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What do you want to watch tonight?

Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.

Closest to Room first

  1. Mystic River 2003

    Film

    The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.

    The sides of Mystic River

    • Three childhood friends in Boston
    • A murdered daughter
    • A past that never healed

    Good for you if

    • you like raw, powerful acting.
    • you like a tragedy with no clean ending.
    • you like a murder investigation in a tight neighbourhood.

    Bad for you if

    • child abuse and a parent's grief are too heavy for you.
    • you need momentum. Eastwood lets the grief and the silences run long.

    About: trauma · guilt · loyalty

    Explore its sides
  2. Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.

    The sides of The Handmaid's Tale

    • A woman forced to bear children for a ruling family
    • A religious dictatorship in America
    • A resistance in whispers

    Good for you if

    • you like Elisabeth Moss saying everything with a stare into the camera.
    • you like every conversation in Gilead feeling like it could be a trap.
    • you like seeing how a regime controls women's bodies and words.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch rape and torture on screen.
    • you can't stand hangings and mutilations.
    • you need some hope, and here the hope comes slowly over six seasons.

    About: freedom · motherhood · resistance · faith

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  3. Big Little Lies 2017

    Series

    The tale of three mothers of first graders whose apparently perfect lives unravel to the point of murder.

    The sides of Big Little Lies

    • Three mothers in a rich seaside town
    • A death at a school fundraiser
    • A marriage hiding violence

    Good for you if

    • you like Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern at full force.
    • you like knowing someone died at trivia night but not who.
    • you like friendships and rivalries between mothers at the school gate.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't take domestic abuse and rape on screen.
    • you'd rather not see sex scenes, or you watch with others.

    About: domestic violence · friendship · motherhood · secrets

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  4. The Act 2019

    Series

    Gypsy Blanchard struggles to deal with the toxic relationship with her overprotective mother, but her attempts to free herself lead to murder.

    The sides of The Act

    • The true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard
    • A mother who kept her daughter ill
    • A murder in Missouri

    Good for you if

    • you want to understand a true crime from inside the house.
    • you like Joey King and Patricia Arquette in a mother-daughter story.
    • you like dread that builds toward something you know will happen.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't stand child abuse and medical cruelty on screen.
    • you need some hope, and Gypsy's life is a cage that keeps closing in.

    About: control · abuse · freedom · motherhood

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  5. Bird Box 2018

    Film

    Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.

    The sides of Bird Box

    • A mother and two children blindfolded
    • Something that makes you want to die if you see it
    • A river trip

    Good for you if

    • you like survival with a strict rule.
    • you like a threat you never see.

    Bad for you if

    • you want answers. What the creatures are and why they kill is never explained.
    • mass suicide shown on screen is too much for you.

    About: motherhood · survival · fear

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  6. Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.

    The sides of The Haunting of Hill House

    • Five siblings and the house they fled
    • A night their father never explained
    • Ghosts hiding in the background of shots

    Good for you if

    • you want ghosts you only spot in the corner of the frame.
    • you like a horror story that is really about brothers and sisters.
    • you like a reveal that makes you rethink the first episode.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't take grief, addiction and suicide on screen.
    • you need horror that moves fast. This one lingers on memories.

    About: grief · family · memory

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  7. Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.

    The sides of The Sixth Sense

    • A boy who sees dead people
    • A psychologist trying to help him
    • A mother who doesn't understand

    Good for you if

    • you like an ending that makes you replay the whole film in your head.
    • you like quiet, creeping fear.
    • you like a ghost story that's really about grief.

    Bad for you if

    • you scare easily, especially with children in danger.
    • you need momentum. It moves quietly, one session with Cole at a time.

    About: grief · communication · fear

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  8. Prisoners 2013

    Film

    When his young daughter and her friend disappear on Thanksgiving, a father takes the law into his own hands while a detective works the case.

    The sides of Prisoners

    • A detective who won't let go
    • How far a father will go
    • A case built like a maze
    • Rain, cold, and grey light

    Good for you if

    • you like being tense for two and a half hours straight.
    • you like collecting clues and trying to get ahead of the detective.
    • you like watching an actor go somewhere raw. Hugh Jackman does.

    Bad for you if

    • a child in danger is too much for you.
    • two and a half hours is too long for your evening.

    About: faith · revenge · guilt · fatherhood

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  9. Moonlight 2016

    Film

    The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

    The sides of Moonlight

    • One life in three chapters
    • A boy taught to swim
    • A diner, years later

    Good for you if

    • you like a quiet film that hurts and heals.
    • you like blue, gold and pink light.
    • you like silences that say everything.

    Bad for you if

    • you want things to happen. It's quiet.
    • a mother lost to crack and a boy bullied at school are too much for you.

    About: identity · masculinity · love

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  10. The Shining 1980

    Film

    Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

    The sides of The Shining

    • An empty hotel in winter
    • A father going mad
    • A boy riding his tricycle down the halls

    Good for you if

    • you like dread that builds slowly in empty corridors.
    • you like long gliding shots behind a boy on his tricycle.
    • you like a performance that becomes truly frightening.

    Bad for you if

    • you scare easily. Some images stay for years.
    • you can't watch a family threatened by the father. Jack's drinking and rage turn on his wife and son.

    About: isolation · madness · family

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  11. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.

    The sides of 12 Years a Slave

    • A free man kidnapped into slavery
    • Twelve years on plantations
    • A hope he never lets go of

    Good for you if

    • you like performances that are hard to watch and impossible to forget.
    • you want history shown without looking away.
    • you like a true story taken from Solomon Northup's own memoir.

    Bad for you if

    • the cruelty of slavery shown in full is too much tonight.
    • whippings shown at length are too hard for you.

    About: slavery · survival · dignity

    Explore its sides
  12. After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman wakes up in a survivalist's underground bunker, where he claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable.

    The sides of 10 Cloverfield Lane

    • A woman waking up in a bunker
    • A man who says the world has ended
    • Is he lying

    Good for you if

    • you like being stuck in a small space with someone dangerous.
    • you like wondering whether the world outside really ended.
    • you like John Goodman being terrifying.

    Bad for you if

    • you scare easily. Some scenes in and around the bunker play like a horror film.
    • you want a big cast. It's three people in a bunker.

    About: trust · survival · control

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  13. Anne with an E 2017

    Series

    A coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and for her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the late 1890s, who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an elderly woman and her aging brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform their lives and eventually the small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect and brilliant imagination.

    The sides of Anne with an E

    • A red-haired orphan sent instead of a boy
    • A farm on Prince Edward Island
    • A rivalry with Gilbert at school

    Good for you if

    • you like watching Anne grow from orphan to young woman over three seasons.
    • you like being moved by Marilla and Matthew learning to love a child.
    • you like a kindred-spirit friendship like Anne and Diana's.

    Bad for you if

    • you roll your eyes at Anne's big speeches about imagination and hope.
    • you can't watch flashbacks of a child mistreated in orphanages.

    About: belonging · imagination · found family

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  14. After a tragic ending to her short-lived super hero stint, Jessica Jones is rebuilding her personal life and career as a detective who gets pulled into cases involving people with extraordinary abilities in New York City.

    The sides of Marvel's Jessica Jones

    • A super-strong private eye who drinks too much
    • A man who controls minds with his voice
    • Cases in Hell's Kitchen

    Good for you if

    • you like a hero who is rude, broken and drinks alone.
    • you want David Tennant as Kilgrave, a villain you can't look away from.
    • you like a private detective's noir cases.

    Bad for you if

    • a story about abuse, control and trauma is too much for you.
    • you need a superhero show that moves fast.

    About: trauma · control · survival

    Explore its sides
  15. Wolf Children 2012

    Anime

    After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be a challenge for her.

    The sides of Wolf Children

    • A young widow raising two wolf children
    • A move to an old farmhouse in the mountains
    • A brother and sister choosing different lives

    Good for you if

    • you like a mother doing everything for her kids.
    • you like being moved by children growing up and leaving.
    • you want snowy forests and a farm in the countryside.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't watch anime.
    • you need things to happen fast. This one follows years of daily life.

    About: motherhood · growing up · letting go

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  16. Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

    The sides of The Shawshank Redemption

    • A friendship across decades
    • Hope behind prison walls
    • A quiet man nobody can read

    Good for you if

    • you like an ending that makes you cry for good reasons.
    • you watch for two men slowly becoming friends.
    • you like a story that takes years, patiently, to pay off.

    Bad for you if

    • prison violence and abuse are too hard for you to watch.
    • you want action. This is a slow, patient story.

    About: hope · freedom · time · friendship

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  17. Bates Motel 2013

    Series

    A "contemporary prequel" to the 1960 film Psycho, depicting the life of Norman Bates and his mother Norma prior to the events portrayed in Hitchcock's film, albeit in a different fictional town and in a modern setting. The series begins after the death of Norma's husband, when she purchases a motel located in a coastal Oregon town so she and Norman can start a new life.

    The sides of Bates Motel

    • A young Norman Bates and his mother
    • A motel bought for a fresh start
    • A small Oregon town full of secrets

    Good for you if

    • you like Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore as a mother and son too close.
    • you like knowing where Norman ends up and dreading every step.
    • you like a quiet Oregon town that lives off a hidden drug trade.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't take abuse and mental illness on screen.
    • you can't watch murders on screen.

    About: mothers and sons · madness · secrets

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  18. Despondent over a painful estrangement from his daughter, trainer Frankie Dunn isn't prepared for boxer Maggie Fitzgerald to enter his life. But Maggie's determined to go pro and to convince Dunn and his cohort to help her.

    The sides of Million Dollar Baby

    • A waitress who wants to box
    • An old trainer who says no
    • A bond like father and daughter

    Good for you if

    • you want a boxing film that moves you to tears rather than to cheers.
    • you like quiet, deep performances.
    • you like two lonely people becoming family.

    Bad for you if

    • a story that turns to suffering and grief is too heavy for you tonight.
    • you want a warm, uplifting sports film. Frankie and Maggie's story is a sad one.

    About: dignity · family · loss

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  19. Arrival 2016

    Film

    Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.

    The sides of Arrival

    • The grief underneath the sci-fi
    • Aliens that are truly alien
    • Understanding as the plot
    • Time that doesn't run straight

    Good for you if

    • you like a film that quietly breaks you at the end.
    • you like patient scenes where people try to understand each other.
    • you like aliens treated as a real problem of language and science.

    Bad for you if

    • you want an alien invasion with battles. There are none.
    • you'd rather not work to follow a story. Louise's memories only fall into place in the last act.

    About: language · grief · time · choice

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  20. Split 2017

    Film

    Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him — as well as everyone around him — as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.

    The sides of Split

    • Three girls kidnapped
    • A man with many personalities
    • Something else waiting to come out

    Good for you if

    • you like one actor playing many people, each one different.
    • you like a captivity thriller where escape keeps slipping away.
    • you like an ending that changes what kind of film you were watching.

    Bad for you if

    • child abuse in flashbacks is too hard for you.
    • you can't stand blood. The attacks in the last act are brutal.

    About: trauma · identity · survival

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