We have That’s My Boy and Rock of Ages in theaters this weekend, and although they star two of the biggest movie stars on the planet (Adam Sandler and Tom Cruise) you may not be interested in them. Perhaps you’re tired of Happy Madison films, even though That’s My Boy is apparently funny. Or maybe you don’t want to watch your favorite rock songs ruined in a Glee-like car crash that is Rock of Ages.

You know what, that’s OK. There’s still Netflix. Although they haven’t made a lot of customers happy this year they have a ton of content. So let’s sift through and find you something to watch, shall we?

It’s Father’s Day Weekend. You don’t want to head to the theater to see That’s My Boy because you’re dad doesn’t like Adam Sandler or doesn’t like man-child movies. What do you do? You could sit down and watch some father-oriented film.

First we have the Oscar-winning Kramer vs Kramer. It has Dustin Hoffman in it! That’ll get him excited! But hey, he’s already watched this movie about a career-obsessed dad who learns to care for his son and then fights to keep him. But hey, it came out in 1979. He probably hasn’t seen it in forever.

The Way

Or you could go with the recent The Way, which was made by father-son duo Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. Sheen’s son dies while hiking the El camino de Santiago in Spain, so he decides to complete the 500 km hike and recover his son’s body. This is sure to inspire some tears, and you could even make fun of Charlie Sheen afterwards, maybe.

Netflix is known for movies, but it may have the greatest collection of TV shows anywhere on the Internet. I mean, seriously, what do you want? You want a drama about humanity during a zombie outbreak? The Walking Dead. You want to travel back to the 60′s to follow the drama of a top ad agency? Mad Men is for you. And then there’s that show about a guy dying from cancer so he tries to leave a legacy for his family by cooking meth in Breaking Bad.

Mad Men

There are so many quality TV shows on Netflix that it’s worth the price of admission on its own. Want some science fiction TV? Doctor Who, Firefly, Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica await you. Comedy: 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, The Office, South Park, Scrubs, Arrested Development, Futurama, Family Guy, American Dad, The Wonder Years and more.

And unless you’re some kind of TV-watching android you haven’t watched ‘em all. There are even some neat British TV shows to check out: Sherlock, Luther, Top Gear, Downtown Abbey and more.

You could easily spend the weekend drowning your worries in good TV.

TV shows and Father’s Day flicks are out of the way, what else can you watch? How about a nice helping of science fiction? No no don’t worry, it’ll help you predict the future or something.

Serenity

There’s tons of huge sci-fi properties on Netflix like RoboCop and whatnot. So let’s go with something a little low key. Something that wasn’t met with a huge box office receipt. Like hey, how about Joss Whedon’s Serenity?

Whedon fans and Firefly fans will know the film, and have probably seen it a billion times, but most people haven’t. If you want something a little more retro why not give Fritz Lang’s Metropolis a shot? Sure, it was made in 1927 but it’s pretty much the first science fiction film, and it’s pretty amazing for the time. Hell, you might even find it more engaging than more recent movies.

I know a few people that love finding the crappiest of the crap on Netflix to make jokes about it. Yeah, you can also watch pretty much any Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Netflix. But why not try it out yourself?

You have to start with Dead Snow, which is about nazi zombies who rise out of the snow to attack people. That stuff writes itself. And ooh, there’s Killer Klowns from Outer Space, which is about a group of alien space clowns that harvest people by wrapping them in cotton candy.

And oh man, how could I forget the genius of Jack Frost? A convict who turns into a murderous snowman!? Yes please! You could of course watch a bunch of pretty college kids get eaten by sharks in Shark Night.

There’s one that takes the cake though, or maybe the Thanksgiving turkey – ThanksKilling. Get this: it’s about five college kids who run into a killer turkey during Thanksgiving. I kid you not.

That’s all I have for now. Perhaps in the future, when there’s absolutely nothing to watch in theaters we’ll revisit the wells of Netflix to find some more gems. For now, happy watching.

netflix