The 50 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now

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The sheer volume of films on Netflix — and the site’s less than ideal interface — can make finding a genuinely great movie there a difficult task. To help, we’ve plucked out the 50 best films currently streaming on the service in the United States, updated regularly as titles come and go. And as a bonus, we link to more great movies on Netflix within many of our write-ups below. (Note: Streaming services sometimes remove titles or change starting dates without giving notice.)

Here are our lists of the best TV shows on Netflix, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video and the best of everything on Hulu and Disney Plus.

‘Ali’ (2001)

Will Smith nabbed his first Academy Award nomination for his masterly turn as Muhammad Ali in this robust biopic. Thankfully eschewing the cradle-to-grave approach of too many such projects to focus on the key decade of 1964 to 1974, "Ali" adroitly dramatizes the champ’s transformation from gifted young fighter to political figure as he loses his hard-earned title for refusing to fight in Vietnam and becomes the focus of controversy for his conversion to Islam. The director Michael Mann exchanges his customarily sleek and contemplative style for something earthier and more emotional; our critic predicted, "his overwhelming love of its subject will turn audiences into exuberant, thrilled fight crowds."

‘The Nightingale’ (2019)

Jennifer Kent, the writer and director of the terrifying "The Babadook," returns with this "rigorous, relentless" riff on revenge narratives and Hollywood westerns, refracted through the prism of white supremacy and violent patriarchy. Aisling Franciosi stars as an Irish woman in 19th-century Tasmania who embarks on a perhaps ill-advised crusade for justice after a brutal assault by a powerful commander. But such a summary makes "The Nightingale" sound like a straightforward story of good and evil; Kent complicates her characters at every turn and causes us to question which side we’re on. It’s a long, brutal, difficult picture, but an undeniably powerful one.

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‘Snowpiercer’ (2014)

Before making Oscar history with his simultaneous wins for best picture and best international feature (and for best original screenplay and directing), the South Korean director Bong Joon Ho brought his considerable gifts to American audiences with this 2014 adaptation of the French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige." Marshaling an impressive international cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris and Chris Evans, Bong creates a "playfully postmodern" English-language variation on his signature combination of action spectacle and social commentary, creating thrilling set pieces and thoughtful allegory with equal aplomb.

‘Moneyball’ (2011)

It would seem impossible to craft an entertaining film adaptation of Michael Lewis’s dense nonfiction account of number-crunching in baseball — much less to make one as breezy and engaging as this one. But the screenplay, by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, finds the proper balance of egghead theory and character development, Bennett Miller’s direction is fleet-footed without being lightweight, Brad Pitt’s restless charisma has rarely found a more appropriate showcase, and the supporting cast (including Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright and Chris Pratt) is, well, an all-star team. Manohla Dargis called it "the kind of all-too-rare pleasurable Hollywood diversion that gives you a contact high." (Hill also lights up "21 Jump Street.")