Since its debut in 2021, Paramount+ has quickly risen to become one of the greatest subscription-based streaming platforms you can currently find online. Combining a range of properties from CBS, Paramount, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central, it boasts a rich library of beloved movies, TV series, and documentaries.
Like all the most noteworthy streaming platforms, Paramount+ also has a ton of exclusive content at its disposal, such as Star Trek: Picard, 1883, and The Good Fight.
Along with those exclusive titles, the platform also has a dense catalog of movies streaming on the service, from newer films like X and Django Unchained to classics like The Usual Suspects and Three Days of the Condor.
Here are some of the best movies you can find playing on Paramount+ right now.
Updated: January 5.
Western: Django Unchained
With elements of Westerns present in every one of his films dating back to Reservoir Dogs, it shouldn’t be surprising that Quentin Tarantino one day decided to officially make a Western. And of course, knowing Tarantino, it similarly shouldn’t be that surprising that it turned out to be as good as Django Unchained.
Freed from slavery by a former dentist turned bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz), Django (Jamie Foxx) becomes the bounty hunter’s protege, searching for his wife (Kerry Washington) who’s been sold somewhere in the Antebellum South.
A stylistic successor to Sergio Corbucci’s Spaghetti Westerns (which similarly informed his previous Inglourious Basterds), Django Unchained is almost certainly the best Western movie of the 21st century so far. Like any self-effacing Spaghetti Western, the score is booming, the shots dramatic (showing every crack and crevice on the actors’ faces), and the gunfights lengthy and brutal. What more could you ask for out of a Tarantino movie?
Horror: X
Ahead of its release early last year, X seemed like an unexpected film from A24, coming across as a cheap imitation of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But, as A24 has proven themselves capable of doing time and time again, X acted instead a refreshing take on the slasher genre, revitalizing it in new, unexpectedly modern ways.
While on a remote Texas farm to film their newest project, a group of amateur filmmakers are harassed by the farm’s owners — an elderly couple who take an unhealthy interest in the movie’s leading lady (Mia Goth).
Between X and its prequel Pearl, indie horror director Ti West has returned as one of the most sensational names in the genre since Jordan Peele’s debut with Get Out. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching this postmodern riff on slashers and its worn-out conventions, we encourage you to go see it as soon as possible: it’s one of the most intelligent and well-made horror movies to come out in recent years.
Action: Mission Impossible — Ghost Protocol
After a middling start with the first three Mission: Impossible movies, Ghost Protocol completely revitalized the Tom Cruise-led spy series from the ground up. Bigger, bolder, and filled with even more action than any of its predecessors, it was a major turning point in the Mission: Impossible franchise, elevating the series to the critically acclaimed franchise it is today.
Framed for bombing the Kremlin, the IMF effectively ceases operations. To clear the agency’s name, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team search for the true party responsible for the bombing (Michael Nyqvist), stopping him before he ignites a nuclear war.
When you take into consideration how amazing the last few M:I films have been, it’s easy to forget how good Ghost Protocol really is. With Cruise at the top of his game and Brad Bird in the director’s seat, it’s a visionary spy thriller with remarkably tense action and awe-inspiring visuals.
Comedy: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Is the original Ace Ventura Jim Carrey‘s best-acted role? No, probably not (that would probably be Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine, or even Man on the Moon). But it’s assuredly his most popular character, his performance embodying the kind of larger-than-life caricature that Carrey specializes in playing.
After the Miami Dolphins’ mascot (a literal dolphin named Snowflake) is kidnapped for unknown reasons, Ace Ventura (Carrey) — unconventional private detective who specializes in recovering lost animals — takes the case.
One of Carrey’s earliest breakthrough films, Ace Ventura relies on an energetic brand of humor one can characterize as low-brow. However juvenile Carrey is in his performance, it’s a character that demonstrates all his strengths as a comedian — fast-paced dialogue, slapstick, sarcasm, and physical comedy straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon.
Crime: The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects is one of several films whose reputation has been tarnished by the allegations surrounding director Bryan Singer and star Kevin Spacey’s behavior in the past. While it’s inexcusable to forgive either man for their previous wrongdoings, you can still separate the art from the artist when it comes to something like The Usual Suspects, the best and most original crime film of the late ‘90s.
As the sole survivor of a criminal massacre, a low-level con man (Kevin Spacey) tells police investigators his account of the story, revealing the background of the massacre through various nonlinear flashbacks.
Complete with one of the most shocking twists in cinematic history (right up there with Seven and The Sixth Sense), The Usual Suspects is a unique, fast-paced film propelled by a strong script. It’s no accident that the movie is considered one of the best-written films by the Writers Guild of America.
Biopic: Vice
Like Adam McKay’s most recent film, Don’t Look Up, his 2018 film, Vice, has been the subject of both heated criticism and repeated praise from reviewers. At its worst, it’s been called overrated Oscar bait; at its best, a brilliant indictment of the Bush Administration and the darker side of American politics.
Upon being picked to serve as the running mate for 2000 presidential candidate George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell), Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) uses his inside knowledge of Washington politics to his advantage, effectively running the country behind the scenes.
No matter the camp you fall into when looking at Vice, there are some universal elements present in the movie that are worthy of praise. The movie’s underlying themes might be a bit muddled, but every actor starring in the film is utterly fantastic (most especially Bale, Rockwell, and Amy Adams).
Sci-Fi: War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds is far from the best movie directed by that celebrated modern legend, Steven Spielberg. While it doesn’t match the same innovations of Spielberg’s other sci-fi work in Jurassic Park or Close Encounters of the Third Kind, it’s still a fascinating entry in Spielberg’s filmography (not to mention the closest he’s ever come to full-on horror).
When a mysterious alien species arrives on Earth, they begin a horrifying campaign to destroy humanity, using towering robotic tripods to hunt down and eradicate any humans in their path.
Certainly among Spielberg’s darker genre films, War of the Worlds is filled with terrifying visuals and markedly tense scenes that could’ve only been made by the same creative mind behind Jaws. The plot of the film is average at best, the characters napkin-thin, but the suspense and action scenes alone make this movie the underrated B-film it is.
Thriller: Three Days of the Condor
Finding his office full of colleagues murdered while he was picking up lunch, a well-read CIA analyst (Robert Redford) uses his wits to find those responsible for his coworkers’ deaths, uncovering a sinister conspiracy within the company in the process.
In the wake of Watergate, a new, far more cynical era in American film began. Possessing a nihilistic tone and featuring average people realizing just how at the mercy of their government they truly were, these movies set the stark tone of the ‘70s landscape, both from a social and cinematic point of view.
Three Days of the Condor is one such example of the grim ‘70s. It’s a grim spy thriller that seems to belong more closely to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy than it does James Bond. Like most of the movies that saw a release during this particular decade, too, it’s also as downbeat as a funeral procession.
War: We Were Soldiers
There are so many movies detailing America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, it can be hard to know where to start. There’s the chaotic landscape of Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal Apocalypse Now, the struggle to retain one’s humanity and morals in Platoon, and the way war changes young men into amoral killing machines in Full Metal Jacket. While each of those movies are superb in their own way, one of the more often overlooked Vietnam War films came with 2002’s We Were Soldiers.
Shortly after the US declares war on Vietnam, a US Army colonel (Mel Gibson) oversees the training of an army battalion — an expeditionary force that will take part in the first major battle between US and North Vietnamese forces.
In its depiction of the Vietnam War, We Were Soldiers utterly fails to portray the conflict as nuanced as it truly was. However, the movie’s focus on the brotherhood that unites these soldiers in the heat of battle, as well as the turmoil and uncertainty gripping their families at home, make it an unexpectedly emotional war movie.
Underrated: Thief
With James Caan’s passing this past summer, there’s no better way to honor the late actor than by visiting any one of his movies, be it his fiery presence in The Godfather, his everyman performance in Misery, or his starring role in the 1981 crime film, Thief.
Tired of his criminal lifestyle, an expert safecracker (James Caan) is forced to pull off one last job by a fearsome criminal syndicate threatening his friends and family.
From a narrative perspective, it’s hard not to see similarities existing between Thief and any one of the stylistically similar heist movies that came before or after it (Drive, The Driver, Baby Driver, etc.). To be truthful, Thief’s sensational plot never really gets off the ground — it’s just too conventional and reliant on other heist cliches to work. But Caan’s performance as the anxiety-riddled, burnt-out Frank makes for what is arguably his finest onscreen role.
This post was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
source https://wealthofgeeks.com/the-best-movies-streaming-on-paramount-plus/
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