Movies to Watch on Paramount+

Beavis and Butt-Head in a huh-huh, black hole. (Photo: Paramount Pictures)

Huh-huh . . . sequels suck. But not this one, ‘cause Mike Judge’s iconic Beavis and Butt-Head have lost none of their mouthbreathing, nacho-eating, desperately horny appeal. And this time, they’re horny in space.

Yes, as far as these two dillholes are concerned, the titular “Do” refers to doing “it.” So, like in their 1996 big-screen debut, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, the pair believes they’re on an adventure to “score.” Really, a juvenile court judge sent them to space camp, where they’ll accidentally travel from 1998 to 2022—and watching Beavis and Butt-Head navigate space camp, not to mention a very different future America, is heh-heh-mm-heh, pretty cool.

“I see two guns [dude],” says Django Freeman (Jamie Foxx) in Django Unchained (Photo: The Weinstein Company)

Justice is satisfying, especially when it’s richly deserved and administered by the victims. That is exponentially true with Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, where seething, stoic, slave-turned-bounty hunter Django Freeman (Jamie Foxx) and his wise benefactor/mentor Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) seek to find and liberate Freeman’s wife Brunhilda from a sleazy plantation owner.

Since Django is Tarantino’s joint, Freeman and Schultz exact a glorious, gory vengeance (52 kills) amidst a hail of bullets and explosions—literal ones as well as n-bombs (110, according to Spike Lee). Some might call the film an exercise in gratuitousness, an excuse for Tarantino to spill blood and use with impunity a word reserved for the victims of slavery and racism. They’re not wrong—but Django is also a joyously cathartic watch for anyone sick to death of racial hatred.

The lovelorn virgin vampire Ralph (Dean Cameron) checks his fangs in Rockula (Photo: Shout! Factory/MGM)

A Dean Cameron double feature! Who’s Dean Cameron? Only the coolest leading dude in underground ‘80s comedies like these.

In the sex-and-sports comedy Ski School, Cameron portrays Dave Marshak, leader of a group of manchild ski instructors who must defend their resort and their jobs from that all-purpose ‘80s movie villain—rich people—via a series of elaborate pranks. In Rockula, Cameron plays Ralph, a sensitive rock ‘n’ roll vampire who falls in love with the same (reincarnated) woman every 22 years, only to watch her die mysteriously each time.

Ski School isn’t exactly original (see Porky’s, Revenge of the Nerds, et al.), but it’s a mindless good time—and Rage Against the Machine fans will enjoy hearing RATM guitarist Tom Morello’s glam metal band Lock Up in the soundtrack.

Rockula is a goofy ‘80s lite-horror comedy with fun original songs and music legends (Toni Basil, Thomas Dolby, Bo Diddley, and Susan Tyrrell) in major roles. And the puckish Cameron, whether playing a party animal or a lovelorn 400-year-old virgin bloodsucker, kicks them both up a level.

Randal (Jeff Anderson) and Dante (Brian Halloran) contemplate existential and professional stagnancy in Clerks (Photo: Miramax)

Working all day for low wages and lower recognition is a tale as old as time—but it’s gotten more interesting since Kevin Smith debuted his low-budget ($27,000 from pre-production to premiere), black-and-white, indie-slacker film in 1994.

In Clerks, twenty-something best friends Dante (Brian Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) face stagnation in their lives. Convenience store clerk Dante has no direction but loads of existential angst, while the likewise aimless video-store employee Randal seems content with his station in life. Of course, the plot forces both men to grow up through a series of wacky interactions with clueless customers, spaced-out acquaintances, and lost loves.

Thirty years later, Karens, COVID, and still-low wages haven’t made life any better for public-facing jobs. So, when Randal says one of the film’s many quotable lines—“This job would be great if it wasn’t for the f**kin’ customers”—it hits harder. And that’s why Smith’s film remains delightfully funny, vulgar, and relevant.

Evil shouldn’t be this adorable: A resurrected Gage Creed (Miko Hughes) puts on a stabby-yet-pinchable face in Pet Sematary. (Photo: Paramount Pictures)

If you’ve ever lost a beloved pet, friend, or family member, you know the gnawing need to have them back—and the awful knowledge that your wish, however strong, is hopeless. Except the two things don’t cancel each other out. They work together to erode your sanity to the point where you’ll do anything, even if it seems too good to be true—or too crazy to be tested.

Stephen King’s story about grief can be hard to watch. You’ll grieve and hope and grieve again and wonder if it’s possible to be scared to death. But, ultimately, you come out of Pet Sematary with a new appreciation of your loved ones, a determination to live your life, and a new favorite song (the Ramones’ cool, creepy title track over the end credits).

Megan (Natasha Lyonne) and Graham (Clea DuVall) in a romantic scene from But I’m a Cheerleader (Photo: Lionsgate)

Natasha Lyonne had four films drop in 1999: American Pie, Detroit Rock City, Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (just released in a stunning 4K set via Vinegar Syndrome), The Auteur Theory, and this campy satire of gay conversion therapy.

In But I’m a Cheerleader, Lyonne plays Megan Bloomfield, who everyone thinks could be the ultimate all-American girl—if it weren’t for her (gasp!) lesbianism. When Megan gets shipped off to True Directions to get straightened out, she has a sexual awakening courtesy of fellow camper Graham (Clea DuVall, who recently reunited with Lyonne on her Peacock original series Poker Face). Naturally, the story isn’t so simple, as coming out wasn’t so easy 25 years ago—but the conflict resolution in director Jamie Babbit’s tale is a pleasure to watch.

Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) tells a story in The Usual Suspects (Photo: Gramercy/PolyGram/Spelling Films)

An ensemble cast—Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, and Kevin Pollack—are ace crooks who assemble as a crew after getting rounded up and interrogated on trumped-up charges to teach the cops a lesson. When their exploits run afoul of a terrifying crime boss, a lone survivor (Spacey) remains to tell the incredible tale.

That’s all we should say ’cause spoilers. Just watch the movie—and steer clear of Keyser Soze. (Also, look for an appearance by an actor who plays another criminal mastermind in two wildly popular TV series.)

“I did naaaaahhhhht.” James Franco as Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist (Photo: Everett Collection/A24)

The only thing better than Tommy Wiseau’s utterly bonkers 2003 film The Room is this film based on co-star Greg Sestero’s making-of/tell-all book, The Disaster Artist. The film stars James Franco as Wiseau alongside his brother Dave Franco as Sestero, and the behind-the-scenes stories are as shockingly crazy as The Room itself. Still, it creates even more mystery around Wiseau, who keeps his backstory and the source of his apparent independent wealth close to his chest.

Franco’s performance as Wiseau is notable for its uncanny accuracy, which the film displays in side-by-side post-film clips from The Room and The Disaster Artist. Considering Franco’s #MeToo controversies, I wonder if he might wish he could trade places with Wiseau …

Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) blows his horn in Babylon. (Photo: Scott Greenfield/Paramount Pictures)

If you haven’t seen Babylon, Damien Chazelle’s technically dazzling but (according to some reviewers) graphic and overlong period film about the 1920s film industry, don’t worry. I haven’t seen it either—unless you count the first eight minutes, which are available on YouTube.

Babylon reportedly polarizes audiences and critics, so I added the film to this list directly upon learning that it’s a Paramount+ exclusive. Finding a three-hour block to watch it in one sitting without falling asleep has been a challenge, but I’m here for it (and Wednesday night looks good, fingers crossed). Will I love it? Will I hate it? I dunno—but finding out will be fun.

• Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
• Blue’s Big City Adventure
• Going to Pot: The High and Low of It
• Jerry & Marge Go Large

• Orphan: First Kill
• Rumble
• South Park movies
• Teen Wolf: The Movie

• The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run
• Three Months

• 48 Hrs.
• Baywatch
• The Barbarians
• Beverly Hills Cop (franchise)
• Clear and Present Danger
• Cool World

• Django Unchained
• eXistenZ
• Fist of Fury
• Four Brothers
• Gladiator
• Indiana Jones (franchise)

• James Bond (franchise)
• Mission: Impossible (franchise)
• Red Dawn (1985)
• Roadhouse
• Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick
• The Warriors

• A Fish Called Wanda
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• The Birdcage
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
• Galaxy Quest
• Good Burger

• Harold and Maude
• Jackass (franchise)
• Licorice Pizza
• Mean Girls
• Muriel’s Wedding
• The Naked Gun (franchise)

• A Night at the Roxbury
• Popeye
• Seven Psychopaths
• Stir Crazy
• There’s Something About Mary
• Visioneers

• The Accordion Kings
• Anita
• Going to Pot: The High and Low of It*
• I Am Richard Pryor

• Legend of Lead Belly
• MLK: The Assassination Tapes
• Making Waves
• Shine A Light (The Rolling Stones)

• Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Waco: The Longest Siege
• The Yes Men

• 12 Angry Men
• Almost Famous
• American Honey
• Babylon
• Chinatown
• Cinema Paradiso
• Fargo

• I’ve Got Issues
• Interstellar
• Into the Wild
• Judy
• Rocky (franchise)
• Steel Magnolias
• There Will Be Blood

• The Usual Suspects
• Uncut Gems
• Witness
• Wonder Boys
• Zodiac

• A Quiet Place
• Candyman (2021)
• Carnival of Souls
• Carrie (1976)
• Climax
• Event Horizon

• Friday the 13th (1980)
• Jacob’s Ladder
• The Last Matinee
• The Loved Ones
• Teeth
• Saint Maud

• Scream (franchise)
• Smile
• Tales from the Darkside: The Movie

• The Addams Family franchise
• Charlotte’s Web (2006)
• Good Burger
• Hey Arnold! The Movie

• Jinxed
• Monster Squad
• Monster High The Movie
• Sonic the Hedgehog

• The Spongebob Musical
• Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

• Grease
• Rockula

• Saturday Night Fever
• The Thing Called Love

• Wild Guitar
• The Wiz

• Event Horizon
• Land of Doom
• Minority Report

• Robocop (1987 and 2014)
• Rollerball
• The Running Man

• Star Trek movies (Kelvin timeline only)
• Tank Girl