Great new Netflix streaming movies

I can’t believe that March is more than halfway over, and I have yet to discuss some of the great new Netflix streaming movies this month. Truth: I’ve been a little bit too busy with work, and instead of my usual late-night Netflix binges, I’ve been basically passing out each night in my comfy chair. We’ve all been there. It’s just a phase, and I have no doubt I’ll be back in tip top movie watching form soon enough.

I know it often seems like Netflix never changes up streaming options enough. Too often, I find myself spending as much time searching for stuff as I do actually watching. If it helps, I’ve picked out several great, relatively new Netflix streaming offerings that I can highly recommend.

Capote

This is the film that made me fall in love with Philip Seymour Hoffman as an actor. So much so, that I named my dog after him (we adopted Chico Seymour Hoffman shortly after Capote came out). Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Best Actor Academy Award for his riveting performance as Truman Capote in this film, which chronicles the events in Capote’s life as he was researching and writing his masterpiece, In Cold Blood. Hoffman’s performance is one of the best I’ve ever seen. To me, this is the best performance of his too-short career. I still can’t believe he’s gone. If you haven’t seen Capote, or even if you haven’t seen it in a while, you owe it to yourself to see this film again.

The Ice Storm

I am a massive fan of Rick Moody’s books, and The Ice Storm is my favorite. The Ang Lee-directed movie adaptation is equally as good. The cast is phenomenal (Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Christina Ricci and Tobey Maguire) and this film is powerful on so many levels. It’s a brilliant period piece, set in the early 1970s in an upper middle class area of Connecticut. Everyone in this film has issues, and the adults are busy using sex, alcohol and anything else they can get their hands on to muddle through their lives. The parents could give two rips about what their own children are up to, and the kids are equally disaffected. Total family dysfunction reigns supreme in The Ice Storm. It’s not a feel-good film, but its excellent drama.

The Ice Storm is one of my favorite films, and certainly my favorite by Ang Lee. I honestly do not understand how or why the movie didn’t garner a single Oscar nomination.

Mud

For those of you who are sick and tired of me talking about how much I loved the movie Mud, well, now’s your chance to find out why I can’t shut up about it. Matthew McConaughey’s 2013 in film is one for the ages, and while I loved him in Dallas Buyers Club, I actually think his work was even stronger in Mud (and no, I haven’t watched True Detective yet, though I understand he’s equally brilliant in it). I connected with Mud very, very deeply, and I believe it’s one of the finer Southern films in recent memory. I can’t wait to watch it again. It was, in my opinion, one of the most criminally underrated films of 2013 – and one of my favorites.

Mud begins streaming on Netflix on Friday, March 21, so plan accordingly.

Okay, those are my big three Netflix streaming movies for the month, but several other extremely notable films are also in the mix, including Roman Holiday, The Long, Hot Summer, Taxi Driver and of course, Silence of the Lambs. If you’re looking for solid entertainment, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them. Two other possible winners are Brokedown Palace and The Blair Witch Project – though both seem a little more iffy. You’re either going to love these films or hate them (Blair Witch, in particular, and I hated it).

At the moment, one of the better kid-friendly offerings via Netflix streaming seems to be Turbo. I haven’t seen it, but I have a lot of friends with youngsters and they tell me it’s on repeat in their houses.

What about you guys? Have you seen anything on Netflix streaming this month that you love, at least movie-wise? If so, please share in the comments. I’m always looking for something new!

Photos courtesy of The New York Times and EW.com