Melissa Roth

The founder of the Watercooler, Melissa Roth has written for Rolling Stone, VanityFair.com, Marie Claire, and The Washington Post, among other outlets.
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Flora and Son

The power of chords and lyrics to inspire, connect, and entwine us are at the heart of Flora and Son, an ultimately uplifting story from the writer-director behind Once and Sing Street.

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Angel City

A goose-bump inspiring docuseries that takes us on to the field and into the surprising back story of how LA’s new professional women’s soccer team came to be, upending the model behind pro sports teams and finally, truly, changing the game.

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The Serpent Queen

If you’re looking for some historical context for all the news and fictional obsession with monarchs, The Serpent Queen brings a modern, often funny take on one of the most powerful female rulers in history, one that sheds light on our current preoccupation with all things royal.

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Irresistible

A post-election escape watch from Jon Stewart, the 2020 political satire works as an entertaining crash course on local campaign organizing while doubling as an expose on the dysfunctions of the “election economy.”

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Flee

The most urgent and relevant Oscar-nominated film of 2022, Flee is a deeply personal documentary about a man’s childhood as a refugee that inspires as it creates empathy for those forced out of their homelands.

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Charlie Wilson’s War

A suddenly timely look back at how the U.S. first escalated involvement with Afghanistan in the 1980s, told through an eye-opening story that feels like it had to be made up by its Oscar-winning screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin.

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The Last Letter from Your Lover

A date night movie that transports you to a lush 1960s French Riviera, the adaptation of the JoJo Moyes novel entwines two eras and two sharply contrasted romances, delivering a wistful summer escape watch.

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Sex and Lucía

A cinephile’s choice for a Netflix and Chill night, Sex and Lucia is a sizzling and intoxicating portrait of two lovers … and their other lovers … that explores the blurry lines between reality and imagination, love and lust, tragedy and obsession.

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My Neighbor Totoro

A joyful, enchanting classic, My Neighbor Tortoro is the rare film that can captivate all ages, from young kids to their parents and grandparents.

Melissa Roth

The founder of the Watercooler, Melissa Roth has written for Rolling Stone, VanityFair.com, Marie Claire, and The Washington Post, among other outlets.
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Tehran Season 1

A timely, nail-biting spy thriller that you won’t be able to stop watching, Tehran is as illuminating as it is gripping.

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Mrs. America

Mrs. America is a good place to start exploring where our current political and cultural divisions started widening. Anyone who lived through these years can vouch that there was a lot at stake.

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The Family Stone

An all-star classic that inflicts just enough discomfort to feel cathartic because of its familiarity. You’ll feel like a member of this functioning dysfunctional family.

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Dash & Lily

If all the usual formulaic holiday movies are starting to blend into each other, this YA Christmas love story is refreshingly different.

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My Octopus Teacher

A stunning, often magical and emotional documentary that inspires awe and empathy, My Octopus Teacher brings a personal narrative to a nature documentary and captures the brilliance of a familiar sea creature like nothing before it.

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Why are We So Obsessed with the NXIVM Cult?

As you might have heard, this year has seen the premiere of not one but two premium cable series focused on the rise and fall of NXIVM, the cult (or self-help organization, or pyramid scheme, depending on your point of view) at the center of an ongoing criminal investigation and court battle. First there was

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The Women Who Make The Queen’s Gambit Worth Watching

There’s a scene in the new Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit when a Life magazine reporter asks teenage chess prodigy Beth Harmon (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) why the game appeals to her so much. Are the King and Queen pieces stand-ins for the parents she lost? No, she says, it was the board. “It’s an

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The Social Dilemma

This doc will make you think twice before picking up your phone to check Twitter for the hundredth time in a hour, and that’s a good thing.

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Flora and Son

The power of chords and lyrics to inspire, connect, and entwine us are at the heart of Flora and Son, an ultimately uplifting story from the writer-director behind Once and Sing Street.

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The Conversations Project

A revealing series that will shed some new light and spark conversations in your own life. As producer Raina Kelley sums up to the New York Times: “At its most important, it’s basically an example nowadays of how to have a civil conversation.”

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Bottoms

For lovers of the classic teen sex comedy, Bottoms has much to offer: well-played comedy, over-the-top antics, and underdogs to root for. But those in the market for something fresh will be even more rewarded, as the film flips the script on a well-worn genre. Deservedly so, because anyone who’s been an awkward teen girl

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The Best College-Set Binge Watches

Ah, college. That time in our life when we can sleep until noon, stumble to class in pajamas, and stay up until 2am watching weird art films. Often a period of continued adolescence, college is typically when people start to discover who they truly are and make some truly regrettable choices.   In honor of  all

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One Piece

A richly imaginative and immersive live-action adaptation that both first-time anime viewers and hardcore fans will appreciate, One Piece brings to vivid life a timeless masterpiece, transporting its vast and complex pirate-centric universe into the future.

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Stephen Curry: Underrated

An uplifting underdog story that has been trending as far away as the Phillippines, Stephen Curry: Underrated is a documentary about resilience, second chances, rising above adversities, and building a strong support system — something many of us could use right now.

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