Streaming giant Netflix might have ended its famous red envelopes, but this digital media institution still has a dazzling array of wonderful movies at your fingertips. If you’re looking to spend six hours staring at a screen, you’ve come to the right place. Here are our three favorite movies on Netflix this month.
They Cloned Tyrone
This science-fiction comedy does one of the hardest things a movie can do in 2023: be original. After all, it’s not many films that shoot their main hero dead in the first fifteen minutes.
One day, drug dealer Fontaine (John Boyega) is killed by a rival gangster in a deal gone bad – much to the relief of his client, Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), who owed him money he couldn’t pay. Slick’s relief, however, quickly turns to horror when Fontaine inexplicably shows up the next day, alive, in perfect health, and quite angry about being ripped off.
Turns out, there’s a secret government facility that’s been cloning the inhabitants of their inner-city community – but why? Slick, a very confused Fontaine, and the beautiful prostitute Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) have a mystery to solve – if the Feds don’t kill them first.
Packed with crackling wit, razor-sharp satire, and a plot so twisty it’s almost impossible to summarize, They Cloned Tyrone succeeds at everything it sets out to do. It’s an action film, an homage to 1970s Blaxploitation works, a hard-hitting look at the role race plays in modern America – and it does it all while still making you grin. This one definitely deserves a watch, or maybe several watches. And if you’re wondering who Tyrone is: watch the movie. We’ve already said too much.
The Woman King
Africa is a continent that has for too long languished in obscurity; ask your average American about African history and you’ll likely get a puzzled look. But Africa’s been a stage for kings and empires just as grand as those of Europe and Asia – and now, they’re taking the spotlight.
Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King tells the story of the Agojie, an elite group of female warriors that served the kingdom of Dahomey (now modern-day Benin), as they prepare for a brutal war against the slave-trading Oyo Empire in 1823. Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca, the leader of the Agojie who must train a new generation of warriors to take up arms for the sake of the kingdom; playing opposite her is Thuso Mbedu’s Nawi, a spirited girl who joins the Agojie to escape an oppressive marriage. Together, they are Dahomey’s last best hope
The story is simple, but in that simplicity lies its charm. There have been a thousand stories about young white men saving their kingdoms from destruction; The Woman King flips the script, bringing a (literal) fresh face to an ancient archetypal plot. We couldn’t be more pleased.
Call Me by Your Name
In 1983 Italy, Jewish-Italian teenager Elio Perlman’s (Timothée Chalamet) quiet life is shaken when his father, an archeology professor, invites a young Jewish-American graduate student named Oliver (Armie Hammer) to stay with them for the summer. At first, Elio and Oliver clash like oil and water: Elio is reserved while Oliver is loud, shy where he’s confident, and brooding where he’s carefree. But, as the summer stretches on, the two young men become more and more drawn toward each other, and what starts as awkwardness melts away into friendship – and, eventually, true love.
Call Me by Your Name isn’t a gay love story – at least, not beyond the specifically literal sense (it very obviously is in a literal sense). Rather, it’s just a love story – a sensual, exquisite gem of a love story, and one that will leave you in tears by the end.
Each of these movies is streaming now on Netflix.
