The most effective motion pictures on Netflix proper now (January 2026)
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From new Netflix originals to traditional movies from many years previous, we have got the perfect motion pictures on Netflix for each style.
With a library of greater than 3,500 movies and a labyrinth of oddly particular classes and suggestions, discovering the perfect motion pictures on Netflix is usually a chore.
That can assist you together with your streaming selections, we’ve compiled an inventory of among the greatest motion pictures on Netflix proper now, starting from new Netflix originals to traditional movies from many years previous.
To additional help your nightly watching selections, we’ve sorted our best-of listing into genres, so you may instantly navigate to the perfect horror motion pictures on Netflix or the perfect comedies on Netflix utilizing the hyperlinks under. We’ll even be including motion pictures which are new on Netflix to the highest of the article every month.
Suppose our listing is lacking one thing? E mail [email protected] with solutions, whether or not it’s about methods to make this listing extra user-friendly or your private favourite greatest motion pictures on Netflix that we missed.
Finest new motion pictures on Netflix (January 2026)
“Dune” (2021)
Runtime: 156 min.
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem
This adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi masterpiece introduces viewers to the futuristic desert world of Arrakis, the place the Atreides household — Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), Woman Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), and son Paul (Timothée Chalamet) — face stiff resistance from all sides as they assume rulership of the planet and its wealthy provide of “spice.” First launched in September 2021, “Dune” was a near-religious theatrical expertise for moviegoers lastly who had been caught at house in the course of the pandemic. However even in your sofa at house, Villeneuve’s blockbuster really feels epic in scale and ambition, and owes a debt of gratitude to the likes of “Lawrence of Arabia” as a lot as space-based sagas like “Star Wars: A New Hope,” which was impressed partially by Herbert’s novel.
Watch “Dune” streaming on Netflix
“Erin Brockovich” (2000)
Runtime: 130 min.
Starring: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart
Steven Soderbergh made historical past on the 2001 Academy Awards, changing into the primary filmmaker since 1938 to be nominated for Finest Director for 2 totally different movies in the identical 12 months, with “Erin Brockovich” and “Site visitors.” Although Soderbergh in the end gained for the latter, “Brockovich” netted Julia Roberts her first Oscar. Enjoying a single mom who forces her means right into a temp job at Ed Masry’s (Albert Finney) legislation agency, her indefatigability helps deliver a category motion go well with in opposition to a utility firm that’s contaminating the groundwater of a small California city.
Watch “Erin Brockovich” streaming on Netflix
“Inexperienced Room” (2015)
Runtime: 95 min.
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Patrick Stewart
Earlier than Netflix tapped him to direct 2024’s “Insurgent Ridge” (additionally on this listing), Jeremy Saulnier first broke into the mainstream with this harrowing 2015 drama a few punk band who find yourself trapped within the inexperienced room of a rural Oregon bar after witnessing a neo-Nazi homicide. The late Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”) is powerful in one in all his remaining performances, however the true shock is a chilling flip from fellow Star Trek alum Patrick Stewart because the skinheads’ coldly calculating chief.
Watch “Inexperienced Room” streaming on Netflix
Finest motion pictures on Netflix: Drama
“His Three Daughters” (2024)
Runtime: 101 min.
Starring: Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon
“His Three Daughters” is a film that can possible hit near house for a lot of of a sure age. Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face”), Elizabeth Olsen (“WandaVision”), and Carrie Coon (“The Leftovers”) play three sisters whose lives adopted totally different paths however at the moment are pressured to make good in a cramped Manhattan condo whereas caring for his or her ailing father. Lyonne (the stoned slacker), Coon (the uptight, judgmental mother), and Olsen (the conflict-averse yogi) communicate to one another in a means that’s each unusually stilted but additionally rooted in elemental reality about familial bonds. Watching them spar is heartbreaking, and watching them bond is vastly affirming.
Watch “His Three Daughters” streaming on Netflix
“The Irishman” (2019)
Runtime: 210 min.
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel
Martin Scorsese’s 210-minute crime saga follows the lifetime of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), who goes from driving vans to main a union, all whereas “portray homes” (killing folks) for the likes of mobster Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and defending the pursuits of notorious union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). As a substitute of merely rehashing “Goodfellas,” Martin Scorsese goes deeper and darker, inspecting the lifetime of a gangster who lived the life and is considering what it was all for.
Watch “The Irishman” streaming on Netflix
“The Misplaced Daughter” (2021)
Runtime: 121 min.
Starring: Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal
Based mostly on the Elena Ferrante novel of the identical title, “The Misplaced Daughter” is yet one more masterful efficiency from Olivia Colman, who gained a Finest Actress Oscar in 2019 for “The Favorite” and will have simply gained a Supporting Actress award 2020’s “The Father.” On this psychological drama from actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colman performs a prickly school professor on trip in Greece who inserts herself within the lives of a younger mom (Dakota Johnson) and her 3-year-old daughter. “The Misplaced Daughter” could have missed out on a Finest Image nomination, however it’s definitely amongst 2021’s greatest.
Watch “The Misplaced Daughter” streaming on Netflix
“Maestro” (2023)
Runtime: 129 min.
Solid: Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper
From the second he first steps on display screen in “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper is totally magnetic as composer Leonard Bernstein. The lifetime of the occasion wherever he goes, “Lenny” shortly begins a courtship with Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), every look and one-liner delivered like he’s starring in his personal sitcom. Even after many years of marriage, Bernstein nonetheless appears like he’s placing on a efficiency always, a operate of each his gargantuan ego and the large strain of hiding his relationships with different males. As Montealegre, Mulligan sublimely captures a girl who willingly discards her personal must assist a generational expertise. When Bernstein takes the stage to conduct Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony,” with Montealegre watching within the wings, we perceive why.
Watch “Maestro” streaming on Netflix
“Might December” (2023)
Runtime: 117 min.
Solid: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton
Director Todd Haynes walks an unimaginable tightrope act with “Might December,” mixing darkish comedy, melodrama, and psychological thrills to (unofficially) inform the lurid, ripped-from-the-headlines story of Mary Kay Letourneau. Actress Elizabeth Barry (Natalie Portman) exhibits up on the house of long-married couple Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton, “Riverdale”) with a purpose to shadow Gracie for a film based mostly on the couple’s tabloid-worthy romance. Moore and Portman have hardly ever been higher, and Melton is a revelation — his child-like nature each amusing and heartbreaking. Not solely does Haynes plumb the delicate psyche of the couple, however he additionally makes use of Portman’s Elizabeth to indicate how callous the Hollywood moviemaking manufacturing facility could be within the pursuit of making leisure out of somebody’s lived experiences. Portman, because it seems, is best at enjoying a self-absorbed, talentless actress than most actors are at enjoying “actual” folks.
Watch “Might December” streaming on Netflix
“Parasite” (2019)
Runtime: 132 min.
Starring: Track Kang-ho, Lee Solar-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong
The New York Occasions just lately named this 2019 Finest Image winner the greatest film of the twenty first century, polling 500+ actors, administrators, critics, and different assorted Hollywood movers and shakers. Whereas selecting a single movie to encapsulate a quarter-century of cinema is an not possible process, Bong Joon Ho’s darkish comedy definitely belongs within the dialog. A scathing satire that hyperlinks two households of vastly totally different means, the movie’s stars thinly smile by the indignities and social fake pas earlier than a climactic and inevitable eruption of violence.
Watch “Parasite” streaming on Netflix
“The Energy of the Canine” (2021)
Runtime: 126 min.
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning Western drama facilities round two ranch-owning brothers, Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch, “Dr. Unusual”) and George (Jesse Plemons, “The Irishman”). When George marries innkeeper Rose (Kirsten Dunst, “Carry It On”), Phil makes life troublesome for her and her son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Street”). Smit-McPhee is a revelation within the position, and Campion’s movie is darkish, foreboding, miserable, and totally unmissable.
Watch “The Energy of the Canine” streaming on Netflix
Finest motion pictures on Netflix: Comedy
“Frances Ha” (2012)
Runtime: 86 min.
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver
Whether or not you’re at the moment a city-dwelling twentysomething or just keep in mind the terrifyingly infinite potentialities of that interval of your life, Noah Baumbach’s comedy-drama will resonate. Frances (Baumbach’s spouse, director Greta Gerwig) is eking out an existence in New York Metropolis as an aspiring dancer. When her roommate (Mickey Sumner) publicizes she’s shifting in together with her boyfriend, 27-year-old Frances loses her greatest buddy, her condo, and her sense of self in a single fell swoop. Filmed in 2011 when Instagram was first surging in reputation, “Frances Ha” exhibits us how comparability is the thief of pleasure — and why shopping for a solo journey to Paris with cash you don’t have gained’t miraculously remedy all of your issues.
Watch “Frances Ha” streaming on Netflix
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Thriller” (2022)
Runtime: 139 min.
Starring: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn
Extra madcap and humorous than the 2019 authentic, the characters and locale of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Thriller” shift from an old-money New England mansion to a new-money trip compound, with Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig of James Bond fame) as the one holdover. This thriller issues Elon Musk-esque tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton, “Battle Membership”), who invitations a gaggle of his longtime pals to his non-public Greek island within the midst of the pandemic. As style entrepreneur Birdie Jay, Kate Hudson will get probably the most constant laughs all through the movie, from insisting that everybody at her raucous 200-person condo occasion is “in her pod” to her pathological want to put up career-ending tweets. Norton is a winner as nicely, enjoying the form of billionaire who cultivates a sophisticated picture that might nonetheless be deflated by a very intelligent baby, a la “The Emperor’s New Garments.”
Watch “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Thriller” streaming on Netflix
“Hit Man” (2024)
Runtime: 115 min.
Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona
Starring the breakout actor from Richard Linklater’s 2016 movie “All people Desires Some!!,” “Hit Man” is loosely based mostly on a real story a few nebbish school professor named Gary (Glen Powell) who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Division. Gary, so afraid of breaking his low-stakes routine, takes the undercover duties as an opportunity to be another person. When he meets an alluring girl (Adria Arjona, “Andor”) whereas in his hit man persona (this time a troublesome man named Rod), the id and the superego (additionally the names of Gary’s cats) collide. Powell, who co-wrote the screenplay with Linklater, rigorously modulates his efficiency as the road between Gary and Rod blurs — although not essentially in a foul means. “Hit Man” is horny, thought-provoking, and humorous. And for a movie a few pretend hit man in over his head, it’s surprisingly grounded in actuality in relation to considering the character of affection, hate, and self.
Watch “Hit Man” streaming on Netflix
“Imply Women” (2004)
Runtime: 97 min.
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert, Lizzy Caplan, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows
Whereas Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) by no means made “fetch” occur, Tina Fey’s “Imply Women” made “Cease attempting to make ‘fetch’ occur” occur — together with a few dozen different quotable traces from the 2004 coming-of-age comedy. Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is the brand new woman on the town, making an attempt to navigate the jungle of highschool cliques. With the encouragement of her first pals at college (Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Franzese), Cady infiltrates the Plastics, spying on queen bee Gretchen (Rachel McAdams) and laughing about her absurd life.
Watch “Imply Women” on Netflix
The Wolf of Wall Avenue” (2013)
Runtime: 180 min.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler
Apart from perhaps “One Battle After One other,” Leonardo DiCaprio has by no means been funnier in a movie than he’s enjoying Jordan Belfort, the swaggering businessman who went to jail for securities fraud after residing a lifetime of extra because the CEO of Stratton Oakmount, pumping and dumping penny shares on witless victims. Whereas your least favourite finance bro may even see Belfort as a hero, there’s no query that director Martin Scorsese sees Belfort for what he’s: a person surrounded by the best issues in life — Margot Robbie! An enormous yacht! Jonah Hill doing quaaludes! — who’s totally empty.
Watch “The Wolf of Wall Avenue” on Netflix
Finest motion pictures on Netflix: Horror
“Gerald’s Sport” (2017)
Runtime: 103 min.
Solid: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood
Salem native Mike Flanagan (“Midnight Mass”) helms this Stephen King adaptation wherein a handcuffed girl named Jessie (Carla Gugino) should escape a distant lake home after her husband suffers a deadly coronary heart assault. This already daunting process is made more durable when Jessie begins to hallucinate, unlocking recollections of her controlling husband’s conduct and a traumatizing incident from her youth. Flanagan’s deft contact and Gugino’s gutsy efficiency make “Gerald’s Sport” stand out as a up to date tackle the survival horror style.
Watch “Gerald’s Sport” streaming on Netflix
‘The Texas Chain Noticed Bloodbath’ (1974)
Twenty-five years earlier than the genius advertising and marketing marketing campaign of “The Blair Witch Undertaking,” Tobe Hooper’s low-budget slasher movie drew audiences in by closely pitching the film as a “true” horror story. Although Leatherface shared just a few incidental traits with real-life serial killer Ed Gein, “Texas Chainsaw” was an utter — and totally gory — work of fiction. You possibly can thank Hooper and this 1974 movie for a few of horror film style’s most beloved conventions, together with the institution of a masked/faceless killer and using family energy instruments to carve up their victims.
Watch “The Texas Chain Noticed Bloodbath” streaming on Netflix
‘Practice to Busan’ (2016)
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, “Practice to Busan” combines the undead terror of Romero’s “Night time of the Residing Useless” with the propulsive motion of “Pace” or “Snowpiercer.” The vast majority of the motion takes place on a high-speed bullet practice from Seoul to Busan, whose passengers slowly start to comprehend that an epidemic has quickly remodeled many of the nation into zombies, together with a few of their fellow passengers. A lot of the ensemble is great, however the breakout star is Ma Dong-seok, who shortly grew to become the nation’s largest motion star and joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021’s “Eternals.”
Watch “Practice to Busan” streaming on Netflix
Finest motion pictures on Netflix: Motion
“Godzilla Minus One” (2023)
Runtime: 125 min.
Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada
Set in Fifties Tokyo, “Godzilla Minus One” follows the journey of former kamikaze pilot Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who, by failing to die by the hands of Godzilla throughout World Battle II, lives in disgrace and is seen as a coward. He’s a part of a nontraditional nuclear household, elevating an orphaned baby (Minami Hamabe) with one other girl who misplaced everybody in the course of the warfare (and subsequent Godzilla rampage). When the federal government seeks volunteers to assist cease Godzilla, Koichi sees an opportunity for redemption. “Godzilla Minus One” is a lot greater than an ordinary monster film, telling a hero’s story that doesn’t hew to Western requirements whereas interrogating how Japanese social attitudes pre- and post-atom bomb shifted. To not fear, although: Godzilla nonetheless smashes and roars with the perfect of them, and appears higher than his American counterpart on a fraction of the finances.
Watch “Godzilla Minus One” streaming on Netflix
“The Killer” (2023)
Runtime: 119 min.
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton
David Fincher subverts expectations with “The Killer,” wherein Michael Fassbender at first appears to be enjoying the prototypical contract killer. He has a algorithm, a code, and high-tech weaponry to get the job performed. However even earlier than he makes a mistake that sends him on the run, you start to suspect that Fassbender might not be practically as suave as his self-image. Certainly, “The Killer” posits that even elite assassins are not any totally different than Uber drivers in a gig economic system, with each of them scarfing quick meals in between jobs and doing no matter is required to get a five-star score.
Watch “The Killer” streaming on Netflix
“The Northman” (2022)
Runtime: 136 min.
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Pleasure, Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe
New Hampshire native Robert Eggers (“The Witch”) leveled up in finances and scale for his third movie, a few Viking prince (Alexander Skarsgard, “True Blood”) hellbent on revenge after the homicide of his father (Ethan Hawke, “Coaching Day”). Like “The Witch,” “The Northman” is filled with mottled grey landscapes and hints of the supernatural lurking under the floor. And like 2019’s “The Lighthouse,” “The Northman” tells a story of male ego and the inevitability of violence when males are lowered to their most primitive instincts.
Watch “The Northman” on Netflix
“Insurgent Ridge” (2024)
Runtime: 131 min.
Starring: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb
Director Jeremy Saulnier’s “Insurgent Ridge,” is a story of revenge a few man named Terry (Aaron Pierre) who has his property seized by corrupt native police on his strategy to put up bail for his cousin. (For those who haven’t examine civil asset forfeiture earlier than, put together to be outraged.) Unbowed and unbroken, Terry tries to deal with issues the proper means, however Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson, “Miami Vice”) gained’t let him. Pierre is a magnetic main man with motion star written throughout him, and also you’ll be rooting for him to burn the entire drive down by the point “Insurgent Ridge” barrels towards its conclusion.
Watch “Insurgent Ridge” streaming on Netflix
Finest motion pictures on Netflix: Documentary
“Crip Camp: A Incapacity Revolution”
Runtime: 108 min.
Administrators: Nicole Newnham, James Lebrecht
The Nineteen Sixties have been a time of political revolution in America, from the protests in opposition to the Vietnam Battle to landmark Civil Rights demonstrations. Much less remembered however equally impactful have been a collection of protests held by Disabled in Motion (DIA), an activist group that helped push reforms for the tens of hundreds of thousands of Individuals with disabilities. The activist spirit is captured in “Crip Camp,” a documentary a few revolutionary summer time camp that uncovered disabled folks to the free love and rock-‘n-roll way of life of the last decade whereas, extra importantly, treating them like human beings.
Watch “Crip Camp: A Incapacity Revolution” streaming on Netflix
“Descendant” (2022)
Runtime: 109 min.
Director: Margaret Brown
Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Greater Floor Productions, “Descendant” follows members of an Alabama group generally known as Africatown whose ancestors have been delivered to America aboard the Clotilda, the final recognized slave ship to illegally transport slaves to the states shortly earlier than the Civil Battle in 1860. The importation of slaves had been banned by Congress in 1807. After remnants of the ship have been present in 2019, the movie reveals how the residents of Africatown grapple with the implications the ship’s discovery has on their heritage and information of self.
Watch “Descendant” streaming on Netflix
“Dick Johnson Is Useless” (2020)
Runtime: 90 min.
Director: Kirsten Johnson
Dying isn’t a simple factor to method, particularly in relation to these we love most. In “Dick Johnson Is Useless,” documentary filmmaker Kirsten Johnson confronts the cognitive and bodily decline of her father in a darkly comedian means, filming her father dying again and again, usually in hilariously macabre circumstances. Whereas Kirsten makes use of stunt doubles for among the extra bodily taxing deaths, her father is together with her the entire means, smiling and laughing as he helps assist his daughter’s imaginative and prescient. You’ll snicker, you’ll cry, and also you’ll be reminded that everybody’s grieving course of manifests itself in several methods.
Watch “Dick Johnson Is Useless” streaming on Netflix
“Will & Harper” (2024)
Runtime: 114 minutes
Director: Josh Greenbaum
Will Ferrell and his longtime greatest buddy, former “SNL” head author Harper Steele, embark on a cross-country highway journey with a twin objective: Harper (who has just lately transitioned to residing as a girl) needs to search out out whether or not she nonetheless feels snug in her favourite kinds of areas (dive bars, sports activities arenas), whereas Will needs to assist his buddy and ask the form of questions many Individuals have. There are moments that really feel a bit too scripted for the documentary conceit, however there are additionally genuinely harrowing moments of self-reflection for each Will and Harper as they crisscross the deep South. “Will & Harper” not solely gives a path to understanding for Individuals who know little in regards to the lived trans expertise, however reminds all of us that open and candid conversations with our pals, regardless of how powerful they is likely to be, are at all times price having.
Watch “Will & Harper” streaming on Netflix
Finest motion pictures on Netflix: For Children
“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”
Runtime: 114 min.
Starring: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph
Initially slated to be launched in theaters by Sony Photos underneath the title “Related,” “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” ended up on Netflix as an alternative because of the pandemic. After technophobic father Rick (Danny McBride, “Pineapple Specific”) breaks his daughter Katie’s (Abbi Jacobson, “Broad Metropolis”) laptop computer earlier than she leaves for faculty, he insists on canceling her flight to highschool and driving throughout the nation collectively with a purpose to restore their relationship. As they go, the household unwittingly turns into humanity’s final hope when a rogue AI begins to take over the world. That includes a stunning animation fashion that evokes Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” the movie has the proper mixture of kid-friendly characters and laughs that can enchantment to all ages.
Watch “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” streaming on Netflix
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
Runtime: 114 min.
Starring: Ewan McGregor, David Bradley
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is so named not solely as a advertising and marketing ploy, but additionally as a result of the “Form of Water” director’s tackle the traditional fairy story is so wholly his personal. There are nonetheless loads of acquainted parts, from a speaking cricket (although not named Jiminy) to dodgy villains who lead Pinocchio astray. However the stop-motion visuals from co-director Mark Gustafson really feel like Geppetto himself hand-crafted them, and the intriguing undercurrent of fascism makes the movie a related look ahead to adults as nicely.
Watch “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” streaming on Netflix
Observe: This listing incorporates motion pictures obtainable to U.S. subscribers to Netflix’s Customary or Premium plans. Viewers outdoors of the U.S. or subscribers to Netflix’s ad-supported Fundamental plan could not have entry to these titles.
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