It can be hard to find the best movies on Netflix. We all understand the struggle of scrolling time—hours lost to wading through all of the Netflix movie options that could instead have been spent, you know, watching something. Or maybe something has been sitting patiently on your queue, waiting for someone to give you a nudge to finally press play. So, like a beacon in the night, here’s a guide to 26 of the best films within Netflix’s huge selection—including everything from landmark films to cult classics to Netflix-original hidden gems—updated monthly as films appear on and leave the platform. Take that, decision fatigue. (And if you want a list of the best shows on Netflix, we’ve got one of those too.)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Romance
Notable cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder
MPA rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Metacritic: 90
Though it was initially overshadowed by other entries in his filmography, Scorsese’s adaptation of Edith Wharton’s tragic romance has been rising in favor in recent years. And no wonder, because its sumptuousness is undeniable. There’s unsparing 19th-century period design by Dante Ferretti and Robert J. Franco, a lush Elmer Bernstein score, and a dazzling barn burner performance from Pfeiffer at the top of her game. The film’s heartbreaking emotional blows are as brutal as anything in the entire Scorsese canon, even though they come in corsets and coaches. The maestro may have made The Irishman for Netflix (and that movie ranks among the best options on the platform too), but the rest of his filmography is more than worth a watch as well.
Atlantics (2019)
Director: Mati Diop
Genre: Drama
Notable cast: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Ibrahima Traoré
MPA rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 85
Achingly romantic and fiercely original, Atlantics is a shape-shifting ghost story of sorts that defies simple categorization. Diop’s first feature follows a young woman set to marry a man she does not love, while her lover flees their native Senegal by sea in search of work. Overnight, spirits begin to possess the townsfolk, seeking revenge against an exploitative corporation. Never less than captivating, the film features unforgettable visuals and an arresting blending of themes that make for one of the most daring Netflix originals—and signal Diop as one of the major breakthrough directors of the past decade.
Captain Phillips (2013)
Director: Paul Greengrass
Genre: Drama
Notable cast: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Michael Chernus, Catherine Keener
MPA rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Metacritic: 82
Paul Greengrass’s best-picture-nominated thriller, based on the true story of a cargo ship overtaken by Somali pirates, still packs a punch. In naming the film as one of the best of 2013, Vanity Fair championed it as a movie that “admirably doesn’t sensationalize the goodness or badness of either of its opposing sides.” Captain Phillips is best remembered for its headlining performances: by Tom Hanks as the ship’s levelheaded captain, and Barkhad Abdi as its terrifying captor. The Academy recognized Abdi’s dazzling debut performance, one that delivers chilling villainy and empathic pathos in equal measure. Unfortunately, it ignored the equally seismic Hanks, whose final scene of survival instinct collapse ranks among the most impressive acting sequences in his long career.
Clueless (1995)
Director: Amy Heckerling
Genre: Comedy
Notable cast: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Dan Hedaya, Brittany Murphy, Stacey Dash, Jeremy Sisto, Donald Faison, Breckin Meyer, Wallace Shawn, Julie Brown
MPA rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 73
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Amy Heckerling’s Jane Austen riff has transcended its MTV-generation origins to be rightfully accepted as one of the great, timeless comedy classics. As the spoiled but lovable high schooler Cher Horowitz, Alicia Silverstone gives one of the definitive performances of the 1990s, still ceaselessly quotable after all these years. But the film itself continues to inspire new devotees with its overstuffed, hyperspecific comic detail, from its flawless cast (a young Brittany Murphy gives one of the great under-recognized comedy performances as the made-over Tai) to its iconic costume design. Missing a chance to go rollin’ with the homies and rewatch Clueless on a milestone anniversary? As a great poet laureate once said, as if.
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Director: Spike Lee
Genre: Drama
Notable cast: Delroy Lindo, Chadwick Boseman, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jonathan Majors, Jean Reno, Norm Lewis, Paul Walter Hauser
MPA rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 82
Released in the early days of COVID, Lee’s complex war epic is about a crew of Black Vietnam War vets who return to the country in search of treasure buried with their fallen commander, played in flashbacks by Boseman in one of his final performances. While crafting thrilling, often shocking war sequences, Lee also chases complicated truths about what it is to be Black and serve. The ensemble is immaculate, centered by a searing Lindo—“a career-high performance,” said Vanity Fair—as a PTSD-afflicted, MAGA-supporting former soldier. “It’s something that my mother taught me very early on,” Lee previously told VF. “She’d say, ‘Spike, all Black people ain’t the same. All Black people don’t look alike, or think alike.’ So we’ve got this group, and I had to show some type of diversity amongst these African American men. They can’t be all alike—that’s not only stupid, it’s not dramatic.”
Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)
Director: Kirsten Johnson
Genre: Documentary
MPA rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes: 99%
Metacritic: 89
