25 Of The Best Movies On Netflix Right Now

What’s the best movie I can watch on Netflix? We’ve all asked ourselves the question, only to spend the next 15 minutes scrolling through the streaming service’s oddly specific genre menus, and getting overwhelmed by the constantly shifting trend menus. Netflix’s huge catalogue of movies, combined with its inscrutable recommendations algorithm, can make finding something to watch feel more like a chore than a way to unwind when really what you want are the good movies. No… the best movies.

We’re here to help. For those suffering from choice paralysis in September, we’ve narrowed down your options to 25 of our favorite current movies on the platform. These run the gamut from taut thrillers to eccentric comedies to newly minted classics. We’ll be updating this list monthly as Netflix cycles movies in and out of its library, so be sure to check back next time you’re stuck in front of the Netflix home screen.

21 Jump Street

Based on the 1987 TV series of the same name, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s 2012 buddy cop comedy 21 Jump Street stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as Morton Schmidt and Greg Jenko, two high school classmates from radically different social circles who befriend one another later in life as police academy cadets. After a humiliating screw up, the pair are sent undercover to pose as high school students in order to find the source of an illegal synthetic drug. Accidentally mixing up their identities, Morton and Greg get a taste of what life was like for one another back when they were in school, all while getting into all types of shenanigans and shootouts. Acutely self-aware and frequently hilarious, 21 Jump Street is a comedy reboot done well. —Toussaint Egan

At Eternity’s Gate

Julian Schnabel’s 2018 biographical drama stars Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh, following the late Impressionist master in the final years of his life as he struggles with aspersions towards his artistic career and ability as well as his own tortured psyche. Named for van Gogh’s 1890 painting, At Eternity’s Gate is a dreamlike work of art, diving into the painter’s point of view as the picture violently spasms and shakes as his life becomes increasingly more dire. Dafoe’s performance was celebrated at the time of the film’s release, earning him his fourth Oscar nomination at the 91st Academy Awards. —TE

The Burial of Kojo

If you were a fan of either 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild or 2020’s Night of the Kings, you’ll love The Burial of Kojo. The directorial debut of musician Blitz Bazawule and filmed entirely in Ghana, the mythic drama stars Cynthia Dankwa as Esi, a young girl recounting the story of her childhood and the tumultuous relationship between her father Kojo (Joseph Otsiman) and her uncle Kwabena. When her father goes missing, Esi embarks on a journey to an otherworldly plane of existence where she must contend with a powerful creature known only as the Crow in order to rescue him. Narrated by actress Ama K. Abebrese, The Burial of Kojo is a stunning dream-like odyssey told with evocative visuals, richly lit colors, and captivatingly somber performances. —TE

Fast Color

Julia Hart’s 2018 superhero drama Fast Color stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Black Mirror, Loki) as Ruth, a homeless wanderer with inexplicable powers who returns to her family home after years of hiding from the police. Reunited with her mother Bo (Lorraine Toussaint) and her young daughter Lila (Saniyya Sidney), who both possess the same powers as her, Ruth attempts to regain control over her abilities and reconcile with Lila, all while alluding the authorities who seek to capture and study her. As we wrote back in our review, Fast Color is less a “superhero” film as it is an intimate family drama set in a speculative universe à la 2016’s Midnight Special. The spectacle on display is not the manifestation of Ruth’s powers, but in the masterful trio of performances at its center combining to create a story as poignant as it is exhilarating. —TE

The Florida Project

Central Florida is a weird place to be a kid from a poor family. You grow up in the shadow of corporate dreamlands, where people from around the world come to live out a fantasy of a weekend at the “happiest” places on Earth, fueled by workers who historically have made an average of $10 an hour. Directed by Sean Baker, The Florida Project is one small story set in this shadow, about a six-year-old girl named Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) who lives in a Kissimmee motel called The Magic Castle with her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite), who, trying to make ends meet, often leaves Moonee to her own devices, and the reluctant supervision of motel manager Bobby (Willem Defoe). The Florida Project is one of the best stories about Central Florida and Walt Disney World, a story about childlike wonder and joy a stone’s throw away from its monolithic commercialization, and the economic hardship that keeps the monied dreams of tourists afloat. —Joshua Rivera

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The second adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s 2005 novel, David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is as heady, taut, and explosive as you would expect from the director of Seven and Zodiac. Daniel Craig (Skyfall) stars as Mikael Blomkvist, a disgraced investigative journalist who is hired by a wealthy industrialist to solve the disappearance of his grand-niece over forty years ago. During his investigation of his client’s family Blomkvist is aided by Lisabeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a taciturn hacker and the namesake of the film. Graphic, intense, frequently gorgeous, and thoroughly engrossing, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo easily ranks among Fincher’s finest, though a word of caution to any newcomers: the film features brief albeit explicit scenes of sexual violence and torture that are not for the faint of heart. —TE

Gremlins

Joe Dante’s 1984 comedy horror Gremlins is a classic children’s movie if there ever was one: a grim, gory, occasionally whimsical, morosely funny film set in a small town on the eve of Christmas. After being gifted a mythical furry creature as a pet by his well-meaning father, Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) accidentally breaks one of the rules for its safekeeping, unleashing a swath of identical creatures who transform and wreak havoc on the quaint burg of Kingston Falls. Gremlins is a significant film not only for the commercial and critical success it garnered upon release, but for the movie’s role in inspiring the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating. If you’re looking to brush up on one of the innumerable ’80s classics that would go on to inspire such works as Netflix’s Stranger Things, Gremlins will be right up your alley. —TE

It Follows

David Robert Mitchell’s breakout supernatural horror film It Follows centers on a young teenager Jay (Maika Monroe) who, after a strange sexual encounter, finds herself stalked by a nightmarish entity that no-one else but her can see that intends to kill her. In order to stave off death, Jay and her friends must stay a step ahead of the creature while attempting to find a means of defeating it, or else resort to passing the curse on to another hapless unassuming victim herself. With a terrific score provided by Hyper Light Drifter composer Richard Vreeland (aka Disasterpeace), It Follows is a memorable, unique, and entertaining teen horror drama that flips the script on the genre’s traditionally puritanical framing of sexuality with terrific results. —TE

Killing Them Softly

Andrew Dominik’s pitch-black 2012 neo-noir Killing Them Softly stars Brad Pitt as Jackie Cogan, a mob enforcer tasked with restoring order in the wake of three small-time crooks’ attempt to rob a Mafia poker game. Set in Boston on the euphoric cusp of Barack Obama’s election as President of the United States, Killing Them Softly is a bitter, bleak, and blistering crime thriller with a climactic final speech whose words will stay with you long after the credits roll. —TE

Looper

Rian Johnson’s sci-fi noir action-thriller Looper follows the story of Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a hitman working for a crime syndicate in the year 2044 who specializes in killing people his employers send back in time from the future. In exchange for his services, Joe is offered the opportunity to retire provided that he close his own “loop” by executing his future self (Bruce Willis). When his future self overpowers him and sets off on his own mysterious mission, Joe must track himself down and close his loop before his employers opt to kill both of them to cover the whole mess up. From there, it only gets more complicated. Filled with exciting chase sequences, exhilarating gunfights, a memorable score by composer Nathan Johnson, and some frankly bizarre makeup designed to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like a younger Bruce Willis, Looper is a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining action movie with a heart as big as the ideas that power it. —TE

Middle of Nowhere

Ava DuVernay’s 2012 drama Middle of Nowhere centers on the story of Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi), a nurse living in Compton, California separated from her husband Derek (Omari Hardwick) who has been arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison. While regularly visiting Derek and attempting to negotiate his parole, Ruby meets Brian (David Oyelowo), a bus driver whom she eventually pursues a romantic relationship with. As she struggles to reconcile her growing attraction to Brian with her lingering attachment to Derek, new discoveries are brought to light that force Ruby to reckon with the consequences of both her and her husband’s choices as she attempts to move towards an uncertain future. Beautiful, evocative, and thoroughly heart wrenching, Middle of Nowhere is a stirring portrait of finding truth in love and vice-versa. —TE

Moneyball

Bennet Miller’s sports biopic Moneyball takes a staid premise, that of sports manager using statistical analysis to assemble an all-star baseball team, and turns it into an electrifying drama playing and defying the odds. That Miller manages to do this is owed in no small part to Brad Pitt’s charismatic leading performance as Billy Beane coupled alongside Jonah Hill as math whiz Peter Brand. Bobby Kotick cameo aside, this film’s a winner through and through. —TE

The Nightingale

Set in 1825 during the British colonization of Australia, Director Jennifer Kent’s (The Babadook) period drama The Nightingale stars Aisling Franciosi (The Fall) as Clare, a young Irish convict who serves her 7-year sentence only for her abusive master Lt. Hawkins (Sam Claflin) to refuse to release her. After being subjected to a horrific act of sexual violence at the hands of her master and his officers, and with no hope of justice served on part of the British authorities against their own, Clare embarks on a relentless chase through the Tasmanian wilderness to exact her revenge on Hawkins when he leaves to take up a captain position up north. Known for its extreme historically accurate depictions of rape, murder, and racism perpetuated by British settlers against the indigenous people of Australia, The Nightingale is an visually striking and emotionally enthralling tale of revenge conveyed through deft performances, striking cinematography, and unflinching harshness. —TE

The Paper Tigers

Quoc Bao Tran’s Kung-fu action comedy stars Alain Uy, Ron Yuan (Mulan), and Mykel Shannon Jenkins as the eponymous Paper Tigers: three former martial arts prodigies who, after a lifetime of strenuous training and hard fighting, have grown into beleaguered middle-aged nobodies. But when their master is murdered, the three swear an oath to avenge his memory and bring his killer to justice. If that sounds serious, please know this falls into the Apatowian camp of Dumb Man comedy. —TE

Phantom Thread

Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 historical drama Phantom Thread follows the story of Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), an irascible haute couture dressmaker in 1950s London whose carefully cultivated lifestyle is upset by his ongoing love affair with his muse Alma (Vicky Krieps), a strong-willed woman with ambitions and desires of her own. His final film role to date, Day-Lewis is unsurprisingly masterful in his portrayal of Woodcock as an artist whose capricious infatuations and fastidious inflexibility proves unbearable to all except Alma, who discovers a … let’s say, unconventional way of leveling the power dynamic in their relationship. Top that with exquisite score by Jonny Greenwood and beautiful costume designs by Mark Bridges and you’ve got what is undoubtedly one of Anderson’s finest films to date. —TE

The Power of the Dog

Benedict Cumberbatch stars in The Power of the Dog as Phil Burbank, a charismatic yet ruthless rancher who sets his sights on tormenting Rose (Kirsten Dunst), a widow and her impressionable son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). When Phil’s brother George marries Rose, his desire and method of intimidating them only intensifies … that is, until he takes the young Peter under his wing. Does Phil harbor some unrequited, ill-communicated love for Rose and her son, or are there darker motives behind his strange behavior? From our review,

No seismic events occur in The Power of the Dog. There are no gun fights or cattle stampedes. Its meditative quality makes its abrupt ending feel even more sudden. But this is one of those movies that invites rewatches, and Campion is one of those directors who rewards careful subsequent viewing. On a second watch, the connective tissues surrounding the narrative’s tendons don’t just become apparent, they gain a muscular meaning, a robustness that makes the film’s one major reveal even more enlivening. The Power of the Dog doesn’t just mark Campion’s return — it’s the best movie of 2021 so far. This psychological Western’s themes of isolation and toxic masculinity are an ever-tightening lasso of seemingly innocuous events, and they import more horror and meaning on every closer inspection, corralling viewers under an unforgettable spell.

Raw

Titane director Julia Ducournau’s 2016 feature debut Raw is neither for the faint of heart nor weak of stomach. A coming of age body horror drama following a veterinarian student’s growing hunger for human flesh, Raw is an appropriately titled film of horrific appetites and the many consequences borne out of them. Garance Marillier and Ella Rumpf’s lead performances as Justine and her amoral carnivorous sister Alexia are riveting, the pacing is taut, and the gore is as engrossing as it is thoroughly gut-churning. –TE

Silver Linings Playbook

The film that kicked off the Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, David O. Russell combo. Cooper plays Pat, a man with bipolar disorder freshly released from a psychiatric hospital, set on winning back his estranged wife. While going on runs, he meets young, surly widow Tiffany (Lawrence), who offers to help him if he enters a couples dance competition with her. It’s a story about two very messed up people trying to be better and learning a little bit from each other along the way. Part romance, part dramedy, with a touch of family turmoil, Silver Linings Playbook is bolstered by its lead actors’ electric chemistry and stellar performances. —Petrana Radulovic

Stand By Me

Based on the Stephen King novella, “The Body,” Stand by Me is a coming-of-age film about four 12-year-old boys who set out to find the body of a missing kid. The boys trek across the Oregon forests, running into local hoodlums and speeding trains. But despite the dangers, the real thrill of the movie comes from the transformative power of childhood friendships. The main character closes the movie with a line that basically sums it all up: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?” —PR

Taxi Driver

Robert De Niro delivers one of the defining performances of his entire career in Martin Scorsese’s 1979 film Taxi Driver as Travis Bickle, a Vietnam War veteran-turned-taxi driver suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Sleep-deprived and increasingly isolated, Travis’ idle observations on the corruption and vice of New York City quickly manifest into violent ideation, prompting him to become a vigilante as he grasps for power and uncertainty in an uncertain world. Even apart from the film’s tangential role in John Hinckley Jr.’s attempted assassination of President Reagan in 1981, Taxi Driver earns its distinction as a culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant film on the strength of De Niro’s aforementioned performance, Paul Schrader’s sharp and sorrowful script, and Michael Chapman’s beautiful cinematography. —TE

The Town

An armed robber in a ghoulish latex nun mask.

Ben Affleck’s 2010 American crime thriller The Town follows the story of a crew of bank robbers living in Charlestown, Boston. Following a successful heist, things become complicated for the group’s leader Doug (Affleck) when he finds himself falling in love with Claire (Rebecca Hall), the assistant manager of the bank who they had taken hostage and left unscathed. As Doug attempts to reconcile his feelings for Claire with his obligations to his partners, FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is relentless in his mission to bring Doug and his cohorts to justice. With a host of fantastic performances, fierce gunfights, a captivating climax and sobering denouement, The Town is yet another stunning accomplishment in Affleck’s career as a director. —TE

True Grit

mattie ross and rooster cogburn, both on horseback

Hailee Steinfeld stars in The Coen Brother’s 2010 remake of True Grit as Mattie Ross, a farm girl seeking revenge for the murder of her father by the outlaw Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Enlisting the aid of Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a seasoned U.S. Marshal with a surly disposition and Texas Ranger LaBouef (Matt Damon), the trio embark on a dangerous journey to apprehend Chaney and bring him to justice – one way or another. Propelled by the Coen’s characteristic flair for savvy dialogue, Bridges’ impressive rendition of a character previously made iconic by the late John Wayne, a Oscar-nominated performance by Steinfeld in her feature debut, True Grit is a captivating Western drama more than worthy of praise. —TE

Uncut Gems

2019’s Uncut Gems is a contemporary crime drama shot through the frenetic rhythm and terror of a heart attack. Adam Sandler, far from just a simple case of stunt casting, delivers an electrifying performance as Howard Ratner, a New York jeweler and gambling addict who comes into possession of a rare black opal that might finally settle his outstanding debts once and for all. The only catch is that Howard’s worst enemy is himself, and his habitual attempt to fleece and manipulate everyone from his family, friends, and acquaintances in search of his next big score imperils both his life and the lives of those around him. With a powerful orchestral EDM score courtesy of Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), dazzling performances by Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, and Kevin Garnett as himself, Uncut Gems is an unforgettable film that plays out like a pulse-pounding Greek tragedy set in 2010s New York. —TE

White Girl

Elizabeth Wood’s White Girl caused quite a stir when it premiered back in 2016, earning comparisons to Larry Clark and Harmony Korine’s 1995 city portrait of teenage nihilism Kids. Starring Morgan Saylor, India Menuez, and Brian Marc, Wood’s film centers on the story of Leah (Saylor), a sophomore college student who strikes up a passionate love affair with Blue (Marc), a a young dealer after moving into an apartment with her friend Katie (Menuez). Things take a disastrous turn when Blue is arrested by an undercover police officer after been sold out by one of his regular customers, leaving Leah with over a kilo of cocaine he had recently acquired. With no other options and desperate to save Blue from prison, Leah attempts to sell the cocaine in order to earn enough money to afford a lawyer. White Girl is a shocking and frenetically paced movie, a nightmarish thrill ride comparable to the Safdie brothers’ 2017 Good Time that’s equal parts exhausting, exhilarating, and heartbreaking to watch. —TE

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

The iconic 1971 musical fantasy based on Roald Dahl’s children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a bonafide classic that earns that coveted distinction on the strength of its whimsical production design, sly dialogue, infectious musical numbers, and an iconic performance by Gene Wilder as the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. A children’s movie brimming with pure imagination, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is an absolute must-watch for anyone who considers themselves young at heart. And while you’re at it, read up on how that chocolate river scene came to be. —TE

Source: https://www.polygon.com/21266801/best-movies-on-netflix

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25 of the best movies on Netflix right now