This post is updated regularly as movies leave and enter Netflix. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
With hundreds of films from around the world on the streaming giant that changed the game, how does one even know what to watch when they fire up their Netflix? Start here! We’ve gone through the many films available on the platform and pared down the selection to 30 must-see titles, including acclaimed dramas, action films, comedies, horror flicks, and even stuff for the whole family, with Netflix Originals peppered in throughout, alongside its licensed films. No algorithm nonsense here: Our picks represent the personal favorites of seasoned movie critics, and they’re updated every week and month to include or remove films that join or depart from the streaming service. This list represents the best of Netflix’s movie offerings, and it starts with a new rotating critic’s pick of the week.
This Week’s Critic’s Pick
*Barbie
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 54m
Director: Greta Gerwig
One of the biggest films of the 2020s has jumped from Max to Netflix in the form of Greta Gerwig’s daring blockbuster, a comedy that works both as a reminder of the power imagination and the fight for equality. Anyone who thinks this movie is anti-male isn’t paying any attention. The theme of the movie is that no one — not even Barbie or Ken — should be defined by traditional roles. We should all be free to play however we want. It’s a wonderful film that will truly stand the test of time.
Drama
Aftersun
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Charlotte Wells
What a beautiful movie this is, one of the best of the 2020s so far and it’s nowhere else for streaming subscribers. Paul Mescal earned an Oscar nomination for his work as the father of an 11-year-old girl, played by the wonderful Frankie Corio. Aftersun is actually a memory piece, a drama about that moment in life when you realize your parents are human too. It’s gorgeous.
Carol
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 58m
Director: Todd Haynes
Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star in Todd Haynes’ poignant and heartbreaking drama about a love affair between two women at a time when that wasn’t allowed. It’s a beautifully made film with phenomenal performances from the entire cast, especially the two leads.
*Dune: Part Two
Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 45m
Director: Denis Villeneuve
You can now watch the entire Dune saga to date on Netflix for the first time (for a month at least since the first half is leaving on the 31st — Netflix, never stop being weird). The second half of Villeneuve’s saga fulfills the promise of the first, turning the set-up of the 2021 film into a full-blooded action tale of a new messiah. Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya lead an all-star cast in a film that understands both scope and character. It may not play quite as well at home as it did in theaters, but it still rocks.
His Three Daughters
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: Azazel Jacobs
What a gorgeous, moving piece of dramatic filmmaking this is. An acting showcase for three stunning performers, this tearjerker almost unfolds like great theatre as Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne (doing the best work of her career) play three sisters who have come home for the final days of their father’s life. Funny, tender, and incredibly emotional, it’s one of the best films of 2024.
May December
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 57m
Director: Todd Haynes
Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman star in the latest from Carol and Far from Heaven director Todd Haynes, a stunning character study of an actress who discovers that some people are impossible to figure out. Portman plays a star who tries to get under the skin of Moore’s character, a woman who raped a child when she was a teacher, and later married that young man. Charles Melton is phenomenal as the now-grown victim, stuck in perpetual adolescence.
The Nest
Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 47m
Director: Sean Durkin
A victim of the pandemic, this was one of the best films of 2020. Carrie Coon and Jude Law star as a married couple with two kids who move from New York City to London in the 1980s and watch as the divides in their union start to widen. A great character study amplified by Durkin’s sharp visual language, this is a fantastic domestic drama, and the best movie on this list that you probably haven’t seen.
The Piano Lesson
Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 7m
Director: Malcolm Washington
Denzel Washington’s son Malcolm makes his directorial debut with this excellent adaptation of the play of the same name by August Wilson. It stars another Washington offspring in John David as a young man who’s eager to sell a piano that’s connected to his family’s history. His sister, played perfectly by Danielle Deadwyler disagrees, leading to a fascinating discussion of ownership and legacy.
The Power of the Dog
Year: 2021
Runtime: 2h 6m
Director: Jane Campion
The film that finally won an Oscar for Jane Campion for directing is one of the most acclaimed in the history of the streaming giant. Campion helmed this adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thomas Savage, the story of a vicious landowner (Benedict Cumberbatch) who torments the new wife (Kirsten Dunst) of his brother (Jesse Plemons). A drama that plays like a thriller, this gorgeously rendered period piece unpacks themes of toxic masculinity and manipulation in a way that makes it impossible to turn away.
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Benjamin Ree
A young man named Mats Steen succumbed to a horrible degenerative disease with which he was born, and his parents discovered that he had an incredibly rich online life in World of Warcraft. Benjamin Ree uses footage from the actual game to tell a moving story of how people can connect across the world through online lives that are powerful and important. Bring tissues for this one.
Whiplash
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director: Damien Chazelle
Chazelle may still be startled by the divisive response to his Hollywood epic Babylon, but he can go back to the near-universal praise for the film that really broke him: Whiplash, a movie that earned one of its stars an Oscar and getting a nomination for Best Picture — and which just celebrated its 10th anniversary. This drama about a perfectionist drummer and his militaristic teacher thrilled viewers from the minute it premiered at Sundance in 2013.
Woman of the Hour
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Anna Kendrick
One of the best thrillers of 2024 also marks the directorial debut of Anna Kendrick, who stars as a woman who had a brush with a maniac. Serial killer Rodney Alcala was notoriously a contestant on The Dating Game before anyone knew he was a maniac. Kendrick uses the appearance to enhance a commentary on misogyny, culture, and violence against women. It’s a smart, tense piece of filmmaking.
Zero Dark Thirty
Year: 2012
Runtime: 2h 37m
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Its legacy has been a bit tarnished by history, but there’s no denying the craft at work in Kathryn Bigelow’s 2012 retelling of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, featuring one of the career-best performances from Jessica Chastain. Bigelow reunited with her The Hurt Locker writer, Mark Boal, to detail how the United States caught one of history’s most vile murderers in a film that was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.
Action
1917
Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Sam Mendes
This Oscar winner doesn’t land on streaming services very often, so take this chance while you can. Sam Mendes directs a visceral recounting of a personal story told to him by his grandfather about his time in World War I, allowing the harrowing journey of a British soldier (George MacKay) to unfold in one unforgettable, unbroken shot.
Baby Driver
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director: Edgar Wright
It’s a little harder to watch this movie now given the allegations against some of its cast members, but it’s still a remarkably well-made piece of action filmmaking, the kinetically unforgettable story of a getaway driver who knows all the best tunes. Ansel Elgort, Jamie Foxx, and Lily James may be the stars of this movie, but it’s Wright’s showmanship that really steals the spotlight.
*Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 28m
Director: George Miller
One of the best films of 2024 has finally been added to Netflix, joining its partner Fury Road, which is also available on the streaming giant (consider this an entry for both). Ignore the haters, this is robust action filmmaking at its greatest, serving as a prequel to Fury Road but also a fantastic film in its own right. Anya Taylor-Joy captures Furiosa as a survivor in a desperate world, but it’s Chris Hemsworth who steals the movie, sketching a tyrant too power-mad to comprehend his own stupidity.
Godzilla Minus One
Year: 2023
Runtime: 2h 5m
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Netflix stunned people when they stealthily dropped this worldwide hit on their service, making a movie that wasn’t even on VOD finally available at home. The winner of the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, Godzilla Minus One is a masterful blend of action and social commentary, considered by many to be among the best in this generations-spanning franchise.
The Hateful Eight
Year: 2015
Runtime: 2h 47m
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Debate among yourselves if this should be on the movie or TV list, but it’s still basically the same venture that was released in theaters, only slightly re-edited by Quentin Tarantino into episodes, so we say it’s a movie (and both versions of the film are now on Netflix). And it’s an underrated one, overshadowed by the way it deals with race and gender when it was released. Almost a decade later, it looks almost prescient about how divided the country would become, and it contains some of the best performances in QT’s entire filmography.
*Inception
Year: 2010
Runtime: 2h 28m
Director: Christopher Nolan
After the crazy success of The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan went and made one of the most ambitious blockbusters ever made, cementing himself as one of the most interesting auteurs working in the Hollywood system. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a man who leads a team into other people’s dreams for the purposes of corporate espionage at first. Of course, he brings some personal baggage with him. This movie is a reminder of Nolan’s incredible vision and robust filmmaking. It’s held up wonderfully. One wishes there were more big-budget filmmakers taking these kinds of risks.
The Killer
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: David Fincher
Michael Fassbender gives his best performance in years as an icy hired assassin who struggles to hold things together when a job goes horribly wrong. It’s a movie about a self-proclaimed perfectionist who is constantly defying his own voiceover, a great film that’s alternately hysterical and thrilling. One of the best of 2023.
Oldboy
Year: 2003
Runtime: 2h
Director: Park Chan-wook
It’s hard to explain to people how this movie moved through the film-loving world before Film Twitter was a thing. Recently restored for its 20th anniversary, Oldboy has now been dropped on Netflix again, and it’s lost none of its searing power. It’s the tale of a man who is kidnapped, and its genius is that it’s not a whodunit as much as a whydunit, forcing viewers and protagonists to wonder about a truly grisly motive until the final unforgettable act.
Rebel Ridge
Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 11m
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Future superstar Aaron Pierre stars in the latest from the phenomenal director behind Blue Ruin and Green Room, proving again that he is one of the best at tight action filmmaking. Wasting no time, Rebel Ridge opens with Pierre’s character essentially robbed by smalltown cops while he’s trying to take bail money to his cousin. The former military specialist doesn’t take that well. This is one of the best Netflix originals in a long time. (Streaming September 6.)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Year: 2023
Runtime: 2h 20m
Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
What a gift to Netflix subscribers for this to already be on the service, mere weeks after playing in theaters and landing on Blu-ray. This is how you do a big-budget blockbuster sequel, developing the themes of the first movie and setting up the stake for what now appears will be one of the best trilogies in superhero history. Packed with so much detail and creativity, it’s a film Netflix subscribers will want to watch over and over again. Do so while you still can.
Comedy
Hit Man
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Richard Linklater
Future superstar Glen Powell co-wrote and stars in this comedic gem that reminds one that movies can still be made for adults. With echoes of noir and the kind of sexy romantic dramedies that don’t get made much anymore, this is the story of an undercover cop named Gary (Powell) who talks a desperate young woman (Adria Arjona) out of having her husband murdered, setting in motion an unpredictable, funny, riveting series of events.
Will & Harper
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 54m
Director: Josh Greenbaum
A huge hit for Netflix already, this comedy/documentary features mega-star Will Ferrell in a very different role, playing himself. Ferrell documents a road trip he spent with his friend Harper Steele over 17 days, as the pair traveled the country to see how Harper’s transition impacted their relationship, and how she’s seen in small-town America. It’s smart, tender, and funny.
Horror
The Babadook
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Jennifer Kent
One of the best horror films of the 2010s has not been widely available for streaming subscribers, so take the chance this October to watch it while it’s on Netflix. Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut centers on a mother (Essie Davis) who struggles to raise her problem child alone after the death of her husband. Oh, and there’s also a real monster in the boy’s room.
A Quiet Place Part II
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: John Krasinski
It was a good year for the growing Quiet Place franchise with the well-received Day One and even a video game (The Road Ahead), but Netflix only has the second film in this growing franchise. This one brings Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe back as they leave the family home and try to find new safety and community. It’s a very different film from the other two, but it has its ardent supporters, who can now watch it on Netflix.
For Kids & Family
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 56m
Director: Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson
The Oscar-winning director took his visionary skills to stop-motion animation with this instant classic, a retelling of the beloved fairy tale about the wooden boy who longed to be real. With spectacular voice work, this version reimagines Pinocchio during the period before World War II, allowing del Toro to explore his themes of innocence and violence again. It’s a deeply personal, beautiful film.
Kubo & the Two Strings
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Travis Knight
Great Laika films drop in and out of the streamers, but this masterpiece has actually been one of the hardest to see. Revisit the story of a young boy on a journey to defeat his evil aunts with the power of his strings, and the partnership of a snow monkey and a beetle. Yeah, it’s crazy, but it’s also gorgeous and deeply moving, one of the best family films of the 2010s.
Wendell & Wild
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director: Henry Selick
The director of A Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline finally returned this year with this clever and twisted tale co-written by Oscar winner Jordan Peele. The comedian also co-stars as one of the title characters, the literal demons for a girl who blames herself for the death of her parents. Selick is a master of stop-motion animation and this project allows him to stretch his visual prowess in new, gross ways. It’s a new Halloween classic (that can be watched any time, of course!)
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