10 must-see movies on Netflix now

Most of the movies were released for 2010, but I thought it would take me a while to highlight 10 little-seen gems you can get right now from Netflix. You’ll save money and find great movies if you use my list to fill your queue.

10) Mysterious skin– My favorite director (Gregg Araki) and his best movie. Mysterious Skin is about two children united by horrible childhood trauma. At the same time graphic, disturbing, but full of beauty and hope, it is one of the best films of the decade. Joseph Gordon Leavitt (no longer the guy from 3rd Rock from the Sun) is nothing short of amazing.

9) Dead man’s shoes– Paddy Considine is excellent in this brutal revenge drama from director Shane Meadows. The film is about a brother’s quest for revenge after his mentally challenged brother is brutalized by Midlands thugs in the miserable UK countryside. Some critics mistakenly called this torture porn in an art house, but it’s light years better and more compelling than anything the overrated Eli Roth could come up with.

8) brittleness-Frailty is a horror gem starring and directed by Bill Paxton. A gruesome story of a seemingly loving father who believes that he and his children are the hands of God. He looks for the people he thinks are devils and cuts them to pieces. Fine period details and acting, especially from young children, Frailty is about religious devotion gone mad and turned into madness. You must see it.

7) In Bruges – In Bruges you have the best script of last year and some of the best performances of Collin Farrell’s career. Smart and brutal, funny but extremely violent, it’s the movie Guy Ritchie keeps trying to make, and one that keeps eluding him. One of the best movies of last year.

6) smiley face – Director Gregg Araki’s latest film is a hilarious stoner comedy starring the amazing Anna Faris. Sublimely silly movie that went straight to DVD, although it’s a lot funnier than many comedies coming out in theaters these days.

5) Rules of attraction – A sharp, hilarious look at some bratty and bratty college students, courtesy of author Bret Easton Ellis and writer / director Roger Avary. This is probably the best of Ellis’s film adaptations to date (American Psycho with an excellent Christian Bale is another must-see) and despite its boring characters, I loved every shocking and entertaining moment of the film.

4) Sex drive – Teen sex comedy is updated with hilarious results. Surprisingly, it was a box office flop, but it was easily the funniest movie of the past year. The leads are personable and funny and James Marsden almost stole the entire movie as the homophobic character of the bully older brother. Seth Green provides strong support as a sarcastic and scathing Amish knows it all. RUMPSRINGA!

3) Mirror mask– Alice in Wonderland meets The Wizard of Oz through Neil Gaiman. MirrorMask is an exciting and well-acted fantasy film intended for teens and adults. The worlds created are totally original and star Stephenie Leonidas is perfect as the punk emo goth who wants to run away from her creepy circus existence and gets more than she bargained for.

2) Refund – Original and visually stunning comedy / drama about a young man who breaks up with his pretty girlfriend and discovers that he has the ability to stop time. His insomnia gives him a chance to paint random subjects with frozen time and the movie could be creepy in the wrong hands, it ends up being a delight and something worth looking for. All props go to the director for making a low-budget movie look like something on a bigger budget.

1) This is England – Writer / director Shane Meadows returns with an autobiographical look at his childhood and his alliance with a young gang of skinhead thugs. Well acted, sometimes hard to watch, and utterly compelling, This Is England may be about the UK, but its themes of racial bigotry and hatred could take place anywhere in any country at any time. It could have been called This is America. The movie is brilliant and gripping.