With streamer catalogues booming, there’s no better time to explore for old favorites and new discoveries. Netflix’s roster of older releases and its growing volume of original programming both provide reliable sources of entertainment during these times. With new blockbusters continuing to shift their release dates, Netflix offers the chance to experience some of the peaks of the form, with the classic coming-of-age by way of rom-com “Mystic Pizza,” the hysterically violent “Total Recall” and the Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems.”
As Netflix continues to add to its vast library of original content, its selection of older films remains in flux, with titles coming and going from the platform from month to month. Highlights from 2021 include “Army of the Dead” and the return of a conniving Rosamund Pike in “I Care a Lot.” This list collects the best movies that the streaming service has to offer at the moment and will continue to be updated to keep readers in the loop on what is available. Here are the best movies available on Netflix.
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Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
Image Credit: Toho Those looking to get their fix of Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki need look no further than this manga adaptation. The acclaimed filmmaker debuted with this fleet caper about charming rogues unraveling a counterfeit money conspiracy, slipping through secret passageways and running along rooftops of a mysterious medieval castle.
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Monty Python’s Life of Brian
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Demonized by the Christian establishment at the time of its release, the British comedy group’s hilarious spin on the tale of the Messiah follows the misfortune of Jesus Christ’s nextdoor neighbor after he’s mistaken for our Lord and Savior.
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Total Recall
Image Credit: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures/TriStar An amnesiac construction worker discovers his whole life has been fabricated to cover up a corporate conspiracy to colonize Mars and soon sets off for the red planet to save the day. Casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as the American everyman, director Paul Verhoeven effectively parodies the story’s central power fantasy by manifesting it in its most complete and ludicrous form.
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The Social Network
Image Credit: Merrick Morton/ Columbia TriStar The story of how Facebook, one of the most omnipotent and ubiquitous corporations of the century, came to be is also a monumental string of backstabbing, pettiness and entitlement. David Fincher’s propulsive direction captures the stress and pride of a runaway success evolving too quickly to manage. Meanwhile, Aaron Sorkin’s script continuously spits lines of dialogue so fun that they feel like going upside-down on a roller coaster.
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The Invitation
Image Credit: Drafthouse Films Karyn Kusama spins an awkward dinner party into a nightmare in the Hollywood Hills in a high-wire act balancing grief, suspicion and deception.
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Good Time
Image Credit: A24 If you enjoyed “Uncut Gems,” check out directing duo Josh and Benny Safdie’s previous film. Maintaining the same manic pinball energy of its successor, the wild ride stars Robert Pattinson as a hustler lying his way across the tristate area to make bail for his brother after their bank robbery goes awry.
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Shirkers
Image Credit: Netflix 19-year-old Sandi Tan was making Singapore’s first indie road movie in 1992 until her mentor ran away with the film cans without a trace. Decades later, Tan tells her strange tale in this documentary, reuniting with her filmmaking friends and attempting to track down the lost footage. Though the documentary mourns what was lost, it also forges its own creative path to become a story all its own. The world may never see a complete version of Tan’s original work, but glimpses shown in the doc show it to be a work of startling creativity.
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The Other Side of the Wind
Image Credit: Netflix Perhaps the oddest of Netflix’s original projects, the streaming platform commissioned a restoration and completion of Orson Welles’ unfinished send-up of Hollywood, creating a final cut by drawing from the filmmaker’s notes and consulting star Peter Bogdanovich. Thought to be lost for many years, the result is a wily and magisterial addition to Welles’ body of work.
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Atlantics
Image Credit: Netflix Mati Diop became the first Black woman to direct a film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival with this debut feature. A young Senegalese girl loses her lover at sea when he attempts to immigrate to Spain. Before long, ghosts begin to appear in the town, taking possession of their loved ones to haunt the tycoon employer that withheld their pay for months. Diop’s command is formidable, as she convincingly synthesizes the material reality of the region’s impoverished population with the supernatural qualities of the romance.
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Da 5 Bloods
Image Credit: Netflix Chummy until it’s terrifying, Spike Lee’s sprawling epic follows four Black veterans of the Vietnam War as they return to the battlefield decades later to recover the body of their squad leader and the chest of gold they buried. Forced to reconsider their participation in the United States’ imperialist occupation, the group begins to debate whether their real enemy was the government that sent them there.
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The Queen
Image Credit: Courtesy of Kinolorber/YouTube Narrated by the drag queen Flawless Sabrina, this indispensable documentary chronicles a competitive drag show in the 1960s, exploring the careful logistics of donning outfits, rivalries between pageant contestants and how individuals perform as a means of self-actualization and fulfilling fantasies.
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Okja
Image Credit: Netflix Mija is a young Korean girl who raises a genetically modified superpig, Okja. The film, directed by Bong Joon-ho, follows her journey to New York City where she tries to save Okja from Mirando Corporation.
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The Forty-Year-Old Version
Image Credit: Courtesy of Jeong Park/Netflix The comedy film follows Radha Blank, a struggling artist facing nonstop rejections from the theater community. When her play is finally greenlit, she faces new challenges, getting asked to compromise her voice for career success.
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The Trial of the Chicago 7
Image Credit: Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX © 2020 Based on the true story of seven people arrested after protests around the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom drama arrived just in time for viewers’ to assess our modern political and social divisions against current rising economic and racial tensions.
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Over the Moon
Image Credit: © 2020 Netflix, Inc. The animated musical follows a young girl who builds a rocket ship in search of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e. The cast includes Cathy Ang, Phillipa Soo, Sandra Oh, Ken Jeong, Ruthie Ann Miles, Margaret Cho and John Cho.
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Lady Bird
Image Credit: A24 Greta Gerwig’s love letter to Sacramento stars Saorise Ronan in the titular role as she finishes her senior year at a private Catholic high school, navigating cool girls, shady boys, college applications and her mom.
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I Care a Lot
Image Credit: Netflix Sleek in a razor-sharp blonde bob, Marla (Rosamund Pike) takes advantage of elderly clients who come under her care. The tables turn when she becomes the court-appointed legal guardian of Jennifer Peterson. The dark comedy also stars Eiza González and Peter Dinklage.
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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Image Credit: Netflix An electric Chadwick Boseman shines as Levee Green in August Wilson’s adapted play. Stirring up trouble and proving his music integirty, Levee and his bandmates work through a tense, sweltering recording session for blues legend Ma Rainey, played by Viola Davis.
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Athlete A
Image Credit: Courtesy of Melissa J. Perenson Documentary “Athlete A” unveils the reporting investigation by The Indianapolis Star of Dr. Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of young gymnasts, revealing the corruptness of USA Gymnastics and the heartbraking stories of some of our favorite Olympians.
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Uncut Gems
Image Credit: Courtesy of A24 Watch Adam Sandler trade outrageous comedy for severely stressful chaos as he plays Howard Ratner, a New York City jeweller with a bad gambling habit who must find out how to balance his finances, family and secret girlfriend. The thriller also features Idina Menzel, LaKeith Stanfield, Kevin Garnett, Julia Fox and The Weeknd.
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The Dig
Image Credit: Larry Horricks/Netflix On the cusp of World War II, a wealthy British widower Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires local, self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to dig up mysterious formations on her land, leading to a staggering discovery.
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She’s Gotta Have It
Image Credit: Courtesy of YouTube Before there was the Netflix series, there was the Spike Lee joint about Brooklyn artist Nola Darling who tries to remain true to herself while dating three very different men.
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Bonnie and Clyde
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as crime’s most infamous couple, the 1967 classic chronicles Bonnie and Clyde’s Depression-era bank robbery spree across America.
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The Half of It
Image Credit: Netflix / KC Bailey Following 2004’s “Saving Face,” writer-director Alice Wu made her feature film return with a coming-of-age tale about Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), a smart, shy teen who writes love letters for a jock to make some cash. Along the way, she finds friendship, but develops a crush of her own.
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Mystic Pizza
Image Credit: Samuel Goldwyn Films/Courtesy of Everett Collection How can you go wrong with a Julia Roberts-starring rom-com? The 1988 hit charts the love lives of three waitresses in a small town named Mystic. Annabeth Gish and Lili Taylor also star.
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Vampires vs. The Bronx
Image Credit: Netflix/Courtesy of Everett Collection The 2020 Netflix Original comedy horror movie follows Bronx teenagers as they attempt to secure their neighborhood from invading vampires. The socially conscious adolescent flick features newcomers such as Gerald Jones III and Jaden Michael, as well as familiar faces like Coco Jones and Method Man.
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Disclosure
Image Credit: Netflix The Sam Feder documentary serves as a map of how what we watch on screen ultimately trickles into our everyday behaviors and beliefs. More specifically, “Disclosure” dives deep into how Hollywood’s depiction of transgender people since the industry’s beginning has had a significant impact on American culture.
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Pieces of a Woman
Image Credit: Netflix Vanessa Kirby gives a lauded performance as a bereaved mother dealing with the fallout of losing a baby during birth, garnering her SAG, Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice award nominations. Ellen Burstyn and Shia LaBeouf also star.
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A Clockwork Orange
Image Credit: Courtesy L.A. Philharmonic / Warner Bros. Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 dystopian cult classic “A Clockwork Orange” is a mind-bending must-watch. Malcolm McDowell stars in the pic that explores themes of good and evil, freedom and the intersection of art and life.
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Dances with Wolves
Image Credit: Courtesy of Orion Pictures The best picture winner at the Oscars in 1990, the Kevin Costner-directed Western was a smash hit following its released and earned 12 Oscar nominations, winning seven. The Civil War pic follows a soldier who develops a close relationship with a tribe of Lakota Indians.
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Mank
Image Credit: NETFLIX A cinematic love letter for those interested in the golden age of Hollywood, David Fincher eloquently captured the essence of the time period in black-and-white. The film follows the story of Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) racing to finish the screenplay of “Citizen Kane,” often allowing his alcoholic tendencies to get the best of him. Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard and Tom Pelphrey also star in the film.
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Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival This zany slapstick comedy is directed by the great Taika Watiti, and follows a defiant young kid (Julian Dennison) who finds himself on the run with his crabby foster uncle (Sam Neil) in the wild New Zealand bush. The film only elevated by the fast-paced editing, upbeat soundtrack and stunning cinematography.
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At Eternity’s Gate
Image Credit: Lily Gavin The cinematography is all over the place, the supporting characters are shallow and the setting can seem quite bleak. Surprisingly enough, all of these traits make the film stronger. Director Julian Schnabel tells the tragic story of Vincent van Gogh’s from his point of view, rejecting a traditional narrative in order to highlight his descent into madness — and it’s beautiful.
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Mad Max
Image Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection The inaugural film in the six-movie franchise, George Miller’s 1979 dystopian action thriller “Mad Max” follows an officer (Mel Gibson) launching a personal vendetta against the vicious biker gang that killed his family.
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The Florida Project
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival Living just beyond the most magical place on Earth (that’s Disney World, for those on the East Coast) are 6-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her single mom Halley (Bria Vinaite). Set over one summer, Halley struggles between being a mom and a young adult. Meanwhile, Moonee runs amok around the motel grounds of where they live, sometimes escaping across the street to swindle an ice cream cone for she and her scrappy playmates to share. Their mischief comes to the dismay of manager Bobby (a stern, but kind Willem Dafoe) who endlessly works to corral the chaos and maintenance of the motel and its inhabitants.
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Pan’s Labyrinth
Image Credit: Tequila Gang/WB/Kobal/REX/Shutte Set in Spain just five years after the Spanish Civil War, a young girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), escapes her trecherous stepfather— the sadistic Falangist Captain Vidal (Sergi López)— for an eerie, yet captivating fantasy world. She meets a mythical faun who says she is destined to become the princess of the Underworld, but only if she completes three perilous tasks.
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Moonlight
Image Credit: David Bornfriend/Kobal/REX/Shutt Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning feature about a young Black man growing up in Miami is a stunning portrait of the life of Chrion and his journey to manhood that is guided by the love and support of the community that helps raise him. It stars Trevante Rhodes, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris and Janelle Monáe.
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Casino Royale
Image Credit: Courtesy of MGM Check out Daniel Craig’s debut as James Bond. Recently granted a license to kill, British Secret Service agent agent 007 journeys to Montenegro where he must defeat Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a financier of global terrorism, at a high-stakes game of poker. Along the way, he falls for Vesper Lynd, the treasury employee who provides the money he needs for the game. Continue Craig’s Bond series with “Quantum of Solace,” also on the streamer.
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Crip Camp
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute / Steve Honigsbaum “It was so funky, but it was a utopia,” former Camp Jened attendee Denise Sherer Jacobson says early on. What starts as a lookback on a groundbreaking summer camp for teens with disabilities turns into the seeds for revolution. The Oscar-nominated documentary follows a group of campers who, inspired by their time at Jened, end up in Berkeley, Calif. and launch the disability rights movement.
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Legally Blonde
Image Credit: ©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collectio At a time when your archetypal Valley Girl equated being a villain, Elle Woods’ (Reese Witherspoon) excessive femininity ushered in a ray of sunshine across theaters in the summer of 2001. Hunker down to Harvard with the most amitious blonde around as she tackles the LSAT, slimy men, year one of law school and a buzzy murder case all in the name of love.
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Cuties
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix The French coming-of-age movie hit some controversy after its release on the streamer, mirroring the very same issue the girls face in the movie. Centering on Amy, an 11-year-old girl joins “the cuties,” a free-spirited dance crew she meets at school. Along the way, Amy rebels against her conservative family’s values while trying to grapple with her own maturing femininity.
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Army of the Dead
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix/Everett Collection Zack Snyder makes his zombie return with an epic tale about a group of mercenaries who rally together for the ultimate pay day. Venturing into a zombie-infected Las Vegas, the crew enters the the quarantine zone to steal $200 million from a casino. The ensemble cast includes Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Matthias Schweighöfer, Tig Notaro and Huma Qureshi.