The depths of winter demand a night in with a great movie. The problem? Choice paralysis. Every streaming platform has thousands of films available. To cut through that, here are 30 great hand-picked movies on Netflix right now.
Don’t have Netflix? Check out our guides on Stan*, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video.
Atlantics (2019)
A rightful Cannes Film Festival winner, Mati Diop’s spectral romance is about the many borders – emotional, physical and existential – that impact a young Senegalese woman and her partner after he attempts the risky journey to Europe before returning in a different form.
Cargo (2017)
One of the great zombie movies is a distinctly Australian production. Sherlock’s Martin Freeman plays the father trying to safeguard his daughter in an outback that has collapsed due to an apocalyptic virus. It is a taut, telling thriller.
Companion (2025)
A weekend away romcom swiftly transforms into a menacing AI-era thriller when Iris (Sophie Thatcher) learns harsh truths about both herself and boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid). Controlling relationships find a new form in an alternately savage and bittersweet pursuit.
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Japan’s Toho Studios took back the monster movie crown with this compelling new edition of a classic franchise. Set in a devastated Tokyo after World War II, with exceptional digital effects, this Godzilla astutely combines survivor guilt and atomic-era destruction.
His Three Daughters (2023)
A haunting New York chamber piece, this intimate drama follows a trio of estranged sisters – exceptionally played by Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne – reunited for their father’s imminent passing. The emotional reckoning is vast.
Hit Man (2023)
Screen chemistry shouldn’t just be seductive, it needs some risky business as well. Richard Linklater’s crackerjack thriller has it in spades, with Glenn Powell as an undercover operative who can’t stop pretending once he meets Adria Arjona’s fuse-lit assignment.
The Killer (2023)
Trust The Social Network’s David Fincher to have grim fun with the tale of a skilled assassin (Michael Fassbender) who hunts down his betrayers. Come for the exacting set-pieces, stay for the twisted commentary on the gig economy era.
The Invisible Man (2020)
Australian screenwriter turned filmmaker Leigh Whannell delivered a horror home run with this nightmarish update of the classic H.G. Wells science-fiction tale. Elisabeth Moss’ heroine escapes an abusive relationship, only to realise her ex remains unseen but ever-present.
KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
Trust the kids on this one. Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans’ animated musical fantasy about a K-pop girl group who have a Buffy-like knack for monster mayhem is a seamless mix of mythology, banging tunes and striking characters.
Lady Bird (2017)
Barbie’s Greta Gerwig announced herself as a director with this droll, heart-wrenching coming-of-age tale about where Saoirse Ronan’s high-schooler and Laurie Metcalf’s embattled mother trade blows. Deeply personal storytelling that is resoundingly universal.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022)
Almost a century after D.H. Lawrence’s sexually explicit novel about the affair between an aristocrat’s wife and a lowly gardener was widely banned, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s resonant adaptation evocatively showcases Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell.
Late Night with the Devil (2023)
Australian brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes leapt up the sibling director rankings with this slow-burn supernatural freakout about a 1970s TV host (David Dastmalchian) whose occult-themed episode spins diabolically out of control.
Long Legs (2024)
Eerily perched on the edge of an unknowable abyss, this investigative thriller follows Maika Monroe’s FBI agent as a bloody series of murder-suicides becomes a creepy homecoming. The horror here has an oppressive weight. Then Nicolas Cage appears.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Still the gold standard of fantasy epics. Peter Jackson and his Kiwi collaborators turned Tolkien’s vast Middle Earth into a tactile realm where good heroically countered evil.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
A bold, brilliant triumph. Director George Miller not only resurrected his post-apocalyptic anti-hero, played here by Tom Hardy; in this definitive 21st century action movie, he empowered Charlize Theron as a defiant feminist hero.
My Brilliant Career (1979)
A landmark Australian drama. In Gillian Armstrong’s arresting directorial debut, Judy Davis plays an impassioned young woman at the end of the 19th century whose path to satisfaction is blocked by convention. Sam Neill is the swoon-worthy co-star.
Of an Age (2022)
Time is limited and longing is endless in this raw, tender Australian gay romance. Writer-director Goran Stolevski put Nikola (Aton Elias) and Adam (Thom Green) on a misfit errand, making the pair reconsider themselves and each other.
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Beginning with an iconic opening sequence, Sergio Leone’s epic spaghetti western marks the end of the gunslinger era with rampant betrayal, bloody reckonings and Henry Fonda breaking bad.
The Outrun (2024)
As an alcoholic seeking salvation returning to her home in Scotland’s Orkney Islands, Saoirse Ronan gives a staggeringly complete performance in this independent drama. With the rugged, unforgiving landscape as a living backdrop, addiction cliches are defied.
Past Lives (2023)
A what-if that grows from innocuous reunion to heartbreaking loss, Celine Song’s restrained romantic drama rightfully made Greta Lee a star for her portrayal of a married New York playwright reunited with her childhood friend from South Korea, and the life they might have shared.
Presumed Innocent (1990)
Hollywood excelled at legal thrillers in the 1990s, with the benchmark set by this tempestuous mystery that has Harrison Ford as a Chicago prosecutor investigating the murder of a colleague (Greta Scacchi) he had a secret affair with.
Private Life (2018)
A bittersweet beauty of a film about a Manhattan couple in their 40s – Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti – whose quest to become parents faces harsh setbacks and revelatory admissions. Both the infertility treatments and growing desperation are swathed in authenticity.
Rebel Ridge (2024)
High Noon for the 21st century, this action-thriller pits a former US marine (Aaron Pierre) against the corrupt police force of a small Louisiana town. Electric in its escalation, the film is attuned to moral failings and violence rebukes.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
A quarter-century old and still the finest of Wes Anderson’s idiosyncratic pocket universes. The beloved film is centred on vagabond patriarch (Gene Hackman) as he tries to reclaim his brilliant, unmoored offspring (Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson).
RRR (2022)
Few features this decade have been more outrageously enjoyable than S.S. Rajamouli’s full-tilt action blockbuster about a pair of 1920 freedom fighters taking on British colonial power. The CGI effects are bonkers, the plot heroic, the audacity unchecked.
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
Shot out of a cinematic cannon, a 29-year-old Spike Lee upended the romantic comedy and the African-American screen experience with his tale of a Brooklyn artist (Tracy Camilla Johns) with three suitors and even more unanswered questions.
Spirited Away (2001)
There’s no clear answer as to what’s the best of legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s animated fantasies, but this striking coming-of-age tale about a young girl trying to free her imprisoned family from the spirit world is a candidate.
The Sting (1973)
One of the great con-artist movies, with Robert Redford and Paul Newman at their movie icon best as 1930s grifters pulling a number on a mob boss. This underdog caper rightfully won a slew of Academy Awards, including best picture.
Train Dreams (2025)
Joel Edgerton reaches the transcendent with his lead performance in this American period drama about a stoic Idaho logger whose life and loss traverses the transformations of the 20th century. The film plays like an artefact from the past.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
American greed has never been more savagely depicted than in Martin Scorsese’s adrenalin-shot satire of a corner-cutting 1 per cent aspirant played with unhinged commitment by Leonardo DiCaprio. It does not relent.
All information correct at July 2026. *Stan is owned by Nine, the publisher of this masthead.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
