The Top 10 Movies New To Netflix In October

Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) stars in a film directed by Tim Mielants and written by Max Porter, based on Porter’s 2023 novella Shy. It follows the head teacher at a reform school as he struggles to keep the students in line while grappling with his own personal demons and looming health issues. This was fairly well-received by critics (77% on Rotten Tomatoes) though audiences were a bit cooler (68%).

#2 – The Woman In Cabin 10 (Netflix Original Film)

Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice) plays a journalist on a yacht who spots a woman being thrown overboard and is subsequently told that all passengers and crew are accounted for. She begins digging into the mystery on her own. Unfortunately, this has gotten rather bad reviews, but I’ve heard that it’s still an entertaining mystery, if a tad too predictable.

#3 – The Goonies (1985)

One of my favorite films of all time, The Goonies was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus – a winning combination back in the 80s’. The story follows a group of boys on a quest to find buried pirate treasure and save their homes from a nefarious developer. They really do not make kids movies like this anymore. The Goonies also kickstarted the acting career of Sean Astin who went on to play Sam in The Lord Of The Rings and is the new president of SAG-AFTRA, the actor’s union. I actually interviewed Astin recently about his involvement with a new Lord of the Rings LEGO set, which was really fun. (They say never meet your heroes, but Astin is just the nicest guy imaginable).

#4 – Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

Say what you will about Mel Gibson, he’s a great movie director (though the less we say about his latest film, Flight Risk, the better). Hacksaw Ridge is the powerful true war story about Seventh Day Adventist, Pfc. Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield) who refused to bear arms during WWII on religious grounds. He faced ridicule and abuse for his “cowardice” but ended up proving that pacifists can still be war heroes. Genuinely one of the best WWII movies ever made.

#5 – Scarface (1983)

Say hello to my little friend! Is there a more memorable line in cinema? Probably. But this line, delivered by Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Scarface certainly ranks high. Brian De Palma’s Miami-based mafia film is one of the genre’s greatest and most memorable, and a nice change of scenery from a lot of other gangster flicks.

#6 – Taxi Driver (1976)

I rewatched Taxi Driver recently. I have to say, while I remembered a lot of it – Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle is so weird, he’s pretty hard to forget, and Jodie Foster and Harvey Keitel’s relationship will certainly stick in your brain – I had forgotten the ending. Not the violence at the end of the film, but the coda. The aftermath. Months later, I’m still unsure how to feel. As far as Martin Scorsese films go, this is one of his best and strangest and most haunting.

#7 – Training Day (2001)

David Ayer’s Training Day came out nearly 25 years ago, which is probably about how long it’s been since I’ve seen the “buddy cop” movie. I’m nudging it to the top of my watchlist because that’s a really long time! Of course, this is not your typical buddy cop movie at all. Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the crooked cop, Alonzo Harris and Ethan Hawke was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of rookie, Jake Hoyt. The two LAPD narcotics officers spend a full 24-hour period on the streets of LA, as Hoyt realizes this isn’t your average, um, training day. I remember really like this one. Funnily enough, I’ve recently watched two other films from Ayer: The pretty decent “buddy cop” movie End Of Watch and the rather terrible Jason Statham vehicle, A Working Man, which had a truly horrible script penned by Sylvester Stallone.

#8 – Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

A lot of these films are super serious, so let’s mix things up with Dodgeball. This is a pretty goofy movie, and by goofy I mean it’s pretty stupid, but I always got a kick out of it (har har har). Ben Stiller is about as ludicrous and over-the-top as you’d expect, and I actually really like Vince Vaughn here, which is often not the case (though I loved him in the recent Apple TV+ series, Bad Monkey. You have to watch this movie because it’s the source of so many great memes like “It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off.” Jason Bateman has a small but unforgettable role in this one.

#9 – The Twits – October 17th (Netflix Original Film)