5 of the best
Netflix favourites to stream together during lockdown
1 The Willougbys
This is the perfect animated film to watch with your family in lockdown and is proving to be a huge hit with Netflix fans. When the four Willoughby children are abandoned by their selfish parents, they must learn how to adapt their old-fashioned values to the contemporary world in order to create a new and modern family. A star-studded cast provides the voiceovers, including Ricky Gervais as The Cat, Maya Rudolph as Linda the babysitter, Will Forte as Tim Willoughby, Alessia Cara as Jane Willoughby, Sean Cullen as Barnaby Willoughby, Martin Short as Mr Willoughby and Jane Karkowski as Mrs Willoughby. The film is based on the best-selling book by Lois Lowry.
2 Marriage Story
Scarlett Johanssen and Adam Driver star in this touchingly sweet, compassionate and occasionally amusing tale abo t an actress and a film director, who have an eight year old son, going through a divorce. The characterisations earned nominations for both lead actors at the Academy Awards. Laura Dern, who plays the wife’s lawyer in the film, won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. Co-stars include Alan Alda and Ray Liotta.
3 Annihilation
Lena, a biologist and former soldier, joins a mission to uncover what happened to her husband inside Area X - a sinister and mysterious phenomenon that is expanding across the American coastline. Once inside, the expedition discovers a world of mutated landscape and creatures, as dangerous as it is beautiful, that threatens both their lives and their sanity. From visionary writer and director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, 28 Days Later) and based on the acclaimed best selling Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation stars Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Tuva Novotny.
4 Horse Girl
A socially isolated arts and crafts worker, who is grieving the death of her mother, finds herself more content in the company of horses and supernatural crime shows than people. But, when a series of strangely surreal dreams upend the simplicity of her waking life, Sarah struggles to distinguish her visions from reality. Alison Brie stars in this darkly humorous American thriller about a woman’s search for the truth, however abstract it might be. Horse Girl, directed by Jeff Baena premiered at
this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
5 The Irishman
Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci star in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, an epic saga of organised crime in post-war America told through the eyes of Second World War veteran Frank Sheeran, a hustler and hitman who worked alongside some of the most notorious figures of the 20th century. Spanning decades, the film chronicles one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in American history, the disappearance of legendary union boss Jimmy Hoffa, offering a monumental journey through the hidden corridors of organised crime, its inner workings, rivalries and connections to mainstream politics