The 20 best movies on Netflix

Netflix has many quality offerings, including beloved classics and compelling originals.

It's hard to believe that Netflix only launched in 2007, but apparently, that’s all the time it takes to change the face of movie/TV consumption. When it introduced its revolutionary mail-in rental service, Netflix was competing with businesses like movie theaters, Blockbuster, and even Tower Video. Some of those stalwarts have faltered, but Netflix has only continued to expand its library and influence.

Beyond a treasure trove of original series and features, the service has curated a laundry list of excellent films both new and old. Here are the 20 best movies on Netflix right now.

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Gary Winick’s time-shift comedy — in which 13-year-old Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) lapses into her 30-year-old self (Jennifer Garner) and learns to appreciate her fleeting youth — is almost preposterously effective. There’s little reason for a movie that features a dance break to "Thriller" to be so emotionally fulfilling, but we find our hearts swelling up just writing about it. As EW's critic raves, "13 Going on 30 is the rare commercial comedy that leaves you entranced by what can happen only in the movies." —Declan Gallagher

Where to watch 13 Going on 30: Netflix

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Gary Winick

Cast: Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer, Andy Serkis, Kathy Baker

Related content: Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo get all mushy over their 13 Going on 30 reunion in The Adam Project

Bullet Train (2022)

David Leitch's action comedy stars Brad Pitt as a pseudonymous assassin aboard a train filled with other quick-witted killers (among them Brian Tyree Henry, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Zazie Beetz). It's violent, flashy, and inconsequential in the best way possible, making for prime escapist entertainment. "Bullet Train doesn't have a destination, really, or a moral imperative other than mayhem," EW's critic notes. "But it's got a ticket to ride." —D.G.

Where to watch Bullet Train: Netflix

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: David Leitch

Cast: Brad Pitt, Bryan Tyree Henry, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Joey King, Zazie Beetz

Related content: How the Bullet Train team made 'action inside a tube' exciting for 2 hours

Emily the Criminal (2022)

Aubrey Plaza gives one of her finest turns to date in this grounded thriller. She plays the titular down-on-her-luck felon who resorts to theft to make her way out from under a mountain of debt. "She may be a wanton criminal, but she's also a woman very much for these times," EW's critic writes. "Not the anti-heroine we knew we needed, maybe, but one that we deserve." It's a visceral, often unbearably anxious film that showcases Plaza's steeliest, most nuanced performance in a career full of them. —D.G.

Where to watch Emily the Criminal: Netflix

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: John Patton Ford

Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Gina Gershon, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Theo Rossi, Bernardo Badillo

Related content: Aubrey Plaza on why her thriller Emily the Criminal felt like pulling off a scam

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Few films in recent memory have lived up to their title as well as Everything Everywhere All at Once. Combining science fiction, action, broad comedy, and heart-tugging drama, the film manages to cohere into an absurdist masterpiece about finding value in the life you have, without giving in to regret. Action superstar Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese immigrant living in America with her loving husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), with whom she has a strained relationship. One day, while being audited by the IRS, she accepts an offer to escape her life to help prevent a powerful force from destroying the multiverse, setting in motion a dangerous — yet deeply personal — journey. Everything Everywhere All at Once resonated with both critics and audiences, winning seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actress for Yeoh. —Kevin Jacobsen

Where to watch Everything Everywhere All at Once: Netflix

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Directors: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, James Hong

Related content: Back to the beginning: Everything Everywhere All at Once's journey to the Oscars

It Follows (2014)

David Robert Mitchell's chilling, low-fi horror opus has inspired a variety of successors, including 2022's Smile and 2023's exceptional Talk to Me. None of those films have replicated dread and unease in quite the same way as Mitchell's original, though. Maika Monroe stars as Jay, a teen who, after engaging in a one-night stand, is given an STD ("sexually transmitted demon") that she can only pass on by sleeping with someone else. If that's not bad enough, the curse also takes the form of shuffling, stalking entities that may or may not be real. —D.G.

Where to watch It Follows: Netflix

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary, Lili Sepe, Olivia Luccardi

Related reading: It Follows is getting a sequel titled They Follow, with director and star returning

Jurassic Park (1993)

Few movies have ever rivaled the level of wonder and magic evoked when Laura Dern's Ellie Sattler witnesses a dinosaur as John Williams' majestic score swells in Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg's iconic blockbuster about a trio of scientists who investigate an island in which a business magnate has created a theme park of cloned dinosaurs will simply never be topped — no matter how many sequels Hollywood tries to spawn. After all, as Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) quips in the film, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." The 1993 original is thrilling, fear-inducing, and altogether entertaining thanks in part to the then-innovative visual effects which still hold up today. "In Jurassic Park," EW's critic notes, "the dinosaurs — some benign, some terrifying, all wondrous — tap into the giddiest science-class daydreams you had as a kid." —K.J.

Where to watch Jurassic Park: Netflix

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, B.D. Wong, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight

Related content: Jeff Goldblum on how his Jurassic Park character was ahead of his time

The Killer (2023)

David Fincher's latest thriller is a white-knuckle, pared-down genre exercise that calls back to '70s exploitation films but also owes quite a bit to Anton Corbijn's The American (2010). Michael Fassbender stars as the nameless assassin who, after a hit goes wrong and his family is targeted, chases after a shadow enforcer (Tilda Swinton) for revenge. EW's critic observes, "With a reptilian coldness, Fassbender infuses the 'Killer' with an eerie stillness that underscores the character's lack of empathy and warmth." —D.G.

Where to watch The Killer: Netflix

EW grade: C+ (read the review)

Director: David Fincher

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Sala Baker

Related reading: The Killer and Seven director David Fincher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker dissect their lethal partnership

L.A. Confidential (1997)

Like the best crime novels, L.A. Confidential unfurls like a yarn as it depicts a crime-riddled Los Angeles in the 1950s. This neo-noir favorite tells the intricate story of detectives whose investigation into a robbery and homicide at a coffee shop leads to revelation after revelation of the corruption that interconnects the self-proclaimed City of Angels. Featuring an all-star cast including Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe in breakout roles and Kim Basinger, who won an Oscar for her performance as a sex worker/Veronica Lake lookalike, L.A. Confidential crackles with style and well-earned plot twists. "Like Chinatown, the 1974 classic of Los Angeles depravity," writes EW's critic, "this is the rare night-world thriller that understands what bad impulses can do to good men. Even the heroes have to get down in the muck to take on the devil." —K.J.

Where to watch L.A. Confidential: Netflix

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: Curtis Hanson

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito

Related content: L.A. Confidential: Inside its iconic noir style

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2022)

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On adapts the beloved video series of the same name from the early-2010s. The live-action/stop-motion animated hybrid film centers on the titular Marcel (Jenny Slate), a talking seashell who cares for his nana, Connie (Isabella Rossellini). A documentary filmmaker follows Marcel's activities and posts them online, making him a viral sensation and prompting him to make efforts to reunite with the rest of his family. The tender-hearted film blends humor with genuine pathos as it explores themes of family ties and the value of simple kindness. —K.J.

Where to watch Marcel the Shell With Shoes On: Netflix

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Cast: Jenny Slate, Isabella Rossellini, Rosa Salazar, Thomas Mann, Dean Fleischer Camp, Lesley Stahl, Jesse Cilio

Related reading: How Lesley Stahl wound up interviewing her tiniest subject in Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Molly's Game (2017)

Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin made his directorial debut with this engrossing biographical drama about entrepreneur Molly Bloom and her tumultuous experience in the world of high-stakes poker. Jessica Chastain plays the title role, following her journey from aspiring Olympian to bottle service waitress to running an underground poker empire. Her success is soon threatened when multiple mafias get involved in her games leading to an FBI investigation and her indictment. The film soars on the strength of Chastain's charismatic performance, a perfect match for Sorkin's signature clever dialogue. As EW's critic writes, Molly's Game is "a cool, crackling, confident film that appeals to your intelligence instead of insulting it." —K.J.

Where to watch Molly's Game: Netflix

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Bill Camp

Related content: Jessica Chastain shows her cards on Molly's Game, poker, and Idris Elba

No Hard Feelings (2023)

This raunchy comedy represented both a strong comeback for Jennifer Lawrence after a few low-key years and a return to form for the genre, which has seen lean times as of late. It stars Lawrence as a down-on-her-luck thirtysomething who, in order to repair her car, must deflower a nerdy young man (Andrew Barth Feldman) before he goes off to college. No Hard Feelings isn't a perfect movie, but it is often laugh-out-loud funny and subversive in all the right ways without ever insisting upon itself. EW's critic calls the film "a welcome addition to a dwindling genre — and a reminder that Lawrence is one [of] Hollywood's best (and funniest) leads." —D.G.

Where to watch No Hard Feelings: Netflix

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales

Related reading: How a Craigslist ad inspired Jennifer Lawrence's No Hard Feelings: 'I died laughing'

Nyad (2023)

Annette Bening gives an astonishing, Oscar-nominated performance as real-life marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, who at 64 trained to become the first person to swim to Cuba. Equally riveting as Nyad's trainer is Jodie Foster (also Oscar-nominated), reminding viewers that in terms of steely confidence, someone rarely does it better than her. "The two women also share an effortless chemistry that breathes vitality into their onscreen bond and wholeheartedly sells their decades-long connection," EW's critic writes. —D.G.

Where to watch Nyad: Netflix

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Directors: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Cast: Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, Rhys Ifans, Luke Cosgrove, Karly Rothenberg

Related reading: How Nyad star Annette Bening and the filmmakers weathered a storm for inspiring long-distance swim

RRR (2022)

This Indian action epic rightfully broke out as an international success in 2022. Set during the British Raj in the 1920s, the film centers on Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) and his plan to reunite a kidnapped girl with her mother; meanwhile, a determined officer, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan), is hot on his trail. Their lives intersect when they rescue a boy in a train accident and they form a bond, ironically unaware of each other's identities. Packed with rousing sequences (particularly the performance of the Oscar-winning song "Naatu Naatu"), RRR is an entertaining thrill ride that puts Hollywood blockbusters to shame. —K.J.

Where to watch RRR: Netflix

Director: S.S. Rajamouli

Cast: N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Shriya Saran, Samuthirakani, Ray Stevenson, Alison Doody, Olivia Morris

Related content: Russo brothers and RRR director S.S. Rajamouli on the 'universal language' of blowing stuff up

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

This sugar-rush sequel took all of the best things about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and magnified them. It continues the tale of Miles Morales as he struggles with his newfound powers to find his place in a multi-verse of Spider-Men. If only all family-oriented animated films were this invigorating, or indeed, risk-taking. As EW's critic writes, "Across the Spider-Verse mines greater emotional depth by exploring the familial relationships of Gwen and Miles from the perspectives of both parents and children." —D.G.

Where to watch Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: Netflix

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson

Cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, Oscar Isaac

Related reading: How Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk became the coolest character in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Train to Busan (2016)

Su-an (Kim Su-an) has one wish on her birthday: to spend it in Busan, with her mother, as opposed to staying in the city with her largely absent father Seok-woo (Gong Yoo). Seok-woo relents, in an effort to repair the relationship, but their weekend trip is derailed when an epidemic sweeps across the country and through their train car, turning those in its path into ravenous zombies. Yeon Sang-ho's first installment in his ongoing franchise (with an American remake on the way) uses the template of classic disaster films to create a haunted house thrill ride that EW's critic praises as "first-class throughout." It helps that the trip is topped off with a hefty dose of well-earned emotional stakes. Train to Busan is a full-throttle horror film, a kinetic action picture, and one of the only movies about the undead that may let you off with a lump in your throat. —D.G.

Where to watch Train to Busan: Netflix

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Cast: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee, Kim Eui-sung

Related content: Train to Busan sequel Peninsula picks up the zombie action four years later

Triple Frontier (2019)

J.C. Chandor's masculine action riff, about a group of special ops planning a heist in South America, is a stark contrast to his earlier, more patient efforts in 2011's Margin Call, 2013's All Is Lost, or 2014's A Most Violent Year (his masterpiece). While not as thematically strong as those films, Triple Frontier offers a dose of adrenaline that, much like The Strangers, harkens back to a forgotten era of mid-'70s B pictures. "There may be no honor among thieves," EW's critic writes, "but Triple Frontier certainly makes watching them pretty entertaining." —D.G.

Where to watch Triple Frontier: Netflix

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: J.C. Chandor

Cast: Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Pedro Pascal, Garrett Hedlund

Related reading: The 15 best Pedro Pascal movies and TV shows, ranked

The Wailing (2016)

This brilliant South Korean thriller from director Na Hong-jin turns frenzied after a new villager arrives in a tight-knit community, bringing a wave of serial murders along with him. To elaborate any further would give away some of the film's best-kept twists, of which there are many. Suffice it to say, The Wailing is one of the most over-the-top, gratuitous, and devilishly fun horror pictures of the last decade. As EW's critic praised, "The Wailing never bores as Na slathers his tale with generous supplies of atmosphere and awfulness." —D.G.

Where to watch The Wailing: Netflix

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Na Hong-jin

Cast: Hwang Jung-Min, Kwak Do-won, Kim Hwan-hee, Kim Do-yoon

Related reading: The 20 best exorcism-themed movies

Whiplash (2014)

This electrifying indie drama was a pivotal moment for stars Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons and writer-director Damien Chazelle. Teller gives one of his best performances to date as Andrew Nieman, a driven jazz drummer attending a conservatory school, while J.K. Simmons won an Oscar for his frightening portrayal of Andrew's band conductor, Terence Fletcher, who pushes him past the breaking point. With its propulsive editing and tight-as-a-drum screenplay, Whiplash is a mesmerizing examination of what it takes to relentlessly pursue your art, and the consequences that come with it. “You don’t have to be a jazz fan for Whiplash to zap you with its thrumming live-wire beat (although it doesn’t hurt),” writes EW’s critic. “If you can appreciate the sight of two totally dialed-in performers simmering until they boil over, that’s enough.” —K.J.

Where to watch Whiplash: Netflix

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: Damien Chazelle

Cast: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser

Related reading: Sundance 2014: Whiplash director on the intensity of J.K. Simmons

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (2024)

This whimsical anthology film finds auteur director Wes Anderson bringing the stories of Roald Dahl to life. Originally released as four short films in 2023, Netflix has now assembled them all into one collection. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short, centers on the titular character's years-long training process to be able to see without his eyes — all so he can cheat at gambling. Other shorts are The Swan (about the struggles of a bullied boy), The Rat Catcher (about, well, an exterminator of rats), and Poison (about a man who finds a snake in his bed). Anderson's flair for carefully crafted aesthetics is a throughline, as is his love of the art of storytelling. —K.J.

Where to watch The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More: Netflix

Director: Wes Anderson

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend

Related content: Wes Anderson criticizes editing of Roald Dahl books to remove 'offensive' language: 'What's done is done'

The Wrong Missy (2020)

On paper, The Wrong Missy is nothing new: David Spade goes on a bad date with Lauren Lapkus, whose name is Missy, and then means to invite a cute girl (Molly Sims), hilariously also named Missy, with him on a company retreat to Hawaii. (No points for guessing which Missy ends up on the trip.) The film coasts by on a general likability, but if not for Lapkus' performance, the story would be lost at sea. She glues the entire enterprise together with a mixture of well-played raunch and genuine pathos, selling the moment and keeping the plot bouncing along to the next joke. —D.G.

Where to watch The Wrong Missy: Netflix

Director: Tyler Spindel

Cast: Lauren Lapkus, David Spade, Molly Sims, Jackie Sandler, Rob Schneider

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.