Oscar winners, teen comedies, mind-bending thrillers — there’s something for everyone in the best movies on Netflix.
Last Updated: December 15th Even though the streaming wars are heating up and every studio/network seems to be building their own platform, Netflix still has, arguably, the best movie library of them all. They’re getting better at categorizing them too, but when you have a film library that big, it’s hard to make sure all of the worthwhile titles get seen. That’s where we come in. Let this must-watch list be your guide to the overcrowded streaming landscape and an end to the mindless scrolling through Netflix’s movie catalog. There’s something for everyone here and it’s all good. Related: The Best Shows On Netflix Right Now Run Time: 126 min| IMDb: 7/10 Based on the novel of the same name, this Jane Campion-directed Western features a handful of tour-de-force performances and an emotionally-wrenching story about familial bonds. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Phil, one-half of a pair of ranching brothers who becomes bitter and verbally abusive to his brother’s new wife, Rose (Kirsten Dunst). Hiding who he is and angry that his brother seems to be occupied with his new life, Phil befriends Rose’s young son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and as their relationship progresses, both men learn undeniable truths about themselves. Campion’s direction and storytelling is top-notch, and it’s likely this entry will earn plenty of Oscar attention. Run Time: 130 min| IMDb: 6.2/10 Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Regina King, Zazie Beetz, and LaKeith Stanfield star in this slick, stylish Western from relative newcomer Jeymes Samuel. Majors plays a vengeful outlaw who decides to track down his longtime enemy (Elba) when he learns he’s been busted out of prison. The two men assemble their respective gangs for a dusty, lawless cat-and-mouse game set to a soundtrack from Jay-Z. Run Time: 115 min| IMDb: 7.7/10 Lin Manuel-Miranda hops into the director’s chair for the first time with this musical biopic about famed Broadway composer Jonathan Larson. Andrew Garfield completely transforms himself to play the tortured artist who would one day give us Rent. In this outing, Larson is still searching for inspiration for his next play while battling grief and a debilitating awareness of life’s deadline. The supporting cast (Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp) are all good, but this is Garfield’s moment and he’ll likely score an Oscar nom for it. Run Time: 194 min| IMDb: 7.8/10 James Cameron crafted a cinematic masterpiece with this dramatic retelling of a terrible tragedy that stars fresh-faced, future Oscar-winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Before that fateful night when the R.M.S. Titanic struck an iceberg and sank, bringing a majority of its passengers and crew with it, Cameron tells a really beautiful love story between a young aristocrat (Winslet) and the poor artist (DiCaprio) she has no hope of a future with. Some iconic lines, beautiful costumes, and a climactic final act make the film’s three-hour runtime more than worth it. Run Time: 110 min| IMDb: 8.5/10 A very young Natalie Portman steals pretty much every scene she’s in, in this Luc Besson action movie about a professional hitman and the child he accidentally adopts. Jean Reno plays Leon, the assassin in question who takes in Mathilda (Portman) when her family is murdered. He slowly teaches her the tricks of his trade but some even more amoral men soon come looking for them. Run Time: 98 min| IMDb: 6.6/10 Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut is this black-and-white adaptation of Nella Larsen’s influential novel of the same name. In it, Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga play childhood friends reunited years later in 1920s New York and forced to confront some difficult truths about the paths they’ve chosen for themselves. While Thompson’s Irene is happy living in her Harlem neighborhood, Negga’s Clare is passing as a white woman, who has married a rich racist (Alexander Skarsgard) and built her own sort of societal cage. The pair’s renewed friendship threatens to upend both of their carefully crafted worlds. Run Time: 125 min| IMDb: 7.2/10 Priyanka Chopra stars in this crime drama based on a NY Times bestselling book. Adarsh Gourav plays Balram, an academically gifted young man hailing from one of the lowest castes in Indian society. He longs to break free of the poverty and systemic oppression that prevent him from going to school and bettering his station, so he becomes a driver for a very wealthy family. Chopra plays the wife of Balram’s employer and over the course of the film, their lives become intertwined in extreme ways as Balram does whatever he must in order to rise through the ranks and earn a better life. Run Time: 94 min| IMDb: 7.2/10 This dramatic interpretation of August Wilson’s iconic play is already garnering considerable awards buzz. That’s mainly due to Viola Davis, who turns in a stunning performance as the legendary Blues singer, and the late Chadwick Boseman, who plays a frustrated young Jazz musician whose ambition disrupts a fateful recording session. Add To Netflix Queue Run Time: 131 min| IMDb: 7.2/10 David Fincher directs a who’s-who for this biographical drama centering on screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz during the time he was crafting the script for Citizen Kane. Gary Oldman plays Mank, a singular kind of man engaging in emotional affairs with Hollywood actresses (played by Amanda Seyfried) and on-set feuds with directors like Orson Welles, and we watch as work on perhaps his greatest project slowly upends his personal life. Run Time: 158 min| IMDb: 8.2/10 Daniel Day-Lewis stars in this gritty, Oscar-winning drama from Paul Thomas Anderson playing a turn-of-the-century prospector, who risks his faith and his family for oil. Daniel Plainview is a shrewd, callous businessman who adopts the orphaned son of a dead employee to make himself look more appealing to investors. When he hits oil in California, he wages a war with a local preacher and his family who stand in the way of Daniel’s progress. Violence and yes, plenty of blood, follow. Add To Netflix Queue Run Time: 126 min| IMDb: 7.1/10 Chris Evans stars in this sci-fi thriller from auteur Bong Joon-ho. The film, set years into the future following a devastating ice age caused by mankind, follows Evans’ Curtis who lives in poverty on a train that continuously circles the Earth and contains all that remains of human life. Curtis is part of the “scum” that the people relegated to the back of the train while the “elite” enjoy the privilege of wealth and status that comes with living in the front. Curtis sparks a rebellion that ends in bloodshed and a devastating reveal when he makes it to the train’s engine room and discovers just how the elite have been fueling their operation. It’s a dark, grimy action piece that should give fans a new appreciation for Evans’ talent. Add To Netflix Queue Run Time: 209 min| IMDb: 8.7/10 Martin Scorsese delivers another cinematic triumph, this time for Netflix and with the help of some familiar faces. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up (again) for this crime drama based on actual events. De Niro plays Frank Sheeran a World War II vet who finds work as a hitman for the mob. Pacino plays notorious Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, a man who frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and the criminals he worked with. The film charts the pair’s partnership over the years while injecting some historical milestones for context. It’s heavy and impressively cast and everything you’d expect a Scorsese passion-project to be. Add To Netflix Queue Run Time: 135 min| IMDb: 7.8/10 Oscar-winning writer/director Alfonso Cuaron delivers what may be his most personal film to date. The stunningly-shot black-and-white film is an ode to Cuaron’s childhood and a love letter to the women who raised him. Following the journey of a domestic worker in Mexico City named Cleo, the movie interweaves tales of personal tragedy and triumph amidst a backdrop of political upheaval and unrest. Add To Netflix Queue Run Time: 117 min| IMDb: 8.1/10 Ridley Scott’s wildly inventive sci-fi series has spawned a sequel or two, but the original film is still a ridiculously fun watch. That’s because Harrison Ford is at the top of his game playing burnt-out cop Rick Deckard, a guy recruited to hunt down replicas in a noir-like future — L.A.,2019. Scott obviously had a better imagination than tech could keep up with because there are bioengineered humanoids and spinners (flying cars) and high-tech polygraph tests, but it’s Ford’s inner struggle and the insane action sequences that really fuel the film. Add To Netflix Queue Run Time: 157 min| IMDb: 7.7/10 Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo star in this mystery crime thriller directed by David Fincher. The manhunt for the Zodiac killer — a criminal who committed several murders in the Bay area in the late ’60s and early ’70s — has spawned decades and garnered plenty of media attention, but the film dives deeper into the cost of the search, particularly the toll it’s taken on the men and women reporting on it. Gyllenhaal plays a newspaper cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the case, decoding ciphers sent by the killer and targeting a man he believes could be the Zodiac.
