The 30 best movies on Netflix UK right now

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano

Paul Thomas Anderson's magnum opus about a corrupt oil man in the 1800s is an example of what happens when everybody's firing on all cylinders. From Robert Elswit's stunning cinematography to Jonny Greenwood's score and Paul Dano and Daniel Day-Lewis' career-defining turns, everything here is perfectly in sync. It's long. It's often slow, sometimes funny and always invigorating and impossible to look away from. Drink it up. It's a masterpiece.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace

Jaws — also streaming right now — cemented Steven Spielberg as the master of the summer blockbuster, all but ensuring kids stay as far away from the water as possible. For those not looking to ruin summer pastimes, ET is the director at his most endearing. The Reese's Pieces-addicted alien still looks great, and the summer vibes here have helped inform everything from Stranger Things to Super 8, though none have topped it. It also pairs beautifully a backyard double feature Spielberg's Amity Island classic.

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Cast: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki

Miyazaki's first digitally animated feature (the highest-grossing Japanese film ever) initially seems like a ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ fantasy, but rapidly picks up a resonance, weight and complexity that make it all but Shakespearean. Chihiro, a sullen ten-year-old, is moving house with her parents when they stumble into the world of the Japanese gods – where the greedy parents are soon turned into pigs. A truly magical fable unfolds as she navigates this fantastical kingdom.

Director: Noah Baumbach

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver

Like Kramer vs Kramer vs Kramer from Seinfeld, this marital-breakdown masterpiece has just enough lols to leaven the tears. And there are plenty of those, with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson dazzling in Noah Baumbach’s semi-autobiographical tale. 

Directors: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

Cast: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones 

The closest that the Coen brothers have yet come to a full-blown horror film, this bleak, violent and nerve-shredding Cormac McCarthy adaptation is as nihilistic as they come. A dusty, music-free chase through the desolate American southwest, the film features one of cinema's most blood-curdling villains in the form of Javier Bardem's smiling, bowl-cutted villain, with Josh Brolin's roughneck cowboy enduring all manner of injury en route to the inevitable. Every moment here counts. And each of those moments is dripping with dread courtesy of filmmakers at the top of their game.

Director: Bernard Rose

Cast: Tony Todd, Virginia Madsen

With Nia DaCosta's long-awaited followup here, now is the perfect time to revisit this jarring, gory and socially charged classic of '90s slasher cinema. Tony Todd oozes seductive menace as the apparition of a hook-handed slave sowing fear in a Chicago housing project, while Virginia Madsen transcends final-girl frailty as a resilient academic researching urban legends. With its evocative Philip Glass score and campfire-ready lore, it's one of the most overrated horrors of its time, delivering jolts and pathos with the efficiency of a rusty hook to the jugular.

Director: David Fincher

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo

David Fincher’s serial-killer masterpiece perplexed Seven fans seeking another pound of flesh wrapped in a true-crime package: Zodiac is a cold, calculated forensic drama that largely relegates the real-life Zodiac Killer to the shadows, instead focusing on the detectives both certified and amateur seeking to discover his identity. When the killer does surface, it’s the stuff of nightmares, particularly during the Donovan-scored opening bloodbath. But it’s the aftermath of hollowed-out lives and ruined relationships left in his wake that show the killer’s true legacy.

Director: Park Chan-wook

Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo

There are two types of people in the world: Those who read the phrase ‘kinky 1930s-set psychosexual thriller from the director of Oldboy, Thirst and Stoker’ and immediately tune in, and those who simply don’t know the deranged joys of South Korean madman Park Chan-wook. Time to change that.

Directors: Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie

Cast: Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel

The Safdie Brothers’ electrifying and abrasive drama about the week in the 2012 life of a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants Diamond District dealer is an intense high-stakes triumph.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie

Quentin Tarantino's ambling, episodic hangout movie has a way of sticking with you: It's certainly stuck with the director, who recently released a novel and is teasing stage adaptations and a 20-hour miniseries. Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are at their charming best in this '60s fantasy reimagining of Hollywood, so much so that you almost don't notice that their washed-up Old Hollywood hangers-on are actually vile conservative blowhards gasping for breath at the end of an era.

Director: Ramin Bahrani

Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra, Rajkummar Rao

Sharp-edge class commentary meets visceral gangland violence in a rollicking Indian thriller that throws rural ingenue Balram (Adarsh Gourav) into the Delhi fast lane as a chauffeur who charms his way into a high-caste dynasty. The themes, as translated from Aravind Adiga's Booker-winning novel, are Shakespearean; the execution seriously visceral and cinematic – and newcomer Gourav is a revelation as the smart, savvy Balram. 

Director: Rahda Blank

Cast: Rahda Blank, Peter Kim, Oswin Benjamin

This smart, zippy and meaningful comedy about finding a voice, breaking through and being true to yourself comes from the pen – and real-life experiences – of New Yorker Radha Blank. ‘The Forty-Year-Old Version’ feels fearless, letting all the hang ups hang out when it comes to sex, success and hitting your fourth decade.

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Cast: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox

Dutch maniac Paul Verhoeven is currently baskin in the controversy surrounding his nunsploitation film Benedetta, but the dirty mind behind Showgirls, Basic Instinct and Total Recall first turned heads with this explosively violent satire about a zombified cop in shining robotic armour. Far from the '80s trash relic it's assumed to be, RoboCop lampoons '80s corporate greed and corrupt politicians with an enduring relevance. It's a rowdy, hilarious blast from start to finish, and a film that has more on its mind than the splattered bodies onscreen let on. 

Director: Ari Aster

Cast: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter

Aster's follow up to the instant horror hall-of-famer Heredity — also streaming, if you're feeling brave — proved divisive, and it's understandable. A wildly psychedelic, three-hour slice of folk horror sprinkled with ugly Americans comedy in which the carnage unfolds in perpetual Swedish daylight, Midsommar is abrasive, daring and wholly original in spite of its Wicker Man winks. Florence Pugh — newly minted Black Widow heir — is a powerhouse driving a film that's affirming and stomach turning, often in the same brightly lit shot.

Director: Spike Lee

Cast: Ossie Davis, Danny Aiello, Ruby Dee, Spike Lee

Spike Lee's breakout remains his most unfiltered masterpiece, and its narrative about racial tension centered around a Brooklyn pizza shop remains as blazing today as the heatwave-plagued city in which it's set. Few films of this era are as iconic and influential, and this cornerstone of the era's indie-film explosion remains as potent now as it was upon its release.

Director: Spike Jonze

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage, Chris Cooper

Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's deliriously absurd dissection of writers' block and creative hubris manages to wrest the last truly great comic performance out of Nicolas Cage. He pulls double duty as the cynical Kaufman as well as his excitable labrador of a twin brother, Donald, a character who scored a very real Oscar nomination for the screenplay despite not actually existing. Chris Cooper scored an Oscar as the rugged, toothless orchid hunter at the center of the story, with Meryl Streep throwing herself gamely into the mania (and an alligator).  Once the film transitions from dry showbiz comedy to all-out Ashley Judd-style thriller, all bets are off.

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie

Scorsese's opulent, degenerate opus whizzes by despite its 3-hour runtime thanks to the kinetic energy and explosive performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill, whose behavior shifts from shockingly funny to monstrous so quickly and so often that you often find yourself complicit in their crimes. At its black heart, this is a horror movie masquerading as a Looney Tunes finance-bro comedy. It's also a knockout, and the film that introduced the indelible Margot Robbie to the mainstream.

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood

Cast: Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Released to great fanfare mid-pandemic, this R-rated comic book flick has pretty much everything that the Marvel movies are lacking, including innovation action, front-and-center queer characters and a willingness to go big with its lore without being beholden to 30 other character arcs. It also has Furiousa herself, Charlize Theron, as an immortal axe-wielding ass kicker leading a cadre of unkillable warriors in an effort to keep us mere mortals safe. If only the Fast movies would let Theron rip this much…

Director:  Alex Garland

Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Oscar Isaac

In a rare example of Hollywood sci-fi-horror thoughtfulness, 'Annihilation' has grand concepts in mind, ideas about self-destruction and rebirth. The film follows cellular biologist Lena (Portman) as she ventures to The Shimmer, an anomalous electromagnetic field, to discover the truth about what happened to her husband Kane (Isaac), who visited The Shimmer and returned in poor health and his memory missing. 

Director: Simon Stone

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan

Just as olde-worlde feeling as you might expect when your main characters are called ‘Edith’ and ‘Basil’ (and they aren’t using codenames) – and all the better for it – ‘The Dig’ packs a stealthy emotional punch. Carey Mulligan (Edith) and Ralph Fiennes (Basil) are the wealthy widow and the amateur archaeologist that she hires to investigate the ancient burial site on her land. It turns out to be world-renowned Saxon site of Sutton Hoo, though we’re really here for gently profound musings on mortality and the passing of time. 

Directors: Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam

Cast: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle

It may lack the satire-with-a-purpose edge of Life of Brian, but Holy Grail is the sillier, funnier film, packed with goofy laughs rather than hey-I-get-that cleverness. It’s aged better too, less beholden to notions of revolutionary politics and more reliant on slapstick violence, sudden explosions, surrealist wordplay and scatological asides. You’d be an empty-headed animal food-trough-wiper not to tee it up asap.

Director: Josh and Benny Safdie

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Benny Safdie, Barkhad Abdi

This crime thriller from filmmaking brothers Benny and Josh Safdie is cocky, grubby and electric. It features Robert Pattinson on top form as Connie, a charismatic, quick-thinking chancer who we first meet extracting his mentally challenged brother Nick (Benny Safdie) from a therapy session so they can spend the morning robbing a bank. Once the Brooklyn bank job goes south, the film stays on the move, running, punching, tumbling, stumbling over 24 hours as the fallout drags us through streets, vehicles, homes, jail, a hospital, a theme park and more. 

Directors: Julia Reichert, Steven Bognar

2020’s Oscar-winning documentary is a film of two halves: the first records the resurrection of a shuttered Ohio car glass factory by Chinese corporation Fuyao; the second takes us to China to see how the company operates on its own turf. Suffice to say there’s more than an ocean between the two working cultures. Co-directors Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar take a gentle, non-polemical approach to this uneasy partnership, but there’s no shortage of ouchy moments – as when the Chinese workers are caught disparaging their American counterparts’ work ethic or the Americans gamely try to join in on the company song. An essential watch.

Director: Bennett Miller

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright

Like an out-of-form batter, sports films can be hit and miss. Baseball movies, though, are steady performers – and in this case, much better than that. Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, a journeyman MLB player who became a watchword for the analytics-based innovation that revolutionised not just baseball, but other sports too. Sound dry? There’s barely a spreadsheet in sight, just crackling Steven Zaillian/Aaron Sorkin-scripted dramatics as Beane turns his sport on its head with some help from Jonah Hill’s stats genius.

Director: Mati Diop

Cast: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Ibrahima Traoré

Young lovers are separated in this wistful, atmospheric first feature from Mati Diop, the first black female director to compete for the Cannes Palme d’Or. Soon after we meet spirited teenager Ada (Mame Bineta Sane) in Dakar, she is grinning at Souleiman (Ibrahima Traoré) across the road as traffic whizzes past, his solemn, lovelorn face holding secrets she doesn’t yet know. Soon there will be an ocean between them, and she will be left to wonder if he is alive or dead, while marrying a wealthy man she doesn’t love.

Director: Sarah Gavron

Cast: Bukky Bakray, Anastasia Dymitrow, Shaneigha-Monik Greyson, Ruby Stokes, Kosar Ali, Tawheda Begum 

This tough, authentic and heart-swelling coming-of-age drama is London’s answer to ‘The 400 Blows’ – only with extra Snapchatting, can-kicking, trash-talking energy. It’s the story of Rocks (newcomer Bukky Bakray), a British-Nigerian teenager whose mum vanishes, leaving her and her adorbs younger brother to make their own way in a daunting city. Luckily, she has resilience and a posse of pals to help her along. One of the best films in cinemas in 2020, it’s now one of the best movies on Netflix too.

Director: John Landis

Cast: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall

At the height of his comedic powers, Eddie Murphy took a break from action comedies for this certified classic about an African prince who ships off to Queens, New York (of course) to find his bride. This is perhaps Murphy's most good-natured effort, and the joys of watching his endlessly cheery royal endure the harshest New York stereotypes with a smile on his face are limitless. 

Director: Fernando Meirelles

Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce

The title makes it sound like the world’s most unlikely buddy movie, and that’s essentially what this talky but endlessly likeable and thought-provoking adaptation of Anthony McCarten’s play is – like ‘The Odd Couple’ set in the Vatican. Welsh acting legends Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce share the screen for the first time as Pope Benedict XVI and the more liberal cardinal who might end up replacing him, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Watching the two of them shooting the shit (our words, not theirs) is a pure pleasure, as their uneasy respect blossoms into an unexpected friendship. 

Director: Harry Bradbeer

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter, Sam Claflin

Proving that her Eggo-scoffing breakout turn in Stranger Things was no flash in the pan, Millie Bobby Brown single-handedly turns this Sherlock Holmes spin-off into a giddying, galloping delight. She’s Enola, the brainy but belittled sister of the great detective (Henry Cavill), who heads off a crime-solving escapade of her own to find her missing mum (Helena Bonham Carter) and demonstrates that strong-willed genius runs in the family. The dame is afoot!