All right, you want the best of the best? Then we're gonna give it to you.
After scouring Netflix for the best thrillers, best action flicks, best romantic comedies, best horror movies, best family films, and more, it's finally time for us to narrow down our streaming suggestions to the best movies, period.
That's right — it's superhero sagas vs. biopics vs. war dramas vs. musicals vs. comedies vs. so much more. This is the ultimate film list for when you have no idea what you want to watch outside of the general concept of an excellent movie that delivers top-tier performances, a killer script, and an engaging world.
Without further ado and in no particular order, here are the 25 best movies now on Netflix.
1. Godzilla Minus One
You don't know Godzilla until you see Godzilla Minus One. The American movies featuring the classic kaiju go for huge monster-vs.-monster face-offs — bogged down by tedious human characters. But writer/director Takashi Yamazaki reclaims the Japanese icon with a movie that gets the balance between rampaging monster action and human drama just right.
Set near the close of World War II, Godzilla Minus One proves a fascinating tale of atomic-age terror. Ryunosuke Kamiki stars as a kamikaze pilot who first flubs his mission, then crosses paths with the giant lizard with atomic breath. Survivor's guilt torments him, even as he cobbles together a found family of survivors. This cast of characters is dynamic, making the scenes of simple home-cooked meals just as satisfying as sequences of town-trampling destruction. Actually, one deeply informs the other. Because while Kamiki's jaw-dropping special effects rightfully won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, it's the emotional impact of them that makes his Godzilla hit harder than any contemporary. Even on the small screen, you'll be in awe. — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor
How to watch: Godzilla Minus One is streaming on Netflix.
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
In 2018, we got what remains one of the best superhero movies of all time with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. That's an incredibly hard act to follow, and yet the sequel to Miles Morales' journey, Across the Spider-Verse, is absolutely fantastic.
In the second part of the Spider-Verse saga, Miles is grown up, but he's struggling to balance his life as Brooklyn's web-slinger with his studies and being a good son to his parents. After a visit from Gwen (Spider-Woman in her universe), Miles becomes tangled up with a daunting new villain, a whole new team of Spider-Peoples, and a mission that could change the fate of the multiverse. I know, I know, we're all a little burnt out by the overabundance of multiverse narratives these days, but Across the Spider-Verse manages to inject its story with some truly clever world-building. The newest characters are a blast, with a killer voice cast that includes Issa Rae, Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya, Karan Soni, and Greta Lee, among other fun cameos. The action set pieces are exhilarating and funny, and the animation is somehow more dazzling than the first film. We can only hope the third Spider-Verse film is half as good as the first two. — Oliver Whitney, Freelance Contributor
How to watch: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is streaming on Netflix.
3. Boyz n the Hood
Director John Singleton gave us one of the best dramas of the 1990s in what just so happened to be his directorial debut. A raw portrait of Black life in South Central Los Angeles, Boyz n the Hood tells the story of Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who moves in with his stern father Furious (Laurence Fishburne, as outstanding as ever) as a young boy. We follow Tre, now a teen who aspires to go to college, as he gets entangled in a world of gang rivalries with his friends.
Boyz n the Hood isn't a film simply about gang violence, but one that showcases the ways America's long history of systemic racism and anti-Blackness have trapped its characters in a cycle of violence and poverty. It marked a major shift in the ways Black stories were told in American cinema through the lens of Black filmmakers, and laid the groundwork for more to come, from Menace II Society to Juice and beyond. It also launched the careers of its stellar cast with breakout roles for Gooding Jr., Nia Long, Regina King, Ice Cube, and Morris Chestnut. — O.W.
How to watch: Boyz n the Hood is streaming on Netflix.
4. May December
On its surface, the latest from Todd Haynes (Carol, Velvet Goldmine) may seem like a thinly veiled reexamination of a true crime tale that had '90s tabloids absolutely obsessed. Screenwriter Samy Burch uses this familiar framework to construct a story that not only delivers a dishy parody of a melodrama, down to a string-zinging score and comically banal dialogue about hot dogs. She's also built a keen device to evaluate our obsession with true crime, for better or for ghoulish.
In May December, Julianne Moore plays a wife and mother who has a shameful (and criminal) past, which involves how she met her current husband (Charles Melton). When a TV actress (Natalie Portman) wants to turn their lives into a movie, old wounds are reopened. Beneath the blistering domestic drama, Haynes and Burch weave in a sharp and sophisticated humor that invites audiences to bark with laughter, even as their jaws drop in shock.* — K.P.
How to watch: May December is streaming on Netflix.
5. Crossroads
Hollywood gave teenage girls the greatest gift of all time in 2002: a little film called Crossroads. The Britney Spears-led coming-of-age movie is about three best friends from Georgia who go on a road trip to LA for a record label audition, and for Spears' Lucy to reconnect with her estranged mom along the way.
Crossroads — which, fun fact, was written by Shonda Rhimes — is honestly a strange movie. On one hand, it's bubbly and silly and fun as Lucy and her friends (Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning) spend much of the runtime singing along to pop songs on the radio and doing the most unforgettable karaoke performance of “I Love Rock 'n' Roll.” On the other hand, it's a pretty devastating story about trauma and abuse with some shocking plot twists. But what could be a more fitting movie for millennial teens than one with sing-alongs and over-the-top drama? — O.W.
How to watch: Crossroads is streaming on Netflix.
6. The Fast and the Furious
The very first Fast and the Furious movie may not be the best in the franchise, but it's where it all began. In the first movie in the probably never-ending franchise, Paul Walker's Brian is an undercover cop who hasn't yet joined the drag racing fam. Vin Diesel's Dom takes Brian under his wing without knowing he's a cop watching his every move. The 2001 movie is almost nothing like the rest of the wacky franchise with its more grounded action-thriller premise and believable chase sequences, but it introduces us to the family and sets the stage for all the outrageous chaos that will unfold over the next nine movies. Lucky for us, the first six Fast and Furious movies are all on Netflix, so make sure to clear your schedule for a proper marathon. — O.W.
How to watch: The Fast and the Furious is streaming on Netflix.
7. Nimona
Nimona transports audiences to a futuristic medieval world where knight Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) is on the run for a crime he did not commit. However, it's his label as a "villain" that brings shapeshifter Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) into his life. More comfortable as a shark than a human girl, Nimona is a delightfully deviant fiend who wants nothing more than to stick it to the all-powerful Institute. She and Ballister make quite the odd pair — she wants to wreak havoc, he just wants to clear his name — but together, they may just defeat an evil lurking in their kingdom.
Between some electrifying fight scenes and its graphic animation style, Nimona is a blast of a viewing experience. But its message and LGBTQ visibility is what truly sets it apart. Not only is Ballister's relationship with knight Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang) a key element of the film, but Nimona's own fluidity and negotiation of her identity calls to mind transness in a meaningful, important way.* — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Nimona is now streaming on Netflix.
8. Phantom Thread
If Daniel Day-Lewis is really and truly permanently retired from acting (and let's hope he's not, for acting's sake), then he went out on a darn high note with this profoundly romantic anti-romance from director Paul Thomas Anderson. DDL's persnickety couture bastard Reynolds Woodcock (a name the director and his star came up with as a gag, which stuck) and his right-hand sis Cyril (Lesley Manville, who will go right through you) have the disgustingly wealthy eating out of their satin-lined gloves when the film begins.
So, how does a stumbling bumbling nobody waitress named Alma (Vicky Krieps in a blow-the-doors-off performance) flip their entire pristine world upside down with nothing but a well-calculated blush and a basket of mushrooms? That's the stuff of romance, in all of its violent, push-pull swirl. And Phantom Thread captures the dunderheaded swoon of that first blush, plus all of the fallout that necessarily falls after in order to keep that flame forever burning. — Jason Adams, Contributing Writer
How to watch: Phantom Thread is streaming on Netflix.
9. Closer
Horny melodrama, toxic straight couples, and a group of talented dramatic actors shouting some of the most obscene dialogue you've ever heard in an R-rated movie — that, my friend, is Closer in a nutshell. The romantic drama from director Mike Nichols (The Graduate, The Birdcage) is a thrilling ride through the most intimate moments of two very messy couples' lives. There's Natalie Portman's stripper Alice who's dating Jude Law's brooding novelist Dan, and Julia Roberts' photographer Anna who starts seeing Clive Owen's doctor Larry after an awkward set-up. Soon lust, jealousy, and secrets spiral as the couples intermingle, cheat, and lie, culminating in some very juicy, explosive drama. Is Closer total trash, or is it great for its cast's total commitment to the melodrama? You decide. — O.W.
How to watch: Closer is streaming on Netflix.
10. Da 5 Bloods
Mashable's Adam Rosenberg reviewed Da 5 Bloods in summer 2020, writing: "In the midst of widespread IRL social upheaval that many hope will finally start to undo the trauma wrought by centuries of deeply embedded prejudice, this new movie delivers a powerful sense of perspective." Spike Lee's war film, a keenly impactful meditation on systemic racism, stars Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, the late Chadwick Boseman, and more. — Alison Foreman, Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Da 5 Bloods is streaming on Netflix.
11. The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Take your typical family road trip comedy, toss in a robot apocalypse, and top it all off with a heavy smattering of meme-worthy filters, doodles, and GIFs, and you might end up with something like The Mitchells vs. The Machines: a truly fun-for-the-whole-family feature that hinges on whether an artsy teen (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) and her luddite dad (voiced by Danny McBride) can set aside their differences long enough to save all of humanity from being launched into space by Siri Pal.
Come for the jokes about our impending AI-led dystopia, stay for the heart-tugging moments of Mitchell family bonding. Seriously, we might never hear T.I. and Rihanna's "Live Your Life" without tearing up ever again.* — Angie Han, Deputy Entertainment Editor
How to watch: The Mitchells vs. The Machines is streaming on Netflix.
12. The Power of the Dog
The Power of the Dog is a masterful Western from director Jane Campion, who made history as the third woman to win the award for Best Director. Benedict Cumberbatch dazzles with quiet menace as cowboy Phil Burbank, while his co-stars Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, and Kodi Smit-McPhee also deliver award-worthy performances. A gorgeous film layered with subtle dangers, The Power of the Dog is proof that it's Campion's world. We're all just living in it.* — B.E.
How to watch: The Power of the Dog is streaming on Netflix.
13. Hit Man
Richard Linklater and Glen Powell reunite for Hit Man, a rom-com that is killer in all sense of the word.
Powell plays Gary Johnson, a college professor whose side gig as an undercover hit man leads to an unexpected meet-cute with would-be client Madison (Andor's Adria Arjona). The pair's connection (and electrifying chemistry) sparks a delightful game of false identities, reinvention, and twisted love that toggles between hilarious, thrilling, and sexy at a moment's notice. Oh, who am I kidding; sometimes it's all three at once!* — B.E.
How to watch: Hit Man is now streaming on Netflix.
14. Okja
Fall under the spell of Parasite director Bong Joon-ho once more with Netflix's Okja. When a terrible fate befalls a genetically modified kind of "super pig" named Okja thanks to the evil Mirando corporation, Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) will stop at nothing to save her friend and take down Mirando's CEO Lucy (Tilda Swinton). — A.F.
How to watch: Okja is streaming on Netflix.
15. Marriage Story
Yes, interpretations of Noah Baumbach's Academy Award–winning film have varied substantially among audiences. But, for the most part, critics agree that the character-driven divorce film saga represents a resonant and important viewpoint in modern relationships. Career-best performances from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver will turn you into a sobbing puddle while Baumbach's artful narrative-building slowly makes you whole again. — A.F.
How to watch: Marriage Story is streaming on Netflix.
16. tick, tick... Boom!
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s feature directorial debut packs a potent musical theater punch from every angle. He brings to life the selective reality and theatrical phantasmagoria of Rent writer Jonathan Larson’s life and career, based on an autobiographical show from 1992.
Miranda, whose In the Heights was spectacularly adapted for film by Jon M. Chu, proves as adept at moving from stage to screen as he does sucking the marrow of his medium. Andrew Garfield fully inhabits Larson, from voice to body to towering, buzzing hair and a frenetic urgency to create — to write, to sing, to matter, as Larson so clearly did to legions of dreamers who followed.* — Proma Khosla, Senior Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: tick, tick...Boom! is streaming on Netflix.
17. Collateral
Jamie Foxx's Max is just a guy who drives a cab in LA and dreams of starting his own luxury chauffeur business. One night a mysterious man in a suit named Vincent (Tom Cruise in the scariest role of his career) gets into his cab and offers Max a wad of cash to drive him to multiple stops throughout the night. Max reluctantly agrees, only to soon learn that Vincent is a stone-cold assassin who's picking names off a hit list. Now a LAPD detective (Mark Ruffalo) is onto them.
Michael Mann's neo-noir is one of the great LA-set crime thrillers. It's an action film pulsing with suspense and sudden bursts of violence, but it's also just as interested in spending quieter emotional moments with its characters in car back seats and jazz clubs. While Cruise gives a haunting performance as a stoic killer, Collateral is where Foxx truly shines as an average working-class guy pushed to his limit over the course of one unbelievably tense, shitty night. — O.W.
How to watch: Collateral is streaming on Netflix.
18. Sing Street
In Sing Street, 14-year-old Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) transfers to a new high school in Dublin where he has a hard time fitting in, mostly due to bullying and a jerk of a principal who won't leave him alone about his shoes. Despite being the new kid, Conor boldly asks a mysterious cool girl named Raphina (Lucy Boynton) to star in his band's music video. She says yes, but there's one problem — Conor doesn't have a band. He quickly recruits a crew of misfits from school who learn to play covers of '80s hits. They're a bit goofy, but eventually the band finds their style and confidence. This Irish coming-of-age musical from Once filmmaker John Carney is sweet, sentimental, and has a few great original songs that will absolutely be stuck in your head.
How to watch: Sing Street is streaming on Netflix.
19. Roma
The first foreign-language film to win an Oscar for Best Director, Alfonso Cuarón's Roma greets viewers at the intersection of personal reflection and cinematic excellence. The black-and-white film follows live-in housekeeper Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), an Indigenous woman who works for an affluent family in Mexico City, finding a sense of humanity that is uniquely memorable. — A.F.
How to watch: Roma is now streaming on Netflix.
20. Farha
Based on a real Palestinian girl's story, Darin J. Sallam's debut feature film follows 14-year-old Farha (Karam Taher), who dreams of moving from her Palestinian village into the city so she can go to school instead of getting married. But it's 1948 in Palestine, just as the first Nakba, or "catastrophe" in Arabic, was taking place, and far more horrifying things are about to interrupt Farha's hopes.
Instead of trying to show the expansive historical details of the Nakba, Sallam’s Farha presents everything through the eyes of its young protagonist. We follow Farha as she's forced to separate from her family and best friend as Israel's militia arrives to wreak havoc in her village. Though an incredibly difficult film to watch, it's also a powerful film that tells a rare story of Palestinian history and perseverance through the vantage point of an innocent child. — O.W.
How to watch: Farha is streaming on Netflix.
21. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Emotional demolitions expert/filmmaker Charlie Kaufman destroys audiences once more in the mind-boggling I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Adapted from Iain Reid's novel of the same name, this cryptically titled psychological thriller follows a woman, played by Jessie Buckley, and her boyfriend, played by Jesse Plemons, on a disturbing visit to his parents' remote farmhouse. What follows? Well, that depends on who you ask.
A transfixing meditation on art, existence, value, authorship, isolation, and more, I'm Thinking of Ending Things is a truly one-of-a-kind experience as profound as it is disquieting. You may not have a great time in this house of abstract horrors (especially when Toni Collette is on-screen doing those classically terrifying Toni Collette things), but it will be a lasting one.* — A.F.
How to watch: I'm Thinking of Ending Things is streaming on Netflix.
22. RRR
Put on your dancing shoes and prepare to punch a tiger in the face, because S. S. Rajamouli's three-plus-hour action epic is here to pound you into submission, and you'll be smiling for every second of it. Making Zack Snyder's grandiosity look like a flea circus, RRR (which stands for "Rise Roar Revolt") tells the simple and modest tale of two revolutionaries (played by human supermen N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan) in 1920 who become friends, enemies, friends again, and on and so forth, until they storm and spin and punch and slash their way across half of the British army.
RRR features about a dozen action scenes that should rank among the most phenomenal spectacles ever put on screen (I'm particular to the fight that nearly burns down an entire jungle, myself), but we all know it's the "Naatu Naatu" dance competition that keeps the boys and girls coming back for more. — J.A.
How to watch: RRR is streaming on Netflix.
23. A Simple Favor
Paul Feig's A Simple Favor is a movie that almost shouldn't work as well as it does. This deliciously bonkers crime comedy isn't a straight-forward comedy like his Bridesmaids or Spy, but it's impressively committed to being over the top in every way.
Anna Kendrick is perfectly cast as a widowed mommy vlogger named Stephanie who posts videos of herself perkily baking and making crafts for fellow parents. Blake Lively's fashionable PR exec mother Emily enters Stephanie's life, and the two quickly become best friends who sip cocktails and spill their darkest secrets. Then suddenly Emily goes missing. There's about half a dozen absolutely wild plot twists in this campy masterpiece of a movie that finds both Kendrick and Lively in some of their best and most enjoyable performances yet. — O.W.
How to watch: A Simple Favor is streaming on Netflix.
24. The Polka King
Sometimes true crime can lead to some pitch-perfect dark comedy. This is the case for this outrageous offering, which stars Jack Black as infamous scammer/local celebrity Jan Lewan. Black brings all the rock star panache you need to understand how Lewan could be so beguiling to the Pennsylvanian retirees who surrendered their savings to the self-proclaimed Polka King.
Screenwriters Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky gave this story of fraud and showmanship shape. But they wisely trusted in the local flair of the terrific 2009 documentary The Man Who Would Be Polka King to provide some of the wildest lines of dialogue. Plucking directly from interviews with the friends, family, and victims of Jan Lewan, this comedy feels stranger than fiction but is jaw-droppingly real. Salty supporting turns from Jenny Slate, Jacki Weaver, and Jason Schwartzman bring added fun.* — K.P.
How to watch: The Polka King is now streaming on Netflix.
25. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Writer/director Rian Johnson follows up his critically heralded whodunnit with a sequel that's even more explosive than Knives Out. Southern gentleman/detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is back, drawling deductions and whipping out witticisms, much to the chagrin of a group of wealthy and conniving friends.
It was supposed to be a murder mystery weekend where homicide was just a game. But when tech scion Miles Bron (Edward Norton) brings together his closest friends and worst enemy, real blood will be spilled, and the game is afoot! Joining in on the comically chaotic fun are Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., and Jessica Henwick. — K.P.
How to watch: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now streaming on Netflix.
UPDATE: Dec. 12, 2024, 6:04 p.m. EST This article has been updated to reflect the current streaming options.
Asterisks (*) indicate the entry comes from a previous Mashable list.
Topics Netflix Streaming Watch Guides
