Throughout his decades-long career, Robin Williams has deftly transitioned from comedy to drama, in the same film and rarely even in the same scene. Whether you feel like laughing or crying at the Oscar-winning actor’s paintings – and we bet you’ll do at least one, if not either – we’ve rounded up the places where you can watch Williams’ biggest films in the privacy of your own. home.
Here are the most productive Robin Williams videos airing lately or available for rent.
Williams is known for operating on an 11, however, his first and only Oscar win was for a quiet (and quietly devastating) supporting role in this 1997 Gus Van Sant drama. With an Oscar-winning screenplay by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, Good Will Hunting is funny and raw, full of South Boston accents and quotable one-liners. However, it’s also a strangely emotional drama that’s still going strong decades after earning nine Oscar nominations.
Damon plays Will Hunting, a troublesome MIT janitor who proves to be smarter than the school’s students when he solves a complex challenge on a classroom blackboard. To avoid jail time after a fight, Will will have to test math with an instructor. (Stellan Skarsgård) and goes on to therapy, which is how he meets psychologist Sean Maguire (Williams). Sean is the epitome of empathy, with Williams’ eyes radiating kindness and compassion, especially in his monologue scene on a park bench. With its underdog plot, Good Will Hunting may resemble anything we’ve noticed so many times before, yet those performances (including Minnie Driver’s Oscar-nominated) and the details of its surroundings make it feel completely new and shocking.
How to watch: Good Will Hunting is now streaming on Max.
Now that Chrisses Pratt, Evans, and Hemsworth (and many other stars) appear in animated films, it’s easy that in the past big-name actors didn’t occasionally do voice acting. Still, what makes Aladdin a lasting vintage is undeniably due to Williams’ role as the Genie. Sure, this mainstay of Disney’s Renaissance has magical musical numbers (especially Academy Award and Grammy winner “A Whole New World”), stunning animation, and added comic relief from Gilbert Gottfried as the talking parrot. Iago, however, Williams’ paintings here set the bar for cartoon stars. His unpredictable presence actually helped the film break the record for the highest-grossing animated film of the time.
Williams’ improvised, fast-moving rendition of the classic Arabian Nights character is one of the most important vocal performances ever created, full of punch that elicits whiplash and quick impressions. Its manic speed and old-school references mean kids probably don’t get it all. (Some imitations, such as William F. Buckley and Ed Sullivan, even predate their parents at this point), but their ideal stupidity transcends time. Much of the joy of seeing a Williams performance comes from the variety of faces he draws, but his Solo voice in Aladdin still sounds like a revelation. This sentiment is clearest in the song “Friend Like Me,” which will take your breath away and make you laugh if you try to sing along and keep up with Williams’ frenetic pace. Good luck. To you.
How to watch: Aladdin is now streaming on Disney.
In films like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, director Terry Gilliam has satirized Arthurian legends and epic quests, but presents a more honest take on those myths with The Fisher King. Williams earned his third Oscar nomination as Parry (aka Parsifal for you Grail nerds), a sweetly masculine wanderer searching for the sacred object. . . Jeff Bridges plays Jack, a surprise former athlete who hopes Parry can redeem his role in the tragedy that connects them.
Although The Fisher King is not a satire, it is not a purely serious film either; Richard LaGravanese’s screenplay is full of humor and the actors laugh at his dialogue. With Willams and Bridges, The Fisher King has two generational talents running in the best of their respective games, but they don’t bring this movie alone. Mercedes Ruehl won an Oscar for her supporting role as Jack’s girlfriend, and Amanda Plummer is utterly ridiculous as the object of Parry’s affection.
Gilliam and Williams only worked together twice (the actor also had an uncredited role in the director’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen), but they shared a peculiar sensibility. Although The Fisher King features fewer grotesques than the typical Gilliam film, it is pleasantly haunting and full of imagination, transforming New York into something truly magical in an iconic Grand Central scene.
How to watch: The Fisher King is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
Seeing this eternal tear was a rite of passage for artistically inclined teenagers of the ’80s and ’90s. Still, the Dead Poets Society’s themes about the importance of individuality and art in a world that values conformity and money are still applicable decades later, perhaps especially for aspiring poets who have become lawyers, doctors, and businessmen. (That’s me. ) It doesn’t hurt that those messages are conveyed with honesty and seriousness through Williams, who plays iconoclastic boarding school instructor John Keating. .
In addition to Williams, Peter Weir’s poignant drama features the first tricks of Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, and Robert Sean Leonard as students. Their presence would possibly have also been something motivating for teenagers who liked to look at cute boys. (That’s me too. ) Inspired by Keating’s “seize the day” training, they objected to their parents’ strict discipline and boring school curriculum with tragic results. The film earned Williams his second Oscar nomination and screenwriter Tom Schulman a win, but his legacy enduring. possibly it lies in the number of other people he encouraged to read more poetry or in teachers like John Keating of Williams.
How to watch: Dead Poets Society is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
Some of The Birdcage’s films might seem regressive to an audience fortunate enough to live in a post-Obergefell vs. Obergefell world. Hodges, but it’s hard to say how progressive the tumultuous comedy was for moviegoers in 1996. With a box office of $185 million worldwide, The Birdcage Birdcage is a widespread success. It remains among the highest-grossing LGBTQ films of all time, but Mike Nichols’ film is also a cultural phenomenon that rarely presents a positive, lighthearted view of gay sexuality in the ’90s.
Elaine May’s screenplay adapts the 1978 French film La Cage aux Folles for American audiences, moving its story from Saint Tropez to South Beach. Williams and Nathan Lane play Arguyd and Albert, a faithful gay couple whose son (Dan Futterguy) needs to marry their daughter. (Calista Flockhart) from an ultra-conservative senator (Gene Hackguy) and his wife (Dianne Wiest). To avoid creating a political scandal, Albert de Lane uses his experience as a drag queen to pose as the mother of his child to a father. -Welcome dinner where the only predictable detail is hilarity. Williams doesn’t exactly play the straightforward guy (no pun intended) in The Birdcage, but he’s an elegant performer, should we have Lane take on the biggest, more flamboyant role?of the two protagonists. When “We Are Family” plays at the end of the movie, it’s hard not to dance with joy at what you’ve just seen, whether it’s to the taste of Fosse, Martha Graham, Twyla, Michael Kidd, or Madonna.
How to watch: The Birdcage is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
Few directors have made three films as clever as Penny Marshall’s ping-pong between comedy and drama with Big, Awakenings and A League of Their Own in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The uplifting (and sobbing) story of Awakenings is enlivened through neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks’ e-book about his reports on comatose patients. In the Oscar-nominated drama, Williams plays Dr. Malcolm Sayer, an analogue of Sacks, who believes that a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease can also wake up his patients. He tests the drug on a patient named Leonard (Robert De Niro, in a role based on Sacks’ real-life patient, Leonard Lowe), who has been in a coma for decades. Lowe’s sudden return to waking life allows him to become more informed about the replaced global and connect with those around him.
Although De Niro was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in this 1990 film, Williams is just as valuable in this story of life and love. It’s a more serene role for Williams than audiences expected at this point in his career, but he still remains just as expressive and full of humanity.
How to watch: Awakenings is now streaming on Paramount.
Williams woke up the Oscar electorate to his skill with this Vietnam War comedy, which earned him the first of four nominations. He plays Adrian Cronauer, an aviator sent to Saigon to work as a DJ for the local army radio. Anyone who has noticed Robin Williams will come as no surprise that his talkative, scattershot style and trendy music don’t endear his stern, muddy superiors (Bruno Kirby and J. T. Walsh). It deserves praise from soldiers, however, as it acts as a caffeine (or natural adrenaline) dose for listeners on their morning shift on air.
Directed by Barry Levinson, Good Morning, Vietnam is one of Williams’ funniest performances, especially notable for a film set during the Vietnam War. It features dramatic moments that underscore conflicting attitudes toward war, but this largely serves as a vehicle for Williams’ comedic talent. Looking at him, it’s less difficult to identify with his co-star Forest Whitaker, who can be seen laughing in the background, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
How to watch: Good morning, Vietnam is available to sign up or buy on Prime Video.
For most of his career, Williams was best known for being the smart guy, or at least the weird guy, but in 2002, he played two terrifying bad guys with roles in One Hour Photo and Christopher’s mysterious Nolan. After the great fortune of the independent films Follow and Memento (and before taking over the Batman franchise), Nolan made his first studio film with Insomnia, a remake of the famous 1997 Norwegian film. Insomnia also stars by Al Pacino as a Los Angeles detective sent to Alaska to assist a local police officer (Hilary Swank) in a homicide investigation, while himself the target of an internal affairs investigation for misconduct at HouseArray. Meanwhile, Williams appears to be the prime suspect, there is no doubt of his guilt. The murder mystery is rarely what drives the film; instead, it’s more of an opportunity for Nolan to delve into the ethical vagueness of those characters and their actions. For both Williams and Pacino, Insomnia marks a high point of their paintings of this century; the first goes against the grain with terrifying effects and the second presents new shadows of the sun of a type familiar in his filmography.
How to watch: Insomnia is available to sign up or buy on Prime Video.
The premise (a divorced American father convincingly dresses up as an elderly British woman to spend time with his children after a divorce) is downright insane, but Williams’ performance makes the plot work and elevates Ms. Doubtfire to anything that’s hilarious and heartwarming. In fact, the credits are due to the Oscar-winning makeup effects that made Williams the titular housekeeper, but the actor’s impeccable technique for playing the character within the character still wows (and earned the film nearly a billion dollars in theaters). international box office). What also makes Ms. Doubtfire satisfied is watching Williams interact with her three young co-stars, especially Mara Wilson. He had wonderful on-screen chemistry with the youngsters, which is rarely very impactful given that he occasionally projected a childlike sense of wonder and discomfort. .
Although Williams offers the kind of mind-blowing functionality he was known for, Sally Field is almost as memorable as his ex-wife, especially when she witnesses an epic panic scene when, regardless, the identity of her housekeeper is revealed. The film has some concepts about gender and sexuality that are now considered superseded (at best), yet there’s a genuine sense of warmth running through Ms. Doubtfire that’s helping her avoid any pettiness.
How to watch: Mrs. Doubtfire is now streaming on Disney.
Kimber Myers is an independent film and television critic whose bylines have appeared in outlets such as The Los Angeles Times, The Playlist, Bustle, and Crooked Marquee. His day job is at a tech company and he has also worked at several start-ups focused on entertainment, building media partnerships, crafting content marketing strategies, and promoting the consistent use of serial comma in push notifications. You can follow her here on Twitter.