Boasting somewhere near 70 million subscribers, Paramount + has quickly become one of the best streaming services around. After seeing all the new movies coming to the streaming platform in October, it was clear why it has become a favorite among many movie fans.
From all the options the service has for viewers, I have selected ten I think will be perfect for your October movie nights. Not only are these some of the best movies on Paramount +, they are also some of the best movies on streaming.
Django Unchained Vengeance is his…
Django Unchained was Quentin Tarantino’s Christmas present to the world in 2012. Lincoln abolished slavery by pushing the 13th amendment through Congress. Turns out Tarantino’s plan was to give a black cowboy (Jamie Foxx) a gun and the chance to shoot every slave trader in sight. The movie is fantasy revenge, but for viewers everywhere the movie tastes like sweet revenge.
The Truman Show
Make sure you tune in….
Several years before Big Brother became the hit reality series of the 2000s, this Peter Weir directed comedy-drama from the wonderful mind of writer Andrew Niccol arrived in theaters to both critical acclaim and box office success alike. In a career defining performance, Jim Carrey is Truman Burbank, raised from birth on a giant studio set, where his neighbors, friends and yes, even his wife are actors, and he, himself, is unwittingly the star of the world’s most popular reality television program. Dubbed by Paramount as “the most expensive art film ever made”, the movie was inspired by an episode of The Twilight Zone, and the original script was originally more science fiction thriller with a New York setting. But with Weir on board to direct, Niccol re-wrote and relocated it to the ‘fake’ coastal town of Seahaven. The movie tackles issues of religion and philosophy and is a welcome addition to the Paramount October lineup.
Almost Famous
Remembering when music journalists toured with rock bands…
In 2000 and especially now, the idea that music journalists could spend weeks on end touring with rock bands for the sake of a single interview piece was outdated. But it was a time that Cameron Crowe remembered in great detail, fictionalizing his own teenage experience writing for Rolling Stone into a glowing nostalgia project that celebrates the ‘70s rock scene and the culture that accompanied it; sex, drugs, and rock and roll. What is most striking about Almost Famous is the sincerity it brings, from the the scene in which young William inherits a stack of vinyl records from his older sister (“Look under your bed, it’ll set you free,” she says) to the Stillwater tour bus singalong to Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer’, Crowe’s deep love of music and the power it holds in our younger lives is inescapable. The film brims with emotion and quotable dialogue (“I didn’t invent the rainy day, man. I just own the best umbrella.”), not to mention engaging performances from Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup and Philip Seymour Hoffman. This film of sheer unadulterated affection is perfect viewing for October now that we are a couple months removed from Summer concert season.
Eddie Murphy: Raw
The top comedian from the ‘80s…
Eddie Murphy: Raw was filmed in 1987 at the height of Murphy’s comedic career and features a live performance recorded at the Felt Forum in New York City. The movie known for its uncensored and provocative humor, captures Murphy’s distinctive comedy style as he addresses a variety of topics, from relationships to social issues.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Oh, the horror of a holiday gone wrong!
In 1987, John Hughes took a break from the high school teen films he had become synonymous with and gave us this scatterbrained road movie that confronts advertising executive Neal Page (Steve Martin) with the kind of travel trauma rarely experienced by anybody, thankfully. Page’s attempt to get back from New York City to his family in Chicago in time for Thanksgiving is thwarted at every turn by curtain ring salesman Del Griffith (John Candy), running the gamut of the titular public transportation with little hope of successfully reaching his destination. Between the many memorable moments (“Those aren’t pillows!”) and the pile-up of highway-set hilarity, Hughes’ natural infinity for his characters caught up in emotional cyclones is evident. Viewed correctly this time of year, the moving third act hits like a freight train. This was Candy’s favorite movie he made and it will be one of yours as well.
Chaplin
A legend of early cinema has his story told…
Robert Downey Jr. is Charlie Chaplin in director Richard Attenborough’s biographical movie. The film that mostly centers on the private life of Chaplin and the development of cinema was nominated for three Oscars including Best Actor for Downey. You will find Chaplin both incredible and honest as Attenborough did a masterful job at directing this masterpiece and Downey gives a splendid and realistic performance as the title character.
Galaxy Quest
The tagline for this 1999 film should have been: In space, everyone will hear you laugh…
Want to know how incredibly funny and good this Star Trek spoof is, ask the actors who were the blunt of the parody. “No one laughed louder and longer in the cinema than I did,” exclaimed Patrick Stewart. William Shatner, George Takei and Will Wheaton would also join the hearty chorus of approval for director Dean Parisot’s spot on spoof of the beloved franchise. Tim Allen is Jason Nesmith, the Shatner stand-in recruited by aliens to lead an intergalactic battle. As in the show it parodies, the strength is in the ensemble cast; Sigourney Weaver plays delightfully against type and Alan Rickman brought immeasurable depth and richness to the Shakespearean thespian turned pseudo-Spock, Alexander Dane. But the standout performance might just be Sam Rockwell as he is hysterical as the expendable redshirt Guy. Beam yourself aboard for this crowd-pleasing adventure this month and you will not be disappointed.
Swingers
Bros forever…
Partially based on the real life friendship of the actors, Swingers launched the careers of Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and Ron Livingston. The boozy dramedy was made for just $200,000 after studios balked at director Doug Liman’s plan to cast the relative unknowns in the lead roles. Honestly, it was a good thing they did, because Swingers plays right to the trio’s strengths. Favreau’s Mike Peters is an anxiety-suffering wannabe actor who returns to Los Angeles heartbroken and alone. When his buddies Trent (Vaughn) and Rob (Livingston) step in, they kickoff a series of bar crawls, dating calamities, and snappy mano-a-mano heart-to-hearts that sell well because they are based on actual conversations the guys really had. How good was Vaughn in this film? So good that Spielberg immediately snapped him up for Jurassic Park: The Lost World.
Team America: World Police
Strings attached to controversy…
In 2004, we were at the height of post-9/11 paranoia, which would not seem to be the time to put out a feature film that turned terrorism into an excuse for a song and dance. But South Park creators have made a living off doing the unthinkable. Conservative groups like Move America Forward were up in arms, meanwhile for the majority of Americans, it was exactly what we needed. Besides we were mostly too busy laughing at the antics of the titular security team to notice. Stone would later state “We wanted to deal with this emotion of being hated as an American,” so naturally he and Parker did that in the most humorous way possible, by creating epic scenes of destruction using an army of 270 marionettes, staging elaborate puppet sex skits and having all non-English-speaking characters gibber nonsense. The result would be certainly controversial, yet side-split-tingly, wickedly funny.
Weird Science
The Boys will be boys…
John Hughes third film puts a twist on the Frankenstein story with a flirty nod and wink. It’s saturated in the giddy blush of first love (and lust) as geeks Gary Wallace (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt Donnelly (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) create the ultimate woman using their computer. Seeing the results, imagine what they could do with a computer now. Arriving in the lovely form of Kelly LeBrock, ‘Lisa’ is both beautiful and intelligent and helps the guys discover their inner strength, fighting back against bullies that includes a still wet behind the ears Robert Downey Jr. Lisa is named after an Apple computer and would be branded “Mary Poppins with breasts” by LeBrock herself. She is every teenage boy’s dream and Hughes pulls no shots, going full steamy when it comes to the guys’ somewhat contentious treatment of their creation. You want weird? You want fun? You got both, with scenes like Bill Paxton’s Chet turning into a pile of poo and mutant bikers crashing the guys’ party. Cue the Oingo Boingo and let’s get the party started!
There you have it, ten great movies to check out on Paramount + this month. As always, I love to hear from you. Questions and comments can be left in the comment box below.
