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
*The Place Beyond the Pines
Year: 2012
Runtime: 2h 20m
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Derek Cianfrance’s 2013 crime drama divided audiences when it was released but it’s definitely worth a reappreciation now. Anchored by a great ensemble, including Ryan Gosling, Ben Mendelsohn, Mahershala Ali, and Bradley Cooper, this is a story of the ripple effect of criminal behavior, and how it can impact across the generations. It’s smarter and better in every way than it got credit for when it was released.
Drama
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.
*Field of Dreams
Year: 1989
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
If you build it, he will come. One of the best baseball movies ever made is really a story about fathers and sons. Phil Alden Robinson directed Kevin Costner to one of the most beloved performances of his career as an average Iowan who hears a voice that tells him to build a baseball field. Redemption, U.S. history, and, of course, a love of America’s pastime intertwines in this moving drama with an incredibly loyal fan base.
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.
Parasite
Year: 2019
Runtime: 2h 12m
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Remember when this incredible film actually won the Oscar for Best Picture? It felt like anything was possible. Already a half-decade old, take a chance to revisit Bong’s masterpiece, a scathing thriller that shifts issues of class and privilege into an unforgettable piece of storytelling.
Pride & Prejudice
Year: 2005
Runtime: 2h 8m
Director: Joe Wright
One of the best Jane Austen adaptations ever remains this version of one of her most beloved novels, the film that put Keira Knightley on the map. Directed by Joe Wright, this version is relatively faithful to the source, but it’s filmed with such passion and grace that it’s easy to get lost in it again and again.
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.
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.
Blade Runner
Year: 1982
Runtime: 1h 57m
Director: Ridley Scott
The great Ridley Scott followed up Alien with another one of the most influential sci-fi films ever made in this loose adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Harrison Ford stars as Deckard, a burnt-out cop in a dystopian future that includes replicants who have gone rogue. As he hunts them down, including their leader Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), he falls for one of them, played by Sean Young. The influence of this film is so striking that it can really be seen in almost every sci-fi flick released in the four decades since. Note: The version on Netflix now is the definitive Final Cut version.
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.
*Heat
Year: 1995
Runtime: 2h 50m
Director: Michael Mann
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino star in one of the best movies of the ‘90s, a stunning cat-and-mouse game between a career criminal and a workaholic cop. The book release of Heat 2 in 2022 (and the recent announcement that Mann has submitted a script for the film adaptation) brought a lot of people back to this movie, one that has held up remarkably well over the nearly three decades since it was released.
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.
*Public Enemies
Year: 2009
Runtime: 2h 19m
Director: Michael Mann
The great director turned his eye to the history of the American mob with the story of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and the FBI Agent (Christian Bale) who hunted him across the Midwest. Shot on digital, the look of the film threw a lot of people off, allowing this big-budget epic to be underrated in the film history books. Give it another look. There’s a lot to admire here.
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.)
Sicario
Year: 2015
Runtime: 2h 1m
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve has become one of the biggest directors in the world on the back of beloved films like Blade Runner 2049 and Dune, but this was really his breakthrough, a 2015 thriller about an FBI agent (Emily Blunt) who gets drawn into the war between the U.S. government and the Mexican drug cartels. Benicio Del Toro gives one of the best performances of his career here.
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
*The Breakfast Club
Year: 1985
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director: John Hughes
Few films of the ‘80s are more influential to this day than John Hughes’ mega-popular collection of misfits, a comedy that has basically been remade almost every year since it came out. Look at any of the modern teen comedies and you can pick out the Judd Nelsons, Anthony Michael Halls, Molly Ringwalds, and Ally Sheedys. See where a subgenre basically changed forever.
Do the Right Thing
Year: 1989
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Spike Lee
Over 35 years after its release, Spike Lee’s masterpiece feels as urgent and current as the day it was released. After the unrest in early 2020, many people seemed to revisit this classic, to discover it’s lost none of its power. In fact, every viewing of Do the Right Thing feels fresh and new again. It’s one of the best films ever made.
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.
Magic Mike XXL
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Gregory Jacobs
A massive hit at the theaters back when people went to the theaters, this middle chapter of what is now a trilogy with 2023’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance is a raucous, joyous time at the movies, but it’s also a bit underrated given its subject matter. It’s a smart movie that understood things about the gig economy and making it in any business before other films. It also features another great turn from Channing Tatum, a true movie star.
Horror
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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