Select Page
The 10 Best Movies on Hulu This Week

The 10 Best Movies on Hulu This Week

In 2017, Hulu made television history by becoming the first streaming network to win the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy, thanks to the phenomenon that is The Handmaid’s Tale. While that painfully prescient adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel remains one of the best TV shows to watch on Hulu, it also set a bar for quality entertainment that the network has continued to match—and sometimes exceed—with original series like The BearThe Great, and Only Murders in the Building

While Netflix has largely cornered the streaming market on original movies, and even managed to convince A-listers like Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Martin Scorsese to come aboard, Hulu is starting to find its footing in features too. Below are some of our top picks for the best movies (original and otherwise) streaming on Hulu right now. 

Still looking for more great titles to add to your queue? Check out WIRED’s guide to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Disney+, and the best movies on Amazon Prime.

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.

Triangle of Sadness 

Think of it like Gilligan’s Island, but with more class commentary and vomit. When a bunch of rich head out to sea on a luxury yacht, their plans are thwarted when a terrible storm leaves many of them stranded on a beach where none of their money or power can help them survive. That already gives away too much, but suffice to say, if you like Menu-esque critiques of the excesses of wealth with just as many dark-comedy twists, then this Oscar-nominated film is right for you. 

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

OK, so this might be the movie that turned the idea of “lesbian period drama” into a trope, but it’s also one of the best modern queer romance films around, alongside Moonlight and Carol. Set on an isolated French coast in the late-1700s, writer-director Céline Sciamma’s film centers on a young aristocrat woman, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), who is betrothed to a wealthy Milanese man. When Héloïse’s mother hires Mariane (Noémie Merlant) to paint a portrait of her daughter, the two women fall in love and have the kind of heartbreaking affair that have made lesbian period dramas so undeniable in the first place. You’ll be transfixed. 

Spencer

Look, there are probably already far too many Princess Diana movies and TV shows, but this one, directed by Pablo Larrain and starring Kristen Stewart as the princess of Wales, focuses on one specific Christmas at Queen Elizabeth’s Sandringham Estate in a way that narrows down just how complex each day Diana’s life with the royal family must have been. Yes, the backdrop are the rumors of divorce surrounding Diana and Prince Charles (Jack Farthing), but the story is about her relationships within the family and the life she left behind to join them. 

Nomadland

This film from director Chloé Zhao, about one woman’s post-Great Depression quest through the American West won a ton of Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress for lead Frances McDormand, and Best Director and Best Editing wins for Zhao. Zhao also won for Best Adapted Screenplay for her adaptation of WIRED contributor Jessica Bruder’s book, also called Nomadland. It’s a bracing look at the modern American dream. 

Boston Strangler 

If you’re the kind of viewer who just can’t get enough of murder shows and has been looking for a murder movie, might we suggest Boston Strangler? Based on the real-life serial killer of the same name, writer-director Matt Ruskin’s “reimagining” of the 1968 movie focuses on the two reporters—Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) and Jean Cole (Carrie Coon)—who uncovered the news about the Strangler’s string of killings in the 1960s and broke the story. If nothing else, it’s worth watching just to see what happens when a Bostonian director forbids his predominantly non-Bostonian cast from trying to imitate the city’s notorious accent. 

Prey 

Based on decades of experience, moviegoers have come to expect very little from sequels, prequels, and/or reboots—which is what makes Prey such an astounding surprise. As the fifth installment in the Predator franchise and a prequel, the 18th-century tale follows the Arthurian adventures of Naru (Amber Midthunder), a young Comanche woman and fierce warrior who is determined to save her people from a highly evolved predator (aka Predator) that is attempting to decimate her community. The film, directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), brilliantly mixes elements of survival horror and sci-fi with Western mythology to create what many have deemed the very best film in the nearly 40-year-old franchise, which all began with ’80s-era Ahhnold.

Fresh 

Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a single woman on the lookout for a partner, but who is tired of the online dating scene. So when she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan), a quirky, handsome stranger, she takes a chance on giving him her number. The two hit it off on the first date and eventually find themselves making plans to spend a weekend away—which is when Noa realizes that Steve has been hiding a few disturbing details about himself. Ultimately, Fresh stands as a lesson in the horrors of dating in the digital age (both real and imagined).  

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande 

Two years after the death of her husband, retired religion teacher Nancy Stokes (Emma Thompson) decides it’s time to do something about the fact that she has never had an orgasm. So she hires Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack), a young male sex worker, and invites him to a hotel room so that she can cross a few items off her sexual bucket list. But what begins as a transactional relationship quickly, and genuinely, evolves into much more. 

Palm Springs 

Given the existence of Harold Ramis’ near-perfect Groundhog Day, it takes a whole lot of chutzpah for a filmmaker to add another picture to the infinite-time-loop rom-com canon. But writer-director Max Barbakow went ahead and did it anyway with Palm Springs, and audiences are thankful he did. Building upon the rules originally established in Groundhog DayPalm Springs offers its own unique twist on the story. Instead of one person (Billy Murray’s Phil Conners) slowly being pushed to the brink of insanity because he’s the only one who seems to be experiencing the phenomenon, Palm Springs sees three wedding guests—Nyles (Andy Samberg), Sarah (Cristin Milioti), and Roy (J. K. Simmons)—living the same day again and again, and working together to find a way out of it. 

Rosaline 

Romeo (Kyle Allen) and Juliet (Isabela Merced) regularly nab all the headlines as William Shakespeare’s legendarily star-crossed lovers. But this inventive rom-com from director Karen Maine (Obvious Child) is more concerned with Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever), Juliet’s cousin—and Romeo’s first love—who is conveniently disposed of in the play. Dever makes up for 400-plus years of lost time as she plots to win her man back in this fun and frilly period rom-com.

Just Make an ‘Andor’ Movie, You Cowards!

Just Make an ‘Andor’ Movie, You Cowards!

It’s been a long time since anyone has gone to a theater to see a Star Wars movie. Three years, in fact. It was Star Wars: Episode IX—The Rise of Skywalker, in late 2019. It was before Covid-19 closed theaters, before Disney CEO Bob Iger slowed the pace of the Lucasfilm cinematic universe. A lot has changed. 

The biggest shift, of course, is that fans started watching a lot of their Star Wars content on Disney+. During early pandemic lockdowns, The Mandalorian became a balm for many. So did The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, with perhaps slightly less culture-shifting impact. It’s no surprise, then, that out of the three—yes, three—new Star Wars features Lucasfilm announced Friday at Star Wars Celebration in Europe, one of them will be directed by Dave Filoni and will “close out the interconnected stories told in The MandalorianThe Book of Boba FettAhsoka, and other Disney+ series.”

What is surprising is that that list doesn’t explicitly include Andor. Not because that story would fit with the others, but because Andor is the best thing Lucasfilm has made in years, and I’d rather watch a two-hour tale of Cassian’s revolution against the Empire than two hours of any of those other shows combined. Which brings me to my point: Make an Andor movie, you cowards!

Of course, there’s a counterargument to this. I can hear it already: There already is an Andor movie, Rogue One. Yes, the Disney+ series was a spinoff from a film, but so were Obi-WanBoba Fett, and the others. While it’s true that there isn’t a whole lot of material to be mined in the five-year narrative time frame between Andor and Rogue One—and there’s already a second season of Andor in the works—fans have spent a lot of time following the development of New Republic. And, I dunno, maybe there’s something else these movies could be tapping into. (The alliance of Cassian and Luthen Rael is a movie in itself.) 

Moreover, Andor’s energy might be what Star Wars needs right now. One of the reasons the show resonated so deeply is that it felt tangible, human. There were no Jedi (that the audience knows of), no long monologues about the Force. Instead, there were real, disenfranchised people fighting tyranny—upheavals on prison colonies and rebellions in the streets. Star Wars has always been about escapism, but it has a moral core, one that Andor has tapped into more effectively than arguably any other installment in the franchise. A film based on the show’s characters may lack lightsabers and pew-pew action, but it could have something more: soul.  

In addition to Filoni’s new movie, Lucasfilm announced a new Star Wars from Logan director James Mangold about “the dawn of the Jedi,” and one from Ms. Marvel director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy that will “feature Daisy Ridley back as Rey as she builds a new Jedi Order.” That’s … a lot of Jedi, a lot of woo-woo. Both of these films, particularly Obaid-Chinoy’s, sound promising. But more could be done to fulfill Star Wars’ promise. As newly returned Disney CEO Iger faces off against Florida governor Ron DeSantis over what Iger sees as retaliation for the company’s opposition to the so-called Don’t Say Gay bill, maybe a movie about a different kind of rebellion is exactly what the studio needs. 

The 43 Best Movies on Disney+ Right Now

The 43 Best Movies on Disney+ Right Now

In the game known as the streaming wars, Disney+ came out swinging, bringing with it a massive library of movies and TV shows—with new ones being added all the time. Watched everything on Netflix? Disney+ has a seemingly endless selection of Marvel movies and plenty of Star Wars and Pixar fare, too. Problem is, there’s so much stuff, it’s hard to know where to begin. WIRED is here to help. Below are our picks for the best films on Disney+ right now.

For more viewing ideas, try our guides to the best films on Netflix, the best films on Amazon Prime, and the best shows on Apple TV+.

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

As WIRED senior writer Jason Parham wrote in his review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, this movie his haunted by the absence of Chadwick Boseman, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s original King T’Challa who died following a battle with colon cancer in 2020. To that end, writer-director Ryan Coogler had to make a much different kind of superhero film, one that addressed the loss of its main character while also pushing Marvel’s cinematic storyline forward into its next phase. “It’s rare for MCU films to channel the turbulence of grief with such unflinching focus,” Parham wrote. “Coogler has equipped his sequel with a changed vocabulary: It speaks equally from a place of loss as it does triumph. Grief is its mother tongue.” To that end, the director uses the death of T’Challa to usher in a new Black Panther as well as new heroes (Ironheart) and adversaries-turned-allies (Namor). 

Thor: Love and Thunder

After blowing up the franchise (in a good way) with Thor: Ragnarok, WIRED cover guy Taika Waititi hopped back in the director’s chair for its followup, Thor: Love and Thunder. The movie didn’t shake fans up quite as much as its predecessor, but it’s still a rocking good time with a fun turn by Natalie Portman as Jane Foster (aka The Mighty Thor, the new wielder of Mjolnir) and other surprises. (Hint: Ted Lasso fans should definitely watch the end-credits scene.) 

Turning Red

Mei Lee is a 13-year-old with a problem: Whenever she’s overcome with any sort of overwhelming emotion, which is just about every emotion at that age, she transforms into a giant red panda. Eventually, Mei comes to learn that it’s an inherited family trait. And while there are people who would like to exploit her supernatural powers, she slowly learns that only she has the power to control them. Think of this as a spiritual sequel to 2015’s Inside Out, which explored the complex inner workings of an 11-year-old’s constantly changing emotions.

If These Walls Could Sing

Abbey Road Studios is best known as the place where the Beatles recorded some of their most iconic albums, including 1969’s Abbey Road. But the hallowed halls of this legendary music studio have played a much bigger role in the music industry, as it has hosted the likes of everyone from Elton John, Pink Floyd, and Aretha Franklin to Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Radiohead, Adele, Oasis, Kate Bush, and Frank Ocean. This documentary, which comes on the heels of Peter Jackson’s docuseries The Beatles: Get Back (which is also streaming on Disney+ and is highly recommended), is directed by Mary McCartney—daughter of Sir Paul—who practically grew up in the studio and, as such, is able to treat her subject with the reverence it deserves. 

Avatar

James Cameron’s Avatar was all anyone could talk about when it was released in theaters in 2009 and promptly went on to make more than $1 billion, becoming the cinematic iceberg that sank another Cameron epic, 1997’s Titanic, from its place as the highest grossing movie of all time. For a movie that made so much bank, it never occupied a huge space in the cultural conversation about movies. Like so many of Cameron’s works, much of its innovation came from the technology that essentially had to be invented to make it possible. And while the original film was unexpectedly yanked from streaming back in September, making a surprise reappearance back in theaters, it’s finally back on Disney+, ready to treat audiences to the world of Pandora all over again. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Sam Raimi’s sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange isn’t the beloved director’s first superhero movie, but it is his first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe style of making movies, which ultimately proves to be both a blessing and a curse. On the plus side, the movie is probably the closest thing the Marvel franchise has gotten to a straight-up horror film, and it’s full of Raimi’s signature practical effects (plus the ever-important Bruce Campbell cameo). Yet, because the MCU is such a box office powerhouse, the movie never goes full Raimi—which is understandable, but somewhat disappointing for fans of The Evil Dead maestro. Still, it’s ultimately a fun ride with multiple versions of Benedict Cumberbatch’s cocky Doctor and Elizabeth Olsen as the power-seeking Scarlet Witch.

Iron Man

The MCU has produced more than two dozen films since 2008, yet the very first of them—Iron Man—remains one of the best. It’s almost hard to believe how hard director Jon Favreau had to fight to get Robert Downey Jr. the leading role, as he’s arguably one of the MCU’s most beloved figures. Before there was a whole franchise plus a shared TV universe, Downey, as Tony Stark/Iron Man, was just allowed to do his thing. It was a gamble that paid off for all involved.

West Side Story

From Martin Scorsese to Spike Lee, pretty much every great director has made—or at least attempted to make—a grand Hollywood musical, perhaps one of the toughest genres to successfully pull off. Steven Spielberg made the task even more difficult when he decided to adapt Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and ​​Arthur Laurents’ West Side Story—which Robert Wise already did to great acclaim in 1961. But, Spielberg (being Spielberg) managed to create an updated take on the story of Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler), two love-struck teens caught in the middle of an escalating rivalry between two street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. The update gives nods to the original (like casting Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for her role as Anita in Wise’s film) while tamping down its more controversial bits (like casting Natalie Wood in the role of a Puerto Rican teen).

Fantastic Mr. Fox

When, in the early 2000s, it was announced that Wes Anderson would be cowriting (with Noah Baumbach) and directing a traditional stop-motion animated version of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, it seemed like an odd choice—until one remembered that Anderson’s career was built on delivering the unexpected. In this classic tale, the eponymous animal (voiced by George Clooney, who brings just the right amount of slyness to the role) breaks a longtime promise to his wife (Meryl Streep) that his days of stealing from their human neighbors are over. Though it’s family-friendly, the stakes are real as Mr. Fox risks his marriage and career by falling back into old habits.

Lady and the Tramp

Sure, you can watch the live action/CGI version that Disney+ released shortly after it launched, but why bother when the 1955 original is here, too? Put aside the rather vulgar stereotypes that were common at the time (the movie now comes with a warning), and Lady and the Tramp remains one of the most iconic classic Disney animations, and a love story for the ages. When a spoiled cocker spaniel named Lady finds herself competing with a new baby for the attention of her parents, she ends up getting loose and befriending a mangy but charming mutt named Tramp. Ultimately, Lady needs to choose the pampered life she’s always known with Jim Dear and Darling, or a life of spaghetti dinner discards with the hopelessly romantic Tramp—unless there’s another way.

The Rescue

In the summer of 2018, people around the world were transfixed by the story of a dozen young football players and their 25-year-old assistant coach, who became trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand due to monsoon conditions. Eighteen days later, the team was rescued, with all 12 boys and their coach surviving the incident. While it was happening, filmmakers were already scrambling for the rights to tell the story—no matter how it ended. Tom Waller’s The Cave (2019) and Ron Howard’s upcoming Thirteen Lives are two of them. But, in this particular case, the truth is far more compelling than fiction, as this documentary from Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi—the Oscar-winning husband-and-wife team behind Free Solo–certainly attests.

The Muppet Movie

Between The Muppet Show and The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson and the Muppets were everywhere in 1979. Their first big-screen outing serves as more of a prequel, as it follows Kermit the Frog’s journey from a swamp in Florida to Hollywood, where he’s headed to pursue his dreams of becoming a movie star. Along the way, we get to witness where and how he meets the fellow members of his felt-made crew, from Fozzie Bear to Miss Piggy. Hijinks ensue when a restaurateur named Doc Hopper doesn’t take too kindly to Kermit turning down his offer to serve as the official legs of his chain’s famous fried frog legs, and follows the frog in order to seek revenge.

Splash

Before Tom Hanks was Tom Hanks, he was a sitcom star (Bosom Buddies) and a budding comedic actor who fell in love with a real-life mermaid (Daryl Hannah) in this literal fish-out-of-water rom-com from Ron Howard. Splash was the first movie released by Touchstone, a Disney banner created so that the studio could step a little bit further away from its classic cartoons. Some profanity and a brief glimpse of Hannah’s backside were too hot for Disney to handle at the time. (Hey, it was the 1980s.)

Luca

Enrico Casarosa’s Luca earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature in 2022 for its sweet and soulful story about a young boy named Luca who is hiding a dark secret: He’s a sea monster living in a town on the Italian Riviera that absolutely despises his kind. Ultimately, Luca is a moving coming-of-age film about friendship, family, and overcoming our own prejudices—and truly one of Pixar’s best features.

Captain Marvel

Marvel’s biggest mistake in the entire MCU canon (so far) was not commissioning Captain Marvel sooner. The film, set in the past, sees the rise of Marvel (Brie Larson) as she discovers her origin story and develops her powers. The film, the first entry in the Marvel universe with a female lead, channels the spirit of the 1990s both in its setting and in style, with heaping spoonfuls of Samuel L. Jackson and all the plot and subtlety of a blockbuster action movie. Larson adds a healthy dose of sarcasm to undercut her character’s immense power, and Jackson is eerily brilliant, making for a super fun 123 minutes.

Ant-Man

Who doesn’t love a heist movie? Paul Rudd’s MCU debut acted as something of a palate cleanser after the heavy, literally Earth-shattering events of Age of Ultron. Rudd plays Scott Lang, a reformed criminal who teams up with Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter (Evangeline Lily) to keep Pym’s shrinking technology from falling into the wrong hands. The film’s depiction of quantum physics wouldn’t hold much water at CERN, but it’s terrific fun—thanks in part to Michael Peña’s star turn as Lang’s former cellmate Luis and, of course, Rudd’s legendary likability.

Turner and Hooch

When you think of crime-fighting duos, Tom Hanks (Scott Turner) and Beasley the dog (Hooch) probably aren’t the first investigators that spring to mind. That doesn’t mean they’re without merit, though. This 1989 cop comedy—which Disney+ made into a 12-part TV series in 2021—forces the pair together as Turner, a city cop, investigates the murder of Hooch’s owner, with the dog being the only witness to the crime. Using Hooch’s nose and appetite for swift justice, the duo set out to track down the killers and find themselves amid a much more sinister plot.

Mulan

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and its shutdown of almost the entire movie industry, Disney decided to try something new with its live-action version of Mulan by making it available to Disney+ subscribers instead of releasing it in theaters. The film itself is one of the latest in Disney’s recent string of live-action remakes and sees Liu Yifei in the title role, with reviews praising the cast, visuals, and action sequences.

Avengers: Endgame

There’s a moment in the event-movie-to-endgame-all-event-movies when you realize that writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus have gone full Harry Potter and the Cursed Child all over the MCU. Once you get past the rather glum beginning, you can settle in for what you have come to expect from any Avengers movie: Tony Stark cracking wise; Doctor Strange doing weird things with his hands; Professor Hulk explaining the science of what’s going on; and Black Widow and Captain Marvel kicking ass, both emotionally and physically. It’s a messy but epic baton-pass in the form of an angsty portal-powered mega-battle. And we’re not going to lie: We’ve watched those audience reaction videos and they, too, are a thing of joy.

Togo

The year is 1925 and a deadly epidemic has struck the Alaskan town of Nome. The only cure is 600 miles away, and a massive storm is about to strike the region. Leonhard Seppala and his lead sled dog, Togo, are the town’s only hope of getting the vaccine. The dog may not be the biggest of the sled crew, but it is tenacious. The entire mission to save the town relies on Togo’s ability to face the challenging conditions. Added to all that, Togo is based on a true story.

Deadpool 2

This foul-mouthed superhero movie marks a definite departure from the vanilla content that was available on Disney+ in its first couple years of operation. Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool, who has the ability to heal from pretty much any injury—and is an angry, violent, wisecracking mercenary tasked with protecting a young mutant from a time-traveling soldier.

Hamilton

If you only know Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical from the obscenely high ticket prices and snippets of the soundtrack, here’s your chance to find out what all the fuss is about. A version of the production, recorded via a six-camera setup over two performances by the original Broadway cast, was put on Disney+ after plans to release it in cinemas were scrapped. Aside from a couple of censored swear words and the fact that it’s directed (by Thomas Kail), it’s essentially the same show—an energetic, empathetic, witty, quippy hip hop musical about US founding father Alexander Hamilton.

All the Pixar Shorts

Now’s the time for a Pixar short sesh. You could do as the studio intended and pick out the correct short to watch before the main animated showing, or you could head to the Shorts tab and go wild with Pixar, Disney, and new Sparkshorts. WIRED’s faves are Lava (8 minutes), Bao (7 minutes), Purl (12 minutes), Smash and Grab (8 minutes), La Luna (6 minutes), Sanjay’s Super Team (7 minutes), and Day and Night (7 minutes). Out (9 minutes) is one of the latest, and for a slice of Pixar history, check out 1997’s Geri’s Game (4 minutes) and see if you recognize the chess player.

Moana

One of the potential answers to “What, oh, what to put on after Frozen and Frozen 2?” Moana is in fact better than Frozen. By that we simply mean better soundtrack, better heroine, better visuals, and better side quests. There’s also 100 percent more Dwayne Johnson as a tattooed demigod and Jemaine Clement as a giant crab doing a Bowie impression. Set thousands of years ago on the fictional, Polynesia-inspired island of Motunui, Moana’s hero’s journey is fairly classic, but the sumptuous animation and Lin-Manuel Miranda tunes are top-tier Disney. (Sure, we’d love to see Taika Waititi’s original script, but we can live without it.)

Free Solo

If your friend told you they’d decided to solo-climb up the sheer 3,000-foot granite El Capitan wall in Yosemite, California, with no rope, you’d think they had gone mad. But that’s exactly what Alex Honnold set out to do back in 2017. Honnold’s quest to climb the vertical wall was documented by his two director friends, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, as he took on the ascent to become the world’s first person to free-climb El Capitan. But it’s not just about the ascent, it’s also about Honnold’s complicated life, his emotional issues, and all the things that have driven him to pursue one of the most dangerous missions ever attempted by any free climber. The cinematography in Free Solo is also dizzyingly beautiful, and the entire thing will have you gripping the arm of your chair in terror.

Honey, I Shrunk The Kids

Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) is an experimental inventor who creates an electromagnetic shrinking machine. Naturally, he accidentally shrinks his own children (if you didn’t already guess that from the title), plus the kids from next door, then unwittingly throws them in the trash. To have any chance of becoming their normal size again, the teeny tots must navigate their way across the family’s (now seemingly gigantic) yard and back to the house. It’s something fraught with peril when you’re half the size of an aspirin.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his wife, Kate (Bonnie Hunt), always wanted a big family, but they weren’t expecting to have 12 children. When Tom gets his dream job as a college football coach, he relocates the entire family, causing upset among his offspring. Kate’s book gets published, meaning she has to spend some time away from the family, and without her the Bakers’ lives are pure chaos. Cheaper by the Dozen is a classic Steve Martin slapstick comedy, though it will make you glad you don’t have that many kids.

Toy Story (All of Them)

While it might have seemed that Pixar could never make anything as good as the original 1995 Toy Story, each of the three subsequent films add depth to the franchise’s canon. All of the movies are critically acclaimed—and they’re all available on Disney+. When combined, the four films tell a story about growing up and how everything in life, inevitably, changes. Woody (Tom Hanks) and the gang go from learning how to deal with new people to understanding loss. It’s something that’s also followed the cast: In Toy Story 4 the voice of Mr. Potato Head is created through archive recordings after Don Rickles, as the man behind the voice died ahead of the film’s release.

The Lion King

Remember the terrifying wildebeest stampede in the 1994 version of The Lion King? That was actually computer animated, because drawing them by hand would have taken a long, long time. Special attention was taken to blend it into the cel-shaded backgrounds, and this was all before Toy Story came out the following year. Which is all to say that not only is the ’90s version a perfect movie that had absolutely zero need for a charm-deficient 2019 remake (which is also streaming on Disney+ in case you want to compare), it’s also the best Lion King to use CG animation.

10 Things I Hate About You

Heath Ledger singing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” on the bleachers. That’s the iconic scene in this top-caliber high school rom-com. The plot is taken from The Taming of the Shrew, the cast—including Ledger, Julia Stiles, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt—are all adorable, and the late ’90s nostalgia is potent. Offering some much-needed variety from the sci-fi and animation that dominates the Disney+ launch catalog, 10 Things I Hate About You is as good as comfort-food movies get.

Tron & Tron: Legacy

Tron and its modern sequel, Tron: Legacy, aren’t your typical Disney films. The original sees a programmer (Jeff Bridges) become trapped inside a computer system where he meets and befriends programs, including the eponymous hero Tron, who are resisting the power of a growing artificial intelligence, the Master Control Program. It became a sci-fi cult classic, leading to the creation of a modern sequel that continues the story and features an epic score cowritten by Daft Punk. Both are watchable distractions, even if the sequel feels a little thin in places.

Willow

Another nostalgia fest, this time for fans of ’80s fantasy. Willow is a family-friendly, mythic quest that’s best seen as George Lucas and Ron Howard’s fun, $35 million Tolkien fan fiction. The story of a farmer tasked with protecting a magic baby from an evil queen is not exactly the most original story in the world, but that hasn’t stopped this from becoming a classic, with Warwick Davis as Willow Ufgood and Val Kilmer waving a sword around. Classic Sunday afternoon fare.

Wreck-It Ralph

This sugary sweet animation tells the story of Ralph, a villain from an 1980s arcade game who wants to be something more than just the bad guy throwing debris off the top of an 8-bit building. One day, he goes AWOL from his game and ventures into the wider arcade—encountering a mish-mash of video game characters loosely based on your childhood favorites—from Hero’s Duty (a combination of Halo and Call of Duty, so basically Gears of War) to Sugar Rush (a weird mash-up of Mario Kart and Candy Crush), where he strikes up a friendship with a young girl racer.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Winter Soldier is among the best Marvel movies. It makes time for quieter character moments, and the action, while still spectacular, feels a little more grounded and real than the CGI-fueled shock and awe of the mainline movies. In this outing, Captain America faces off against a rogue element of SHIELD led by Robert Redford’s Alexander Pierce.

Thor: Ragnarok

The first two Thor films were comfortably among the worst in the overall series—Chris Hemsworth’s thunder god was dour and charmless. Director Taika Waititi injected some much-needed color into the proceedings, borrowing heavily from the Planet Hulk storyline from the comics. Thor finds himself stranded on a bizarre planet, ruled over by Jeff Goldblum (who is pretty much playing himself). There, he crosses paths with Bruce Banner’s Hulk, who has been missing since the events of Civil War. It’s hugely funny, and arguably the best film of the series, which now includes this summer’s Thor: Love and Thunder.

The Original Star Wars Trilogy

Naturally, Star Wars is one of the big attractions on Disney+. Needless to say, though, the original trilogy are the ones to seek out. The caveat for pickier fans is that these are the versions that have been messed with by George Lucas post-release. Some, such as improved visuals in and around Cloud City, are thoughtful additions, but others are more controversial.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The newer Star Wars one-off films attract strong opinions, and Rogue One is no different. But, while it has its issues, it fills an important hole in the universe and features some of the best action sequences in the entire saga. Its main black mark is the rather iffy CGI recreation of Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin, but it’s still a fun romp that lacks the narrative baggage of the new trilogy.

Black Panther

Black Panther had a huge cultural impact. It was refreshingly unusual to see a blockbuster superhero film with such a diverse cast—and the Afrofuturist setting was unlike anything Marvel had ever done before. Michael B. Jordan steals the show as Killmonger, who returns to his father’s home to claim the throne from T’Challa (the late Chadwick Boseman). 

WALL·E

Released in 2008, a time when, for many, the climate crisis felt like a distant, abstract threat, WALL·E is classic Pixar. It’s a love story—sort of—that focuses on two robots. But it’s also a story about survival, believing in yourself, and dancing through the vacuum of space propelled by a fire extinguisher. The animation, especially on the desolate, barren Earth, is a sight to behold. The opening scenes of the film are also basically a silent film, with the score and robotic sound effects doing a fantastic job bringing out the emotion and drama of what’s happening.

Inside Out

Don’t cry. But also cry. A lot. Inside Out is the perfect realization of what every Pixar film strives to achieve. On the surface, it’s a comedic look at human emotion, the complexity of a child growing up, and the delicate balance of family life. But by literally getting inside the head of 11-year-old Riley, the film finds a way to bring emotion to life in a way that is at once comedic, profound, and often ingenious.

Up

Pixar’s Up can claim one of the most moving opening scenes of any movie. Despite being released more than a decade ago, in 2009, the animation hasn’t aged or lost any of its charm. In a little over 90 minutes, director Pete Docter takes us on the journey of Carl, an old widower who is seeking out Paradise Falls. Carl’s trip in his flying house is made in memory of his wife, Ellie, who had always wanted to visit the Falls. The film won two Oscars—Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score—but was also nominated for three more. These included Best Picture, which at the time made it only the second animated film to have received the nomination (1991’s Beauty and the Beast was the first).

The Jungle Book

Whatever mood you’re in, Disney+ has The Jungle Book to suit it. The streaming service has both the 1967 animated classic, with its catchy soundtrack and moments of humor, plus the live-action version released in 2016. The two films couldn’t be more different: If you want to go for full family entertainment, pick the original, but if you’re after something that’s a little darker, the modern remake is where you should head. (Bonus fact: The entire live-action film was shot in a warehouse.)

Guardians of the Galaxy

The first volume of Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t burst into the MCU until 2014, which is relatively late considering Phase One began with Iron Man in 2008. However, it’s become a firm fan favorite, providing some of the Universe’s most memorable (and important) characters. Quill, Rocket, Groot, Gamora, and Nebula are all distinctive and in many ways more likable than other key MCU characters. However, Guardians is worth returning to if you want to remember a slightly simpler time before Thanos’ snap.

The 35 Best Shows on Disney+ Right Now

The 35 Best Shows on Disney+ Right Now

Disney+ isn’t just for kids. With its ownership of the Star Wars brand and all Marvel titles, the streaming service offers plenty of grown-up shows in its bid to compete with Netflix and Amazon.

And we’re not just talking movies. Since launching the service, Disney has used the name recognition of Star Wars and Marvel to launch scores of TV shows, from The Mandalorian to Loki. In the list below, we’ve collected the ones we think are the best to watch, from those franchises and beyond.

Want more? Head to our best films on Disney+ list if you’re looking for movies and our guides on the best Netflix series and best TV shows on Amazon to see what Disney’s rivals have to offer.

The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian was, and is, exactly what the Star Wars franchise needed. Everything about this Jon Favreau series, which premiered in 2019, feels like classic TV—from the episodic adventures to the cameos. Set in the outer reaches of the galaxy, it follows a moody, masked Mandalorian bounty hunter (WIRED cover star Pedro Pascal) and really delivers on the hype with its retro-futuristic robots, salty Space Western vibes, lack of Skywalker baggage, and, of course, Grogu (aka Baby Yoda). The Mandalorian really set the tone for what a great Star Wars series could be, and while not every subsequent show has been as good, others, like Andor, have lived up to the precedent it set—and proved Star Wars stories can make for great TV. 

Willow

In a streaming landscape filled with Marvel, Star Wars, and ’90s sitcoms that take you back to the horrors of youth, Willow is a welcome bit of nostalgia that will feel familiar even if you didn’t grow up with the 1988 Ron Howard movie (based on a George Lucas idea). The simple fact that there are quests to be undertaken, princes to be saved, battles to be waged, and one familiar sorcerer make Willow the kind of fantasy series we haven’t seen since, well, Willow. Warwick Davis reprises his original role as the eponymous Nelwyn, who takes it upon himself to help yet another ragtag group of would-be heroes achieve their destiny.

Ms. Marvel

With Ms. Marvel, Disney manages to combine its knack for producing coming-of-age tween fare with its new role as caretaker of the MCU: Iman Vellani charms as Kamala Khan, an Avengers-obsessed high schooler from Jersey City who feels like an outsider in most areas of her life. But when a gold bangle arrives from her grandmother in Pakistan, Kamala begins to realize that all that time she has spent fantasizing about what life would be like with superpowers might have been preparing her for real life. With one foot in the teen drama world and the other in the comic book universe, Ms. Marvel—which just happens to feature Marvel’s first Muslim superhero—marks yet another admirable step forward for the company in both innovation and inclusion. Vellani will reprise her role in 2023’s The Marvels.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

Tatiana Maslany is no stranger to complicated characters (see: Orphan Black) or to playing more than one side of a single character (see: Orphan Black again). In She-Hulk, she gets to hone her deft skills even further while amping up the silliness of it all. Maslany plays Jennifer Walters, the cousin of Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), with whom she shares that angry green gene. Ultimately, this turns out to be a boon for Walters—and the audience—when she is given the chance to head up a new branch at her law firm that’s dedicated to cases involving “superhumans” like herself. While Maslany could easily carry the show on her own (yet again, see: Orphan Black), an all-star supporting cast that includes Ruffalo, Jameela Jamil, Tim Roth, and Benedict Wong only adds to the fun and further cements the show’s place in the MCU.

Andor

Andor is something of a miracle. Created by Tony Gilroy, the filmmaker brought in to save Rogue One, it’s the origin story of one of that movie’s most beloved characters: Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Set in the early years of the Rebellion, it charts Andor’s path to becoming one of the most integral of the Rebels. With a supporting cast that includes Fiona Shaw and Stellan Skarsgård, it also features a fantastic score from Nicholas Britell (Moonlight, Succession). After spending so much time with Mandalorians and Jedis, it’s a welcome reprieve and perhaps the closest thing to prestige TV the Star Wars universe has released yet.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Ewan McGregor has not always had the kindest words for the Star Wars prequels in which he first played the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi—a role he inherited from Alec Guinness, who also had plenty of less-than-favorable things to say about the franchise. So it was somewhat surprising when Lucasfilm announced that McGregor would be donning his Jedi gear again to star in a stand-alone Star Wars series for Disney+. In many ways, however, it allowed McGregor and former costar Hayden Christensen to course-correct some of their earlier work, as it follows a downtrodden Obi-Wan attempting to process his personal and professional disappointment over losing Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) to the Dark Side.

The Beatles: Get Back

In January 1969, just over a year before they announced they were breaking up, The Beatles allowed a film crew unprecedented access to the creative process and recording of Let It Be, which would be their final studio album. Fifty years later, Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson was presented with the nearly 60 hours of film footage and more than 150 hours of audio that resulted from this project, and he remastered it and turned it into a three-part docuseries. Whether you’re already a Beatles fan or not, the documentary is a fascinating look at the creative process of one of the music world’s most influential bands as they work against the clock to finish recording an album, decide to have a free concert on their label’s rooftop, and occasionally butt heads. Knowing what the subjects do not know—that this will be the last time they perform live together or record an album—only adds to the project’s intimacy. The miniseries won all five Emmys it was nominated for, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

Moon Knight

Oscar Isaac brings yet another marquee name to Marvel’s growing roster of all-star talents with Moon Night. Here, Isaac plays a man with dissociative identity disorder, giving us not one but three distinct characters: mercenary Mark Spector, British gift shop employee Steven Grant, and the mysterious—and seemingly ominous—Jake Lockley. Ultimately, Isaac finds him facing off against himself to get the answers he’s seeking out. For Moon Knight, Isaac told Empire that he was thrilled to be able to do something “really fucking nutty on a major stage”—and he delivers.

The Book of Boba Fett

As with The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau helms this Disney series, in which the criminally unsung bounty hunter of the Star Wars films finally gets his day in the sun. The series is technically a spinoff of The Mandalorian and takes place in the same time frame, after the events of Return of the Jedi. That explains why Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and his partner Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) are attempting to take over the underworld previously controlled by Jabba the Hutt.

The Muppet Show

While The Muppet Show, which ran for five seasons between 1976 and 1981, is considered a piece of classic television today, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for creator Jim Henson. Henson produced two one-off Muppet specials that were intended to take the show into prime time, but neither came to fruition. Fortunately, the Muppets did have a recurring gig in “The Land of Gorch” sketches that aired during Saturday Night Live’s first season, which—when that became a hit—gave Henson proof that there was a potentially massive audience for an adult-oriented Muppet show (not to mention celebrity connections to entice plenty of A-list names to host). The rest is Muppet history.

Daredevil

Before Disney+ became the home for all of Marvel’s TV content, Netflix was the place to find it—beginning with Daredevil, in which blind attorney Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) spends his days seeking justice and his nights looking for revenge as a masked vigilante attempting to rid his Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of its criminal element. While the series ended in 2018, Cox has reprised the role and is currently at work on a new series, Daredevil: Born Again, which will be a Disney+ exclusive when it arrives in 2024.

The Punisher

The Punisher is yet another Netflix-turned-Disney+ Marvel series that also happens to be a spinoff of Daredevil. Like Daredevil, the Punisher (real name: Frank Castle, played by Jon Bernthal) is a vigilante who seems to relish exacting revenge, regardless of the results. He and Daredevil operate within the same universe, and while the Punisher sort of admires Daredevil’s quest for true justice, Daredevil despises the Punisher’s by-any-means-necessary methods. Bernthal brings an intensity to the role that, while undoubtedly violent, also has a sense of humor about it.

DuckTales

If you’re looking to recapture the magic of the original DuckTales, in which rich old Uncle Scrooge McDuck looks after his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, the original cartoon (which ran from 1987 to 1990) is here. But so is the newfangled version, which features the same fun adventures and an all-star voice cast that includes David Tennant, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, and Bobby Moynihan as Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, respectively.

Diary of a Future President

Though it was canceled after just two seasons, Diary of a Future President is a nice antidote to many of the vapid teen sitcoms out there. This series follows Elena Cañero-Reed (Tess Romero), a 13-year-old Cuban American who dreams of one day becoming president. While she waits until she’s old enough to get there, this series tells the story of what Elena goes through as a typical teen while regularly flash-forwarding to her presidency.

Boy Meets World

If ABC’s TGIF lineup wasn’t a part of your night as a kid, you clearly didn’t grow up in the ’90s. But Disney+ is happy to right that wrong by housing all seven seasons of the teen sitcom in its library. Corey Matthews (Ben Savage) deals with the ups and downs of growing up and ever-evolving relationships with friends and family—plus that one teacher, Mr. Feeny (William Daniels)—who always has the right answer to your problems, whether you like it or not. As the show progressed and the kids grew up, serious issues like drugs and sex were thrown into the mix, which didn’t always please the network. When the show aired on the original Disney Channel, a few episodes weren’t included in the lineup because of the more mature subject matter. You can also check out all three seasons of Girl Meets World, the series reboot (which features Corey as the parent and Mr. Feeny) when you’re done.

Jessica Jones

Just about six months after Daredevil arrived on the scene, Netflix took another chance on a Marvel property with Jessica Jones. In this dark dive into the world of superheroes, Krysten Ritter plays a private investigator who gave up her days as a superhero after a major catastrophe. But you can’t deny who you are, as Jessica discovers when it seems like every case that comes her way forces her to confront her past—and the supervillain Kilgrave (David Tennant) who turned her into a shell of her former self.

The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers

Your favorite youth hockey team has morphed from lovable underdogs into ultra-competitive powerhouse in this belated spinoff of the beloved 1992 movie starring Emilio Estevez, who reprises his role. After 12-year-old Evan Morrow (Brady Noon) is cut from the team, he and his mother set out to build their own group of plucky underdogs to challenge their now true-to-their-name Mighty Ducks. The second season arrives September 28.

Hawkeye

Yet another in an ever-growing string of spinoff TV shows from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hawkeye gives some long overdue attention to Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, who in many ways has often seemed like the forgotten Avenger. The supernaturally skilled archer is in most of the ensemble Avengers films, but this Disney+ series marks his first solo outing. The show sees Hawkeye teaming up with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), a precocious twentysomething who shares his skills for slinging arrows but lacks his eye for danger. It’s set during the holidays, and there are shades of Die Hard as the eponymous character tries to save the day and make it home in time for Christmas. Let the arguments about whether it’s a Christmas TV show begin.

Loki

The MCU is exhaustingly huge. Yet while Loki is undoubtedly part of it, the series could just as easily work as a stand-alone and is all the more fun and surprising as a result. There are enough plot twists, silly one-liners, time-travel antics, and even a wisecracking alligator to keep everyone entertained. If that doesn’t do it, then Loki has a visual effects budget that would put most Hollywood blockbusters to shame. Sure, it’s not the most intellectually stimulating show out there, but Tom Hiddleston does a great job of turning Loki into a more complex, interesting character.

Monsters at Work

Monsters at Work is the Monsters, Inc. spinoff you didn’t know you needed. It picks up the action six months after the end of the iconic Pixar movie—after Sully and his friend and colleague Mike (a giant green eyeball) have reworked the Monstropolis energy grid to run on laughter instead of children’s screams. The show, which includes elements of a workplace comedy, premiered in the summer of 2021 and has a second season coming in 2023.

The Bad Batch

Yes, Disney really is milking its Star Wars properties for all they’re worth. The Bad Batch is an animated spinoff series set in the aftermath of the Clone Wars, between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy in the overarching timeline. It follows a group of clone soldiers with genetic defects that give them individual traits and personalities, making them well suited to taking on daring mercenary missions. There are 16 episodes in the first season, which premiered in May 2021, with a second season set to premiere in January 2023.

WandaVision

This slow-burning sitcom parody is unexpectedly compelling. For the first couple of episodes, even hardened Marvel fans will have very little idea what’s going on, as Avengers Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) live out an idyllic family life in black-and-white 1950s suburbia. Quickly, it becomes clear that something is wrong in the quiet town of Westview, as the world of the show ties into the wider MCU. Olsen reprises her role in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which picks up right after the events of WandaVision. Though there will not be a second season, fan-favorite Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) is getting a spinoff.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

After the surreal sitcom stylings of WandaVision, the second Marvel show to land on Disney+ covers more familiar ground. It’s an action-packed thriller that follows Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as they try to fill the void left by Captain America in the months after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

The Right Stuff

The early days of space flight are the stuff of legend, full of larger-than-life characters who risked themselves to push the boundaries of human knowledge. The Right Stuff, a dramatization of the iconic Tom Wolfe book (which was previously adapted into an Oscar-winning movie in 1984), delves into the recruitment process leading up to the Apollo program, as macho pilots vied for position and prominence. Gripping stuff.

Encore!

If you’re missing your dose of Queer Eye, Disney+ has a show that’s just as feel-good, with similar vibes. Though Kristen Bell is billed as the main attraction in Encore!, she doesn’t log a lot of screen time. Regardless, you’ll want to stay for the heart and nostalgia that comes with adults going back to their old high schools and performing the same musicals they put on as kids. Every episode features a new school, a new musical, and plenty of drama off the stage as ex-high school sweethearts reunite after years apart, once-shy teenagers show off how they blossomed as adults, and stay-at-home parents get to flaunt their performing prowess for their kids. The musicals range from The Sound of Music to High School Musical, with theater professionals to help upgrade them.

Breaking2

Is it possible to run a marathon in under two hours? We now know the answer is yes—at least if you’re Eliud Kipchoge. This one-off documentary from NatGeo charts the Kenyan runner’s first (failed) attempt at running 26 miles in under two hours. The attempt was organized by Nike, with the documentary showing behind-the-scenes access to Kipchoge’s training and the event’s preparation. It may be that without the lessons learned from this agonizingly close attempt, he wouldn’t have achieved the goal in late 2019.

The World According to Jeff Goldblum

Few things are more comforting than watching languid actor Jeff Goldblum (best known for playing Dr. Malcolm in the Jurassic Park films) shrug his way through a series of short documentaries about different subcultures and industries. “I know nothing, that’s the premise,” the Oscar-nominated actor says in the trailer, which just about covers it. Expect lots of shots of Goldblum at trade shows, in factories, and saying “wow” as you learn fascinating new things alongside him.

Star Wars Rebels

The Mandalorian may have been Disney’s big ticket for its streaming network launch, but Rebels might just be the best Star Wars TV on the service. Accessible for kids and adults alike, the animated series follows a group of rebels led by the former Jedi Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and featuring his force-sensitive Padawan, Ezra Bridger (Ezra Gray). Fan favorite Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) is another regular character across its four seasons, which do a neat job of fleshing out the time between the end of the prequel trilogy and the beginning of the original one.

The Simpsons

Have you got some time on your hands? Well, the 32 seasons of The Simpsons currently streaming on Disney+ should keep you busy. What can be said about one of the longest-running—and arguably most famous—animated TV shows ever made? While the first season is a little patchy by today’s standards, and there are ongoing arguments about when the show went from essential viewing to neglected cash cow, whatever your view, there are literally weeks worth of entertainment here.

X-Men: The Animated Series

If you really want to nerd out, this critically acclaimed animated X-Men series from the ’90s is worth a watch. In fact, the first two films in the live-action movie franchise drew heavily from this cartoon, which serves as a nice reminder of what can be done with rich source material.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This seven-season series, which is for serious Marvel fans, revolves around S.H.I.E.L.D.’s less super agents, led by Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg). The first season takes a while to warm up, but it really hits its stride in its second and especially third seasons, and it eventually ramps up with a complex plot that ties into the films.

Agent Carter

Agent Carter is a better show than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but it struggled to find an audience during its two seasons. Hayley Atwell reprises her role as Peggy Carter from several MCU films in this 1940s-set series, where she doubles as an agent for the US government while helping Howard Stark (Tony’s dad) out of more than one jam. The two seasons stretch to only 18 episodes, so it’s a quick watch, but one worth making the time for.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

This is another Star Wars animated show worth seeking out, though it’s not to be confused with the equally worthy 2003 animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars from legendary Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky. Both series deal with the period between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and chronicle the rise of Anakin Skywalker from arrogant Padawan to powerful Jedi Master.

Inside Pixar

There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes content on Disney+. These are short clips that, in another age, would have been confined to the DVD extras menu. But this series of 20-minute documentaries on different Pixar movies offers a fascinating insight into the animated hit machine.

What If …?

Here’s an animated series based on one simple question: What if? The Watcher, played by Jeffrey Wright, is an extraterrestrial being who observes the multiverse, occasionally making minor changes to influence events. This series looks at how events in the Marvel movies would have turned out differently if they’d had a Sliding Doors moment. The first episode follows an alternate timeline in which Steve Rogers remains a scrawny sidekick and Agent Carter becomes a Union Jack-draped super soldier. Actors from the films reprise their roles, including Josh Brolin as Thanos, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, and Karen Gillan as Nebula.

The 39 Best Movies on Netflix This Week

The 39 Best Movies on Netflix This Week

Netflix has plenty of movies to watch, but it’s a real mixed bag. Sometimes finding the right film at the right time can seem like an impossible task. Fret not, we’re here to help. Below is a list of some of our favorite films currently on the streaming service—from dramas to comedies to thrillers.

If you decide you’re in more of a TV mood, head over to our collection of the best TV series on Netflix. Want more? Check out our lists of the best sci-fi movies, best movies on Amazon Prime, and the best flicks on Disney+.

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.

Okja

Before winning Oscars and cementing his name in the Hollywood firmament for Parasite, Bong Joon-ho had something of a sideline in creature features. While 2006’s The Host remains worth hunting down, this 2017 saga of genetic engineering and animal exploitation may be the director’s pinnacle of the genre. After helping raise an enhanced “super pig” in rural South Korea, young Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) is distraught when the American company behind its creation, Mirando, comes to take it back. Falling in with a group of Animal Liberation Front activists, Mija travels to Mirando’s headquarters in New York in a desperate effort to rescue her unlikely animal friend. Darkly satirical in places, Okja manages to explore themes of animal exploitation and environmental conservation without feeling preachy.

Cargo

In a world already ravaged by a zombie-like plague, Andy Rose (Martin Freeman) only wants to keep his family safe, sticking to Australia’s most rural back roads to avoid infection. After his wife is tragically bitten, and infects him in turn, Andy is desperate to find a safe haven for his infant daughter, Rosie. With a mere 48 hours until he succumbs himself, Andy finds an ally in Thoomi (Simone Landers), an Aboriginal girl looking to protect her own rabid father—but with threats from paranoid survivalists and Aboriginal communities hunting the infected, it may already be too late. A unique twist on the zombie apocalypse, Cargo abandons the familiar urban landscapes of the genre for the breathtaking wilds of Australia, and offers a slower, character-led approach to the end of the world.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

The modern master of the macabre brings the famous wooden would-be boy to life like never before in this exquisitely animated take on Pinocchio. A stop-motion masterpiece that hews closer to the original 1880s tale by Carlo Collodi than the sanitized Disney version, Guillermo del Toro adds his own signature touch and compelling twists to the classic story that make it darkly enchanting—expect a Blue Fairy closer to a biblically accurate many-eyed angel and a Terrible Dogfish more like a kaiju. It’s the decision to transplant the tale to World War II that’s the most affecting though—cast against the rise of fascism, with Gepetto mourning the loss of his son, this is a film packed with complex themes of mortality and morality that will haunt audiences long after the credits roll. If that doesn’t sell you, perhaps the fact that it won Best Animated Feature at the 2023 Academy Awards will? 

The Land of Steady Habits

Anders Hill (Ben Mendelsohn) thought he wanted a change from his stifling life in a wealthy suburb of Connecticut. Now rashly divorced from Helene (Edie Falco), the woman he still loves, regretting his decision to retire early, and struggling with his adult son Preston’s (Thomas Mann) battles with drug addiction, Anders is spiraling. The Land of Steady Habits could be another typically maudlin look at a rich man’s midlife crisis, but writer and director Nicole Holofcener—adapting Ted Thompson’s novel of the same name—refuses to let its lead off the hook for his own culpability in his downfall, while also infusing Anders’ journey with both dark humor and a strange warmth. 

Bigbug

In Bigbug, Jean-Pierre Jeunet—the director of Amélie, Delicatessen, and City of Lost Children—presents a near future where AI and robots are omnipresent, making life smoother and simpler for their organic masters. Unfortunately, humans remain just as messy and complicated as ever. A locked-room drama that would be as comfortable on stage as it is in Jeunet’s heightened unreality, Bigbug follows a group of splintered family members and interfering neighbors, their fractious relationships coming to a boil while trapped in a household security lockdown initiated by domestic helper robots. Meanwhile, the military-industrial Yonyx androids are taking over the outside world—an AI apocalypse drowned out by human neuroses. Any movie from Jeunet is worth a look, and with its satirical flair, exquisite set design, and sharp performances from French cinema royalty, the latest addition to his filmography is no exception. 

Call Me Chihiro

An idyllic slice-of-life movie with a twist, Call Me Chihiro follows a former sex worker—the eponymous Chihiro, played by Kasumi Arimura—after she moves to a seaside town to work in a bento restaurant. This isn’t a tale of a woman on the run, trying to move on from her past. Chihiro is refreshingly forthright and unapologetic, and her warmth and openness soon begin to change the lives of her neighbors. Directed by Rikiya Imaizumi, this is an intimate, heartfelt character drama that alternates between moments of aching loneliness and sheer joy, packed with emotional beats that remind viewers of the importance of even the smallest connections.

The Sea Beast

It’s easy to imagine that the elevator pitch for The Sea Beast was “Moby Dick meets How to Train Your Dragon”—and who wouldn’t be compelled by that? Set in a fantasy world where oceanic leviathans terrorize humanity, those who hunt down the giant monsters are lauded as heroes. Jacob Holland (voiced by Karl Urban) is one such hero, adopted son of the legendary Captain Crowe and well on the way to building his own legacy as a monster hunter—a journey disrupted by stowaway Maisie Brumble (Zaris-Angel Hator), who has her own ambitions to take on the sea beasts. However, after an attempt to destroy the colossal Red Bluster goes disastrously wrong, Jacob and Maisie are stranded on an island filled with the creatures, and they find that the monsters may not be quite so monstrous after all. A rollicking sea-bound adventure directed by Chris Williams—of Big Hero 6 and Moana fame—it has secured its standing as one of Netflix’s finest movies with a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming Oscars.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The classic British comedy troupe’s finest movie (deal with it, Life of Brian fans) is once again available on Netflix, and it remains as delightful and hilarious a fantasy farce as it was on release back in 1975. A spoof of Arthurian legend, Holy Grail loosely follows King Arthur’s (Graham Chapman) quest to gather the Knights of the Round Table before being ordered by God (also Chapman) to find the eponymous chalice. It’s a journey packed with endlessly quotable scenes and memorable characters, from the Knights Who Say “Ni!” to the not-so-terrifying Black Knight, and even the occasional earworm of a musical number. While its production values were low even for its time—something the Pythons regularly poke fun at during the film’s sprightly 92 minutes—it still earns its standing as one of the most enduringly popular comedies ever committed to film.

Wendell & Wild

Kat went off the rails following the deaths of her parents five years ago. Now she’s got one last chance to steer her life back on track at a new school and finally conquer her personal demons. Unfortunately, she’s marked as a Hell Maiden on her first day, attracting the attention of actual demon brothers Wendell and Wild (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, respectively). Tempted by the scheming siblings’ promise to resurrect her parents if she summons them to the living world—where they plan to out-do their infernal father at his own game—Kat (Lyric Ross) is drawn into a macabre plot that threatens the living and dead alike. Directed by Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline) and produced by Jordan Peele (Nope, Get Out), this is another fantastic entry in Selick’s canon of mesmerizingly dark stop-motion masterpieces.

Troll

This gleefully entertaining giant-monster movie eschews tearing up the likes of New York or Tokyo in favor of director Roar Uthaug’s (Tomb Raider 2018) native Norway, with a titanic troll stomping its way toward Oslo after being roused by a drilling operation. The plot and characters will be familiar to any fan of kaiju cinema—Ine Marie Wilmann heads up the cast as Nora Tidemann, the academic with a curiously specific skill set called in to advise on the crisis, while Kim Falck fits neatly into the role of Andreas Isaksan, the government adviser paired with her, and Gard B. Eidsvold serves as Tobias Tidemann, the former professor chased out of academia for his crazy theories about trolls. But the striking Nordic visuals and the titular menace’s ability to blend in with the landscape allows for some impressively original twists along the way. Although Troll could have easily descended into parody, Uthaug steers clear of smug self-awareness and instead delivers one of the freshest takes on the genre in years.

White Noise

The latest from director Noah Baumbach sees him reteaming with his Marriage Story lead Adam Driver for another quirky look at disintegrating families and interpersonal angst—albeit this time with an apocalyptic twist. Driver stars as Jack Gladney, a college professor faking his way through a subject he’s unable to teach and struggling to work out family life with his fourth wife, Babette (Greta Gerwig), and their four kids from previous relationships. Neurotic familial squabbles prove the least of their worries, though, when an “airborne toxic event” hits their town, sending everyone scrambling for cover with exponentially disastrous results. While the contemporary Covid-19 parallels are none too subtle, keeping the 1980s setting of Don DeLillo’s original novel proves an inspired choice on Baumbach’s part, one that accentuates the film’s darkly absurd comedy. By contrasting big hair and materialist excess against a rush for survival, White Noise serves up some authentic moments of humanity amid its chaos.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Daniel Craig reprises his role as detective Benoit Blanc in this brilliant follow-up to 2019’s phenomenal whodunnit, Knives Out. Writer-director Rian Johnson crafts a fiendishly sharp new case for “the Last of the Gentlemen Sleuths,” taking Blanc to a Greek island getaway for a reclusive tech billionaire and his collection of friends and hangers-on, where a planned murder mystery weekend takes a deadly literal turn. While totally accessible for newcomers, fans of the first film will also be rewarded with some deeper character development for Blanc, a role that’s shaping up to be as iconic for Craig as 007. As cleverly written and meticulously constructed as its predecessor, and featuring the kind of all-star cast—Edward Norton! Janelle Monáe! Kathryn Hahn! Leslie Odom Jr.! Jessica Henwick! Madelyn Cline! Kate Hudson! Dave Bautista!—that cinema dreams are made of, Glass Onion might be the best thing Netflix has dropped all year.

The Wonder

Florence Pugh dazzles in this not-quite-horror film from Oscar-winning director Sebastián Lelio. Set in 1862, English nurse Lib Wright (Pugh) is sent to Ireland to observe Anna O’Donnell, a girl who claims to have not eaten in four months, subsisting instead on “manna from heaven.” Still grieving the loss of her own child, Lib is torn between investigating the medical impossibility and growing concern for Anna herself. Facing obstacles in the form of Anna’s deeply religious family and a local community that distrusts her, Lib’s watch descends into a tense, terrifying experience. Based on the book of the same name by Emma Donoghue, The Wonder is a beautiful yet bleakly shot period piece that explores the all-too-mortal horrors that unquestioning religious fervor and family secrets can wreak.

Drifting Home

Kosuke and Natsume are childhood friends whose relationship is strained as they approach their teenage years. When the apartment complex where they first met is scheduled for demolition, they sneak in one last time, looking for some emotional closure. Instead, they and the friends who joined them find themselves trapped by torrential rain. After the mysterious storm passes, the world is changed, with the entire building floating on an ethereal sea, and a new child in their midst. 

Adolescent feelings and magical realism collide in this sumptuously animated movie from the makers of A Whisker Away (also available on Netflix and well worth your time). Director Hiroyasa Ishida (Penguin Highway) may not be up there with the likes of Hayao Miyazaki in terms of name recognition in the West, but Drifting Home should put him on your radar.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Hopped up on nationalism and dreams of battlefield glory, Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) is an eager young recruit for the German army during the last year of the First World War. His romantic view of the conflict is shattered on his first night in the cold trenches, surrounded by death and disaster, and dealt a tragic blow with the easy, meaningless loss of a dear friend. It’s all downhill from there in this magnificently crafted adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s groundbreaking novel, one of the most important pieces of anti-war literature of the 20th century. Paul’s journey is one of a loss of innocence, of naivete crushed by the relentless machine of war and state, and how soldiers on the ground are chewed up in the name of politicians and generals. Director Edward Berger’s take on the material is the first to be filmed in German, adding a layer of authenticity and making for a blistering, heart-rending cinematic effort that drives home the horror and inhumanity of war. Often bleak, but an undeniably brilliant piece of filmmaking.

Enola Holmes 2

2020’s original Enola Holmes proved to be a surprisingly enjoyable twist on the world’s most famous detective, focusing instead on his overlooked sister, Enola. No surprise, then, that this follow-up is just as exciting a romp through Victorian London. Despite proving her skills in the first film, Enola struggles to establish her own detective credentials until a missing-person report leads her to a case that’s stumped even Sherlock, and it sees her crossing paths with his archnemesis, Moriarty. Snappy action, clever twists, and bristling sibling rivalry from Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown and The Witcher‘s Henry Cavill as the Holmes siblings make for fun, family-friendly viewing. It even crams in a touch of vague historical accuracy by making the 1888 matchgirls’ strike a key part of Enola’s latest adventure.

The Platform

Goreng (Iván Massagué) awakes in a cell in a vertical prison, where food is provided only by a platform that descends level by level, pausing only long enough for inmates to eat before traveling ever lower. While there’s food enough for all, prisoners on higher levels gorge themselves, leaving those below to starve. It’s the perfect recipe for violence, betrayal, and rebellion in director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s tense Spanish thriller. Equal parts horror, dystopian sci-fi, and social commentary, The Platform works as a none-too-subtle commentary on consumption culture, but also a stark examination of the depths to which desperate people can sink. It’s absolutely not for everyone—scenes involving cannibalism and suicide make it a particularly troubling watch in places—but thanks to its claustrophobic, brutalist setting and stellar performances from its cast, The Platform is one of the most visually striking and narratively provocative films on Netflix.

The Fear Street Trilogy

Spread over three time periods—1994, 1978, and 1666—the Fear Street trilogy is one of the cleverest horror releases in Netflix’s catalog. The first installment introduces viewers to the cursed town of Shadyside, where a string of bloody killings has labeled it the murder capital of America. Soon, a group of genre-typical teens are drawn into a horrific legacy dating back to the 17th century, dodging serial killers, summer camp slayings, and vengeful witches along the way. The trilogy was originally released over the course of three weeks, emphasizing its connected nature, and it transcends its origins as a series of teen-lit novels by R. L. Stine, with lashings of gore and a tone drawing on ’80s slasher flicks that delivers some genuine scares over the three films. Director Leigh Janiak masterfully walks a tightrope between lampooning and paying homage to horror classics—it’s impossible to miss contrasts to the likes of Scream, Halloween, and even Stranger Things—but it’s all done with such love for the form that Fear Street has established itself as a Halloween staple. It’s a bit too self-aware in places, but definitely one for the shouldn’t-be-as-good-as-it-is pile.

Lou

When Hannah’s (Jurnee Smollett) daughter Vee is kidnapped, she turns to the only person who can help—her neighbor Lou (Allison Janney), whose normally standoffish nature hides a dark and violent past. Janney is phenomenal as the grizzled, broken, dangerous Lou, delivering action scenes that stand alongside some of Hollywood’s greatest. While it would be easy to reduce Lou to a gender-flipped Taken, with Lou painted as a similarly unstoppable force in hunting down the lost child, there’s much more going on in director Anna Foerster’s gritty thriller. This is ultimately a film centered on failed families and generational abuse, and how sometimes blood isn’t enough to bind people together. A dark, gripping action epic.

Do Revenge

At a glance, Do Revenge seems cut from the same cloth as Heathers and Mean Girls, simply bringing the high school retribution flick into the 2020s. However, writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (cowriter of Thor: Love and Thunder) adds a heavy layer of Strangers on a Train to her deliciously petty tale of grievance and teenage angst. When queen bee Drea (Riverdale’s Camila Mendes) has a sex tape leaked by her boyfriend, she teams up with school outcast Eleanor (Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke), victim of a rumor that she forced herself on another girl, to swap vendettas and socially destroy the other’s bully. Of course, matters descend into chaos. But with a cast of brilliantly detestable characters making satisfyingly awful choices, a smart script that knows exactly how to play with (and poke fun at) the genre’s tropes, and an incredible soundtrack, you’ll be too hooked to look away.

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood

Written, directed, and produced by Richard Linklater and using a style of rotoscope animation similar to that used in his films A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life, Apollo 10 1/2 is a mix of lazy summers, Saturday morning cartoons, and idealized memoir. Loosely based on Linklater’s own childhood growing up in Houston in the midst of the space race, the coming-of-age story follows a young boy named Stanley as he’s recruited to pilot the lunar lander—which NASA accidentally built too small for full-grown astronauts. Blending period social tensions (“Yeah, that’s a hippy”) with childhood imagination and excitement for the future, this is a distinctive piece of filmmaking dripping with an almost innocent sense of nostalgia.

Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

Nickelodeon never quite knew how to handle Invader Zim. Back in 2001, Jhonen Vasquez’s sci-fi comedy about an inept alien attempting to take over the Earth was a massive underground hit, but it skewed a bit too dark for the kids’ network. Fast-forward two decades, and Zim—along with deranged robot companion GIR—is back to continue his invasion, with Vasquez let loose to create an animated movie without restraint. Channeling the classic series’ ludicrous sense of humor but with an even darker edge, this update sees Zim become a serious threat for once, and the Earth’s only hope is his arch enemy Dib—a paranoid schoolboy who’s spent the years since the show obsessively waiting for Zim’s resurgence. Packed with laugh-out-loud moments, big sci-fi ideas worthy of blockbuster franchises, and even some oddly touching—if appropriately nihilistic—moments exploring Dib’s family, Enter the Florpus is a very welcome return for a cult classic. Hopefully we won’t be waiting another two decades for Zim’s next invasion.

RRR

One of India’s biggest films of all time, RRR (or Rise, Roar, Revolt) redefines the notion of cinematic spectacle. Set in 1920, the historical epic follows real-life Indian revolutionaries Alluri Sitrama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.), but fictionalizes their lives and actions. Although drawn from very different walks of life, both men prove to be opposing the colonialist forces of the British Raj in their own way, their similarities drawing them together as they ultimately face down sadistic governor Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his cruel wife Catherine (Alison Doody). No mere period piece, RRR is a bold, exciting, and often explosive piece of filmmaking that elevates its heroes to near-mythological status, with director S. S. Rajamouli deploying ever-escalating, brilliantly-shot action scenes—and an exquisitely choreographed dance number—that grab viewers’ attention and refuse to let go. Whether you’re a longtime fan of Indian cinema or just looking for an action flick beyond the Hollywood norm, RRR is not to be missed.

The House

A stop-motion animated anthology film, The House is a dark, strange, borderline-experimental piece where the eponymous domicile is the main character. The first chapter follows a young girl called Mabel, whose impoverished parents are offered free residence in the impressive home but never seem to notice the shifting layout or their own increasing resemblance to the furniture. Things only get weirder as the house next appears in a world populated by anthropomorphic rats, where a property developer is trying to renovate it for sale but is plagued by very peculiar buyers, before shifting to a seemingly flooded world where its new inhabitants struggle to leave even as the waters around them continue to rise. A deliciously eerie triptych of tales, all centered on themes of loss and obsession, The House will delight fans of Coraline or The Corpse Bride.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

You either “get” the Eurovision Song Contest or you don’t—and chances are, if you’re outside of Europe, you don’t. But whether you can recite every winner back to 1956 or have only maybe-sorta heard of ABBA, this Will Ferrell passion project (his Swedish wife, actress Viveca Paulin, hooked him on the contest) will entertain both crowds. Following Icelandic singer-songwriter duo Fire Saga—Ferrell as Lars Erickssong and Rachel McAdams as his besotted bandmate Sigrit Ericksdóttir—as they aim for superstardom, for the Eurovision faithful it’s a loving nod to the long-running music competition, packed with gleefully camp in-jokes and scene-stealing cameos from Eurovision royalty. To the uninitiated, it’s a wild, weird comedy with plenty of hilariously farcical turns and enough catchy tunes to convert newcomers into Eurovision acolytes. Bonus: You’ll finally understand the “shut up and play Ja Ja Ding Dong!” meme.

I Lost My Body

An award winner at Cannes in 2019, this tale of burgeoning young love, obsession, and autonomous body parts is every bit as weird as you might expect for a French adult animated film. Director Jérémy Clapin charts the life of Naoufel, a Moroccan immigrant in modern-day France, falling for the distant Gabrielle, and Naoufel’s severed hand, making its way across the city to try and reconnect. With intersecting timelines and complex discussions about fate, I Lost My Body is often mind-bending yet always captivating, with brilliantly detailed animation and a phenomenal use of color throughout. Worth watching in both the original French and the solid English dub featuring Dev Patel and Alia Shawkat, just to try to make the most sense of it.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Aspiring filmmaker Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) has a strained relationship with her technophobic father Rick (Danny McBride)—not helped by his accidentally destroying her laptop right as she’s about to begin film school in California. In an effort to salvage their relationship, Rick decides to take the entire Mitchell family on a cross-country road trip to see Katie off. Unfortunately, said road trip coincides with a robot uprising that the Mitchells escape only by chance, leaving the fate of the world in their hands. Beautifully animated and brilliantly written, The Mitchells vs. the Machines takes a slightly more mature approach to family dynamics than many of its genre-mates, with the college-age Katie searching for her own identity and having genuine grievances with her father, but it effortlessly balances the more serious elements with exquisite action and genuinely funny comedy. Robbed of a full cinematic release by Covid-19, it now shines as one of Netflix’s best films.

Don’t Look Up

Frustrated by the world’s collective inaction on existential threats like climate change? Maybe don’t watch Don’t Look Up, director Adam McKay’s satirical black comedy. When two low-level astronomers discover a planet-killing comet on a collision course with Earth, they try to warn the authorities—only to be met with a collective “meh.” Matters only get worse when they try to leak the news themselves and have to navigate vapid TV news hosts, celebrities looking for a signature cause, and an indifferent public. A bleakly funny indictment of our times, bolstered by a star-studded cast fronted by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, Don’t Look Up is, somewhat depressingly, one of the best examinations of humanity since Idiocracy.

The Power of the Dog

In 2022, Netflix made its biggest play yet to win a Best Picture Oscar with The Power of the Dog. It lost to Apple TV+’s CODA, making it seem as though the streaming giant had lost to a much newer, younger player. It had, of course, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that Jane Campion’s film is a wildly evocative tale about a brash rancher (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) in 1920s Montana who horribly mistreats his brother’s new wife and son. A critique of masculinity, Dog is beautifully shot and masterfully tense. While it didn’t win Best Picture, it’s still a great one—and nabbed Campion an Oscar for Best Director.

The Irishman

Based on the life of alleged mob hitman Frank Sheeran, captured in Charles Brandt’s book I Heard You Paint Houses, The Irishman essentially functions as a Martin Scorsese greatest-hits album. Featuring digitally de-aged Robert De Niro (as Sheeran) and Al Pacino (Jimmy Hoffa), the movie was trapped in development hell for years before Netflix arrived with the willingness to give Scorsese the creative license (and money) to make the movie his way. It’s perhaps too long, at three and a half hours, and that de-aging technology still needs a little improvement, but the 10 Oscar nominations speak for themselves.

Oxygen

A woman wakes up in a cryonics cell after a few weeks in suspended animation. She doesn’t remember her name, age, or past except for a few disturbing flashbacks. But one thing she knows—courtesy of an annoying talking AI—is that she has just over an hour before she runs out of oxygen. Can she get out of the coffin-shaped chamber quickly enough? This thriller is as claustrophobic as it gets, and it manages to find that rare sweet spot of being static and unnerving at once. The actors’ strong performances help the film win the day, despite a ludicrously far-fetched ending.

Mank

An intricate study of a cinematic masterpiece? Or two hours and 11 minutes of Gary Oldman lying around and getting tanked in bed? Mank is both. After Roma, David Fincher gets his turn at a monochrome, prestige Netflick with this look at screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, otherwise known as the guy who wrote Citizen Kane with Orson Welles. Or, more accurately, as the film demonstrates, for Orson Welles. All that old Hollywood fancy and snappy dialog is here, but Fincher is also interested in movie moguls, fake news, the women behind the men, and creative credit. Bonus points for Amanda Seyfried’s wonderful turn as actress Marion Davies.

The Wandering Earth

A colossal hit in its native China, The Wandering Earth earned more than $700 million (£550 million) at the country’s box office, prompting Netflix to snap up the rights to stream the sci-fi sensation internationally. The film follows a group of astronauts, sometime far into the future, attempting to guide the Earth away from the sun, which is expanding into a red giant. The problem? Jupiter is also in the way. While the Earth is being steered by 10,000 fire-blowing engines that have been strapped to the surface, the humans still living on the planet must find a way to survive the ever changing environmental conditions.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Chadwick Boseman’s final film before his untimely death is one set almost entirely in a sweaty recording studio in 1920s Chicago. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom centers on the mother of the blues, played by Viola Davis, as she clashes with bandmates and white producers while trying to record an album. Davis delivers a stellar performance, perfectly reflecting the tensions of the time, but it’s Boseman who is completely electrifying onscreen, stealing every scene he’s in. The actor truly couldn’t have done any better for his final outing as trumpeter Levee.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Much as with his previous films Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, director Charlie Kaufman created quite the head-spinner with this Netflix drama. In I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Lucy (Jessie Buckley) travels with boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemons) to meet his parents for the first time at their secluded farmhouse. But all the while Lucy narrates her desire to end things with Jake, and questions why she’s going on this trip in the first place. Cue an incredibly uncomfortable dinner with parents Toni Collette and David Thewlis (both excellent) and a confusing journey that flits through time. It should be noted that you simply won’t understand all (or frankly, any) of the elements of this mind-bending film. However, once you get all the answers, it’s hard not to admire and appreciate the complexities of loss and loneliness Kaufman has imbued in this drama.

The Old Guard

Netflix’s The Old Guard broke records on release and remains one of the streaming service’s most watched original films ever, reaching a whopping 72 million households in its first four weeks. But just how good of a watch is it? Charlize Theron leads a group of immortal mercenaries who use their self-healing powers to help those in need. When a new immortal joins their crew, they find themselves being chased down by scientists who want to experiment on them. The Old Guard’s action scenes are its strongest, with Theron and new recruit KiKi Layne having some serious fun dishing out and taking their fair share of hits. It may not be especially original in its plot, but The Old Guard delivers exactly what it promises.

Da 5 Bloods

After finding Oscar success with BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee returned with an even more powerful, violent, anguished take on another aspect of America’s history of racial injustice. This time it’s in Vietnam, where four Black military veterans have returned to find the remains of their fallen squad leader and a gold fortune they left behind. The film is a multilayered analysis of the racism suffered by the Black soldiers who were defending a country that simply did not value their lives, and the brutality the Vietnamese people were subjected to in the long, painful, and—as it’s known in the film—American War. As you would expect, a film that focuses so closely on these difficult themes is no easy watch, and there are moments of intense brutality. But at the heart of Da 5 Bloods is an incredibly human story of friendship, humanity, and the inherited trauma our main characters experience.

Atlantics

A Senegalese romance, a story of construction workers turned migrants, and a paranormal revenge tale—Mati Diop’s genre-busting Atlantics won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2019, and Netflix showed its impeccable taste in international films by picking it up. The first-time feature director takes her time as she follows 17-year-old Ada, who is in love with Soulemaine—one of the workers at sea—but is obliged to marry another man, and Issa, a police officer who gets mixed up in the lives of Ada and other women left behind in Dakar. Diop uses genre tropes and traditional folklore to get under the skin of families, corruption, and class in urban Senegal.

Dolemite Is My Name

After the credits roll on Dolemite Is My Name, we guarantee you’ll be 10,000 times more likely to go out and stage a horndog nude photo shoot for your next cult comedy record. The only person having anywhere near as much fun as Eddie Murphy, playing real-life club comedian/singer Rudy Ray Moore, is Wesley Snipes, goofing around as the actor-director D’Urvill Martin. Together with a madcap crew, they make a truly terrible 1975 Blaxploitation kung fu movie based on Moore’s pimp alter ego, Dolemite. A brash showbiz movie with a heart of gold, there’s shades of The Disaster Artist and music legend biopics all over this film. Yet with the cast flexing in Ruth Carter’s glorious costumes—the suits!—and a couple of triumphant sex and shoot-out scenes, it’s a wild ride, whether you know the original story or not.