Starz is known for sexy and provocative original series like Vida and Sweetbitter, as well as supernatural literary adaptations including Outlander and new addition The Rook. But it also remains a leading platform for critically acclaimed feature films. In the mood for a political docudrama? An artist’s biopic? An Oscar-nominated meditation on loneliness? Starz has you covered. Here’s the best of what’s streaming there right now.
Stan & Ollie (2018)
Steve Coogan (Philomena) and John C. Reilly (Chicago) play the titular Stan and Ollie—as in Laurel & Hardy, the legendary comedy duo—in this based-on-a-true-story drama. Though the two had a long and successful career in film, Stan & Ollie hones in on its final act, in 1953: an attempted comeback tour of British and Irish music halls. Reilly earned a best-actor (motion picture musical or comedy) nomination at the Golden Globes earlier this year.
Watch it now on Starz.
The Front Runner (2018)
After stunning audiences in spring 2018 with Tully, his latest collaboration with screenwriter Diablo Cody, director Jason Reitman returned to theaters with The Front Runner, based on true events. In 1987, Colorado senator Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) is in contention to win the Democratic nomination for president, until his campaign is derailed by seemingly compromising photos and rumors of infidelity.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018)
Following the death of Stieg Larsson, creator of the tremendously popular thriller novels about hacker Lisbeth Salander, David Lagercrantz continued the story of Larsson’s characters; The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a film adaptation of Lagercrantz’s book, with Claire Foy (The Crown) taking over the role of Lisbeth Salander as she battles the Spiders and attempts to disrupt their plans for global anarchy.
Watch it now on Starz.
The Good Dinosaur (2015)
Released by Pixar and set in a world in which dinosaurs not only never went extinct but also developed the ability to farm, an Apatosaurus husband and wife raise their young—including the very nervous Arlo (Raymond Ochoa). When a human child gets caught in a trap on the farm, Arlo is unable to kill him, and a series of mishaps brings Arlo and the caveboy closer as they learn to depend on each other.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
In another film based on a true story, Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) acquires the rights to adapt the children’s book Mary Poppins as a film and brings its author, P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to Los Angeles to meet with, among others, Richard and Robert Sherman (Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak), the composers creating songs for the film. Travers is hostile to the process, over the course of which she reflects upon her own childhood, and the way her parents’ stories shaped the characters in her book.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
For a Good Time, Call... (2012)
Lauren (Lauren Miller Rogen, who also wrote the screenplay with Katie Anne Naylon) is desperate to find a place to live after her boyfriend breaks up with her. Her friend Jesse (Justin Long) directs her to his friend Katie (Ari Graynor). While the two had met years earlier and hated each other instantly, they try to make the arrangement work...which is when Lauren learns that Katie is a live phone sex performer. Lauren helps Katie run her business more efficiently, and the two become close friends.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Paranormal Activity (2009)
Katie (Katie Featherston) tells her partner, Micah (Micah Sloat), that, since she was a child, a demon of some kind has been haunting her. Micah sets up a camera in their bedroom to document any unusual occurrences, of which there are many, with increasing severity. One of the biggest success stories of the “found-footage” movie craze, it was followed by three sequels.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Definitely, Maybe (2008)
As soon as Maya (Abigail Breslin) learns what sex is, she asks her father, Will (Ryan Reynolds), how he met her mother. Changing some details, Will tells Maya about three incredible women he’s known: Emily (Elizabeth Banks), Summer (Rachel Weisz), and April (Isla Fisher). As Maya tries to figure out which of them is her mother, she also helps Will figure out which of them he still loves.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
The Savages (2007)
After Lenny (Philip Bosco) buries his longtime girlfriend in Arizona, his children Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Wendy (Laura Linney), who live in New York, realize his dementia is sufficiently advanced that he can no longer live on his own. They bring him back to Buffalo to live in a nursing home near Jon, but continue arguing and negotiating between themselves about what to do with their lives next.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Infamous (2006)
Just as Dante’s Peak had its echo in Volcano and Deep Impact with Armageddon, Capote (2005) was followed by Infamous, which also revolves around author Truman Capote’s work on his acclaimed “nonfiction novel,” In Cold Blood. Here, Capote is played by British actor Toby Jones, and his childhood friend Harper Lee by Sandra Bullock.
Watch it now on Starz.
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Jane Austen fans may argue about which filmed adaptation is superior, but this one is hard to dismiss: Keira Knightley earned a best-actress Oscar nomination for her performance as Elizabeth Bennet, the quick-witted country girl; Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen plays the (very different) haughty heir Mr. Darcy; and the stacked supporting cast includes Brenda Blethyn, Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan, Judi Dench, and Donald Sutherland.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Lost in Translation (2003)
In a film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) has accompanied her photographer husband, John (Giovanni Ribisi), on a work trip to Tokyo—where, as it happens, movie star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is staying in her hotel while he shoots a liquor ad. After the two of them, both insomniacs, find each other in the bar in the middle of the night, they drift into a surprisingly intimate friendship.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)
Film producer Robert Evans’s memoir had already been a cult hit audiobook when it was adapted as a lively, visually inventive documentary by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen, with iconic narration by Evans himself. (After you watch this, seek out the season two finale of Documentary Now!, “Mr. Runner Up: My Life as an Oscar Bridesmaid.”)
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
The real-life of mid-century Princeton mathematician John Nash—particularly his experiences living with paranoid schizophrenia—is the subject of this film. Though Russell Crowe, who plays Nash, missed winning best actor at the Oscars, the film won awards for best-supporting actress (for Jennifer Connelly, who plays Nash’s wife, Alicia), best-adapted screenplay, best director, and best picture.
Watch it now on Starz.
The Others (2001)
Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) and her children, Anne and Nicholas (Alakina Mann and James Bentley) live in an isolated house in the Channel Islands, in 1945; the home must have its curtains drawn at all times because the children are extremely sensitive to light. Coinciding with the arrival of three new servants, strange events start to plague the house; Grace’s behavior becomes more and more erratic as she becomes convinced the house is haunted.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Grace of My Heart (1996)
In a story that loosely parallels Carole King’s biography, steel heiress Edna Buxton (Illeana Douglas) wins a singing contest only to learn that solo female artists are of no interest to record labels. Instead, she becomes a songwriter in New York’s famed Brill Building, works with a variety of artists during the turbulent ’60s and ’70s.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996)
In this gloss on Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, Abby (Janeane Garofalo) is a veterinarian who hosts a radio call-in show. She makes a date with a caller, Brian (Ben Chaplin), but out of insecurity about her appearance, she arranges for her model neighbor, Noelle (Uma Thurman), to pose as her in person, while still keeping up a progressively more intimate relationship with Brian on the phone.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Apollo 13 (1995)
On April 11, 1970, astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) eagerly set off on a lunar mission. But a few days in, a liquid oxygen tank explodes, and the three men—assisted by the ground crew in Houston, led by Flight Director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris)—must figure out how to get the spacecraft and its occupants safely home.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Waterworld (1995)
In a story that grows less outlandish with each passing year, humans try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world flooded by the melting of all Earth’s polar ice caps; Kevin Costner plays the Mariner, who’s evolved gills for his new environment. The famously troubled production has been outshone by the beloved stunt show at California’s Universal Studios theme park, but is worth seeing as an artifact...or possibly as prep for what all our lives will be like a couple of decades from now.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Kalifornia (1993)
Journalist Brian (David Duchovny, days away from his breakthrough role as Fox Mulder on The X-Files when this film was released) has been offered the opportunity to adapt his well-regarded article on serial killers into a book; he and his girlfriend, Carrie (Michelle Forbes), plan to road-trip from Louisville to Los Angeles, stopping at famous murder sites. Brian and Carrie end up sharing the ride with Early (Brad Pitt) and his girlfriend, Adele (Juliette Lewis); Brian is fascinated by Early, unaware that Early is killing people along the way.
Watch it now on Starz.
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Through a series of miscommunications, New York college students Bill and Stan (Ralph Macchio and Mitchell Whitfield) are arrested for murdering a convenience store clerk in a small Alabama town. With no other resources, they call on Bill’s titular cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci), a personal injury lawyer, to defend them in their trial. Marisa Tomei won a best-supporting-actress Oscar for her performance as Vinny’s girlfriend, Mona Lisa.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Parenthood (1989)
Sales executive Gil Buckman (Steve Martin) is increasingly stressed at work and guilty about his disconnection from his children; his anxiety only grows when he learns that his wife, Karen (Mary Steenburgen), is pregnant with their fourth child. The film also follows the parenting travails of Gil’s divorced sister Helen (Dianne Wiest); his sister Susan (Harley Kozak), whose scientist husband can’t stop micromanaging their daughter; and his trifling brother Larry (Tom Hulce). A dramedy series adaptation starring Peter Krause ran for six seasons on NBC.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Ted (Keanu Reeves), at risk of getting bounced out of San Dimas High School and sent to military school if he fails history, joins forces with his best friend and Wyld Stallyns bandmate, Bill (Alex Winter), to nail their report with...a time machine disguised as a phone booth. A sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (available for rent on various platforms), followed in 1991; watch both before Bill & Ted Face the Music completes the trilogy next summer.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)
Agricultural land and water rights are the subjects of this film, directed by Robert Redford and set in northern New Mexico. When farmer Joe (Chick Vennera) accidentally breaks a water valve and floods his fields, he decides to defy a local order and plant beans. State and business leaders then enlist law enforcement to battle Joe and other local farmers.
Watch it now on Starz.
Raising Arizona (1987)
Police officer Ed (Holly Hunter) and recidivist petty criminal Hi (Nicolas Cage) prove opposites attract by marrying one another. When they experience fertility problems and are barred from adoption due to Hi’s criminal record, they decide the solution is to kidnap one of the “Arizona Quints” who’ve recently been born to Nathan Arizona, a local furniture merchant well-known for his TV ads. The situation grows more complicated by the arrival of Hi’s recently escaped former cellmates Gale and Evelle (John Goodman and William Forsythe).
Watch it now on Starz.
Summer School (1987)
Shiftless high school gym teacher Freddy Shoop (Mark Harmon) is forced to teach a remedial summer school English class under threat of losing tenure. His students (who include future Melrose Place star Courtney Thorne-Smith) are as uninterested in learning as Shoop is in teaching, but partly to impress his fellow teacher Robin Bishop (Kirstie Alley, right before joining the cast of Cheers), Shoop comes to take the job seriously and connect with his charges.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Witness (1985)
After an Amish boy named Samuel (Lukas Haas), visiting Philadelphia, witnesses the murder of an undercover police officer, Detective John Book (Harrison Ford) is assigned to investigate the crime, requiring him to earn the trust of the insular community, particularly Samuel’s recently widowed mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis).
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)
A group of scientists posted at a research station in Antarctica find themselves under attack by an organism unearthed from an alien ship that had been buried for 100,000 years, and which can perfectly imitate any of the victims it kills. Though it spectacularly fails the Bechdel Test (with an all-male cast including Wilford Brimley, Keith David, and Kurt Russell), it’s one of the most iconic horror movies of all time.
_Watch it now on Starz_.**
Escape From Alcatraz (1979)
Alcatraz is supposed to be America’s most forbidding prison—but in 1962, several men incarcerated there did break out. Adapted from a nonfiction book about the event, the film stars Clint Eastwood, with supporting performances by Fred Ward; The Prisoner’s Patrick McGoohan; and, in his film debut, Danny Glover.
Watch it now on Starz.
The Black Stallion (1979)
A generation of young readers had already been enthralled by Walter Farley’s novel when it was adapted into this film. On a steamer ship, Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno) shows kindness toward a wild horse being kept in extreme restraints. When the ship wrecks, both Alec and the stallion wash up on an uninhabited island. Alec frees the stallion from the ropes he’s still tangled in; they learn to survive with each other’s help; and continue adventuring together when they’re rescued and returned to the U.S.
Watch it now on Starz.
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