All eyes will be on Paramount+ in July for a several good reasons, chief among them the highly-anticipated return of Season 4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the emotional end to The Chi at the end of the month, and who could forget the controversial return of Conor McGregor to the UFC, which will be aired live on CBS on July 11, and then the next day on Paramount+.
But there’s also good reason not to dismiss Paramount+’s movie shelf, as it has dumped a pile of new-to-the-service movies into its library, including these three standouts below, ranked from good to best: a workplace comedy with a star-studded cast that includes Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, and Ben Affleck, a nostalgia-drenched small-town monster mystery, and a true war story so remarkable it barely sounds real.
Fans of Mike Judge’s The Office will be in for this workplace comedy
If you’re a fan of Mike Judge’s brilliant and oft-memed workplace comedy Office Space (or his future-predicting film Idiocracy), Extract has been described as a companion piece to the former—only this time, instead of feeling sorry for a disgruntled employee, sympathy sits with the boss.
Jason Bateman heads up an incredible ensemble cast as Joel, the owner of Reynolds Extract, a flavoring factory he’s poised to sell for an early retirement. When a freak (and hilariously slapstick) assembly-line accident hits employee Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) straight in the twig and berries, Joel’s plans get derailed.
Enter Cindy (Mila Kunis), a gorgeous con artist who, after reading of the accident, gets a job at Reynolds in a scheme to get a cut of the looming lawsuit. Meanwhile, Joel is smitten with Cindy, mainly because he’s trapped in a sexless marriage to Suzie (Kristen Wiig). Things get even more out of hand when Joel, on bad advice from his stoner pal, Dean (Ben Affleck), hires a dimwitted gigolo to test Suzie’s fidelity in hopes that it will justify his advances on Cindy. Extract flew under the radar in 2009, but Bateman’s exasperated loser boss alone is worth the watch.
Extract
Release Date
September 4, 2009
Runtime
91 Minutes
Director
Mike Judge
2
Super 8
J.J. Abrams’ Spielberg homage with a monster problem
After Star Trek but before J.J. Abrams took the keys to the Star Wars films, he made Super 8, a 2011 love letter to the Steven Spielberg Amblin Entertainment-era movies he grew up on. But what’s more is that Spielberg didn’t just inspire the film, he produced it in this first original team-up between Amblin and Abrams’ Bad Robot.
And, boy, does the movie bleed some beautiful Amblin vibes. In the summer of 1979, in small-town Ohio, young Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is helping his pal Charles (Riley Griffiths) shoot a zombie movie on his Super 8 camera when the young crew—including Alice (Elle Fanning), the group’s collective crush—witnesses the devastating the derailment of a military train … and something massive and extraterrestrial escapes the wreckage. Soon, all the dogs start mysteriously fleeing town, and electronic equipment and car engines go missing, and the Air Force rolls in to contain the event. Meanwhile, Joe’s father Jack (Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler), the deputy sheriff, demands answers.
Super 8 (81% RT score) was a $260-million hit, and its serious E.T. and Goonies energy make it a fun watch for adults and the kids. Stick around through the credits, though: the kids’ finished zombie movie plays in full.
Super 8
Release Date
June 10, 2011
Runtime
112 minutes
Director
J.J. Abrams
1
Hacksaw Ridge
Andrew Garfield shines as a medic who goes to war without a weapon
Hacksaw Ridge is one of those inconceivable real-life wartime stories that Hollywood filmmakers dream of coming across. And in this case, it was Mel Gibson who made his directing comeback with this 2016 war epic that earned six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and winning for film editing and sound mixing.
Adapted from the 2004 documentary The Conscientious Objector, Hacksaw Ridge is the incredible true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a devout Seventh-day Adventist who enlists as a WWII combat medic. But what makes Doss’s story so unique and compelling is that due to his beliefs, while he wants to serve his country on the battlefield, he refuses to touch a weapon of any kind. Of course, this causes all sorts of problems for Doss. But after surviving basic-training abuse from Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and Captain Glover (Sam Worthington), and a near court-martial, he ships out to the meat grinder of Okinawa’s Maeda Escarpment—nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge—where he saves 75 men by lowering them down a cliff one by one.
Garfield is stunning as the mild-mannered but determined Doss, Teresa Palmer plays his sweetheart, Dorothy, and Hugo Weaving is devastating as Doss’s haunted WWI-veteran father. Be warned—the battle scenes are ferocious in this 84% rated war drama.
Hacksaw Ridge
Release Date
November 4, 2016
Runtime
139 minutes
Director
Mel Gibson
Kicking July off right
Whichever movie you cue up first, it’s a strong week to stay in with a good flick. And when you’re done, How-To Geek’s streaming section has plenty more recommendations where these came from.
Subscription with ads
Yes, $8/month
Simultaneous streams
3
Live TV
Select live sports (NFL on CBS & UEFA Champions League)
Price
Starting at $8/month or $60/year
