Netflix is convenient, but sifting through the streaming platform’s extensive library of titles is often a daunting task. Thankfully, we’ve rounded up the best films currently available, regardless of whether you’re into raucous comedies, heartbreaking heroics, or something a little more informative.
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Netflix offers thousands of movies (and TV shows) via its streaming platform. While the landmark service can be surprisingly accurate with its suggestions, it’s often still tough to find something worth watching amid the deluge of choices. So we’ve taken the time to wade through the ridiculous amount of content in order to bring you a list of some of the best movies on Netflix right now. Whether you’re into found-footage films, poignant documentaries, or a trip through Hollywood’s Golden Age, our list has you covered. Planning your weekend has never been easier!
Still hungry for premium content? Our brother site, The Manual, has rounded up the best food documentaries on Netflix, as well as the best documentaries on Netflix overall.
Now in their 40s, married couple Richard (Paul Giamatti) and Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) have both found success as writers living in New York City, but despite their fulfilling careers, there’s one thing they want but don’t have: A child. Between their attempts at artificial insemination and adoption, Rachel and Richard are chasing whatever chance they can find. Although they’re both reaching for the same thing, however, the stress of failing to conceive often pits them against each other. Private Life is a beautiful, honest drama, one that explores how relationships, even long-lasting ones, have their ups and downs, and that those peaks and valleys are simply part of life.
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Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine is the story of a relationship, its joyous beginning, and bitter end, told through a narrative that jumps back and forth in time. When they first meet, Dean (Ryan Gosling) is a high-school dropout working for a moving company, while Cindy (Michelle Williams) is a med student, but despite their different backgrounds, they end up dating, with Cindy drawn to Dean’s effervescent, romantic personality. After Cindy discovers she is pregnant (though likely with her ex’s child), they start a life together. The film examines them throughout their years together as the two, once so passionate, grow increasingly irritated and somewhat disinterested in each other. It’s a brutal look at the arc of love, and an honest one.
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However one may feel about Ben Affleck’s body of work as an actor, his directorial career has been impressive, a string of acclaimed hits that began with 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, an adaptation of a detective novel by Dennis Lehane. The film follows a pair of private investigators — Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his partner (in work and romance) Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) — who are working on the case of a missing child, a case the Boston police are struggling to crack. As a PI, Kenzie can tap into connections in the criminal underworld that the police can’t, and he soon discovers that the child’s disappearance may be related to her own mother’s shady dealings. Gone Baby Gone is a tense thriller, one that skillfully ratchets up the tension until an unforgettable climax.
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An adaptation of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed moves the story to Boston and follows a conflict between the Irish mob and the Massachusetts State Police.
