The 50 Best Movies On Netflix Right Now, Updated for April 2024

DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson
STARS: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monaé
RATING: PG-13

Benoit Blanc is back and better than before in Glass Onion, Rian Johnson’s sequel to the phenomenon of Knives Out. This whodunit is bigger and smarter than the first, building on its successes while offering something that feels different and more incisive. It may well be Netflix’s smartest investment to date from their original films.

Watch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery on Netflix

DIRECTOR: David Wain
STARS: Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Elizabeth Banks
RATING: R

Role Models is in a rare echelon of movies that I’ve had to pause multiple times at home. And that’s not so people can go to the bathroom, mind you, that’s so people have time to catch their breath between belly laughs that last a distractingly large amount of time. The comedy flies fast and furious in David Wain’s film about two energy-drink salesmen doing court-ordered mentorship of children. Be it in the form pithy one-liners or a hold on Paul Rudd’s skeptical scowl just a second longer than you think it should, there’s always more to discover here.

Watch Role Models on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Roger Kumble
CAST: Christina Milian, Adam Demos, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman
RATING: TV-PG

A classic entry into the B-rom-com genre Netflix has embraced over the last few years, Falling Inn Love follows city girl executive Gabriela (Milian) as she decides to leave everything behind after she enters a contest and wins a picturesque New Zealand inn. When she arrives, she realizes that the inn needs a lot more love than she expected, however, and she enlists the help of a charming contractor to flip it. You can probably guess where things go from there, but Falling Inn Love is a pleasantly surprising step above the tired drivel typical of its genre peers.

Stream Falling Inn Love on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Nora Ephron
STARS: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear
RATING: PG

There may not be any better rom-com pairing than Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. They can bicker and banter with the best of them, but there’s an instant connection we yearn to see consummated in love by the end of the movie. You’ve Got Mail bottles up their star essences so wonderfully and plops them into an improbable romance as anonymous online pen-pals who, unbeknownst to each other, are fierce bookstore business rivals. Warning: this film is also so in love with New York that it may just plant the seed for you to move there years later. (It happened to me and could to you, too!)

Watch You’ve Got Mail on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Hae Young Jung, Young Kyun Park, Jhonen Vasquez
CAST: Richard Steven Horvitz, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Andy Berman
RATING: TV-Y7-FV

A continuation of the beloved animated TV series that aired on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons in the early aughts, Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus reunites us with ZIM as he discovers the Almighty leaders who left him on Earth have no plans to join him in invading the planet. With his confidence shot and his future uncertain, a defeated ZIM finally gives himself up to his arch nemesis Dib – but he quickly realizes all may not be lost after all, and hatches a plan to get his leaders to visit him.

Stream Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Nancy Meyers
STARS: Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves
RATING: PG-13

Focus on the interior design of a Nancy Meyers movie, and you’re missing the point. It’s exquisite, sure, but it has nothing on her treatment of the interior lives of women past a certain age. A character like Diane Keaton’s Erica Barry so often gets relegated to a supporting role or a perfunctory presence in lesser movies, but this divorced playwright finding love on her own terms gets the full spotlight here. Granted, she shares it some with an uproarious Jack Nicholson as a perpetual lothario, yet it’s Keaton (an avatar for Meyers herself) who gets to glow.

Watch Something’s Gotta Give on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Alex Lehmann
CAST: Mark Duplass, Sarah Paulson
RATING: TV-MA

Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass star as former high school sweethearts in Blue Jay, a haunting tale of lost love and regrets shot in beautiful black-and-white. After a chance encounter in a grocery store, the two reflect on the connection between them that still stands, all the woulda-coulda-shouldas, and one pivotal event that they can’t quite move past. A devastating, bittersweet examination of choices and their complicated aftermath, Blue Jay is a memorable drama you won’t want to miss.

Stream Blue Jay on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Chris Bolan
CAST:  Terry Donahue, Pat Henschel
RATING: TV-14

If you don’t cry your way through A Secret Love, there’s probably something wrong with you. The Netflix documentary tells the story of two women, Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, who dated for almost 70 years before coming out to their families in 2013. It’s impossible not to tear up as Terry and Pat recount their epic love story — which begins with a nod to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League depicted in A League of Their Own — and by the time they finally tie the knot in an emotional, family-oriented ceremony, viewers will be full-on blubbering. — Claire Spellberg

Watch A Secret Love on Netflix

DIRECTOR: David Fincher
CAST:  Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Dance
RATING: R

Before you watch Mank on Netflix, you should lower your expectations just a smidge. It’s not quite the grand-slam you might expect from a David Fincher-director biopic about Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz that’s been nominated for 10 Oscars. That said, there are many, many reasons to stream Mank: the gorgeous cinematography, the Old Hollywood references, the pitch-perfect soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and an Oscar-worthy performance from Amanda Seyfried.

Watch Mank on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Claire Scanlon
CAST: Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell, Taye Diggs, Lucy Liu
RATING: TV-14

Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell cement themselves as rom-com staples right away in this instant classic. This rom-com follows two assistants who team up to play matchmaker in secret for their respective bosses (Liu and Diggs). Their planned shenanigans and attempts at filling Cupid’s shoes may not always work out for their tightly-wound bosses, but as we might expect from any great rom-com, our dynamic duo can’t help but fall for each other (and charm us!) in the process.

Stream Set It Up on Netflix

DIRECTOR: John Landis
STARS: John Belushi, Kevin Bacon, Donald Sutherland
RATING: R

It’s hard to imagine, but before Animal House, there was virtually no market for movies about young people having fun on their own terms. This raucous comedy about the antics of the Deltas has now defined college debauchery for multiple generations, and the zany antics have lost little of their outrageous charm. What a tragedy that we didn’t get more roles from John Belushi, whose Bluto is just an absolute comedic force of nature exploding every scene like a stick of dynamite.

Watch National Lampoon’s Animal House on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Leigh Janiak
CAST: Kiana Madiera, Olivia Welch
RATING: R

Attention queer women horror lovers (I know there are many of you): Fear Street Part 1: 1994 on Netflix is not only a fun, gory, R-rated adaptation of the R.L. Stine book series, it’s also a super cute lesbian love story. The very charming Kiana Madeira stars as a teen girl in the ’90s named Deena, who recently broke up with her girlfriend Sam (Olivia Welch), after Sam transferred from the downtrodden Shadyside High to their affluent rivals, Sunnyvale. But soon the girls have more to worry about than drama and rivalries when a masked killer starts terrorizing their friends. It’s a nostalgic throwback for ’90s kids that will also no doubt appeal to the horror-loving subset of Gen Z. And be sure to check out Parts 2 and 3, also on Netflix.

Stream Fear Street Part 1: 1994

DIRECTOR: Gina Prince-Bythewood
CAST: Charlize Theron
RATING: R

The Old Guard is one of Netflix’s most popular original films ever. Veteran director Gina Prince-Bythewood jumped from Love and Basketball and The Secret Life of Bees to a visually dynamic genre that’s superhero-adjacent, proving herself capable of bringing refreshing textures to a medium-to-large-ish-budget mainstream venture.

Watch The Old Guard on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Christopher Guest
CAST: Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Ed Begley Jr., Christopher Moynihan, Don Lake, Zach Woods, Chris O’Dowd
RATING: TV-MA

Little known secret: Christopher Guest made a new mockumentary in 2016, it’s streaming on Netflix as an original film, and it’s excellent. From the same guy who brought you Best In Show and This Is Spinal Tap, Mascots proves that Guest undeniably still got it. In what is essentially the same premise as Best In Show with sports’ team mascots, Guest brings back his longtime favorites—Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Ed Begley Jr., Jennifer Coolidge, Don Lake, and the late, great Fred Willard—as well as a few new faces like Zach Woods, Sarah Baker, and Chris O’Dowd. The inside jokes for long-time fans are fun (including Guest reprising his role as Corky St. Clair from Waiting for Guffman), but like many of Guest’s movies, he saves the best for the very end. The final mascot competition is laugh-out-loud hysterical—a Eurovision parody four years before Will Ferrell did it. Just until you see the pencil sharpener act.

Watch Mascots on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Bennett Miller
STARS: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
RATING: PG-13

Sure, Moneyball is a baseball movie, but it’s really more of a business movie that achieves the improbable task of making statistical analysis sexy and exciting. Director Bennett Miller has a lot to do with turning this once-troubled production into one of the best movies about the sport, but much of the thematic heft comes from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. The film feels of a part with the writer’s other movies about innovators, The Social Network and Steve Jobs, stories about disrupting industries rife with stagnation and thus revolutionizing the world.

Watch Moneyball on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Nahnatchka Khan
CAST: Ali Wong, Randall Park, Keanu Reeves, Daniel Dae Kim
RATING: PG-13

One of the best rom-coms of the last decade, Always Be My Maybe tells the story of childhood friends Marcus (Park) and Sasha (Wong), who lose touch in their teenage years after they have sex. 16 years later; Sasha, now a celebrity chef, is engaged to a successful restauranteur (Kim), and Marcus plays in a small-time band and works for his dad. After Marcus and his father are inadvertently hired to install air conditioning in Sasha’s temporary home, the two rekindle their friendship and sparks begin to fly again – but not without a few obstacles (and Keanu Reeves) that attempt to put them out in the process.

Stream Always Be My Maybe on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Luc Besson
STARS: Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, Gary Oldman
RATING: R

Natalie Portman came out of the gates SWINGING as an aspiring teenage assassin in The Professional. After witnessing the murder of her family, young Mathilde seeks counsel and training from her hitman neighbor Léon in The Professional. This slick, sleek action thriller also pulls double-duty as a stealth father-daughter tale. Though vengeance powers the narrative forward, it’s the connection between Mathilde and Léon that gives the movie its heart and soul.

Watch The Professional on​​ Netflix

DIRECTOR: Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe
CAST: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Eric André, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Blake Griffin, and Conan O’Brien
RATING: PG

Netflix’s new animated movie about a dysfunctional family who saves the world from a robot uprising delivers all of the brilliant laughs you’ve come to expect from a Phil Lord and Chris Miller joint, who produced the film. The characters are rich, the themes are timely, and the animation style is too much fun. And get ready to cry—the ending knows exactly how to tug on your heartstrings. The Mitchells Vs. The Machines might just be the best Netflix animated film to date.

Watch The Mitchells Vs. The Machines on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
CAST:  Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
RATING: R

Martin Scorsese’s latest film is a quiet masterpiece, worthy of being ranked with such classics as Goodfellas and Casino. The 3 and-a-half hour crime drama reunites the auteur with frequent collaborators Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel and marks the first time Scorsese has worked with Al Pacino. Based on Charles Brandt’s book I Heard You Paint Houses, the mob epic chronicles the life of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, who went from war veteran to truck driver/hit man for Russell Bufalino and the Philadelphia crime family to one of Jimmy Hoffa’s most trusted friends. Expansive, violent, gripping, and poignant, The Irishman proves that the worst fate that can befall a gangster is to live to be an old man.—Karen Kemmerle

Watch The Irishman on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Beyoncé, Ed Burke
CAST: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Blue Ivy Carter, Solange
RATING: TV-MA

This career-defining film from Beyoncé Knowles-Carter may be defined as a “concert film”, but it is much, much more than that. Seamlessly blending beautifully-edited footage from her Coachella performances with behind-the-scenes segments that offer a glimpse into why Beyoncé is the legend she is, Homecoming stands alone. It’s simultaneously awe-inspiring, exciting, moving, tense, and personal, and indicative of the work ethic that has made her a household name around the world.

Stream Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson
STARS: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt
RATING: R

“Haunted by your future, hunted by your present,” reads the slogan for Rian Johnson’s Looper. This time-travel thriller imbues a rare soulfulness to a sci-fi subgenre that is usually more concerned with mechanics than men. Johnson pays attention not only to past and future here – he’s as concerned with the tortured present tense for the hitman Joe. A younger version played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt grapples with consequences of his actions coming for him physically, while an older version played by Bruce Willis deals with the emotional toll these same decisions exacted. The best special effects in this film happen in Johnson’s clever script that puts a fresh spin on a familiar storyline.

Watch Looper on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Dennis Dugan
STARS: Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen
RATING: PG-13

Adam Sandler is at his anarchic best in Happy Gilmore as a hockey player with a powerful enough swing that he tries his hand at the PGA Tour. It’s one of those high-concept comedy ideas that’s just stupid enough to work in large part because Sandler commits so wholeheartedly to the ridiculousness of it all. All these years later, too, it may have the greatest celebrity cameo of all time in a pugilistic Bob Barker.

Watch Happy Gilmore on Netflix

DIRECTORS: Lana and Lily Wachowski
STARS: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
RATING: R

What the Wachowskis achieved with The Matrix is a feat rarely replicated in Hollywood – they changed the medium from both a visual and an intellectual standpoint. Where would we be without the heightened reality of “bullet time,” their surreal effect that slows down fast-moving objects to make their whirring motion visible? Similarly, where would we be without the film introducing ideas about simulated reality into the mainstream via the easily digestible (and just as easily misunderstood) concept of the red pill? It was a revolution and remains a revelation.

Watch The Matrix on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht
RATING: R

If you, like me, are ignorant on the history of the disability rights movement in the United States, the new Netflix documentary Crip Camp is a must-watch. Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama via their Higher Ground production company, Crip Camp tells the story of how a little hippie camp in upstate New York called Camp Jened played a crucial role in bringing together a community of disabled teens who grew up to be the very same activists instrumental to changing policies and American attitudes toward disabled people. Co-directed by Jim LeBrecth, a Camp Jened alum, and Nicole Newnham, the incredible archival footage from the camp will transport you back to the 1970s while teaching you a vital history lesson.—Anna Menta

Watch Crip Camp on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach
STARS: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg
RATING: R

Familial strife has rarely felt so real or so raw than it has in Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, an acerbic comedy based on the divorce of his own parents. In spite of the tough subject matter, the laughs are both pithy and plentiful. The film is brutally yet hilariously honest about the way parents imprint themselves on their children.

Watch The Squid and the Whale on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Spike Lee
CAST:  Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
RATING: R

Few war movies have ever achieved what Spike Lee has done with Da 5 Bloods. With artistic flair, gorgeous cinematography, and a career-defining performance from Delroy Lindo, Lee has created a war movie that examines the way racism, trauma, imperialism, and violence are tragically, inextricably intertwined. —Anna Menta

Watch Da 5 Bloods on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Thom Zimny
CAST: Bruce Springsteen
RATING: TV-MA

This recording of the Broadway stint that sent ticket prices even higher than the cost of Hamilton‘s admission is one of the best specials that Netflix has to offer. The Boss is at his best over the course of these 2-and-a-half hours, looking back on his life and career and what has made him the American icon he is today. While he shares tales many may never have heard before, his raw renditions of his beloved songs tell even more of his story, eliciting more than a few feelings in lifelong fans and newcomers alike.

Stream Springsteen on Broadway on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Sergio Pablos, Carlos Martínez López
CAST: Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones
RATING: PG

This delightful animated flick tells an alternate origin story of Santa Claus and features a slew of celebrity voices. Set in the 19th century, Klaus follows Jesper Johansson (Schwartzman), the spoiled, bratty son of a rich Postmaster General who decides to make Jesper work as a postman in an attempt to improve his character. When Jesper discovers he’ll be cut off from his family fortune unless he gets a distant town to post 6,000 letters in a year, he inadvertently encounters a reclusive toymaker named Klaus (Simmons) who teaches him the joy of giving and helps him change his life.

Stream Klaus on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Aaron Sorkin
CAST: Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Mark Rylance, Jeremy Strong
RATING: R

Aaron Sorkin can officially crown himself the king of the courtroom drama with the Golden Globe-nominated The Trial of Chicago 7. He assembled an all-star cast to tell the true story of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-Vietnam War protestors who were charged with conspiracy in 1969. It’s a complicated historical event with a large cast of characters, but Sorkin has always excelled at mining a great story from dense material. With flashbacks and legal testimonies, he masterfully builds suspense; revealing how the protests, intended as peaceful, turned violent at the drop of a hat.

Watch The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Alex Timbers
CAST: John Mulaney
RATING: TV-MA

Following his uproarious Oh, Hello On Broadway and a slew of other successful standup specials, SNL writers’ room vet and all-around funny guy John Mulaney returns to Netflix with Kid Gorgeous, a standup special that sees him recount childhood stories involving ghosts and stranger danger, the so-called value of college, his time at Saturday Night Live, aging, and one of the best Trump jokes in recent memory. With his boyish charm and top-notch sense of self-deprecation, Mulaney once again proves himself in Kid Gorgeous as one of our best working stand-ups. 

Stream John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Kirsten Johnson
CAST:  Kirsten Johnson, Dick Johnson
RATING: PG-13

Kirsten Johnson kills her own father half a dozen times in Netflix’s Dick Johnson Is Dead. But she always brings him back to life. This odd and heartwarming documentary comes four years after Johnson’s critically acclaimed film Cameraperson, a collage of her experiences behind the camera over the course of her life. This time, Johnson focuses on one aspect of her life: Her 86-year-old father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Rather than accept her father’s fate, Johnson decided to try to prevent the thing she feared most—her dad’s death—by turning it into movie magic. –Anna Menta

Watch Dick Johnson Is Dead on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Vince Gilligan
CAST: Aaron Paul, Jonathan Banks, Jesse Plemons
RATING: TV-MA

For Breaking Bad fans who have been haunted by the fate of Jesse Pinkman (Paul) since the show’s conclusion, El Camino may be able to offer you some much-needed closure. Racing against the clock and the law enforcement pursuing him, Jesse desperately tries to get enough money so he can have a chance at starting over with a new identity, free from his torturous past. Whether you’re excited to see familiar faces from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul or have never seen either series, El Camino is more than a satisfying dramatic experience.

Stream El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach
CAST: Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Elizabeth Marvel, Grace Van Patten
RATING: PG-13

On paper, this 2017 Noah Baumbach movie is about three siblings dealing with their artist father, Harold, as he fades into obscurity and convalesces from a head injury. But to me, The Meyerowitz Stories is all about Adam Sandler’s tear-sparkled, sad eyes. His character’s siblings, Matthew and Jean, get eighth-inning monologues that are obvious attempts to make their characters slightly more interesting. But Sandler’s performance dooms them to be two-dimensional by comparison. They can’t keep up with the steady sheepishness, lost-boy sensibility, and surprising ire that Sandler brings to his role. Watch this movie if you want to witness Adam Sandler flex his versatility. –Maddie Shepherd

DIRECTOR: Fernando Meirelles
CAST: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce
RATING: PG-13

There are no explosions, no teary monologues, and certainly no romance in Netflix The Two Popes. There is pretty much just a single conversation between Pope Benedict XVI (played yb Anthony Hopkins) and the soon-to-be Pope Francis (Jonathan Pryce). From director Fernando Meirelles and writer Anthony McCarten—who speculated what might have been said when Pope Benedict XVI made the historic, unprecedented decision to retire—it is a surprisingly compelling conversation. It helps that Hopkins and Pryce are perfectly cast, and so very, very good. Shout-out to editor Fernando Stutz, as well. That sound mixing!

Stream The Two Popes on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
CAST: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
RATING: PG

It’s hard to imagine a comedy more classic than Monty Python and the Holy Grail, an uproarious imagining of the grim Middle Ages and King Arthur and his knights’ quest to find the Holy Grail. Before all the Knights of the Round Table come together for their big job, however, they all embark on ridiculous individual adventures. With laugh-out-loud funny observations on class and existence in the Middle Ages and beyond, endlessly hilarious visual gags, and jokes we can’t help but reference today, there’s no question why The Holy Grail is such an iconic piece of comedy.

Stream Monty Python and The Holy Grail on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
CAST: Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, James Franco, Tyne Daly, Zoe Kazan
RATING: R

Originally conceived as a TV series for Netflix, the Coen brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is an anthology movie set in the brutal Old West. From a sociopathic singing gunslinger to a scheming showman to the actual grim reaper, each of the six segments focuses on the theme of death coming in different and shocking ways. While some may say the stand-out tale is “All Gold Canyon” starring Tom Waits as a old prospector determined to strike it rich, the real gem is “The Gal Who Got Rattled,” which features a stunning confrontation involving a band of Comanches, the leader of a wagon train (played by a scene-stealing Grainger Hines), and a tragic lady named Alice (a heartbreaking Zoe Kazan). Also starring Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, James Franco, and Tyne Daly, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs feels so authentic that you can actually feel trail grit in your teeth and smell death in the air.—Karen Kemmerle

Watch The Ballad of Buster Scruggs on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer
CAST:  Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, Keegan-Michael Key, Devine Joy
RATING: R

Comedian Eddie Murphy stars as Rudy Ray Moore, a comedian and blaxploitation star best known for his on-screen persona, the rhyming pimp named Dolemite. This biopic is not nearly as outlandish as Moore’s act, but it is the best Murphy’s been in years—and possibly ever. Dolemite Is My Name is the perfect combo of boisterous fun and genuine heart. Keep your eye on Empire‘s Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who is irresistibly charming as Moore’s “protégé,” Lady Reed. As a bonus, this movie contains a scene where a man expresses vulnerability about exposing his body on screen. We love to see it!

Stream Dolemite Is My Name on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Bo Burnham
STARS: Bo Burnham
RATING: TV-MA

Is it a stand-up special? A one-man show? A movie? Something else entirely? Whatever Bo Burnham made with Inside, it’s a singular experience that perfectly encapsulates the pandemic experience. Perhaps no one else but Burnham, whose star was made by the same Internet that now holds him captive, could reckon so forcefully and funnily with the digital forces that govern our lives.

Stream Bo Burnham: Inside on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Gary Ross
STARS: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth
RATING: PG-13

The Hunger Games author Jennifer Collins claims she originated the idea for her series while toggling between reality TV shows and footage of the Iraq War on cable news. Her unique understanding of the fusion between spectacle and violence gives the film’s relevance beyond merely being another fad YA adaptation or the vessel that officially launched Jennifer Lawrence into superstardom. This is a blockbuster with surprising brain and brawn.

Watch The Hunger Games on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Sian Heder
CAST:  Elliot Page, Allison Janney, Tammy Blanchard
RATING: TV-MA

Get in on the ground floor of filmmaker Sian Heder—whose film CODA was the breakout hit of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival—with her excellent feature debut on Netflix, Tallulah. Starring Elliot Page as a homeless teenager who kinda, sorta kidnaps a baby, and Allison Janney as the upper-middle-class woman who kinda, sorta harbors a fugitive, this is a hilarious and poignant film on the many messy and human aspects of womanhood.

Watch Tallulah on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Bong Joon-ho
CAST: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ahn Seo-hyun
RATING: TV-MA

Another hit from Bong Joon-ho, Netflix original Okja tells the story of Mija (Seo-hyun), a young girl willing to do anything to save her best friend – a genetically modified super pig – from the hands of an international corporation that plans on shipping Okja off to the slaughterhouse with the rest of her kind. A genre-blurring adventure featuring truly unhinged and wonderful performances from actors like Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, Okja is another testament to Bong Joon-ho’s one-of-a-kind storytelling.

Stream Okja on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Maggie Gyllenhaal
STARS: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson
RATING: R

What’s making Olivia Colman’s Leda tick? Just getting to the core of the inscrutable character’s psychology as she defies all logical expectations for behavior on a seaside getaway adds a level of tension to The Lost Daughter that most out-and-out thrillers can’t match. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s masterful adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel is a gripping character study but also has something to say about women at large. You won’t find a soapbox here for Gyllenhaal to preach about the limitations our culture imposes on mothers, just keen observations incisively woven into a larger tapestry of unexpected human interactions.

Stream The Lost Daughter on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Ava DuVernay
CAST: Angela Davis, Van Jones, Cory Booker
RATING: TV-MA

From Ava DuVernay comes this stunning, utterly necessary documentary, a deep dive into the history of racial inequality in the United States and its massive and enduring role in the prison system. Employing both archival footage and testimony from prominent activists, scholars, politicians, and formerly incarcerated individuals, this Academy Award-nominated film tells the story of the perpetual disproportionate incarceration and generational trauma of Black people in the United States in an unforgettable and affecting manner.

Stream 13th on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Susan Johnson
CAST: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, John Corbett
RATING: TV-14

Netflix’s endearing adaptation of the hit YA novel is full of all the highs and lows of teen love that make coming-of-age romcoms great. Starting Lana Condor and Noah Centineo, the infinitely watchable teen comedy chronicles a teen girl’s life as each of her most significant crushes receive love letters from her they were never intended to read. Sweet, genuinely funny, and rife with chemistry between its two leads, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is a truly wonderful adaptation, but also stands tall all on its own.

Stream To All The Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Adam McKay
STARS: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sasha Baron Cohen
RATING: PG-13

If you haven’t seen Talladega Nights in a while – or have only digested it in quotables and YouTube clips – give it another watch. Before Adam McKay disappeared up his own self-importance, he was crafting brilliant satires of American masculinity which were so poker-faced that the targets of his mockery took the films as edifying works. This NASCAR-set tale of winning at all costs and chest-thumping anti-intellectualism is quite the indictment of Bush-era masculinity … and served up piping hot by the actor who rose to prominence in large part from imitating Dubya on SNL.

Watch Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón
CAST: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira
RATING: R

1970, Mexico City. Cleo Gutiérrez (Aparicio) is one of two indigenous live-in maids for an affluent family, speaking her native Mixtec with the other maid Adela, but speaking Spanish in the family’s presence. Things get complicated when Cleo becomes pregnant by her boyfriend and he leaves her, and the family deals with its own interpersonal drama. Over the span of a year, things change dramatically for both Cleo and the family, but one thing remains the same: the way life keeps moving. A beautiful, award-winning portrait of a year in the life for one woman, Roma is a career-triumph for Cuaron and his incredible cast.

Stream Roma on Netflix

DIRECTOR: Jane Campion
CAST: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons
RATING: R

Though it failed to win Best Picture, this Jane Campion western is still a masterpiece. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons star as Phil and George Burbank, brothers who own a ranch together in the year 1925. Their lives take a turn when George marries a widowed inn-owner (Kirsten Dunst) and moves in with their teenage son (Kodi Smit-McPhee). A tense family drama—underscored by excellent acting and an unforgettable score—unfolds. Then, in the last 15 minutes, this exquisite, quiet character study becomes a dark, twisted thriller. Don’t miss it.

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DIRECTOR: Nancy Meyers
STARS: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black
RATING: PG-13

Think back to a magical time before services like Airbnb really took off – like, 2006 – and picture how liberating it must have felt to swap houses when feeling like you’ve hit a rut at home. That’s the scenario for dual protagonists played by Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet in The Holiday as two career women unlucky in love go on a holiday to flee their woes … only to find their selves and needs inescapable. Writer/director Nancy Meyers is peerless in her craftsmanship of this rom-com. While she’s famous for her pleasant aesthetics, a look under the hood shows her mastery of the genre’s dynamics and knowledge of its history dating back to the screwball era.

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DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach
CAST:  Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Alan Alda
RATING: R

Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is such an honest portrait of divorce that, at times, it’s excruciating. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are Charlie and Nicole Barber—a snobby New York theater director and actress dreaming of Hollywood, respectively—and they love each other more than they hate each other. But, as they soon learn via Nicole’s ruthless lawyer (Laura Dern at her absolute best), the legal process brings out the worst in everyone. Marriage Story is lovely, devastating, and beautiful—a Kramer vs. Kramer that affords equal empathy to both sides. –Anna Menta

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DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach
STARS: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver
RATING: R

There’s a good chance that future generations will watch Frances Ha as something like a time capsule for understanding millennials. This story of Greta Gerwig’s emblematic slacker-cum-striver trying to claw her way toward adulthood captures something bigger than just one character’s journey. With her charm and clumsiness, she’s a surface onto which we can project our own hopes and anxieties. She’s a figure entirely of her time and also a timeless archetype of a person in the transition of life stages. If you haven’t met Frances yet, it’s time to have the delight of your life.

Watch Frances Ha on Netflix