October is winding down, but the world is still in the mood to get spooky. Smile 2 was a big hit last weekend, and Terrifier 3 is still, well, terrifying audiences with massive amounts of gore.
I think I’ve seen enough throats getting slashed in one month. I’m looking for movies with less blood and more substance. If you’re like me, and have a Max subscription, then check out the following three films over the weekend. While one of them is technically a horror film, it also doubles as a comedy and a great portrait of a family banding together in a time of need.
We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
Tuesday (2024)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one of the funniest women alive. Don’t believe me? Just watch any episode of Seinfeld from the ’90s or Veep from the 2010s. The actress has been killing it in the comedy realm for decades, but she also has a dramatic side that doesn’t get the spotlight. enough The 2024 film Tuesday changed that, albeit briefly, earning Louis-Dreyfus great notices for her turn as Zora, a mother of a terminally ill 15-year old who must face the inevitable.
Zora’s daughter Tuesday is dying, and there’s nothing she can do about it. One day, Tuesday is visited by Death in the form of a colorful macaw bird. Zora tries to stop Death from taking her child by killing the bird and consuming it. Yes, you read that right. What happens next is even more fantastical, and I won’t spoil it here.
Tuesday sounds precious and sentimental, and in parts, it is, but it’s also unsparing in how Zora, and everyone else, must confront the inevitability of death and the comfort of memory. Louis-Dreyfus is outstanding, and makes you wish she’d tackle more roles like this in the future.
Tuesday is streaming on Max.
Poltergeist (1982)
Would you believe some critics hated Poltergeist when it first came out in 1982? Gene Siskel brushed it off as being “very, very silly.” The Los Angeles Times deemed it “simple” and “dumb.” Yet, what once was underrated is now a classic, as Poltergeist is not only one of the best modern haunted house movies ever, but it’s also one of the best movies about suburban life ever.
For those that don’t know what it’s about, here’s a basic recap: When 5-year-old Carol Anne mysteriously vanishes one night, the Freeling family discovers a poltergeist in their home that wants the young girl for nefarious purposes. The family enlists the services of several paranormal experts, and one very odd spiritual adviser, to get Carol Anne back to the land of the living.
Poltergeist‘s credentials as a superior spooky tale are well established, but it’s overlooked by many as also being a sly satire on the odd details of suburban life. From mother Diane’s impromptu funeral arrangements for the pet bird to appease her children to the remote control war dad Steven engages with his neighbor, the movie gets the details of living in tract housing just right. Poltergeist is the rare movie that views suburbia as a place where grace can exist as long as you don’t mind dodging a a literal skeleton or two while you’re there.
Poltergeist is streaming on Max.
Ethel (2012)
Ethel Kennedy just passed away at 96, so now’s a good time to watch a great documentary about her long, eventful life. Directed by Rory Kennedy, the youngest of Ethel’s 11 children, Ethel uses contemporary interviews Rory conducts with her own siblings and her mother to document her life.
Of course, the two passages that are noteworthy are John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 and Ethel’s husband’s own murder in 1968. The latter event triggers the documentary’s most powerful scenes, as Ethel and each of Rory’s siblings still struggle to deal with the sudden death of Robert F. Kennedy. Ethel is an intimate portrait of a woman who never wanted the spotlight, but due to the trajectory of history, she got it for all the wrong reasons.
Ethel is streaming on Max.