10 Movies Like Blue Jasmine | agoodmovietowatch

Made in 2018

Good Movie

81% Vouch

Private Life

Paul Giamatti, man. Ever watched Win/Win? What a performance. I didn’t think he could do any better than that. But here he did.

This movie is now on Netflix. It’s about a couple that is trying to have a kid but can’t. Their frustration grows, but so does their willingness to do whatever it takes to become parents. They try to adopt, go to fertility clinics and ultimately ask their niece to donate her eggs. To really work, such a plot requires well-written, multifaceted characters one can relate to. I did, and it really worked.

Netflix

Drama

Sunday

2018

Foreign

Good Movie

83% Vouch

My Happy Family

This movie is a dramatic masterpiece and a tribute to loving middle-aged women everywhere. It is unparalleled in the way it portrays its characters and the subtlety with which it tells their stories. The events are centered around a 52-year-old Georgian woman who decides to leave her family home and live alone without much of a notice. She trades chaos and domestic disputes for solitude, and the prospect of sad old age for an opportunity to build a new life for herself. In other words, she trades being the secondary character to her mother, husband, and children, to being the hero of her own story. A genuine and beautiful film. If like me you grew up with a mother who sacrificed everything for you, this will hit very close to home.

Netflix

Drama

Simple

2017

ICYMI

Good Movie

90% Vouch

Manchester by the Sea

A delicate and profound exploration of loss, and an unbelievably well-made drama, Manchester By the Sea is a true triumph. Its focus on the characters, its timely unfolding of story elements, as well as its world class acting are only equal to the best European dramas. This deep and slow exploration of the human condition has rarely been successful in American cinema, if ever. The last best attempt was probably another movie by director Kenneth Lonergan, You Can Count on Me. Manchester by the Sea is where he unveils his full potential, and takes the viewer deep into the tensions and history of a building handyman, Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck). His angry but quiet life is interrupted by news that his brother suffered a heart attack, and upon going back to his hometown he finds that he is the only one left to take care of his teenage nephew. A truly amazing movie, not to be missed, and a huge success too. It grossed around $80 million on a budget of $8.5 million.

Prime

Drama

Well-acted

2016

Best Film

95% Vouch

85% Users

The End of the Tour

A summer’s night, it’s around 2 AM and you’re outside talking with a close friend about life, happiness, and the human condition. That quality and depth of conversation, which you reach at best a couple of times a year is present throughout the 106 minutes of The End of the Tour. The film depicts the story of David Foster Wallace, as played by Jason Segel, and his interactions with then Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky, as played by Jesse Eisenberg. It’s like being with two smart friends and discussing your life and theirs in the sense that it is deeply personal, very smart while being simple, and unpretentiously relevant. Performances are nothing short of perfect as Segel completely transforms into the character, and everything is authentically orchestrated with the deft hand of The Spectacular Now director James Ponsoldt. A rare and important film.

Netflix

Drama

Well-acted

2015

Award Sweeper

Oscar Nominated

72% Vouch

69% Users

August: Osage County

Family movies were made to teach a lesson or two – whether it be loving dear parents, being a tad empathetic about others, or simply cherishing the moment. Like a true family dramedy, August: Osage County is all that, and more. The Westons is a family seemingly (actually, more like) falling apart at the seams – what with patriarch Beverly (Sam Shepard) going missing, mother Violet (Meryl Streep) suffering from alcoholism and pill-addiction, and some well-kept secrets distancing the siblings that are, well, under the table. This drives the Weston-daughters to come home after diverging many moons ago and chaos ensues.

With an overly talented ensemble headlined by Streep as the cancer-ridden matriarch of the Westons and Julia Roberts as her eldest, supremely in-denial daughter, it’s easy to see why this has gathered five Academy Award nominations to its name.

Amazon

Drama

Well-acted

2013

Good Movie

77% Vouch

75% Users

Clouds of Sils Maria

The film for which Kristen Stewart became the first American actress to win the César Award. The Twilight star turned indie prodigy plays next to another award favorite, Juliette Binoche, as her assistant. When rehearsing for the play that launched her career many years earlier, Binoche’s character, Maria, blurs the line between fiction and reality, her old age and her assistant’s young demeanor, and the romance story portrayed in the play and her own life. The movie itself is stylized as a play, adding another interesting layer of artistic creativity to the complex plot line. A film for film lovers.

Netflix

Drama

Well-acted

2014

Foreign

Best Film

95% Vouch

84% Users

The Great Beauty

A critical favorite and award-show sweeper, The Great Beauty celebrates the sheer decadence of Italian cinema and the Italian capitol, Rome, in a tour de force of luxury and gorgeousness. Following an aging bon vivant and Roman socialite who squandered a youth of artistic promise for the simple pleasures of being, the film is a meditation on art, regret, pleasure and the beauty of the eternal city.

Amazon

Drama

Thought-provoking

2013

Good Movie

82% Vouch

72% Users

Still Alice

Still Alice is a drama about a renowned linguistics professor (Julianne Moore) who slowly begins to lose words and find herself lost in familiar places, leading to an unexpected diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Alice’s husband (Alec Baldwin) and three grown children subsequently struggle to maintain balance as her condition deteriorates, even as she steadfastly strives to maintain her self-composure. Interestingly, Alice uses her professional skills in communication to employ innovative ways to maintain her language and memory as well as possible, despite her ongoing decline. It’s a melancholy yet wonderfully touching film that feels thoroughly honest and real every step of the way. Julianne Moore is superb throughout—a role that earned her a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for her performance.

Amazon

Drama

Well-acted

2015

Good Movie

90% Vouch

79% Users

Enough Said

Enough Said is a realistically sweet movie that handles serious emotions without compromising its comedic chops. It portrays the difficulties and doubts that come with post-divorce relations in a somewhat goofy and original way. James Gandolfini is impeccably wonderful in his last lead role, and joined by Julia Louis-Dreyfus they generate exquisite chemistry right from their first scene together all the way until the movie ends.

Like many other beautiful movies such as Your Sister’s Sister, Enough Said is hilarious, romantic, but to that it adds being smart and realistic. You’ll love it.

Amazon

Comedy

Warm

2013

1 2