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The best movies on Netflix right now (August 2025)
From new Netflix originals to classic films from decades past, we've got the best movies on Netflix for every taste.
With a library of more than 3,500 films and a labyrinth of oddly specific categories and recommendations, finding the best movies on Netflix can be a chore.
To help you with your streaming decisions, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best movies on Netflix right now, ranging from new Netflix originals to classic films from decades past.
To further assist your nightly watching decisions, we’ve sorted our best-of list into genres, so you can immediately navigate to the best horror movies on Netflix or the best comedies on Netflix using the links below. We’ll also be adding movies that are new on Netflix to the top of the article each month.
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Think our list is missing something? Email [email protected] with suggestions, whether it’s about ways to make this list more user-friendly or your personal favorite best movies on Netflix that we overlooked.
New on Netflix
Drama
Comedy
Horror
Action
Documentary
For Kids
Best new movies on Netflix (August 2025)
“Clueless” (1995)
Runtime: 97 min.
Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy, Stacey Dash
One of two coming-of-age classics directed by Amy Heckerling debuting on Netflix this month (the other being “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”), “Clueless” is both distinctly of its era and reliably evergreen. Alicia Silverstone’s Cher Horowitz may be a prototypical ’90s kid, but her character — based on Jane Austen’s “Emma” — is relatable for any generation. Throw in a killer supporting cast — Brittany Murphy, Dan Hedaya, Donald Faison, and a baby-faced Paul Rudd — and you’ve got the recipe for a classic.
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“Dazed and Confused” (1993)
Runtime: 102 min.
Starring: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Sasha Jenson, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Matthew McConaughey
Richard Linklater’s coming-of-age classic could easily stand the test of time based solely on how many careers it launched, including that of a 20-year-old Ben Affleck. But what makes “Dazed” worth revisiting is its authentic, humanistic approach to the milieu of high school. There may be no overarching central conflict, but every character has their own circuitous journey, whether it’s gaining the acceptance of upperclassmen, standing up to a bully, or simply smoking as much weed as possible.
Watch “Dazed and Confused” on Netflix
“The Departed” (2006)
Runtime: 151 min.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen
This Martin Scorsese movie has it all: Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio playing cat and mouse, Mark Wahlberg in the role he was born to play, and Jack Nicholson as the Whitey Bulger stand-in, watching the chaos unfold. It may not have won our Best Boston Movie Bracket, but this Best Picture winner is unquestionably an all-timer.
Watch “The Departed” on Netflix
Best movies on Netflix: Drama
“American Graffiti” (1973)
Runtime: 112 min.
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Harrison Ford
Before he changed movies forever with the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas built the blueprint for the coming-of-age genre with “American Graffiti.” The film bounces between groups of teenagers (including Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and Harrison Ford) cruising around the streets of Modesto, California in search of thrills. Like “Dazed and Confused” 20 years later, “American Graffiti” is distinctly of its time and place, but its chronicling of the impulses that drive young minds to action is evergreen.
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Watch “American Graffiti” on Netflix
“The Breakfast Club” (1985)
Runtime: 97 min.
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy
Out of all the John Hughes “Brat Pack” films that filled multiplexes in the ’80s, none has stood the test of time as well as “The Breakfast Club,” which allowed generations of teenagers to see bits of themselves in the five high schoolers stuck in detention. All five actors transcend the reductive labels they’re given — “a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal” — and discover their shared humanity during a nine-hour Saturday detention. To this day, few screenwriters/directors have captured the voice of the youth like Hughes, who did it repeatedly (“Sixteen Candles,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Home Alone”) in his tragically short career.
Watch “The Breakfast Club” on Netflix
“His Three Daughters” (2024)
Runtime: 101 min.
Starring: Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon
“His Three Daughters” is a movie that will likely hit close to home for many of a certain age. Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face”), Elizabeth Olsen (“WandaVision”), and Carrie Coon (“The Leftovers”) play three sisters whose lives followed different paths but are now forced to make nice in a cramped Manhattan apartment while caring for their ailing father. Lyonne (the stoned slacker), Coon (the uptight, judgmental mom), and Olsen (the conflict-averse yogi) speak to each other in a way that is both strangely stilted but also rooted in elemental truth about familial bonds. Watching them spar is heartbreaking, and watching them bond is hugely affirming.
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Watch “His Three Daughters 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 life of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), who goes from driving trucks to leading a union, all while “painting houses” (killing people) for the likes of mobster Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and protecting the interests of infamous union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Instead of simply rehashing “Goodfellas,” Martin Scorsese goes deeper and darker, examining the life of a gangster who lived the life and is contemplating what it was all for.
Watch “The Irishman” on Netflix
“The Lost Daughter” (2021)
Runtime: 121 min.
Starring: Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal
Based on the Elena Ferrante novel of the same name, “The Lost Daughter” is yet another masterful performance from Olivia Colman, who won a Best Actress Oscar in 2019 for “The Favourite” and could have easily won a Supporting Actress award 2020’s “The Father.” In this psychological drama from actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colman plays a prickly college professor on vacation in Greece who inserts herself in the lives of a young mother (Dakota Johnson) and her 3-year-old daughter. “The Lost Daughter” may have missed out on a Best Picture nomination, but it’s certainly among 2021’s best.
Watch “The Lost Daughter” on Netflix
“Maestro” (2023)
Runtime: 129 min.
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper
From the moment he first steps on screen in “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper is utterly magnetic as composer Leonard Bernstein. The life of the party wherever he goes, “Lenny” quickly begins a courtship with Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), each glance and one-liner delivered like he’s starring in his own sitcom. Even after decades of marriage, Bernstein still feels like he’s putting on a performance at all times, a function of both his gargantuan ego and the massive pressure of hiding his relationships with other men. As Montealegre, Mulligan sublimely captures a woman who willingly discards her own needs to support a generational talent. When Bernstein takes the stage to conduct Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony,” with Montealegre watching in the wings, we understand why.
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“May December” (2023)
Runtime: 117 min.
Cast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton
Director Todd Haynes walks an incredible tightrope act with “May December,” mixing dark comedy, melodrama, and psychological thrills to (unofficially) tell the lurid, ripped-from-the-headlines story of Mary Kay Letourneau. Actress Elizabeth Barry (Natalie Portman) shows up at the home of long-married couple Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton, “Riverdale”) in order to shadow Gracie for a movie based on the couple’s tabloid-worthy romance. Moore and Portman have rarely been better, and Melton is a revelation — his child-like nature both amusing and heartbreaking. Not only does Haynes plumb the fragile psyche of the couple, but he also uses Portman’s Elizabeth to show how callous the Hollywood moviemaking factory can be in the pursuit of creating entertainment out of someone’s lived experiences. Portman, as it turns out, is better at playing a self-absorbed, talentless actress than most actors are at playing “real” people.
Watch “May December” on Netflix
“Parasite” (2019)
Runtime: 132 min.
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong
The New York Times recently named this 2019 Best Picture winner the best movie of the 21st century, polling 500+ actors, directors, critics, and other assorted Hollywood movers and shakers. While choosing a single film to encapsulate a quarter-century of cinema is an impossible task, Bong Joon Ho’s dark comedy certainly belongs in the conversation. A scathing satire that links two families of vastly different means, the film’s stars thinly smile through the indignities and social faux pas before a climactic and inevitable eruption of violence.
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“The Power of the Dog” (2021)
Runtime: 126 min.
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning Western drama centers around two ranch-owning brothers, Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch, “Dr. Strange”) and George (Jesse Plemons, “The Irishman”). When George marries innkeeper Rose (Kirsten Dunst, “Bring It On”), Phil makes life difficult for her and her son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Road”). Smit-McPhee is a revelation in the role, and Campion’s film is dark, foreboding, depressing, and utterly unmissable.
Watch “The Power of the Dog” on Netflix
Best movies on Netflix: Comedy
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
Runtime: 139 min.
Starring: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn
More madcap and funny than the 2019 original, the characters and locale of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” shift from an old-money New England mansion to a new-money vacation compound, with Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig of James Bond fame) as the only holdover. This mystery concerns Elon Musk-esque tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton, “Fight Club”), who invites a group of his longtime friends to his private Greek island in the midst of the pandemic. As fashion entrepreneur Birdie Jay, Kate Hudson gets the most consistent laughs throughout the film, from insisting that everyone at her raucous 200-person apartment party is “in her pod” to her pathological desire to post career-ending tweets. Norton is a winner as well, playing the kind of billionaire who cultivates a worldly image that could nevertheless be deflated by a particularly clever child, a la “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
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Watch “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” on Netflix
“Hit Man” (2024)
Runtime: 115 min.
Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona
Starring the breakout actor from Richard Linklater’s 2016 film “Everybody Wants Some!!,” “Hit Man” is loosely based on a true story about a nebbish college professor named Gary (Glen Powell) who moonlights as a faux hit man for the New Orleans Police Department. Gary, so afraid of breaking his low-stakes routine, takes the undercover duties as a chance to be someone else. When he meets an alluring woman (Adria Arjona, “Andor”) while in his hit man persona (this time a tough guy named Rod), the id and the superego (also the names of Gary’s cats) collide. Powell, who co-wrote the screenplay with Linklater, carefully modulates his performance as the line between Gary and Rod blurs — though not necessarily in a bad way. “Hit Man” is sexy, thought-provoking, and funny. And for a film about a fake hit man in over his head, it’s surprisingly grounded in reality when it comes to contemplating the nature of love, hate, and self.
“The Jerk” (1979)
Runtime: 95 min.
Starring: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams, Jackie Mason
Steve Martin’s first movie remains his best one, telling the life story of bumbling moron Navin Johnson from his humble beginnings as “a poor Black child” to his even humbler present living in the gutter. In between, Navin acquires a dog whose name we can’t publish, a job at a gas station under siege by can-haters, and multiple girlfriends. But Navin doesn’t need any of it. He doesn’t need anything. Except for his ashtray. And his paddle game. And his remote control. And his…
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“Neighbors” (2014)
Runtime: 97 min.
Starring: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Ike Barinholtz, Dave Franco
If you loved Seth Rogen and Ike Barinholtz in Apple TV+’s new series “The Studio,” check out the pair in this comedy, about a couple of new parents (Rogen, Rose Byrne) whose move to the suburbs inadvertently puts them next door to a frat house populated by party-hearty bros like Zac Efron and Dave Franco (who both show up in “The Studio” as well). While Byrne and Rogen try to play nice (and recapture some of their youth at an early frat party), the movie quickly devolves into an all-out prank war.
“Uncle Buck” (1989)
Runtime: 100 min.
Starring: John Candy, Jean Louisa Kelly, Gaby Hoffman, Macaulay Culkin
John Candy plays the titular Uncle, a hard-drinking layabout called into emergency babysitting duty when his brother and sister-in-law are called away for a funeral. While the couple’s younger children (Gaby Hoffman, Macaulay Culkin) warm to Buck right away, their teenage daughter (Boylston native Jean Louisa Kelly, making her film debut) is a tougher nut to crack. “Uncle Buck” captures so much of what made Candy an indelible screen presence, playing a guileless schlub you always root for, no matter how outré his persona.
Best movies on Netflix: Horror
“Gerald’s Game” (2017)
Runtime: 103 min.
Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood
Salem native Mike Flanagan (“Midnight Mass”) helms this Stephen King adaptation in which a handcuffed woman named Jessie (Carla Gugino) must escape a remote lake house after her husband suffers a fatal heart attack. This already daunting task is made tougher when Jessie begins to hallucinate, unlocking memories of her controlling husband’s behavior and a traumatizing incident from her youth. Flanagan’s deft touch and Gugino’s gutsy performance make “Gerald’s Game” stand out as a contemporary take on the survival horror genre.
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Watch “Gerald’s Game” on Netflix
“Jaws” (1975)
Runtime: 124 min.
Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
What more can be said about the movie that kickstarted Steven Spielberg’s career, turned Martha’s Vineyard into a giant film set, and made everyone a little more leery of going in the ocean? Generally regarded as the first summer blockbuster, it’s impressive that almost 50 years later, “Jaws” still inspires such terror. From the opening scene of a skinny dipper being devoured by the unseen monster, the tension builds on the island of Amity. By the time the unforgettable trio of aquaphobic police chief Martin Brody, precocious marine biologist Matt Hooper, and lunatic shark hunter Quint (Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw, respectively) take to the high seas to combat the beast, the suspense is almost unbearable.
Best movies on Netflix: Action
“The Equalizer” (2014)
Runtime: 132 min.
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chloe Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo
Denzel Washington spent his entire career never starring in a single sequel until he paired up with Antoine Fuqua for “The Equalizer” franchise, about a former black ops commander named Robert McCall (Washington) trying to live a quiet retired life in Boston. Despite his efforts, McCall is pulled back into a dark world of corrupt cops, Russian mobsters, and human trafficking after befriending a sex worker (Chloe Grace Moretz). With two sequels under his belt and a third coming soon, it’s safe to say Washington has enjoyed dishing out McCall’s brand of vigilante justice — and audiences have enjoyed watching him do it.
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Watch “The Equalizer” on Netflix
“Godzilla Minus One” (2023)
Runtime: 125 min.
Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada
Set in 1950s Tokyo, “Godzilla Minus One” follows the journey of former kamikaze pilot Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who, by failing to die at the hands of Godzilla during World War II, lives in shame and is seen as a coward. He’s part of a nontraditional nuclear family, raising an orphaned child (Minami Hamabe) with another woman who lost everyone during the war (and subsequent Godzilla rampage). When the government seeks volunteers to help stop Godzilla, Koichi sees a chance for redemption. “Godzilla Minus One” is so much more than a standard monster movie, telling a hero’s tale that doesn’t hew to Western standards while interrogating how Japanese social attitudes pre- and post-atom bomb shifted. Not to worry, though: Godzilla still smashes and roars with the best of them, and looks better than his American counterpart on a fraction of the budget.
Watch “Godzilla Minus One” on Netflix
“The Killer” (2023)
Runtime: 119 min.
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton
David Fincher subverts expectations with “The Killer,” in which Michael Fassbender at first seems to be playing the prototypical contract killer. He has a set of rules, a code, and high-tech weaponry to get the job done. But even before he makes a mistake that sends him on the run, you begin to suspect that Fassbender may not be nearly as suave as his self-image. Indeed, “The Killer” posits that even elite assassins are no different than Uber drivers in a gig economy, with both of them scarfing fast food in between jobs and doing whatever is needed to get a five-star rating.
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“Mission: Impossible” (1996)
Runtime: 110 min.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames
The first edition of this long-running film franchise isn’t the best Mission: Impossible movie — that’s 2018’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.” But this is the one that started it all, and the one that’s most unlike the rest of the franchise. Brian De Palma’s film prioritizes the cerebral over the sensational, even though the action scenes in this film are top-notch, and set the template for Tom Cruise’s escapades over the next 30 years. The suspense of the laser room scene remains second to none.
Watch “Mission: Impossible” on Netflix
“Rebel Ridge” (2024)
Runtime: 131 min.
Starring: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb
Director Jeremy Saulnier’s “Rebel Ridge,” is a tale of revenge about a man named Terry (Aaron Pierre) who has his assets seized by corrupt local police on his way to post bail for his cousin. (If you haven’t read about civil asset forfeiture before, prepare to be outraged.) Unbowed and unbroken, Terry tries to handle things the right way, but Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson, “Miami Vice”) won’t let him. Pierre is a magnetic leading man with action star written all over him, and you’ll be rooting for him to burn the whole force down by the time “Rebel Ridge” barrels toward its conclusion.
Watch “Rebel Ridge” on Netflix
“Starship Troopers” (1997)
Runtime: 129 min.
Starring: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris
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Paul Verhoeven movies have consistently been misunderstood in their time, perhaps none more so than this sci-fi action blockbuster that bombed at the box office in 1997. Critics claimed the film — about a group of 23rd century cadets training to invade an alien planet — glorified violence and authoritarian tendencies, somehow missing that the director of “RoboCop” and “Total Recall” might be satirizing, not endorsing unchecked fascism.
Watch “Starship Troopers” on Netflix
Best movies on Netflix: Documentary
“Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution”
Runtime: 108 min.
Directors: Nicole Newnham, James Lebrecht
The 1960s were a time of political revolution in America, from the protests against the Vietnam War to landmark Civil Rights demonstrations. Less remembered but equally impactful were a series of protests held by Disabled in Action (DIA), an activist group that helped push reforms for the tens of millions of Americans with disabilities. The activist spirit is captured in “Crip Camp,” a documentary about a revolutionary summer camp that exposed disabled people to the free love and rock-‘n-roll lifestyle of the decade while, more importantly, treating them like human beings.
Watch “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution” on Netflix
“Descendant” (2022)
Runtime: 109 min.
Director: Margaret Brown
Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, “Descendant” follows members of an Alabama community known as Africatown whose ancestors were brought to America aboard the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to illegally transport slaves to the states shortly before the Civil War in 1860. The importation of slaves had been banned by Congress in 1807. After remnants of the ship were found in 2019, the film reveals how the residents of Africatown grapple with the implications the ship’s discovery has on their heritage and knowledge of self.
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“Dick Johnson Is Dead” (2020)
Runtime: 90 min.
Director: Kirsten Johnson
Death is not an easy thing to approach, especially when it comes to those we love most. In “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” documentary filmmaker Kirsten Johnson confronts the cognitive and physical decline of her father in a darkly comic way, filming her father dying over and over again, often in hilariously macabre circumstances. While Kirsten uses stunt doubles for some of the more physically taxing deaths, her father is with her the whole way, smiling and laughing as he helps support his daughter’s vision. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll be reminded that everyone’s grieving process manifests itself in different ways.
Watch “Dick Johnson Is Dead” on Netflix
“Will & Harper” (2024)
Runtime: 114 minutes
Director: Josh Greenbaum
Will Ferrell and his longtime best friend, former “SNL” head writer Harper Steele, embark on a cross-country road trip with a dual purpose: Harper (who has recently transitioned to living as a woman) wants to find out whether she still feels comfortable in her favorite types of spaces (dive bars, sports arenas), while Will wants to support his friend and ask the kind of questions many Americans have. There are moments that feel a bit too scripted for the documentary conceit, but there are also genuinely harrowing moments of self-reflection for both Will and Harper as they crisscross the deep South. “Will & Harper” not only offers a path to understanding for Americans who know little about the lived trans experience, but reminds all of us that open and candid conversations with our friends, no matter how tough they might be, are always worth having.
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Watch “Will & Harper” on Netflix
Best movies on Netflix: For Kids
“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”
Runtime: 114 min.
Starring: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph
Originally slated to be released in theaters by Sony Pictures under the title “Connected,” “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” ended up on Netflix instead due to the pandemic. After technophobic father Rick (Danny McBride, “Pineapple Express”) breaks his daughter Katie’s (Abbi Jacobson, “Broad City”) laptop before she leaves for college, he insists on canceling her flight to school and driving across the country together in order to repair their relationship. As they go, the family unwittingly becomes humanity’s last hope when a rogue AI begins to take over the world. Featuring a gorgeous animation style that evokes Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” the film has the perfect mix of kid-friendly characters and laughs that will appeal to all ages.
Watch “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” on Netflix
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
Runtime: 114 min.
Starring: Ewan McGregor, David Bradley
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is so named not only as a marketing ploy, but also because the “Shape of Water” director’s take on the classic fairy tale is so wholly his own. There are still plenty of familiar elements, from a talking cricket (though not named Jiminy) to dodgy villains who lead Pinocchio astray. But the stop-motion visuals from co-director Mark Gustafson feel like Geppetto himself hand-crafted them, and the intriguing undercurrent of fascism makes the film a relevant watch for adults as well.
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Watch: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” on Netflix
Note: This list contains movies available to U.S. subscribers to Netflix’s Standard or Premium plans. Viewers outside of the U.S. or subscribers to Netflix’s ad-supported Basic plan may not have access to these titles.
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