies on Paramount+ you can watch this week.
“Catch Me If You Can” (2002)
Few of the movies that Steven Spielberg has made over the last 26 years have a stronger case for being his best film of the 21st century than “Catch Me If You Can.” Based on a semi-autobiographical book by Frank Abagnale Jr., this con-man dramedy follows a young man (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he travels across America posing as a Pan Am pilot, Georgia doctor and Louisiana prosecutor, all while forging checks and defrauding the government out of millions of dollars.
Both DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, the latter of whom plays the FBI agent pursuing DiCaprio’s Abagnale, make for a pitch-perfect pair onscreen, but Christopher Walken nearly steals the show with one of the best performances of his career as Frank’s lovelorn, disillusioned father. The film itself is, like so many of Spielberg’s best movies, a coming-of-age adventure about growing up and discovering yourself in the face of immense heartbreak and instability. (Have we mentioned it is also really, really fun?)
“The Big Short” (2015)
An incendiary, frequently hilarious dramedy, “The Big Short” uses fourth-wall-breaking humor, celebrity cameos and real-life anecdotes to turn the convoluted mess of America’s 2008 financial crisis into a legible, deeply infuriating tragedy of greed and hubris. Based on Michael Lewis’ 2010 book, the film follows multiple characters (played by Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale, among others) in the late 2000s as they anticipate, navigate and, in some cases, try to warn others about America’s impending economic collapse.
Featuring one of the funniest turns of Gosling’s career and more memorable supporting performances than you can count, “The Big Short” takes a big swing and hits the mark. It is a pissed-off piece of work, and its anger is just as infectious as its comedy. 11 years later, director Adam McKay has yet to reach the same heights that he did with “The Big Short.”
“Arrival” (2016)
2016’s “Arrival” is one of the greatest science fiction movies of this century and still, a decade after its release, one of the best films “Dune” director Denis Villeneuve has made. Based on a 1998 novella by Ted Chiang, the film follows Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguist who is tasked by the U.S. Army with learning how to communicate with a ship of aliens who have arrived on Earth.
A slow-burn drama simmering with underlying tension and emotions, “Arrival” builds to its operatic conclusion with patience and grace. It earns every thrilling, race-against-the-clock moment of its climax, as well as the lingering heartache that its gasp-worthy finale twist is guaranteed to leave you with. Big-screen, contemporary sci-fi just does not get much better than this.
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