Read our extensive best Netflix movies list before you make your movie choice.
Stuck for something to watch? Well you’re in good hands, with TechRadar’s definitive best movies on Netflix UK list, our carefully curated pick of the films you should stream on Netflix right now.
If you only have time for the best and don’t want to waste a moment searching through Netflix’s library, dive right in to the guide we’ve put together for you.
And bear in mind, we update this cinematic hall of fame all the time, so be sure to keep it in your bookmarks to find out what’s hot and ready to watch on Netflix in the UK.
To keep things easy to navigate, we’ve broken up our movie picks into categories. For each category we’ve chosen a selection of movies that you shouldn’t miss, with further recommendations listed at the end of each category.
All in all, there’s over 150 movies to choose from here, all picked because they are, simply, the best films on Netflix to watch right now.
From comedy to indie, to horror and kids, there’s a movie category for everyone.
And don’t forget to keep checking back, too. Unlike its TV output, which seems to stay on Netflix for longer, its movies tend to appear and disappear quite fast. We keep this best Netflix movies list updated as often as we can, so please bookmark us. Enjoy!
Before Denis Villeneuve was wow-ing us all with Sicario, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, he directed Prisoners. It’s a crime thriller with a stellar cast, including Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, about a child abduction. You’ll be on the edge of your seat the whole time.
This South Korean action movie is about Sook-hee, a trained assassin with a thirst for revenge who uncovers secrets about her dark past. Not one for the faint-hearted, Sook-hee leaves a trail of gore, violence and plenty of bodies on her quest. It’s been applauded for its action choreography and has been described as Kill Bill meets La Femme Nikita.
Not every Marvel film is about superheroes with otherworldly powers. Guardians of the Galaxy’s lead Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is closer to Han Solo than Superman. He’s a law-breaking rogue, not a saviour of civilisations. The result is a film with more of a sci-fi inflection than other Marvel adaptations. It’s packed with humour too. You don’t have to care about comic book lore to get on-board with this blockbuster.
Alex Garland is a master of sci-fi. He directed Ex Machina, wrote 28 Days Later, and has now directed Annihilation. It has skipped past a wide cinema release, heading direct to Netflix. This sharp supernatural thriller sees Natalie Portman play a botanist investigating a mysterious, and expanding, wall of light in the deep south of America.
Are remakes always a bad idea? On paper the 2016 The Jungle Book sounds like a recipe for a dud. It’s a new take on the Disney 1967 animated The Jungle Book, but with less music and more CGI. However, it also fills out the story’s world and adds more backstory for protagonist Mowgli. And, guess what, It works.
Not every superhero movies takes itself too seriously. Deadpool is the poster child for irreverent superhero fun. Ryan Reynolds plays the lead, a slightly mad, katana-wielding character who blurs the line between hero and villain. It’s the jokes we’re here for, though. And a lot of them packed in.
Shane Black is never someone to play the Hollywood game. Starting off as a hotshot writer — he penned Lethal Weapon at a ridiculously young age — he went into obscurity, only to come back with Kiss Bang and cement his relationship with Robert Downey Jr. This then pushed him into the director chair for Iron Man 3, which was a great choice. Fun, overblown and with a surprising twist — it’s delicious fun.
This star-studded war film features Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal and Jason Isaacs, and follows US tank crews in Nazi Germany during the last days of World War II. Based on real experiences by the crews of these machines, Fury is a powerful and moving account, that was very well received by critics and audiences alike.
Nobody expected Mad Max: Fury Road to be as good as it was — given it was stuck in development hell for ages — but it’s one of the boldest, bravest chase movies ever made. Tom Hardy is superb as the monosyllabic Max. But it’s Charlize Theron’s Furiosa who steals the show — a true modern day badass. Director George Miller decided to do most of the action in-camera and the results are utterly spectacular.
A biographical war drama directed by Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of conscientious objector Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield). Despite refusing to bear arms through his service during WW2, Doss won the Congressional Medal of Honor and adoration and respect of his peers for his bravery and selflessness in the conflict.
Ridley Scott’s bombastic tale of US soldiers caught behind enemy lines when their helicopter crashes in Somalia is frenetic and relentless. You’ll have as much fun watching it as spotting the young actors who you kind of know but don’t know — including Hugh Dancy, Ioan Gruffudd and Ewen Bremner. It’s a bit jingoistic and the bloodshed is sometimes over the top but it’s a superb watch.
“We need guns. Lots of guns.” Okay, that quote is from the wrong Keanu Reeves movies but does sum up the essence of John Wick. This is a movie packed with more Gun-Fu than is healthy but it’s also great fun. The premise is sight: John Wick (Reeves) is a retired hitman, who comes back to avenge the death of this dog. Yup, you read that right. As action movies go, this is one of the most frenetic. Reeves is perfectly cast in the title role and while the plot is paper thin, the hits to a bigger world when assassins rule the roost are fantastic — and something that’s built on in the sequel.
A masterpiece in both filmmaking and fight choreography, Ang Lee’s superb Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon tells the tale of a Chinese warrior who steals a sword off of a master swordsman and the cat-and-mouse chase that ensues. Chow Yun-Fat may have been the star of the movie when the was first released, but it is Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi that steal the show. A follow-up was produced by Netflix, which is worth a watch but has none of the charisma of its enigmatic predecessor.
Quentin Tarantino’s bloody brilliant kung-fu opus should have been one big movie. But its distributors got cold feet, which meant we actually got two quite different films. The first is pure Shaw Brothers schlock. A revenge tale that follows Uma Thurman’s Bride looking to kill people on her hit list, for murdering her husband and family on her wedding day and leaving her for dead. The second film is a touch more subdued, but no less brutal — starting with a flashback of the infamous wedding and then furthering The Bride’s mission to ‘kill bill’. If you can, watch them together as it’s an epic movie that should be consumed in one sitting.
After the brilliance of Skyfall there was a lot riding on Spectre to keep the quality levels of Bond high. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do that. Spectre is rushed, overblown and full of twists that don’t particularly work. But even at its worst, it’s better than most action movies around at the moment. Daniel Craig is, as ever, brilliant as is Léa Seydoux who has more about her than the usual paper-thin token femme fatale. There’s also a barrage of lovely throwbacks from the Bond of old, including a superb intro that smacks of Live And Let Die.
It may be the fifth Mission: Impossible but it’s definitely one of the best. Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, the secretive IMF operative who is tasked to save his agency as a rogue one is hell-bent on destroying it. Christopher McQuarrie was a great choice for director and while news that he completely reshot the ending of the movie was a worry, it’s lack of bombast is a perfect balance to a film that’s filled with thrilling set pieces. Also, Rebecca Ferguson is by far the best female lead the franchise has had so far — we’re glad she’s been cast in the next instalment too.
With a script by word genius William Goldman and George Roy Hill at the helm, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid is a wonderful watch. Paul Newman and Robert Redford ooze screen chemistry as the titular pair and the soundtrack by Burt Bacharach is lovely on the ears. It’s funny too — mixing both buddy movie and Western tropes with fantastic results.
Focused around a turf war between rival street gangs, The Warriors is an achingly cool cult film. It showcases ’70s New York in all its filth and fury and while its focus is on gang fighting, the film never comes across as an exploitation flick. This is because it’s shot with such style and flourish by director Walter Hill that 37 years on, it’s still as pertinent as ever.
Oh, Paul Verhoeven how we’ve missed you. Elle brings back everything the director is famed for — controversy, satire and, well, more controversy. Elle sees the fantastic Isabelle Huppert play a businesswoman who is raped and decides to exact revenge on her rapist, except she doesn’t know who it is. Elle never goes the way you think it’s going to go and, despite the subject matter, is genuinely funny in places. It’s occasionally a tough watch but doesn’t offer the gratuity that some of Verhoeven’s other films are famed for. It’s Hupert here that makes the movie. She is subversive and simply superb.
This is a wholly different Spike Lee movie than what he had made before and that’s what makes Inside Man feel so fresh. It’s a fast-paced, witty genre movie that sees Lee at his most accessible. Some of Spike Lee’s best cinematography can be seen in this movie and while Clive Owen never really gets into his stride, he’s still superb as a bank robber. It’s Jodie Roberts who steals the show, though — she’s utterly mesmerising every time she’s on the screen.
Spotlight is that rare beast of a movie: A tense, taught thriller that’s based mainly around a newsroom, with nary an explosion or chase in sight. It centres on a team of reporters and editors at the Boston Globe who investigate what they believe is a devastating cover-up by the Catholic Church. A star studded cast propels a fantastic script — Spotlight thoroughly deserved its Best Picture Oscar.
This generated a nice bit of buzz at Sundance and for good reason: Bad Day For The Cut is a grim, gripping Irish thriller about a farmer looking to avenge the death of his mother. First-time Writer/Director Chris Baugh knows how to ratchet up the tension and it certainly knows how to hit some nasty notes. Yes, you’ll probably guess where things are going to go, but it’s still a decent watch.
Personal Shopper is a strange, but captivating movie. It shows off the acting prowess of Kristen Stewart who is superb as an American ‘personal shopper’ living in Paris who caters to the needs of an infuriating supermodel. And it just so happens, Stewart’s character is also a medium who starts to interact with what she believes is her not-long dead brother. Personal Shopper is one movie which doesn’t let you really know what it wants to be until the end — and that is what makes it great.
Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg team up with dazzling results for Bridge of Spies. Based on the true tale of a Russian spy sent back to the cold, in exchange for two US prisoners of war, Hanks plays a lawyer brought in to make sure that the exchange takes place. The tension is high but the voices are low. The quiet chats between Hanks and the superb Mark Rylance are astonishing to watch.
A biographical drama from Danny Boyle and Adam Sorkin, Steve Jobs follows the life of the eponymous Apple co-founder (Michael Fassbender) from 1984 to 1998. The performances in the film and its screenplay were widely praised and received recognition at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and the Academy Awards.
American Graffiti is a classic coming-of-age film with a host of stellar Hollywood names behind it including George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ron Howard. Set in early 1960s California, the film tells the separate stories of a group of recent high school graduates and the rock and roll culture that defined them through a series of vignettes.
Mudbound proves that Netflix is getting serious with the movies it is producing. This superb ensemble drama focuses on two brothers (Garret Hedlund and Jason Clarke) back from the second World War and the struggles they face adjusting back to ‘normal’ life. The film pulls no punches when it comes to tackling racism and sexism, both rife in 1940’s Mississippi, but layers these heady issues with a fair amount of levity and brevity. The cast are superb — Better Call Saul’s Jonathan Banks is riveting as always but Jason Mitchell is standout here — but it’s the tight script and wonderful, sweeping direction by Dee Rees that makes this movie truly and Oscar worthy.
It’s rare that Tom Cruise gets upstaged in his movies but that’s what happens in Rain Man. This is because Dustin Hoffman puts in a performance of a lifetime as Charlie’s (Cruise) autistic brother Raymond. In the film we see Hoffman recite dates of airline crashes when he doesn’t want to fly, and this brings the brothers on a road trip after their father passes away. Cruise’s character in unlikeable for the most part but his softening to Hoffman’s Raymond is a beautiful watch — sometimes hilarious, sometimes tender.
Director Adam McKay was known for creating big belly laughs before The Big Short came out. And that’s what makes this movie such a surprise. It is funny in places, but it’s also a super-sharp look and — shock, horror — endlessly entertaining look at those who betted big the housing bubble in the US would burst in the mid 2000s. Filled with fantastic characters (played by Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell) and a superb script, this is a must see.
Inherent Vice is a fantastic film but one you may want to watch twice to figure out just what is going on. Director PT Anderson — this is his best movie — tries to make sense of Thomas Pynchon’s opaque novel, about a stoner detective trying to figure out the disappearance of his ex-lover’s lover. Nothing makes sense in the movie. It’s covered in a fog of weed and hallucinogens, dripping in Californian sunshine and swathed in seediness. Don’t try and unpick it too much and you will be rewarded with a brilliant, beguiling watch.
This shouldn’t have worked. The manic tale of how NWA came to be may well be larger than life but in the wrong hands it could end up being cartoonish. On the whole, Straight Outta Compton manages to avoid this thanks to director F Gary Gray who also created the brilliant Friday. Casting for Compton is inspired. O’Shea Jackson Jr does a great impression of his real-life dad Ice Cube, but it’s Corey Hawkins that steals the show of Dr Dre. Perhaps the weakest link is Paul Giamatti as Jerry Heller but it doesn’t detract from what is one of the more entertaining biopics in recent years.
Dope was a revelation when it was released in 2015. Part coming-of-age drama, part hip-hop homage, the movie is about a group of teenagers who go to a party and end up tangled up in drug dealing. While that sounds all very gritty, the film plays it for laughs more than often, punctuated by moments of drama.
The movie may now be parodied beyond belief but The Breakfast Club is still a fun watch. It’s an ‘80s movie that’s so ‘80s it should come with its own shell suit. The premise is simple: a bunch of kids are put into detention one Saturday, dubbed the Breakfast Club. They’re all a different stereotype — geek, jock, the pretty one, the angry one — and seemingly have nothing in common but it turns out they have everything in common. Yes, it’s cheesy but you can’t help but smile as the kids ‘find themselves’ to the tune of Simple Minds.
This is one of the most affecting movies that you will ever see. Based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a factory owner who begins to help his Jewish workers during World War II after he sees them persecuted by the Nazi Germans, the movie is a study in brevity. Steven Spielberg manages to find the human stories in the atrocity of WWII without shying away from the true horror of what happened during the conflict.
A heartfelt and considered look at Martin Luther King Jr’s struggle to gain equal voting rights, campaigning in racially-charged Alabama, Selma was one of the finest films of 2014 and was rightly nominated for a Best Picture Oscar as a result. It may have missed out on the top gong, but David Oyelowo’s performance as the civil rights leader is a powerful one, with a supporting cast recreating the inspiring story with great respect.
The Virgin Suicides is a woozy homage to movies such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Don’t Look Now. Fractured in its storytelling, dreamlike in its visuals it’s an assured debut by Sofia Coppola. Based on the best-selling novel, the movie charts a spate of suicides in a small town and the cast is lead by the mesmerising Kirsten Dunst.
It is still baffling how Slumdog Millionaire was billed as the ‘feel good hit of the summer’ when it was first released. There is nothing feel good about this rag to riches tale, apart from the very end. It is a sublime watch, though. Director Danny Boyle relishes the colours in India, using them to great effect while there’s a frenetic pace to the whole thing. Lovely stuff.
Adapted from Stephen King’s novella, Shawshank Redemption is a film that tissues were invented for. Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sentenced to life in prison for two murders he didn’t commit. There he befriends Red (Morgan Freeman) and embarks on both serving his sentence and trying to clear his name. Heartwarming and gut-wrenching in equal measure, Shawshank is a modern classic.
Captain Phillips is a masterstroke of suspense. Directed by Paul Greengrass — the Bourne franchise king — it’s about the true story of a 2009 hijacking of a US container ship. By showing the hijack from both points of view — the captain’s and the Somali pirates — the film humanises what is a complicated, horrific hostage situation.
Don’t let the title or, for that matter, the plot put you off, Warrior is a fantastic movie, centred on two brothers who find redemption and solace in the biggest MMA tournament ever held. A superb script and superb performances from Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as the brothers and Nick Nolte as the alcoholic father, make this a must see.
This study of the Holocaust is something we haven’t seen before. It’s from the point of view of someone who was forced to burn the bodies in Auschwitz who comes across a boy that, he believes, deserves a proper burial. Son of Saul is a hard watch. It’s about a time that’s filled with despair, but director László Nemes tells the tale so well that it makes for utterly compelling viewing.
Not only did Network spawn one of the greatest lines shouted in a movie — «I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!» — it also shone a light on US network television and its constant push for higher ratings. The plot is great: longtime anchor Howard Beale finds out that he is about to get fired, so to drive ratings he announces he will commit suicide on air. What ensues is a harsh look at TV that’s still prescient today.
Nicolas Winding Refn is one of the most divisive directors around and he’s not looking to change that with The Neon Demon. Like Only God Forgives and the slightly more accessible Drive, Neon Demon is stylish, blood soaked and, well, cold. It features a fantastic central performance by Elle Fanning and never compromises — this makes for a difficult but ultimately rewarding watch.
All geniuses have to start somewhere and this was where director Richard Linklater made his mark (Slacker got him noticed, Dazed made him one of the best directors around), with a movie that showed off the birth of slacker culture by following the last day of the school year in 1976. It flits between stereotypical characters of the cool one, the jock, the stoner but digs a whole lot deeper than any John Hughes movie. Great stuff.
Anyone who doubts the acting caliber of Tom Hardy needs to watch Bronson immediately. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn who found fame with Drive and the divisive Only God Forgives, Bronson is a fragmented, surreal look at one of the UK’s most famous prisoners, Charles Bronson. Hardy commands the screen as the titular inmate, bulking on the body mass and belting out charisma and chaos in equal measure. It’s not for everyone, thanks to its obscure storytelling, but this is a unique film and one that demands your attention.
Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino at his finest. Endlessly quotable and always a refreshing watch, Tarantino re-invents what a crime movie should be. He does this be interlocking seemingly unrelated stories in a non-linear way, riffing on pop culture and breathing new life into old actors — including John Travolta, Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson. This film deserves all the accolades it’s garnered over the years. It’s just a shame Tarantino has never bettered it.
It may feel a little dated now, but Fight Club was the epitome of male angst when it was first released. It’s an angry movie, with work and consumerism in its sights but it’s also a brilliant one, thanks to David Fincher’s knack of taking the novel and transposing it menacingly to the big screen. Brad Pitt has never been better as Tyler Durden — his role making you want to talk about Fight Club, instantly breaking the first rule.
Okja is a fantastic movie that proves Netflix really does know what it’s doing when it comes to commissioning films. Made by Bong Joon Ho, one of the greatest directors around, the film is the strange tale of a little girl and her best friend, a giant animal called Okja. The friendship is threatened when a CEO (a superb Tilda Swinton) wants to take Okja for nefarious means. The whole movie may well be an ode to animal activism but it’s such a refreshing movie that you don’t mind it preaching to you on occasion. Now you have this on-board Netflix, can you please grab the UK rights for Snowpiercer — another superb Bong Joon Ho movie that never saw the light of day in Britain.
This is a movie that was close to not being made. Just as shooting began, funding was pulled and it means that star Matthew McConaughey may have had to drop out, as he needed to put all the weight on he had lost for playing Ron Woodroof, an electrician diagnosed with Aids. Money was found, though, and we’re glad it was as this is a sometimes harrowing but strangely uplifting account of someone who goes to the extra mile to get their hands on an experimental Aids drug that can lessen the effects of the disease. McConaughey is fantastic as the makeshift drug runner while his partner in crime is Jared Leto as Rayon, a trans woman who helps him on his journey. Despite the budget cut, there was Oscar nominations aplenty for the film with it winning Best Makeup. Considering the makeup was done on $250 budget, this is an impress feat.
While sweding didn’t quite make it into popular parlance, Be Kind Rewind should be celebrated for showing what it’s like to be someone who just wants to make films, no matter what budget they have. And that’s the plot of Be Kind: it’s about two video store clerks who erase all the footage from the tapes in their store, so go on to try and make the movies with no budget but a whole lot of charisma.
If it didn’t suffer from Paul Feig’s ‘I have no idea how to finish a movie so I’ll just let it run out of steam’ Funny People would be seen as a classic. Unfortunately it does do that but it also sees Adam Sandler in reflective mood as a comedian facing a terminal illness. Sandler sends up brilliantly an actor who chooses some of the worst roles known to man. Unfortunately, after this movie he also decided to start making the same sort of movies he ridicules in Funny People.
The World’s End is the worst of the Cornetto Trilogy but that’s only because the other two are the superb Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. The premise is great: Gary King (Simon Pegg) gets his old friends together to relive a pub crawl of their childhood. The only problem is, everyone has grown up into self-respecting adults except him. But none of this matters when the group of lads get themselves into a very strange situation. Full of fantastic sight gags that made Baby Driver the success it was, The World’s End doesn’t quite hit the high notes it should but it has a lot of fun trying in the process.
What a brilliant film. Pride manages to weave ‘message’ with entertainment effortlessly, charting the true tale of gay rights activists in the UK that help raise money for a small mining town when the strikes are happening. There’s superb performances by all but it’s the ever-brilliant George MacKay whose standout.
Looking for a great crime thriller that’ll make you laugh? You’ve found it. Robert De Niro stars as Jack Walsh, a bounty hunter who’s offered $100,000 to bring in mob accountant Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin). What starts out as a simple job gets complicated very quickly.
The plot for this one is fantastic. It’s a road movie centred around two teenage bike thieves who go on an adventure after they get word that seven tonnes of cocaine has been shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland. Their plan is to get some of it and sell it for a better life. This is one of the funniest comedies to come out of Ireland for a while. It’s got a distinct Adam & Paul feel but is thankfully a bit lighter. Young Offenders is a coming-of-age story with oodles of charm.
A classic Jim Carey comedy, Ace Ventura Pet Detective follows a PI who specializes in missing animals cases. When the mascot for the Miami dolphins goes missing he’s in for the case of his life. Expect a madcap adventure with a lot of energy and laughs.
Richard Linklater’s latest is a bedfellow to Dazed and Confused.
