Don t show me this message again✕ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs , Annihilation , Dolemite Is My Name and Gerald s Game are among the best original films to watch on Netflix (Netflix)
H
aving established itself as a power-house of binge TV, Netflix has more recently turned its attention to movies.
But with dozens of Netflix original films to chose from, how to sort the gold from the feature-length dross?
To help you make sense of the service’s mind-boggling viewing options here’s a countdown of the best original movies available to stream on Netflix UK.
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by Raul Gomez | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | Cinema | December 17th, 2020
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
David Fincher lays down plenty of track on the great big electric train set of “Mank,” the filmmaker’s return to the director’s chair after “Gone Girl” in 2014. Depending on one’s interest in the evergreen legend of “Citizen Kane” and the politics of classic Hollywood, mileage may vary, but Fincher’s detailed visual style and an invested performance from Gary Oldman not to mention the talents of several entertaining supporting players combine to form yet another purely speculative chapter in the cottage industry of films toying with the mythology of one of the most venerated motion pictures ever made.
Herman J. Mankiewicz (played by
Gary Oldman). The nonlinear story depicts the Oscar-winning writer during both his heyday in Hollywood and later, nearing the end of his career when he’s writing the script for
Citizen Kane. It’s a story that transitions through swaths of time without a single bump in the road, except the one that leaves Mankiewicz convalescing in bed.
The wordsmith is his own worst enemy and his own best friend, but he’s also admirable through Fincher’s lens. There’s a bit of hero worship on display for this artist learning to fight for due credit when
WHAT IT S ABOUT:
A new version of 1930s Hollywood is told through the eyes of Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter, as he rushes to finish the script of the famous film
Citizen Kane.
WHAT WE THOUGHT:
There is something about David Fincher s films that transports you out of your current situation into the world he has created. In
The Social Network we were in the negotiation room with Mark Zuckerberg and in
Gone Girl we were in on Amy Dunne s schemes. In
Mank, we experience the intricacies on 1930s Hollywood.
The film follows Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), the fabled journalist turned screenwriter, as he wrote what many consider to be the greatest film of all time
Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times
Published: 13 Dec 2020 10:22 AM BdST
Updated: 13 Dec 2020 10:22 AM BdST Gary Oldman, centre, as the title character in “Mank,” with Adam Shapiro, left, and Joseph Cross. The film argues that Orson Welles had little to do with the screenplay. Netflix
“Mank,” the new drama from David Fincher, revives an old charge against Orson Welles. Was Welles, who with “Citizen Kane” (1941) created what is often cited as the greatest movie ever made on his first try, actually standing on the shoulders of another genius? );
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The movie, streaming on Netflix, dramatises the writing of “Citizen Kane” through the eyes of Herman J Mankiewicz, who received top billing on the shared screenplay credit with Welles. The film focuses on the period when Mankiewicz wrote what became a 300-page doorstop called “American,” partly drawing on his own experiences as a dinner guest of William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper tycoon and inspiration for