If you’re looking for some really good movies to watch on Netflix but aren’t sure which ones to go for, then don’t worry because we have a simple list of some of the best movies you really need to watch, right here.
Netflix has thousands of movies on its streaming platform, and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming and downright confusing to locate a perfect film.
Many of us suffer from spending hours just trying to decide what film to dedicate our precious time to watch. How many of you have ended up going to bed without having selected anything? We feel your frustration.
Well, hopefully, this list of outstanding movies will set you on the right track. In no particular order, here are 15 very entertaining watches.
Updated on August 5: Every month, Netflix adds new movies and drops many others from the streaming service. As a result, many movies we add to the list might end up axed from the site, but the good news is that other great movies come along to take their place.
Every month, we will update this article by removing movies that are no longer available to watch while we add great movies to replace them. This month was a light month, as only Inglourious Basterds, the Quentin Tarantino masterpiece, was removed.
However, once you get past this list, here are more great new movies added this month you can watch: A Knight’s Tale, An Education, Being John Malkovich, Jurassic Park, Mad Max, Mr. Deeds, Seabiscuit, The Addams Family, and The NeverEnding Story.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
In 2004, Michel Gondry created his masterpiece in the film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
This movie is a drama film and might be the best movie that Jim Carrey ever appeared in.
In the movie, Carrey is a shy, but good man, who meets a free-spirited girl played by Kate Winslet, and the two fall in love. However, after a fight, Winslet’s character chooses to use a fictional mindwiping sci-fi technique to remove him from her memory.
When that happened, a broken-hearted Carrey sets out to have her removed from his memory to remove the pain, and the movie shows those memories as the dissipate.
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
We start with a delightful comedy featuring a glorious return to the big screen from Eddie Murphy. As the lead, Eddie portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, who, in the ’70s, created the comic character Dolemite the Pimp.
The ridiculously flamboyant and foul-mouthed character was a beloved antihero who went on to become a regular feature in the Blaxploitation era. Murphy embodies this wonderful character perfectly, and he picked up a couple of Golden Globe nominations for his troubles too.
As well as Murphy, it also stars some rather big names, including Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, and Craig Robinson. Wesley Snipes also makes a fascinating return to the big screen.
Mean Streets (1973)
Next, we go way back to the ’70s for Martin Scorcese’s breakout movie Mean Streets. The film also brought Scorcese’s protege, Robert De Niro, into the public consciousness.
Harvey Keitel and De Niro bubbled with nervous, aggressive energy as two New York buddies trying to make it on the mean streets.
As Roger Ebert suggested, it’s less a gangster movie and more a tragic story of two young men trying to come to terms with a gangster environment. Either way, it set both Scorcese and De Niro up for glittering careers.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
A horror movie is up next, and why look any further than an adaptation of a book by the king of horror, Stephen King?
Jessie (Carla Gugino) and Gerald (Bruce Greenwood) are a married couple who are hoping to spice up their sex lives in a remote cabin. What could go wrong?
Well, Gerald has the bright idea of handcuffing his wife to the bed; and unfortunately, it all gets a bit too heart-racingly steamy for Gerald, who has a heart attack.
This leaves poor Jessie handcuffed to the bed, having to deal with the sinister forces outside the cabin all by her lonesome.
The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
This unusually made movie was directed, co-written, co-produced, and co-edited by none other than Orson Welles, yet it was only released in 2018.
Yes, you read that right. This is Welles’s last film, which was finally completed 40 years after it began.
This is a film within a film style mockumentary that follows the last day in the life of an aging Hollywood director. Welles may have hated when critics drew parallels between his work and his real life, but they were bound to that with this movie.
This is a very meta film that will subject you to a mixture of black and white and modern footage. A lot of the movie was probably filmed before you were born.
Schindler’s List (1993)
We stay in World War II for our next film, but there are considerably fewer laughs as Steven Spielberg’s epic movie tackles the difficult subject of the Holocaust.
This harrowing movie is based on the true-life story of German businessman Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, who drew up a list during the Holocaust that saved the lives of more than 1,200 Jews.
Schindler identified Jews who were to be transported to the concentration camps before they were sent east and did what he could to try to save them.
This vitally important movie received seven Oscars.
The Irishman (2019)
And we’re back with Martin Scorcese for his 2019 gangster epic made especially for release on Netflix, The Irishman. This movie runs for a whopping 209 minutes, but it’s worth every second.
Loosely, very loosely, based on the true-life story of the antics of Frank Sheeran, aka The Irishman, a mafia errand boy who managed to get himself involved in the infamous murder/disappearance of Teamster union boss Frank Hoffa.
The movie used groundbreaking age altering technology to be able to track the lives of the main characters for decades, without having to change actors.
It’s wonderful to see Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro back working together, and throw in Al Pacino as Frank Hoffa… What are you waiting for?
The Other Guys (2010)
Next up is a delightful goofball comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as Allen and Terry, two desk-bound New York cops who are longing to crack the big case.
Allen and Terry finally get their turn in the limelight after the deaths of the department’s two most popular cops.
In one of Ferrell’s better films, he teams up once again with director Adam McKay (who directed Anchorman: The Legend of Tom Burgundy and Talladega Nights) to produce a cracking and hilarious buddy cop movie.
Also, make sure you check out the brilliantly comic performance of Eva Mendes as Ferrell’s sexy wife, Dr. Sheila Ramos Gamble.
The Social Network (2010)
The Social Network is back on Netflix, and despite being ten years old, it’s proving that it still holds up well. This is mainly down to Aaron Sorkin’s sparklingly good screenplay coupled with the stylish directorship of David Fincher.
Starring Jesse Eisenberg as young entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, along with Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, it tells the story of the origins of social media platform Facebook.
The movie picked up a whopping eight Oscar nominations and managed to bag three of them, including Best Adapted Screenplay. The script is witty and razor-sharp even if it does now feel a little strange and dated ten years later.
Roma (2018)
Alfonso Cuarón’s beautiful film is set in 1970s Mexico City and revolves around Cleo (played by Yalitza Aparicio), who is a cleaner for a middle-class family. She is no ordinary cleaner as she’s considered almost like a member of the family.
Her employers agree to take her in when she accidentally falls pregnant. The movie follows a year in the life of Cleo as she comes to terms with motherhood and deals with the other major upheavals in her environment.
It is semi-autobiographical of Cuarón’s childhood growing up in Mexico City. Roger Ebert described this movie as a “masterful achievement in filmmaking as an empathy machine, a way for us to spend time in a place, in an era, and with characters, we never would otherwise.”
The Oscars agreed with Ebert and gave it three awards.
Groundhog Day (1993)
A fantastic chance to either rewatch or discover this comedy classic starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. 1993’s Groundhog Day features Bill Murray as cynical TV weatherman Phil Connors who’s sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day ritual in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
Somehow he manages to get caught up in a time loop where he is forced to relive the same day over and over again until he gets it right.
Co-written by Harold Ramis of Ghostbusters fame and Danny Rubin, the movie was, incredibly, not very successful when it first came out, but it has since evolved into a cult classic since.
Uncut Gems (2019)
Adam Sandler, as we all know, cut his teeth doing comedy, so it’s rather strange and even a little unsettling to see him starring in this very tense thriller. However, he puts in a fantastic performance.
Written and directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, the script tells the story of Howard Ratner (Sandler), a New York jeweler with a severe gambling problem. As he gets further into trouble, he resorts to doing whatever it takes to stay afloat.
This taut, anxiety-driven film, is one of the best movies of 2019.
Interesting fact, Sandler was nearly choked to death on the set by a couple of extras in a stunt that almost went very wrong indeed.
The Two Popes (2019)
A bit of modern-day history next up with 2019s The Two Popes. Based on the book by Anthony McCarten, who also wrote the screenplay, and directed by Fernando Meirelles, the film is based on the true-life machinations of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the former prepared to abdicate.
Benedict XVI, who is played by Anthony Hopkins, attempts to dissuade Bergoglio, who will later become Pope Francis from resigning his position as Archbishop. The new pope is played by Jonathan Pryce, who put in a magnificent performance.
Both Price and Hopkins picked up a ton of awards for their performances.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
We’ve not had a really good spy movie on the list yet, so let’s change that with an adaptation of John Le Carre’s novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Set within Britain’s intelligence service in the 1970s, it features Gary Oldman, as spy genius George Smiley, who’s trying to weed out the Soviet mole who’s planted themselves firmly at the center of the agency.
The movie has a stunning cast of some of Britain’s finest actors, which include Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, John Hurt, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
End of Watch (2102)
We finish up our list with good old fashioned cops and robbers (well drug dealers). Except that’s not entirely true because this not your typical buddy cop movie.
It stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as Officers Taylor and Zavala, two close pals and “ghetto cops,” walking their beat in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood.
While these cops aren’t afraid to bend a rule or two to get results, they are very serious about their obligation to serve and protect as they battle it out with Mexican cartels.
Written and directed by David Ayer, this is a real gritty movie that has plenty of action scenes and packs lots of punch.
That’s it, folks, enjoy your Netflix viewing.