Since everyone has run out of things to do, be it impulsive decisions of DIY-ing haircuts or making endless Instagram bingos we’ve decided to save your day. So ladies and gentlemen, grab onto your laptops, pop open a soda and make the maximum use of your Prime and Netflix accounts during this quarantine. Sit down and follow along a binge worthy session of top 10 movies you absolutely have to finish and love by the end of this hellish lockdown.
Probably one of Studio Ghibli’s finest, My Neighbour Totoro is a peaceful, escapist film, that people, with or without annoying siblings can enjoy. The story follows a professor and his two daughters when they move to a quiet magical village as they interact with wood spirits in rural postwar Japan. The friendly wood spirits range from tall and wide, to translucent and small, each of them being the cuddliest creatures you will ever see. You will probably need tissues because the movie does have some major wholesome goodness.
Watch when: You need a break…and some hope and warmth in your heart.
Available on Netflix
2. Passengers
Speaking of being locked in with someone you don’t want to be with, Passengers is about two people who are awakened ninety years too early from an induced hibernation on a spaceship which is transporting thousands of passengers, travelling to a colony on a planet in a star system 60 light-years from Earth. Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawerence star in this unexpectedly alluring romance set light-years away. Be ready to see a lot of malfunctioning machines and reignite your fear of your stove almost killing you.
Watch when: A dystopia feels too close to home. Remember, it could always be just a little worse.
Available on Netflix
3. Zodiac
One of the best serial killer based films I’ve had the pleasure to see. Obsession over true love can be repetitive but the obsession over finding someone when the trails goes cold and when they haven’t heard of you, and you aren’t entirely sure who they are either, is the only obsession that sticks. David Fincher is a master of showing new ways to tell ordinary stories. But what happens when he tells extraordinary stories in extraordinary ways? Come find out and watch the Zodiac.
Watch when: You need to feel hooked onto something. Or you’re probably worried that your neighbour might secretly want to kill you.
Available on Netflix
4. Birdman
Birdman is a 2014 American black comedy-drama film. Winning an Oscar for Best Picture and many more, the story follows Riggan Thomson, a faded Hollywood actor best known for playing the superhero “Birdman”, as he struggles to mount a Broadway adaptation of a short story. The film is worth its watch time, full of unexpected quips that keep you on your toes and unexpected outbursts, and a tad bit of mysticism. You will never predict what comes next in this film. And the coolest pick up from the film? It was all shot in one take.
Watch when: You’re angry at celebrities who sing instead of donating money to those in need. (Humour me)
Available on Netflix
Korean cinema has recently come into light thanks to the 2020 Oscars. Train to Busan is a pleasure to watch if you like gooey zombies, trains thrillers, the heart-wrenching saga of love between family and that flight or fight instinct for survival. The film mostly takes place on a train which (you probably guessed) is travelling to Busan as a zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out in the country and threatens the safety of the train’s passengers.
Watch when: You need a good spook or to finally get your heart racing. Or you really just feel like a sleep deprived zombie on your bed.
Available on Netflix
6. Arrival
There are many weird scenarios one can find themselves in but communicating with aliens without actually knowing their intent? Yep, that sums up Arrival. The film follows a linguist enlisted by the United States Army to discover how to communicate with extraterrestrial aliens who have arrived on Earth, before tensions lead to war. This is certainly a powerful film; the audience is constantly being misled by the characters and even the unreliable storytelling technique will sucker punch when you least expect it. Gorgeous visuals, a sprinkle of romance and a good-old Sci-Fi. You’ve got yourself a 3am binge.
Watch when: You want to be transported into someone else’s head.
Available on Netflix
7. Contagion
What if I told you, a movie about COVID-19, or predicting it, in a different name, had already been made in 2011? Meet Contagion. It’s plot concerns the spread of a virus transmitted by fomites, attempts by medical researchers and public health officials to identify and contain the disease, the loss of social order in a pandemic, and the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread. It is accurate in degrees I can’t describe and honestly it has me spooked!
Watch when: You need a reality check, or if you need to listen to more conspiracy theories.
Available on Prime Video
8. Super Deluxe
I must admit, sometimes I wonder whether black comedy could be introduced in Indian films without losing its integrity. Super Deluxe does exactly that. An unfaithful wife, an estranged father and an angry boy must all face their demons on one fateful day. But that is not enough to describe it. Super Deluxe mixes fiction with abstract concepts. It scalates from laughter and realism to absurdity and nail-biting tension, and one of the best uses of colour I’ve seen in Indian cinema, wanting you to watch it more than once(as you should).
Watch when: You want to laugh and tear up in the same 3 hours. And maybe when you want to remind yourself that Indian Cinema can provide better than Housefull 4.
Available on Netflix
9. I Am Legend
Robert Neville (Will Smith), a brilliant scientist, is a survivor of a man-made plague that transforms humans into bloodthirsty mutants. Neville knows he is badly outnumbered and the odds are against him, and all the while, the infected wait and wait. I know that Sci-Fi movies are a recurring theme but nothing makes Sci-Fi more fun than being one step away from reality. I mean…Will Smith. That’s all it takes for anyone to convince us to watch a film. I mean, the world is ending but hey at least, the Twilight vampires don’t exist.
Watch when: You feel like it is the end of days and everything is pointless and we’re one step closer to oblivion. Sigh.
Available on Prime Video
10. Parasite
Last but definitely not least, I present to you, the singular thriller masterpiece- Parasite. Director Bong Joon Ho’s child that swept away the Oscars, and that deserved every single one of them (or maybe even more?). Ever thought you were outsmarted by your maid? Parasite is just an EXTREME imaginative leap version of that. If you dislike it, it will claw at you for hours after watching it, making you gasp and hooking you on and never really letting you go. We follow the members of the Kim family who scheme to become employed by a wealthy family by infiltrating their household and posing as unrelated, highly qualified individuals. It’s the most fitting film of the word, ”thriller”. Just hold your breath till it ALL GOES WRONG.
Watch when: You feel tired for no reason. I know you do. Go watch another movie.
Available on Prime Video
– Krisha Dhar
Another Level Higher 
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