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Like Bad Boys: Ride or Die? Then watch these three action movies now

The men in black point alien guns.
Sony Pictures

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are grabbing their badges and suiting up for the fourth installment in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys: Ride or Die. In the sequel, detectives Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) investigate the murder of Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), who was falsely accused of having ties to drug cartels. Mike and Marcus set out to find the person behind Howard’s murder.

The Bad Boys franchise features all the hallmarks of a successful buddy cop franchise. The action is intense, the jokes are funny, and the chemistry between the two leads is seamless. If you liked Bad Boys: Ride or Die, watch these three movies next, including one of the first great buddy cop movies, another blockbuster from Smith, and an underrated high school comedy.

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48 Hrs. (1982)

Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy sit in a car and look backwards.
Paramount Pictures

Eddie Murphy‘s performance in 48 Hrs. puts him in the running for the greatest movie debut in history. As soon as Murphy hits the screen as Reggie Hammond, he radiates movie star charisma. Pairing Murphy’s comedic jubilation with Nick Nolte’s gruffness was a stroke of genius. After a shootout leads to the death of two cops, San Francisco Police Inspector Jack Cates (Nolte) must track down the gunmen, Albert Ganz (James Remar) and Billy Bear (Sonny Landham).

Cates turns to Reggie Hammond (Murphy), an incarcerated criminal and Ganz’s former partner, for help. Cates gets Hammond released from prison for 48 hours, meaning the duo has two days to catch the killers. Cates and Hammond are complete opposites and find themselves at each other’s throats. Can this odd couple put aside their differences long enough to solve the case? Directed by Walter Hill, 48 Hrs. is in the upper echelonof buddy cop comedies.

Stream 48 Hrs. on Paramount+.

Men in Black (1997)

Bad Boys showed Smith’s action potential, while Independence Day demonstrated his bankability. In Men in Black, Smith put it all together — action star, comedic presence, and box office draw — and became a legitimate movie star. After showing promise as a cop, James (Smith), is recruited by Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) to join the Men in Black, a secret organization that handles all things alien on Earth. The MIB monitors alien activity, keeping the peace between extraterrestrials and humans.

One night, a “bug” alien crashes in upstate New York and takes on the body of a farmer named Edgar (Vincent D’Onofrio). The bug is searching for the Galaxy, an energy source that will help his species win an intergalactic war. If the bug gets the galaxy, life on Earth could be destroyed. To help save the day, James joins the Men in Black as Agent J, teaming up with K to try and prevent the end of the world. Cue the earworm theme song.

Stream Men in Black on TNT and TBS.

21 Jump Street (2012)

Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill sit at a desk in 21 Jump Street.
Columbia Pictures / MGM

If you were to say that 21 Jump Street is one of the funniest movies of the 2010s, you would get no pushback from me. Based on the TV series, 21 Jump Street stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as Schmidt and Jenko, two dim-witted police officers who join a secret unit, Jump Street. The boys go undercover as high school students, posing as brothers, to stop the spread of a new drug.

Schmidt, a social outcast as a teenager, is now the life of the party, while the once-popular Jenko now hangs with the science nerds. The clothes might be different, but high school is still high school no matter the era — a lesson the duo learns as they face their teenage anxieties all over again. Hill’s comedic performance was expected because of his track record within the genre. The revelation is Tatum, who garners some of the biggest laugh-out-loud moments of the movie. Fun fact: 21 Jump Street was the live-action directorial debut of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Rent or buy 21 Jump Street on Prime Video, Google, or Apple

Dan Girolamo
Dan is a passionate and multitalented content creator with experience in pop culture, entertainment, and sports. Throughout…
3 underrated action movies on Amazon Freevee you should watch in June 2024
Betty Gilpin in The Hunt.

Now that Amazon Prime Video is running ads on its shows and movies, the future of Freevee is a little unclear. While watching movies for free is always enticing, Freevee favors quantity over quality. And the vast majority of films on Freevee are less than stellar efforts that would be direct-to-video if that was still a viable release option.

Regardless, you can still find some good or even great movies on Freevee if you scroll down far enough. We've even managed to find three underrated action movies on Freevee that we haven't recommended before. Since the selection of good movies on Freevee is so slim, that's getting harder and harder to do. So enjoy these action flicks while you can. It's anyone's guess if they will still be on Freevee beyond June.
The Hunt (2020)

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Like Netflix’s popular Hit Man? Then watch these 5 great Glen Powell movies
Glen Powell looks nerdy and uncool in a still from Hit Man.

Glen Powell has quietly become one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Until now, the actor has starred almost exclusively in military movies, space films, and rom-coms. But this plan seems to have paid off as Powell is now a bona fide leading man. His latest film is Netflix's Hit Man. Based on a true story that was originally reported in Texas Monthly magazine back in 2001, the film follows a fake hit man who secretly works for the cops. His real job is to arrest those who are engaging in murder-for-hire plots.

So far, the movie has seen nothing but praise, holding a lofty 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 95% audience score. Though Powell is just getting started in his career, he's already been in a handful of blockbuster hits that have helped propel him onto Hollywood's A-List. If you loved Powell's performance in Hit Man, you should check out his other best films like Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone but You, and more.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

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Like the Netflix sci-fi movie Atlas? Then watch these three great films now
A woman looks at an AI interface in Atlas.

Netflix's latest action movie, Atlas, takes on one of the more pressing and existential issues of our time: artificial intelligence. The film, which stars Jennifer Lopez, follows a data analyst with a deep mistrust for AI who discovers that it may be the only way to take down a super soldier who is hell-bent on destroying humanity.

Although AI and movies about it feel more relevant than ever, this is hardly the first time that AI has been featured prominently in this kind of story. Long before we had the kind of real-world AI that we see today, we had movies that tackled the question head-on. We've selected three movies that expertly tackle the subject.
The Creator (2023)
The Creator | Official Trailer

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