50 best films to watch on Netflix right now

Streaming giant Netflix has no shortage of films to choose from, but finding the right one can be easier said than done. If you're stuck in an endless cycle of scrolling, let Radio Times's experts guide you to the movies most worth your time.

Godzilla Minus One is a standalone film that takes us back to basics in post-war Japan. But the latest entry in this 70 year old franchise is anything but basic. It follows a former WWII kamikaze pilot named Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who ended up on Odo Island just as a monster soon to be named Godzilla shows up and destroys the place. Only Kōichi and mechanic Sōsaku Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki) survived, but even two years later, the guilt of surviving when the others didn't still plagues his every moment.

For the music fans among you, Becoming Led Zeppelin is Bernard MacMahon’s music documentary charting the formation and meteoric early rise of the legendary rock band, told through new interviews with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, alongside previously unheard material and rare performance footage.

David O Russell’s beguilingly offbeat romance Silver Linings Playbook stars Bradley Cooper as a bipolar divorcé who, after leaving a mental health clinic, meets Jennifer Lawrence’s equally troubled Tiffany. Their unlikely partnership leads to a dance competition, with Robert De Niro adding weight as Pat’s roguish, betting-obsessed dad.

A recent arrival for all the family is Wicked: Part One, the spectacular musical fantasy revealing the untold story of Oz’s witches, as the misunderstood Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and popular Glinda (Ariana Grande) forge an unlikely friendship that changes both their lives.

New to the platform is gripping political thriller Animals, directed by and starring Ben Affleck. When the teenage son of a Los Angeles mayoral candidate is kidnapped, he and his wife are plunged into a desperate race to secure the ransom, uncovering a web of secrets, lies and moral compromises that threaten both their family and political future. Co-starring Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun, the tense drama combines family stakes with high-pressure political intrigue.

In romantic drama Brooklyn, Saoirse Ronan plays a young woman torn between two lovers – one in an America easing its way out of the 1950s straitjacket, the other back in good old, safe old Ireland. Whichever way she jumps, there will probably be tears before bedtime, possibly preceded by a nice cup of cocoa.

The 1994 Formula One season was overshadowed by horror at the San Marino Grand Prix, but it also saw one of the sport’s greats driving into the spotlight. Cracking new Netflix film Schumacher ’94: the Birth of a Legend digs into the archive to tell the story of Michael Schumacher’s rapid rise.

Read on for our latest picks of the best films on Netflix – from recent releases like Train Dreams and Remarkably Bright Creatures to classics like We Don't Live Here Anymore and originals such as Roma – or head over to our guides to the best series on Netflix and best documentaries on Netflix.

Alternatively, check out our helpful list of Netflix secret codes, which can help you unlock hidden movies and TV shows.

Updated weekly.

Showing 1 to 24 of 50 results

• Documentary tracing the origins of the influential rock band and the recording of their first two albums in the late 1960s. Surviving members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones recall forming the band with drummer John Bonham, their electrifying early gigs and the sessions that would produce some of the most iconic songs in rock 'n' roll history.

• Romantic comedy drama starring Bradley Cooper and an Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence. Thirty-something Pat is discharged after a mandatory stay in a mental-health institution imposed on him after he assaulted his wife's lover. After moving back in with his parents, Pat continues to struggle with his bipolar disorder - a situation made worse by his refusal to take medication. When he meets young widow Tiffany, they form an uneasy friendship, despite Tiffany having problems of her own.

• Monster horror starring Ryunosuke Kamiki. Towards the end of the Second World War, kamikaze pilot Koichi witnesses a devastating attack on a small island by a gigantic, lizard-like sea creature dubbed "gojira". Years later, the same creature re-emerges and begins to wreak terrible destruction on Japan. Koichi is haunted by his failure to act the first time around - can he now step up and help to defeat the monster?

• Fantasy musical starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera. Elphaba Thropp is an outcast among the citizens of Oz due to her green skin and magical powers. When she arrives at the prestigious Shiz University, she is given a chance to develop her abilities and finds an unlikely friend in the popular Galinda. But something's rotten in the state of Oz, and the two young women arrive at a crossroads from which there'll be no turning back.

• Romantic drama starring Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson. County Wexford, 1950: young Eilis Lacey is sponsored for a job in America by a visiting priest and so she leaves her mother and sister for New York. The metropolis offers the chance of a career and romance, but the big city can be a lonely place for a small-town girl.

• Animals

  2026

  Thriller

  Crime/detective

  15

  Ben Affleck returns to the director's chair for the first time since 2023's sporting drama Air to helm, co-write and star in this tense political thriller. Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck) has invested the majority of his family's personal fortune into his high-profile campaign, supported by his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) and son Denny (Christopher Woodley). When Denny is kidnapped and held for ransom, the Kimballs have a few precious hours to conjure up money they don't have. Mysterious fixer Dayle (Gillian Anderson) is drafted in to oversee the negotiation, which may involve Mark and Abigail revealing the dark secrets they never intended to bring to light

• Animated comedy adventure featuring the voices of Will Ferrell and Chris Pratt. When the evil Lord Business attempts to take over the Lego world using a mystical super-weapon called the Kragle, it falls to an unlikely hero, construction worker Emmet, to save the day.

• Fantasy action adventure starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. Young Diana has been raised a warrior on the secret island of Themyscira, shielded from the perils of the real world. When she rescues an American pilot whose plane crashes off the coast, Diana learns about the horrors of the First World War, and leaves the island with him to fight for peace and justice.

• Comedy starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and the voice of Seth MacFarlane. When young John Bennett's wish that his beloved toy bear Ted could come to life is granted, the two become inseparable. But as they grow older, although not necessarily more mature, the potty-mouthed furry one starts to get in the way of John's other relationships.

• Having split from The Joker, psychotic psychiatrist Harley Quinn joins forces with other superheroes to save a girl from the clutches of the villainous Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask. Director Cathy Yan's fantasy adventure spun off from Suicide Squad, starring Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ewan McGregor

• Historical drama starring Cillian Murphy. It's Christmas 1985 in County Wexford, where coal merchant Bill, devoted father to five daughters but still troubled by a traumatic past, chances upon an imprisoned girl in freezing conditions when delivering to the local convent laundry. It's soon apparent this is just one part of a larger system of church oppression that threatens to blow his family life apart.

• After 93-year-old Thelma is conned by a phone scammer, she embarks on a risky journey across LA with only one thing on her mind - revenge. Comedy, starring June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg and in one of his final films, Richard Roundtree

• Diabolical nemesis Maxime Le Mal and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina target Anti-Villain League agent Gru, girlfriend Lucy, their girls Margo, Edith and Agnes and new addition Gru Jr. The family goes on the run while the Minions invade AVL HQ. Animated sequel, with the voices of Steve Carell and Will Ferrell

• Satirical comedy co-written and directed by Christopher Guest. Following the death of legendary folk music promoter Irving Steinbloom, his son Jonathan organises a concert in his memory. But time hasn't been kind to the once legendary acts that assemble at New York's Town Hall.

• Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents the classic story of a wooden puppet brought to life in this stunning stop-motion musical tale. Animated family drama, with the voice of Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann and Finn Wolfhard

• Romantic comedy starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Michelle Yeoh. New Yorker Rachel Chu travels to Singapore with her partner, Nick, for a friend's wedding, and discovers that Nick's family is hugely wealthy. They also expect him to remain in Singapore to inherit their hotel business - a plan that, as Nick's imperious mother Eleanor makes quite clear, does not involve Rachel.

• An academic who neglects his alcoholic wife, and routinely sleeps with his students, begins an affair with a bored housewife - but the pair are unaware their own partners are also about to start a relationship with each other, and that their children know all about their parents' lies and infidelities. Drama, starring Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Watts, Laura Dern and Peter Krause

• Michael Schumacher's first World Championship win roars to life through personal interviews and archival footage of the legendary 1994 Formula 1 season

• Convict Ruth Slater is released back into society after serving a long sentence for a violent crime. She reluctantly returns home to track down her younger sister Katie, who she was forced to leave behind. Back in the place where her life whirled out of control, Ruth encounters anger, disbelief and harsh judgement.

• Bonded by their love of freediving, a record-setting champion and a heroic safety diver try to make history with a remarkable feat, ready to risk it all.

• Pharrell Williams tells the story of his life - through the lens of Lego animation. With an all-star cast, including Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg

• Epic sci-fi drama starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya. With the evil Harkonnen family back in charge of Arrakis, deposed heir Paul Atreides and his mother have taken refuge with the native Fremen in the planet's perilous desert wasteland. Paul becomes close with Fremen warrior Chani and begins to demonstrate powers that persuade her people to aid in the young man's plan to avenge his father and take back control.

• While working nights at a small-town aquarium, a widow bonds with a clever octopus and an adrift young man in this moving drama based on the bestseller.

• Fantasy horror starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi. In 1857, a Danish polar exploration ship rescues Baron Victor Frankenstein from the ice and the crew is attacked by a powerful man-like monster. Frankenstein recounts the story of how he created the frightful Creature by harnessing the power of the elements. However, his version of events differs from that of the Creature, which has its own account of life under the maniacal scientist.