There’s only a couple of months to go until this year’s summer blockbusters start to arrive, but if you’re already craving some spectacular movies then Netflix has you covered.
One of the most-talked about movies of 2023 has just landed on the streamer. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie stars Margot Robbie as the iconic doll facing an unexpected existential crisis that propels her from Barbieland into the real world. Bursting with colour, comedy and sharp cultural commentary, it’s funny, clever and thought‑provoking, with stand-out performances and songs. The film also stars Ryan Gosling as Ken and is narrated by Helen Mirren.
Directed by Tim Mielants and adapted by Max Porter from his 2023 novella Shy, Peaky Blinders and Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy stars as Steve, an overworked, hugely stressed headteacher working at an understaffed reform school for boys with behavioural difficulties in the mid-90s. It’s incredibly moving.
Recently new to Netflix is John Krasinski’s prequel A Quiet Place: Day One. The film takes the premise of the previous two entries and changes the setting, following the citizens of New York City as the creatures first land on Earth. Lupita Nyong’o stars as Sam, a woman who is on a day trip to New York City when the monsters arrive. When she’s thrown together with a man named Eric (Joseph Quinn), the pair are forced to navigate the city together.
Meanwhile, a collapsing marriage is captured in intimate, doleful detail in Marriage Story. Starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as the fighting spouses, it will likely have you weeping with its cutting exploration of broken love. Directed by the acclaimed filmmaker Noah Baumbach, the movie tells the story of Nicole (Johansson) and Charlie (Driver), who try and navigate a bi-coastal divorce while sharing custody of their young son.
For something more uplifting, Netflix has also nabbed the rights to Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s underrated 2024 gem The Fall Guy, which imagines a light-hearted conspiracy unfolding around the chaos of a typical Hollywood movie set. The charismatic leads prove to be well matched sparring partners, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson (28 Years Later), Winston Duke (Black Panther) and Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) among the wider cast.
Read on for our latest picks of the best films on the streaming service right now – from recent releases like Anniversary and Train Dreams to classics such as The Untouchables and Falling Down – or head over to our guides to the best series on Netflix and best comedies on Netflix.
Alternatively, check out our helpful list of Netflix secret codes, which can help you unlock hidden movies and TV shows.
Updated weekly.
Showing 1 to 24 of 50 results
-
Western starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Montana, 1925: ranch owner George Burbank meets and falls in love with widowed restaurant proprietor Rose Gordon. Though the two marry and make a home together, George’s tyrannical brother, Phil, determines to make life hell for Rose and her sensitive son, Peter.
-
Satirical fantasy comedy starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. When blonde and bubbly Barbie experiences a series of sudden crises, she must leave Barbieland to track down her human owner and make things right. But the adoring Ken follows her to Los Angeles where he discovers something called the “patriarchy” and develops some radical ideas…
-
Musical romantic comedy featuring the music of Abba, and starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. On an idyllic Greek island, young Sophie Sheridan prepares to marry the man of her dreams. But a problem looks set to blight the big day as the bride doesn’t know who her father is. So Sophie sends out invitations to three men who might fit the bill, hoping to solve the riddle once her guests arrive.
-
A TV news crew is granted access to Stanton Wood reform school as head teacher Steve (Cillian Murphy), deputy Amanda (Tracey Ullman) and newest recruit Shola (Simbiatu Ajikawo) work tirelessly to offer hope and support to young men who have been abandoned by society and the system. These troubled souls include Andy (Douggie McMeekin), Ash (Joshua Barry), Jamie (Luke Ayres), Nabz (Ahmed Ismail), Tarone (Tut Nyuot) and Shy (Jay Lycurgo), who receives bad news from his mother that tips him over the edge. While Steve resorts to covert swigs of alcohol to carry him through a hellish day he will never forget, Shy spirals out of control, wreaking havoc in front of the TV crew
-
Horror starring Sophie Wilde. Seventeen-year-old Mia goes to a party where her friends bring out a macabre centrepiece – an embalmed hand that enables the user to speak to the dead. Soon after, Mia experiences visions of her dead mother, and as the visions become more and more disturbing, Mia fears she has let something in that means to do her harm.
-
Struggling to conceive, a couple in their 40s are almost out of options — until a sliver of hope arrives in the form of their visiting step-niece.
-
Comedy starring Sofia Vergara and Jon Favreau. Brilliant but temperamental chef Carl Casper appears to have kissed his career goodbye after he clashes with a restaurant critic. But determined to work by his own rules, Carl buys a food truck and not only renews his passion for cooking but also reconnects with his family.
-
Sci-fi horror prequel starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn. New York City is suddenly attacked by terrifying alien creatures with super-sensitive hearing. Sam, a terminally ill cancer patient, and law student Eric are among those who have survived the initial assault – but how long can they remain alive when the faintest noise can be deadly?
-
Cleo works long hours in 1970s Mexico City as a maid in the home of Antonio and his wife Sofia. The couple have four demanding children, whose care is part of Cleo’s daily duties, and they share the household with Sofia’s formidable mother Teresa. Over the course of 12 turbulent months, Cleo witnesses fissures in her employers’ marriage against a backdrop of social and political unrest in the city. The maid faces her own romantic woes when her relationship with boyfriend Fermin buckles
-
Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Noah Baumbach directs this incisive and compassionate look at a marriage coming apart and a family staying together.
-
Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents the classic story of a wooden puppet brought to life in this stunning stop-motion musical tale. Animated family drama, with the voice of Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann and Finn Wolfhard
-
Action comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. After a shocking on-set accident, stuntman Colt Seavers is taking some time out from the movie game. But when the lead actor vanishes from a film being directed by his old flame Jody Moreno, Seavers is persuaded to help track down the missing star and finds himself drawn into a disturbing conspiracy.
-
Science-fiction horror starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron. Working from evidence gathered from ancient cave paintings, a group of scientists embark on a mission to a planet millions of miles away that could hold the key to civilisation on Earth. But some on board have an ulterior motive for making the trip.
-
Romantic comedy drama starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. While in Tokyo to star in a lucrative commercial, jaded film actor Bob Harris meets the unhappy Charlotte, whose photographer husband is there on an assignment. Against the neon-lit landscape the two slowly begin to fall in love.
-
Portmanteau comedy drama from director Wes Anderson. Following the death of its editor, a respected American magazine publishes one final issue, featuring a selection of classic articles from the town of Ennui-sur-Blasé: a cycling tour of Ennui; a profile of an artist serving time for murder; a report on the student-led “Chessboard Revolution”; and an anecdote about the dining habits of the local police commissioner.
-
Oscar-winning crime drama starring Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia and Robert De Niro. Determined young federal agent Eliot Ness leads a tough team of investigators in a dangerous mission to end Al Capone’s violent reign of terror in Prohibition-era Chicago.
-
In this provocative political thriller, a close-knit family is torn apart as a new movement envelops the United States. Diane Lane stars.
-
Ethan Coen’s action comedy sees two women cross paths with a group of inept criminals while on a road trip. With Margaret Qualley.
-
Horror thriller starring Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens and Alisha Weir. A ragtag gang kidnaps the 12-year-old daughter of a wealthy crime lord, intending to hold her for ransom. Holed up in an empty mansion, the group starts to be picked off one by one – and it gradually transpires that this cute young ballerina isn’t all she seems.
-
Behind Vatican walls, the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and the liberal future Pope Francis must find common ground to forge a new path for the Catholic Church. Biographical comedy, starring Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce and Juan Minujín.
-
A life-affirming, genre-bending story about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz. Fantasy drama, starring Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay and Benjamin Pajak
-
Romantic comedy starring Lake Bell and Simon Pegg. Thirty-something singleton Nancy is fed up with her friends’ attempts at matchmaking. But when she’s mistaken for a blind date by divorcee Jack, she decides to go with the flow. It proves to be a memorably chaotic evening.
-
Period drama starring Joel Edgerton. Born towards the end of the 19th century, orphan Robert Grainier spends eight decades living and working as a logger and railroad labourer across the USA’s north west. Over the years, he witnesses progress, destruction, beauty and violence, and he experiences both love and unspeakable loss.
-
Supernatural adventure starring Paul Rudd, featuring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. The spook-hunting Spengler family joins forces with the original Ghostbusters, whose work is continuing via a secret research lab. When an ancient artefact is discovered and releases an evil force, the team must work together to prevent the dawning of a new Ice Age.
