Yahoo News The best movies on Netflix
Netflix is a near-bottomless ocean of movies, ever ebbing and flowing (ie adding and removing titles). If you want to keep up with what's new on Netflix we keep our feature updated every Friday.
But what about what's good on Netflix? We've trawled (and we mean properly trawled) Netflix UK's catalogue and picked out the best movies in every genre, so you can have a quick peruse and find something to your taste you can watch right now.
Netflix Originals
Okja
This wonderful Korean live-action satirical sci-fi about a little girl and her super pig caused controversy at Cannes when it was allowed to compete for the Palme D'Or. Though Cannes has now banned Netflix premieres that won't show in French cinemas, it's a credit to the movie it made the list in the first place. Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton and Lily Collins co-star.
I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore
Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood star in this revenge comedy about a woman who gets burgled, who tries to track down the perps with her weird neighbour and ends up out of her depth. Kind of like a funny, indie, Falling Down but with a depressed woman.
To The Bone
This anorexia drama generated heaps of controversy for its depiction of a girl (Lily Collins) with a severe eating disorder. It's disturbing, yes, and should be approached with caution, but despite the troubling subject matter, it's an honest and unusual drama that's worth checking out.
Netflix Science Fiction
Jonathan Glazer's gorgeous, weird existential sci-fi stars Scarlett Johansson as a man-eating alien. Devastating and strange it's a tough watch but so, so worth it.
District 9
This South African-set social satire starring Sharlto Copley came out of nowhere and put Neill Blomkamp on the map. Copley is the government agent exposed to the biotech of aliens forced to live in slums in South Africa – smart, political, funny.
Before he jumped on to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson made this excellent time-travel movie starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis as past and future versions of the same person who meet when one tries to assassinate the other. Huh? It makes sense in the movie.
Netflix Cult
The Big Lebowski
So cult it's got its own festival complete with dressing-gown-wearing Dude-alikes, the Coen brothers' comedy caper is iconic and endlessly quotable. This is Jeff Bridges at his most memorable, with great supporting turns from John Goodman, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore.
That soundtrack. That elevator scene. That jacket. Nicolas Winding Refn's getaway driver thriller/romance became a cult movie pretty much the minute it was released. Gosling is quietly brilliant as The Driver with Carey Mulligan affecting as his troubled neighbour.
Fight Club
Everybody talks about Fight Club. To some it's David Fincher's masterpiece, a complicated study of modern masculinity with a very twisty plot and a surprise ending. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton star in this violent but satisfying '90s classic.
Netflix Comedy
Groundhog Day
Definitely a comedy – a romantic one at that – as grumpy Bill Murray is forced to relive the same day over and over again, waking each morning to the irritating sounds of Sonny and Cher to find he's back at the start. It's also pretty bleak, but don't be put off, it's really one of the very best existential comedies around.
Airplane!
Surely everyone loves this movie? They certainly should (and don't call me Shirley). Packed with quick-fire one liners, cameos and brilliant ridiculousness, this disaster movie starring Leslie Nielsen at his best has got to be one of the purely funniest movies ever.
The Nice Guys
It's a thriller, a noir and a buddy comedy, but this tale of a pair of PIs in LA investigating a missing girl is really very funny (as well as being totally compelling and emotionally engaging). Ryan Gosling is messy and hilarious while this is the movie that might make you fall back in love with Russell Crowe too.
Netflix Thrillers
Fargo
This Coen classic is a twisty noir with the blackest sense of humour about a car deal whose extortion plan goes wrong spiralling into disaster. It's already spawned a spin-off TV show which is equally well received but the original still holds up perfectly. Stars William H Macy and Francis McDormand.
Buried
Ingenious but horribly claustrophobic single location thriller, where that location is a coffin underground. Ryan Reynolds impresses as a bloke who wakes up buried alive with a lighter, a cell phone and no clue where he is or what's going on. Panic-inducing.
Green Room
The late Anton Yelchin stars in this taut indie movie about a band who inadvertently witnesses a murder at the skin-head bar where they're playing a gig. Brutal and intense, with a standout against-type performance from Patrick Stewart.
Netflix Horror
Super creepy modern take on the slasher, without any slashing, where the big bad is essentially a sexually transmitted ghost. Maika Monroe plays a teen haunted by a relentless shape-shifting being after the curse has been passed to her via a sexual encounter. Clever and unnerving.
It caused a lot of buzz when it first screened at Sundance, then later ruled the festival circuit. This Australian indie by debut filmmaker Jennifer Kent is chilling, beautiful and really quite sad. It follows a grieving widow who's the mother of a challenging young boy.
One night when it's time for a story he brings in a brand new book he's found, which begins, "If it's in a word or in a look, you can't get rid of the Ba-ba-doooook..." Brrr.
Creep
No, not the one set on the tube. Absolutely brilliant and like nothing you've ever seen, this "mumblegore" movie looks like it's going to be a found-footage flick for the first couple of minutes. Then it looks like a weird comedy. And then it turns into something altogether stranger.
Deeply, deeply unsettling while still being vaguely hilarious. Written by and starring Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice.
Netflix Horror Comedies
Tucker and Dale Vs Evil
Far, far better than the title suggests, this is actually a really smart satire about two nice rednecks in the woods who encounter some stupid college kids who keep having accidents. Funny, gory, kind of sweet. This'll appeal to fans of Cabin in the Woods. Talking of which…
Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's love/hate letter to the horror genre stars Chris Hemsworth and Haley Bennett as teens who, with a group of friends, head to said cabin and start behaving very strangely. Meanwhile, in an office somewhere Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins are up to something... Brilliant meta-horror game changer, which (finally!) features a merman.
Zombieland
Romantic, funny, frantic zombie movie that regenerated the genre starring Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson as a bunch of misfits who band together to travel across post-apocalyptic America. Includes one of the greatest surprise cameos ever.
Netflix Romantic Comedies
Never Been Kissed
Undeniably endearing comedy starring Drew Barrymore as a journalist undercover at a high school, who takes it as a second chance to live out her failed teenage years – joining the cool group, becoming prom queen and falling in love with her English teacher, who thinks she's a pupil.
Okay, there's some dubious teacher-student duty-of-care business going on here if you look too closely, but why would you? This is a super-sweet romance and Barrymore is adorable.
A rom-com for people who don't like rom-coms, Amy Schumer's R-rated comedy sees her heroine getting pissed up, shagging around and generally not conforming to dating rules. That's until she meet Bill Hader's genuinely nice sports doctor, which presents her with a problem – can she settle down?
Judd Apatow directs a movie that broke the rules and pushed Schumer into the mainstream.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Judd Apatow again, this time with a sweet-natured rom-com starring Steve Carell as the titular character, whose friends are desperate to help him rectify his titular situation.
Far from some awful frat-boy sex romp, though, this is a sensitive and recognisable story about grown-up love, albeit with inevitable standout gross-out moments.
Netflix Action
James Wan directs the seventh part of this impossibly successful street racing franchise. This installment is one of the best, featuring cars driven through skyscrapers, Jason Statham as an awesome baddie and the same batshit high octane 'family' action that we loved through the whole set.
That it's Paul Walker's swansong only adds an extra layer of emotion to the whole thing.
It's not as good as Skyfall, we'll give you that, but still a very entertaining addition to the Bond universe with Daniel Craig's 007 carrying out a secret mission assigned posthumously by M.
Christophe Waltz's baddie may be comic-book insane, but the Day of the Dead opener is nothing short of magnificent.
Battle Royale
Brutal Japanese dystopian action movie where a class of school children is dumped on an island with a variety of weapons, ranging from deadly to utterly useless, and forced to kill each other until only one winner remains. Sound a bit like The Hunger Games?
This came first, and it's tonally and stylistically very different. Violent, political and highly recommended.
Netflix Superheroes
Paul Rudd turns on his considerable charm as Scott Lang, a criminal chosen to be the new, shrinking superhero, Ant-Man. A cheeky sense of humour lifts this MCU outing above the average origin story. Just watch out for Thomas the Tank Engine!
X-Men 2
There have been many ups and downs in Fox's X-Men movie series, but Bryan Singer's 2003 film still remains one of its highest points. As Wolverine searches for clues about his past, Xavier's school comes under attack from the latest mutant-hating arsehole.
Joss Whedon brought the Avengers together in 2012, and in this sequel starts laying some serious groundwork for the future of the MCU. Assuming there is a future, after the evil AI Ultron is finished toying with Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America and their pals *gulp*.
Netflix True stories
Ava DuVernay's chronicle of Martin Luther King's voting rights marches. The film's been praised for its accuracy and the powerful central performance from David Oyelowo – DuVernay and Oyelowo's omission from the Oscars was met with wide criticism.
Schindler's List
Steven Spielberg's moving story of German-occupied Poland during the Second World War and the German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish victims of the Nazis.
The McConaissance is well under way in this 'based on a true story' about an HIV+ Texas man who began smuggling life-saving medication into the US when he was unable to obtain them legally. Both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto won Academy Awards for their stellar performances.
Netflix Classics
All About Eve
Netflix is a bit short on picks from the golden age of Hollywood, but at least it has this brilliant Bette Davis movie. Ms Davis stars as an ageing stage actress who suspects her seemingly innocent assistant Eve of trying to steal her life – complete with the most glorious OTT script you could ask for.
Network
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!" This classic '70s newsroom satire about a broadcaster who has a breakdown and is exploited by his TV network has so much (depressing) resonance to reporting today. The movie bagged four Oscars including best actress for Faye Dunaway in a deliciously ruthless turn.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Paul Newman and Robert Redford's buddy Western about train robbers on the run is weirdly joyful for a movie about criminals with *that* ending. It's the charisma of the two leads, the snappy William Goldman dialogue and Katharine Ross as Sundance's girlfriend with the Burt Bacharach soundtrack that makes this so re-watchable.
Netflix Musicals
Come to laugh at Russell Crowe singing, then stay when you realise it's actually massively moving, technically accomplished and a really great story with Hugh Jackman tackling the heroic and honorable Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway breaking your heart as Fantine.
Sing Street
Totally joyful musical coming of age story set in Dublin in the '80s about a group of teenagers at a rough school who start a band. Sounds generic, but this is one of the most honestly good-natured and feel-good musicals we've seen – highly recommended.
Mamma Mia
Cheesy? Oh yes. But Mamma Mia! succeeds in spite of that for knowing exactly what it is and having fun with it. Meryl Streep stars as the free-spirited mother of bride-to-be Amanda Seyfried, keen to work out which of three possible guys is her biological father, set to the tune of ABBA songs. A sequel is on the way.
Netflix Crime
Hot Fuzz
The second, arguably tastiest of Edgar Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, with Simon Pegg playing it dead straight as an overachieving cop exiled in a West Country village where people keep accidentally dying. A funny tribute to Wright and Pegg's favourite buddy films.
Layer Cake
Matthew Vaughn made his debut with this stylish crime saga following urbane drug dealer Daniel Craig on a shaggy-dog-story trip through the underworld's upside-down social classes.
Dark, gritty examination of the morally grey area where US covert agencies and the War On Drugs converge. Emily Blunt stars as an idealistic agent caught in the middle.
Netflix Drama
The Virgin Suicides
Haunting, mesmerising drama directed by Sofia Coppola about five beautiful, isolated girls who take their own lives, and the neighbourhood boys who obsess about them from a distance. Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett star in this weird but lovely coming of age story.
Kathryn Bigelow's depiction of the decade long search for Osama Bin Laden after the events of September 11 and his eventual demise at the hands of Navy SEALS. Jessica Chastain stars as Maya, the (fictional) CIA analyst at the centre of the hunt in a dark depiction of modern war.
The true story of a woman called Philomena Lee (Judy Dench) whose son was forcibly adopted and her attempts to find him over 50 years, with the help of journalist Martin Sixsmith. Steve Coogan plays Sixsmith in an uncharacteristically straight and sympathetic performance; Dench is, of course, wonderful. Bring hankies.
Netflix Documentaries
13th
Celebrated African-American filmmaker Ava DuVernay blows the lid off the penal system that has effectively perpetuated the practices of slavery in the US right up into the 21st century. The explosive film scored a Best Documentary Oscar nomination.
The Act Of Killing
Quite unlike any documentary you've seen, The Act of Killing tells the harrowing story of the Indonesian mass killings in 1965-66 by getting the perpetrators to recreate the atrocities in the form of their favourite film genres. Haunting, thought-provoking and difficult to watch.
The Hunting Ground
Exploration of the horrifying prevalence of rape and assault which takes place in US university campuses and is frequently covered up or ignored. Tough going to start with as you hear horror stories from the victims, though it ends on an uplifting note as a group of brave and resilient young women band together to support each other and make tangible changes.
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