Trying to find the best movie for Netflix can be daunting. We've all been through this. You have decided to look at something. All of the Netflix functionality is at your fingertips, including a reduced list of movies you've already bookmarked to watch at a later date. But then there is still a choice. You need to find something that suits your mood or something that you and your friend / significant other / couch attendant can agree on. You spend hours rummaging around and if you come across something you believe is it, it's too late, you are too tired, and indecision has prevailed.
Fear not, because at Collider we have a guide to help you find the perfect Netflix movies in the US. We've checked through the library and compiled a list of the best movies currently available to stream, from classics to classics hidden gems for new releases and beyond. This list of the best movies on Netflix is updated weekly with brand new options. So, you should come back next time you're looking for something great to see.
For more curated streaming recommendations, check out our lists for The best TV shows on Netflix and the best movies on Amazon Prime and the best horror movies on Netflix and the best sci-fi movies on Netflix and the best TV shows on Amazon Prime.
Just A.
Image via Screen Gems
Director: I want luck
Writer: Bert V. Royal
Occupation: Emma Stone, Dan Byrd, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Hayden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Cam Gigandet, Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci
If you're looking for a youthful romcom with wit and charm, the 2010s are it Just A. is an excellent choice. The story is partly inspired by The scarlet letter as Emma Stone plays a charismatic high schooler named Olive who on a whim pretends to be dating a classmate to hide the fact that he's gay. This leads to many other classmates coming up to her and asking her to lie in exchange for gifts, creating a tainted reputation that she takes on a la Scarlet Letter. Stone is already a movie star in this early film of her career, and the film is surprisingly smart and engaging at every turn. It also features Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as two of the best film parents in film history. – Adam Chitwood
Ocean & # 39; s Eleven
Image via Warner Bros.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Ted Griffin
Occupation: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison and Shaobo Qin
There's an effortlessly cool vibe Steven Soderbergh’S Ocean & # 39;s elf That makes it one of the best reusable movies ever made, and while it's certainly a mugging movie, it's funny too. Soderbergh's cast plays the whole thing with a dryness befitting the polite scammers who want to rob a Las Vegas casino, and of course they do George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damonetc have a great time. So yeah, while Ocean & # 39; s Eleven is an exciting mugging film in its own right, it's also one of the best movies of the 21st century. – Adam Chitwood
Carol
Image via The Weinstein Company
Director: Todd Haynes
Writer: Phyllis Nagy
Occupation: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy and Kyle Chandler
Carol is a luscious, sensual love story told with elegance and grace. Based on the book The price of salt by Patricia Highsmith, the film is set in Manhattan in 1952, where an aspiring photographer (Rooney Mara) crosses paths with a glamorous married woman (Cate Blanchett), the title Carol. The film explores homosexuality in the mid-20th century, as Carol has a few decades more experience as a closed-back lesbian than this young woman. The two enter into a relationship that is full of fear, lust and true love and director Todd Haynes captures everything in a way that never feels exploitative. camera operator Ed Lachman Shoot the movie so it looks like an old photo or a half-forgotten memory and before you know it you got knocked off your feet. – Adam Chitwood
ParaNorman
Image via focus functions
Directors: Sam Fell and Chris Butler
Writer: Chris Butler
Occupation: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, John Goodman, Alex Borstein, Leslie Man, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch and Tucker Albrizzi
If you're looking for a fun family movie that is also really scary and has a surprising message in it, this is one of the best places to watch ParaNorman. The stop-motion animation film comes from LAIKA, the same studio behind it Coraline and Kubo and the two stringsand it is absolutely one of their best films. It revolves around a young child named Norman who has the ability to see and talk to the dead. This comes in handy when terrifying ghosts overrun your small Massachusetts town. The story is based heavily on iconic 80s films such as The goonies and E.T. but never feels derived and actually carries a surprising and emotional message about bullying and anger and the complexities of emotions that children can feel at times. It's just a lot of fun too. – Adam Chitwood
Moneyball
Image via Sony Pictures
Director: Bennett Miller
Authors: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
Occupation: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Pratt and Robin Wright
Brad Pitt gives one of the best performances of his career in sports drama 2011 Moneyballwho went through a difficult development phase (Steven Soderbergh was fired from the director three days before shooting started) but came out pretty spectacularly at the other end. Based on a true story, Pitt plays Bill Beane, a former baseball player and current general manager of Oakland Athletics, who tries to use statistics instead of scouts to build his team. Jonah Hill received an Oscar nomination for his dramatic twist as Sabermetrics guru Peter Brand Philip Seymour Hoffman is unsurprisingly a scene stealer as a team manager who defies this abnormal method. Bennett Miller The film is directed with quiet introspection as Beane looks back on his own past that shaped his best and worst tendencies, and the film works well as a parallel to Pitt's transition from "Hollywood Hunk" to thoughtful actor. As a bonus, the script gets a crackerjack boost from Aaron Sorkinwhose scenes stand out the best. – Adam Chitwood
Enola Holmes
Photo by Alex Bailey / Legendary
Director: Harry Bradbeer
Writer: Jack Thorne
Occupation: Millie Bobby Brown, Louis Partridge, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin and Helena Bonham Carter
Enola Holmes is one of the best and most charming Netflix original films released to date. Based on the book series of the same name by Nancy Springerfollows the period secret Millie Bobby BrownTitle character, the youngest Holmes sibling and brought up almost alone by her single mother. But when she wakes up one day to discover that her mother is missing, she takes matters into her own hands and sneaks into London to solve the case. The movie is incredibly fun as Enola fearlessly follows the clues and searches for clues, but it's also a surprisingly touching mother-daughter story with legitimately feminist themes. It actually takes time for the script to ponder what it means to be a woman in a man's world, in a way that is organic (and important) to the story at hand. It's one of Brown's best performances, however Henry Cavill is also a delight as Sherlock Holmes himself. Once the film ends, you'll be asking Netflix to do many more sequels. – Adam Chitwood
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Picture over the orchard
Director / Author: Taika Waititi
Occupation: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rhys Darby, Rima Te Wiata and Rachel House
In front Taika Waititi made one of the best MCU films to date and before it won an Oscar for Jojo Rabbithe made an adorable New Zealand adventure film in which a grumpy Sam Neill is forced to team up with a bad mouthed child if the two are the target of a manhunt throughout the New Zealand bush. It is based on an existing book, but in tone and execution Hunt for the Wilderpeople often feels like an adaptation of a Roald Dahl Book we never knew about. It's adorable and whimsical and a little terrifying as Waititi's playful anarchy fills the whole thing in good part. This film is guaranteed to put you in a good mood.
Fargo
Image via Gramercy Pictures
Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Authors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Occupation: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, and John Carroll Lynch.
The Coen Brothers are two of the greatest filmmakers in history and their gritty comic crime novel from 1996 Fargo is one of her numerous masterpieces. Constantly engaging and surprising at every turn, the film is anchored from an outstanding performance Frances McDormand as the meek heroine Marge Gunderson. Like any good Coen Brothers movie, it's full of unforgettable characters, but here, too, the duo do some of their best visual work with more than a few iconic shots populating the movie. It's a puzzle, it's a drama, it's a comedy – Fargo is a Coen Brothers film through and through. – Adam Chitwood
Lady Bird
Image via A24 and Merie Wallace
Director / Author: Greta Gerwig
Actors: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Mütze Feldstein, Odeya Rush
I am so happy Lady Bird exists and that it acts as an announcement that Greta Gerwig is not only a great talent, but also a talent that can go beyond itself. My fear goes in Lady Bird was that the film was too autobiographical and that Gerwig had inadvertently created a parody of her Mumblecore roles. Instead, she delivered a film that was personal and specific. It is a film that enjoys its lived relationships without being exclusive.
When I first looked at it, I found the film to be a very good example of the dramedy of growing up. On reconsideration, I see it as one of the best examples the genre has to offer. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf are both amazing as they enjoy both the ups and downs of their mother-daughter relationship. When you watch Lady Bird's rocky senior year of high school with all of the honest missteps of a teenager, Gerwig's debut becomes a feature to remember. – Matt Goldberg
A knight's story
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
Writer / Director: Brian Helgeland
Cast: Heath Ledger, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, Shannyn Sossamon, Laura Fraser, Alan Tudyk, Mark Addy, Berenice Bejo and James Purefoy
A Knight & # 39; s Tale is one of those purely cheerful films that goes smoothly regardless of your mood. Heath Ledger is at the height of his heartbreaking streak, unleashing that megawatt of charm with frankly ruthless devotion and showing off the impressive on-screen presence that would make him a favorite before his untimely death. And he's surrounded by an ace cast, with Paul Bettany, Alan Tudyk, Laura Fraser, and Mark Addy continuing the comedy while Ledger knocks out the swooning. The author / director Brian Helgeland reinterprets the classic underdog sports history in the realm of lords, ladies and tournament knights and pumps up the jam with an anachronistic soundtrack full of bops and bangers from Queen to David Bowie to Heart. If you've forgotten how good this soundtrack is, do yourself a favor and add it to your playlist ASAP, but the music not only owns objectively, it just keeps the mood of this cozy midsummer feel-good movie and ramps up on Increase the energy of the action scenes. In short, A Knight & # 39; s Tale is actually going to rock you. – Haleigh Foutch
The trilogy "Back to the Future"
Image via Universal Pictures
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Authors: Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale
Occupation: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson
Certainly one of the most repeatable film trilogies of all time, Back to the Future is pure entertainment. Production of the first film was notoriously difficult as the recast of the role of Marty McFly forced the crew to re-shoot much of the film. But in the end the idea of Robert Zemeckis shows through, because Back to the Future offers one of the best time travel films ever made. This film absolutely climbs and mixes nostalgia for the 1950s with a tremendous touch of science fiction. The first sequel, part IIoffers an excellent look at making wishes come true in the future before heading back to the 50s in a stunning way, and Part III travels to the old west to give the franchise the goodbye it deserves. All three are worth seeing whenever you want pleasure. – Adam Chitwood
Y Tu Mamá También
Image via IFC films
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Authors: Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón
Occupation: Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna
Before he did Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or Children of men or Heaviness, Filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón The erotic masterpiece was directed Y Tu Mamá También. The Spanish-language coming-of-age drama follows two teenage best friends who take a woman in her late twenties on a road trip to learn a lot more about each other and themselves. It seems like a banal premise, but the film was lovingly designed and wonderfully shot by the Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki. Cuarón is brilliant at capturing teenage boredom, and while this is a coming-of-age story, the focus isn't entirely on the boys –Maribel VerdúCuarón's character is fully realized as Cuarón explores the fears and fears of adulthood against the backdrop of a sunny, gender-rich road trip. This is without a doubt one of the best films of the 21st century. – Adam Chitwood
13 ..
Image via Netflix
Director: Ava DuVernay
Authors: Spencer Averick and Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay follows her acclaimed film Selma with a searing documentary on the mass incarceration of minorities after the 13th Amendment was passed. As the documentary points out, it's not just deeply ingrained cultural racism that leads to widespread incarceration of African Americans and other minorities. There is also a financial incentive, and locking people up is good business. 13 .. systematically goes through the decades after the 13th Amendment was passed to show how black people were selected by the media, government and business as the target for creating a new form of slavery. It is a film that will make you angry, depressed, and hopefully spur you to take action against a system that has done tremendous damage to our fellow citizens. – Matt Goldberg
your
Image via Warner Bros.
Director / writer: Spike Jonze
Occupation: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde and Chris Pratt
filmmakers Spike Jonze2013 movie your garnered a few giggles when the premise was revealed: a story of a man who falls in love with his operating system. But when people watched the movie, they didn't laugh. It is one of the best films of the decade – a heartfelt, beautiful, heartbreaking story about love, loneliness and what it means to be human on planet earth. Joaquin Phoenix delivers phenomenal lead performance and Scarlett Johansson is great in the voice of Samantha. The cinematography of Hoye van Hoytema is warm and welcoming, the score of Arcade Fire is immensely moving. This is a movie that is pretty perfect from top to bottom, and in the end you find yourself in a puddle of tears over how damn beautiful the whole thing is. Do yourself a favor and give her a chance. – Adam Chitwood
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Image via Sony
Directors: Bob Perischetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman
Authors: Phil Lord, Rodney Rothman
Occupation: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Zoe Kravitz, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, Kathryn Hahn, Liev Schreiber
"Anyone can wear the mask." That is the subject of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-VerseThis makes it not only one of the most inspiring superhero films of all time, but also one of the most important. While the protagonist of the film is Miles Morales, a New York mixed race student who is bitten by a spider and gains superpowers, the film expands the world into a "multi-verse" as different spider-people come from other dimensions in Miles & # 39; life. Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham and Spider-Man Noir all come from different backgrounds and motivations, but they all rose above adversity to become the hero their world needed. At the core of the film is the relationship between Miles, who is not yet ready to lead, and an alternate universe, Peter Parker, who is in a mid-life crisis and reluctantly caring for the young, new Spidey. It's a lovable, fun, and touching relationship, and the movie is full of themes of friendship, heroism, and family that make it an extremely positive viewing experience for teens. – Adam Chitwood
Midnight Special
Image via Warner Bros.
Director / Author: Jeff Nichols
Occupation: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard and Jaeden Martell
If your into grounded indie sci-fi movies is what you should check out Midnight Special. This underrated 2016 film is set in Texas and follows a father (Michael Shannon) who is forced to flee with his son (Jaeden Martell) when it turns out that his son has special powers. The bond between father and son is haunted by both the government and a cult, and is examined in various ways. Adam driver plays an NSA communications analyst who has his own interest in the boy, and while this sounds like the plot of a superhero movie, Nichols approaches the material in extremely realistic and informed ways. It's a Sundance film with breathtaking performances and minimalist visual effects, in which the character is in the foreground via plot changes or huge set pieces. And Shannon takes a deeply soulful turn as the boy's father. – Adam Chitwood
Wildlife
Image via IFC films
Director: Paul Dano
Authors: Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan
Occupation: Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould and Bill Camp
The actor's directorial debut in 2018 Paul Dano is a beautifully crafted and emotionally overwhelming chronicle of a falling apart marriage, all seen through the eyes of the boy in the couple. Based on the book of the same name by Richard Ford, Wildlife takes place in 1960 and follows a couple (Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal) and their teenage son when they move to Montana. Shortly after arriving, the father loses his job and is forced to take the only job he can – go out and fight forest fires, leaving his wife and son behind to fend for themselves. Mulligan gives a quietly devastating performance as a single mother doing her best, and Gyllenhaal brings a seething intensity to the role of a man trying to hide his shame. Dano stages the whole thing with the care and confidence of a skilled writer (his handling of the composition of recordings is truly breathtaking), and Dano and Kazan's script is safe and poetic. This is a deeply emotional and mature family drama that proves that Dano is the real business behind the camera, and it is also one of the best films in recent years. – Adam Chitwood
Pride and Prejudice
Image via focus functions
Director: Joe Wright
Writer: Deborah Moggach
Occupation: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone and Judi Dench
The classic Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice has been adjusted many, many, many times, but it is entirely possible Joe WrightThe 2005 film is the best of all time. Keira Knightley leads the film as Elizabeth Bennet, a headstrong young woman who forges a hot and cold relationship with the enigmatic Mr. Darcy (played by Succession's) Matthew Macfadyen). The cinematography and production design are absolutely lavish and Dario MarianelliThe score is beautiful and alive, but it's Wright's actors who really take this thing up, and the chemistry between Knightley and Macfadyen is absolutely enormous. – Adam Chitwood
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Image via DreamWorks Animation
Director / Author: Dean DeBlois
Occupation: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Hounsou, and Kit Harington
The best movie in the How to train your dragon Trilogy is also the most emotional. The continuation from 2014 How to Train Your Dragon 2 takes place five years after the events of the first film and finds Hiccup in contact with his long-lost mother (played by Cate Blanchett) and fight against a madman (Djimon Hounsou) who wants to take over the world. Compassion and empathy are important themes in this “children's film” that may or may not leave parents in puddles of tears in the end. It's a will for that Dean DeBloisFilmmaking (with the assistance of the cameraman) Roger Deakins) that this movie is as great as it is, and as a bonus, you get a really wonderful score from the composer John Powell. – Adam Chitwood
Moth
Image via Open Road Films
Director / Author: Dan Gilroy
Occupation: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rene Russo and Bill Paxton
An absolutely dark but convincing thriller in the style of taxi driver, the 2014 film Moth has one of Jake GyllenhaalThe best performance ever. He plays a strange and hungry ambitious freelance photographer named Lou who goes to grotesque efforts to capture exclusive footage of gruesome crime scenes in Los Angeles. Riz Ahmed is heartbreaking as Lou & # 39; s assistant and Rene Russo gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the morning news director for a local broadcaster. If you like dark thrillers with excellence give this one a watch. – Adam Chitwood
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