50 Best Movies to watch on Netflix Right Now

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Best Movies to watch on Netflix: With such a large selection of films available on Netflix, it can be tough to find a truly great movie amidst the vast options and sometimes confusing interface. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the 50 best films currently streaming on the service in the US, which we update regularly as titles are added or removed. Additionally, we’ve included links to other great films available on Netflix within many of our write-ups. Keep in mind that streaming services may remove titles or alter their availability without prior 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.

50 Best Movies to watch on Netflix Right Now

‘Emily the Criminal’ (2022)

“Emily the Criminal” may seem like a comedic film about Aubrey Plaza’s dry and deadpan personality clashing with the criminal world, but it’s actually a serious and intense thriller. It has a Michael Mann-like style and doesn’t include any moments of humor. The film’s writer and director, John Patton Ford, successfully creates tension and provides an authentic look into the lives of thieves and con artists. Plaza’s performance as a temp worker turned thief is not only unexpected but also excellent. If you’re interested in more indie dramas, you may want to check out “Leave No Trace” or “We the Animals.”

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‘Addams Family Values’ (1993)

With the popularity of Netflix’s “Wednesday,” now is a great time to revisit the original “The Addams Family” film from 1991. This adaptation, also streaming on Netflix, features strong performances from Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia Addams, respectively. The film effectively highlights their playful morbidity and gothic sexuality. However, the sequel released in 1993, “The Addams Family Values,” surpasses the original. Director Barry Sonnenfeld improves upon his signature comedic style, Joan Cusack adds humorous depth to the cast, and Christina Ricci’s portrayal of Wednesday is especially noteworthy, with her deadpan delivery reminiscent of Buster Keaton. One memorable scene includes Wednesday taking control of a Thanksgiving pageant at camp and burning it down.

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• Also Read: The Best Movies on Amazon Prime Video Right Now

‘Disobedience’ (2018)

In this poignant drama from director Sebastián Lelio, based on Naomi Alderman’s novel, Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams play members of a strict Orthodox Jewish community whose shared past resurfaces. Weisz’s character, Ronit, returns to the community after her father’s death and reignites her romance with Esti (McAdams), who has suppressed her own desires and entered into a joyless marriage. Lelio handles the subject matter straightforwardly, neither sensationalizing nor de-emphasizing the sexual aspect of the relationship between the two women. It’s a rare mainstream representation of same-sex attraction that equally portrays both the emotional and physical aspects of the relationship.

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‘My Girl’ (1991)

Anna Chlumsky, best known for her comedic and profanity-laden role in “Veep,” may surprise audiences with her debut film, a heartwarming coming-of-age drama set in the summer of 1972, which was released when she was just 11 years old. Chlumsky plays Vada, a hypochondriac whose father (Dan Aykroyd) owns the local funeral home. Jamie Lee Curtis also stars in the film as a potential love interest for Vada’s dad, while Macaulay Culkin plays a poignant role as Vada’s summer friend and first kiss.

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‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ (2009)

Bill Hader voices Flint Lockwood, an inventor who creates a satellite that can turn water into food, turning his previously unassuming fishing island into a gourmet paradise and popular tourist spot. However, when the food portions begin to mutate into oversized, super-sized versions, Flint must find the courage to correct his mistake. The voice cast, including Anna Farris, James Caan, Mr. T, and Bruce Campbell, bring energy to the film. While kids will love the imagery of hot dogs and spaghetti raining from the sky, there is also a lesson about staying true to oneself and doing what is right. A critic described the film as “a single serving of inspired lunacy.”

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• Also Read: The Best Movies on Amazon Prime Video Right Now

‘Moneyball’ (2011)

It may seem improbable to make a film adaptation of Michael Lewis’s complex nonfiction book about baseball analytics that is both enjoyable and accurate, but “Moneyball” manages to do just that. The screenplay, written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, skillfully combines technical details with character development, Bennett Miller’s direction is energetic yet substantial, and Brad Pitt shines in a role that perfectly fits his charisma. The supporting cast, including Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, and Chris Pratt, is also excellent. A critic described the film as “the kind of all-too-rare pleasurable Hollywood diversion that gives you a contact high.” If you enjoy this film, you may also want to check out “Legends of the Fall,” also starring Pitt.

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‘Captain Phillips’ (2013)

Director Paul Greengrass, known for his work on the “Bourne” films, combines intense action with thought-provoking themes in this dramatic retelling of the hijacking of an American cargo ship in April 2009. Barkhad Abdi and Barkhad Abdirahman, in his acting debut, play the Somali pirates, while Tom Hanks portrays the captain with his usual sense of honor and responsibility as he tries to prevent violence. The intelligent screenplay by Billy Ray also examines the political and economic factors involved in the incident and the emotional impact of the standoff, particularly in Hanks’ poignant final scene. For more dramatic films, you may want to consider “The Swimmers” or “Zero Dark Thirty.”

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‘Residue’ (2020)

“Turn the music down,” the neighbor barks. “Don’t make me have to call the cops.” Jay (Obinna Nwachukwu) hasn’t even made it to the door of his home in Washington, D.C., but the warning from his new (white) neighbor makes it clear that the old block has changed. But urban gentrification isn’t the only subject of Merawi Gerima’s “challenging, engrossing” debut feature; as Jay reconnects with his neighborhood and its people, stories, sins and childhood traumas bubble back up to the surface, making “Residue” less a conventional narrative than a stream-of-consciousness exploration of the ongoing conversations between past and present.

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• Also Read: The 50 Best TV Shows on Netflix Right Now

‘Up in the Air’ (2009)

George Clooney turns in one of his most nuanced performances in this sharp and affecting comedy-drama from the writer and director Jason Reitman ( “Juno”). Clooney uses his movie-star good looks and charisma in service of the supremely confident Ryan Bingham, a man who specializes in being the corporate bad guy (he is brought in to handle the layoffs), but whose confidence slowly deteriorates. Anna Kendrick is pitch-perfect as a young woman who is seeking to streamline their profession, and consequently put him out of a job. Our critic praised this “laugh-infused stealth tragedy.”

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‘Descendant’ (2022)

When the remains of the Clotilda, the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, were discovered off the shore of Mobile, Ala., in 2019, it was physical evidence of a long-told piece of local lore — an illegal operation, long after such ships were outlawed, five years before emancipation. So this amounted to the excavation of a crime scene, prompting a giant question for the descendants of those victims: What does justice look like? Margaret Brown’s spellbinding documentary asks that question, which opens up many more thornier conversations about history, complicity and legacy. Our critic called it “deeply attentive” and “moving.”

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‘Training Day’ (2001)

Denzel Washington won his second Oscar (his first for a leading role) by stepping way outside his usual wheelhouse of courageous heroes and men of virtue to play a dirty Los Angeles narcotics detective. The jolt of seeing good-guy Denzel play bad — planting evidence, staging murders and gleefully robbing his suspects — is downright electrifying, and Ethan Hawke (who got an Oscar nod of his own for his work here) is an effective audience surrogate, registering increasing dismay at the corruption of his superior over a long, hot 24 hours. The director, Antoine Fuqua, orchestrates their interactions adroitly, modulating the tension and discomfort, shrewdly treating his star like a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. Our critic called it a performance of “powerhouse virtuosity.”

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‘Colette’ (2018)

It’s understandable to look upon a period literary biopic starring Keira Knightley and presume an object of arid stuffiness. But the director Wash Westmoreland gives us anything but — this is a rowdy, ribald picture, about a woman who wrote rowdy, ribald stories. She went from a shy innocent to a proud hedonist, and Westmoreland eagerly takes that journey alongside her. But he also dramatizes her intellectual awakening, and her insistence on being regarded as both a real writer and a full person. Manohla Dargis praised its “light, enjoyably fizzy approach to its subject.”

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‘Any Given Sunday’ (1999)

Oliver Stone took on the world of professional football — and all of the scandal, bad behavior, greed and ego within it — in this wildly entertaining and deliciously stylish drama. Al Pacino is in top form as a passionate and increasingly desperate coach trying to hold his team together when his longtime star quarterback (Dennis Quaid), out on injury, is replaced by a hotshot up-and-comer (Jamie Foxx). Stone orchestrates his large and eclectic ensemble cast (which also includes Cameron Diaz, Charlton Heston, LL Cool J, Ann-Margret, Matthew Modine and James Woods), but the real draw here is the “viscerally charged, razzle-dazzle” game play sequences, which crank up the intensity and violence to a level approaching that of Stone’s war movies. (Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” is also on Netflix.)

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‘Labyrinth’ (1986)

The phrase “ahead of their time” is bandied about with abandon, but it certainly applies to the 1980s output of Jim Henson, who expanded his reach with non-Muppet, dark fantasy entertainments that were met with critical and commercial indifference but have gained considerable cult followings with the passing years. “The Dark Crystal” was one example; “Labyrinth” is another, a 1986 musical fantasy, made in collaboration with George Lucas, which Henson directed from a screenplay by the Monty Python member Terry Jones. Jennifer Connelly stars as a slightly spoiled teenager who takes a journey into a dark world to rescue her baby brother; David Bowie is unforgettable, scary and seductive as the Goblin King who stands in her way. Our critic deemed it “a remarkable achievement.” (For more of a classic musical vibe, try “White Christmas.”)

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‘Christine’ (2016)

This forceful biopic from director Antonio Campos dramatizes the life and death of Christine Chubbuck, the Florida news personality who killed herself on live television in 1974. What was, for years, a grisly footnote in television history is here rendered as a wrenching snapshot of mental illness, thanks to Craig Shilowich’s sensitive screenplay and Rebecca Hall’s stunning work as Chubbuck, a deeply felt turn in which every harsh word and casual slight lands like a body blow.

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‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ (1975)

The British comedy troupe Monty Python created its funniest, wildest and cult-friendliest feature-length comedy with this uproarious sendup of the legend of King Arthur — and of medieval literature in general, and of big-screen epics. Graham Chapman is the ostensible lead as Arthur, leading his Knights of the Round Table on a quest for the grail, but the plot is merely a clothesline on which to hang blackout sketches and self-aware gags, and there are many. Our critic called it “a marvelously particular kind of lunatic endeavor.” (The similarly irreverent ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’ is also on Netflix.)

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‘Richard Pryor: Live in Concert’ (1979)

In December of 1978, Richard Pryor took the stage of the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, Calif., and delivered what may still be the greatest recorded stand-up comedy performance in history. It captures the comic at his zenith; his insights are razor-sharp, his physical gifts are peerless, and his powers of personification are remarkable as he gives thought and voice to household pets, woodland creatures, deflating tires and uncooperative parts of his own body. But as with the best of Pryor’s stage work, what’s most striking is his vulnerability. In sharing his own struggles with health, relationships, sex and masculinity, Pryor was forging a path to the kind of unapologetic candor that defines so much of contemporary comedy.

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‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ (2018)

Joel and Ethan Coen’s Old West anthology film is a series of tales of varying length and style, some as brief and simple as jokes, others with the richness and depth of a great short story. Our critic wrote, “It swerves from goofy to ghastly so deftly and so often that you can’t always tell which is which,” and what seems at first like a filmed notebook of ideas and orphans instead becomes something of a workshop; it’s a place for the Coens to try things, experimenting with new styles and moods, while also delivering the kind of dark humor and deliciously ornate dialogue that we’ve come to expect. (The Coens’ “Hail, Caesar!” is also streaming.)

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‘Zathura: A Space Adventure’ (2005)

The director Jon Favreau started his career making chatty indies like “Swingers” and is now the go-to guy for Marvel (“Iron Man”) and Disney (“The Lion King”). This family adventure was the bridge he built between those worlds. Based on a 2002 novel by the “Jumanji” author Chris Van Allsburg, it tells a similar story in which children are drawn into the world of a board game that is perhaps too immersive. The special effects are jaw-dropping, and the adventure elements are enthralling (particularly for young audiences), but Favreau’s background in small-scale, character-driven narratives shines through in the sweet and surprisingly moving conclusion. (For more family viewing, try “Paddington.”)

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‘Hell or High Water’ (2016)

The director David Mackenzie (“Starred Up”) draws on the mythos of classic westerns to tell this contemporary story of robbers driven to crime not by greed and status but by economic distress and desperation. Ben Foster’s trigger-happy thrill-seeker, Chris Pine’s rational man with a purpose and Jeff Bridges’s wise old lawman are so well drawn and authentically acted that the dialogue scenes are as thrilling as the shootouts. Our critic praised the “verve and tongue-tickling texture” of Taylor Sheridan’s dialogue. (Drama lovers should also check out “State of Play” and “Phantom Thread.”)

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‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ (2018)

Barry Jenkins followed up the triumph of his Oscar-winning “Moonlight” with this “anguished and mournful” adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel. It is, first and foremost, a love story, and the warmth and electricity Jenkins captures and conveys between stars KiKi Layne and Stephan James is overwhelming. But it’s also a love story between two African Americans in 1960s Harlem, and the delicacy with which the filmmaker threads in the troubles of that time, and the injustice that ultimately tears his main characters apart, is heart-wrenching. Masterly performances abound — particularly from Regina King, who won an Oscar for her complex, layered portrayal of a mother on a mission. (Fans of romantic literature should also check out “The Bridges of Madison County” and “Call Me By Your Name.”)

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‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971)

Stanley Kubrick’s most controversial film, and perhaps his most disturbing (neither a small claim), was this 1971 adaptation of the cult novel by Anthony Burgess. Tracking the various misdeeds and attempted rehabilitation of a certified sociopath (Malcolm McDowell, at his most charismatically chilling), this is Kubrick at his most stylized, with the narrative’s hyperviolence cushioned by the striking cinematography, futuristic production design and jet-black humor. Our critic wrote that it “dazzles the senses and mind.” (Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” is also on Netflix.)

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‘Men in Black’ (1997)

This “dryly clever” sci-fi/comedy hybrid plays, in many ways, like a sly satire of its star Will Smith’s “Independence Day” from the previous summer, treating an alien invasion not as a doomsday event, but an everyday fact of life — burdened mostly by the inconveniences of bureaucracy. Tommy Lee Jones stars as “Kay,” a longtime member of the agency in charge of tracking and regulating extraterrestrial visitors, while Smith stars as “Jay,” the new recruit who must learn the ropes. The screenplay (by Ed Solomon, a co-writer for “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”) knows that the old-pro-meets-young-hotshot setup is a chestnut and treats it with the proper irreverence. And Barry Sonnenfeld’s inventive direction gracefully amplifies the absurdity in every scenario. The result is a rarity: a big-budget tent pole that displays both jaw-dropping effects and a sense of humor. (For more buddy comedy, stream “The Nice Guys” and “21 Jump Street.”)

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‘Philomena’ (2013)

The British comic actor Steve Coogan — best known for his long-running turns as Alan Partridge and as a fictionalized version of himself in the “Trip” movies and BBC series — made a surprising shift to the serious when he co-wrote and co-starred in Stephen Frears’s adaptation of the nonfiction book “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.” Judi Dench received a best actress Oscar nomination for her performance (“so quietly moving that it feels lit from within,” per our critic) as the title character, an Irishwoman who is seeking out the son she was forced to give up for adoption a half-century earlier. Coogan (nominated for best screenplay) is the journalist who assists her and uncovers a horrifying story of religious hypocrisy. (For more fact-based drama, queue up “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”)

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‘Straight Up’ (2020)

When Todd (James Sweeney) and Rory (Katie Findlay) first meet, they bond over a shared love of “Gilmore Girls.” That show’s rat-tat-tat dialogue, pop culture savvy and unabashed sentimentality are all over this unconventional romantic comedy. Sweeney also wrote and directed, augmenting the normally drab rom-com template with a cornucopia of quirky and unexpected visual flourishes, and his screenplay is painfully astute, displaying an enviable ear for how, with the right partner, the affectations and witticisms of dating give way to confession and vulnerability. (For more sexy comedy, stream “Risky Business.”)

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‘Menace II Society’ (1993)

The twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes were only 21 years old when their debut feature roared onto screens in 1993, bursting with youthful energy. They marshal a sharp visual style and an immersive soundtrack to capture the unpredictability and intensity of South Central Los Angeles in the early ’90s, crafting an updated riff on Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets.” Our critic praised the picture’s “intense, painful believability” and “crackling ensemble acting,” including then-newcomers Larenz Tate and Jada Pinkett and, in a brief but effective supporting role, the rising star Samuel L. Jackson.

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‘When Harry Met Sally’ (1989)

The director Rob Reiner and the screenwriter Nora Ephron all but defined the contemporary romantic comedy with this sparkling, charming and uproariously funny story of an attractive woman (Meg Ryan) and man (Billy Crystal) who test their theories about if men and women can be friends. Stretching from their post-grad years to their early 30s, Harry and Sally’s story is filled with quotable dialogue, colorful characters and one of the great punch lines in modern comedy (“I’ll have what she’s having”). But it’s also a thoughtful exploration of gender roles and romantic expectations, and by the time Reiner and Ephron arrive at their lush Year’s Eve wrap-up, they’ve earned the extravagance. (For more romantic comedy, stream “Notting Hill.”)

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‘The Lost Daughter’ (2021)

The actor-turned-filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal writes and directs this adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel, starring Olivia Colman as a professor on vacation whose strained interactions with a large, unruly American family — particularly a young, stressed mother (Dakota Johnson) — send her down a rabbit hole of her memories, a switch-flip intermingling of past and present. There is a bit of back story to untangle, which turns the film into something like a mystery. But “The Lost Daughter” is mostly noteworthy for its willingness to explore the darkest moments of parenthood, the horrible feeling of giving up and longing for escape. Colman brings humanity and even warmth to a difficult character, while Jessie Buckley beautifully connects the dots as her younger iteration. Our critic calls it “a sophisticated, elusively plotted psychological thriller.” (The Gyllenhaal vehicle “The Kindergarten Teacher” is similarly unnerving.)

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‘Monster’ (2004)

Charlize Theron underwent a miraculous physical transformation to play the real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos, rendering herself all but unrecognizable in the process. But the power of her Oscar-winning performance goes much deeper. Theron manages to provoke both fear and sympathy with her portrayal, capturing not only Wuornos’s rage and dangerousness but also her love for a kind woman (Christina Ricci, also excellent), whom she hopes, against the odds, can save her. The director, Patty Jenkins (who later helmed “Wonder Woman”), makes no apologies for Wuornos’s acts, but neither does she minimize them, telling the story with grace and nuance and allowing her actors the space to bring these haunted souls to life. (Other Oscar winners on Netflix include “Darkest Hour” and “Gladiator.”)

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‘Metallica: Some Kind of Monster’ (2004)

A fascinating portrait of a superstar heavy metal group at a crossroads, “Some Kind of Monster” finds Metallica all but falling apart, with the musicians barely able to contain their hostility toward one another as they try to piece together an album. The result is what A.O. Scott called “a psychodrama of novelistic intricacy and epic scope.” Voyeuristic and compelling, it’s a film about the nuts and bolts of making an album — but it’s also about celebrity behavior, and the kind of psychobabble and walking-on-eggshells approaches that these bandmates must employ to continue abiding each other into middle age. (Music documentary lovers will also enjoy “What Happened, Miss Simone?”)

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‘The Power of the Dog’ (2021)

“I wonder what little lady made these?” Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) asks about the paper flowers created by Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) — the first indication of the initial theme of Jane Campion’s new film, an adaptation of the novel by Thomas Savage. Phil is a real piece of work, and when his brother and ranching partner George (Jesse Plemons) marries Peter’s mother, Rose (Kirsten Dunst), it brings all of Phil’s resentment and nastiness to the surface as he tries, in multiple, hostile ways, to exert his dominance and display his dissatisfaction. That tension and conflict would be enough for a lesser filmmaker, but Campion burrows deeper, taking a carefully executed turn to explore his complicated motives — and desires in this film of welcome complexity and unexpected tenderness; Manohla Dargis called it “a great American story and a dazzling evisceration of one of the country’s foundational myths.”

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‘Procession’ (2021)

The films of the director Robert Greene (including “Bisbee ’17” and “Kate Plays Christine”) live at the intersection of documentary, drama and process, intermingling fact, fictionalization and the difficulties of pursuing that most elusive of goals, truth. That mixture is particularly effective here, as the filmmaker spent three years collaborating with a professional drama therapist and six survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Midwest to create a series of scenes inspired by their experiences — and the considerable emotional fallout that ensued. It’s a deeply moving and blisteringly powerful account of survival and support. (Documentary aficionados may also enjoy “Misha and the Wolves.”)

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‘Passing’ (2021)

“She’s a girl from Chicago I used to know,” Irene (Tessa Thompson) says of Clare (Ruth Negga) — a statement that is accurate on the surface but that contains volumes of history, tension and secrets. Irene and Clare are both light-skinned Black women who have made different choices about how to live their lives, but when they reconnect, they are both prompted to reckon with who, exactly, they are. The screenplay and direction by Rebecca Hall (adapting Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel) delicately yet precisely plumbs their psychological depths and wounds, and the sumptuous costumes and immaculate black and white cinematography serve as dazzling counterpoints to what Manohla Dargis called “an anguished story of identity and belonging.”

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‘The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)’ (2017)

Everyone in the Meyerowitz family has an ax to grind, from the aging sculptor father worried about his legacy (Dustin Hoffman) to his current, perpetually inebriated wife (Emma Thompson) to his adult children (Elizabeth Marvel, Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller), who have spent their lives trying to please their father and are all screwed up because of it. The writer and director Noah Baumbach conveys their insecurities slyly, via their skittish interactions with their father and each other, and he masterfully makes their tribulations both wittily specific and richly universal. It’s a dryly funny and surprisingly moving serio-comic drama; our critic praised its “near-perfect balance between engagement and discomfort.” (Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” is also on Netflix.)

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‘Mudbound’ (2017)

In this powerful adaptation by the director Dee Rees of the novel by Hillary Jordan, two families — one white and one Black — are connected by a plot of land in the Jim Crow South. Rees gracefully tells both stories (and the larger tale of postwar America) without veering into didacticism, and her ensemble cast brings every moment of text and subtext into sharp focus. Our critic called it a work of “disquieting, illuminating force.” (For more period drama, queue up “The Beguiled” and “Crimson Peak.”)

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‘Middle of Nowhere’ (2012)

Ava DuVernay won the directing award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for this sensitive, thoughtful and moving drama. Our critic Manohla Dargis noted, “she wants you to look, really look, at her characters,” seeing past the clichés and assumptions of so many other movies, as she tells the story of Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi), a young nurse whose husband (Omari Hardwick) is in prison. Ruby dutifully visits, and keeps a candle burning at home, but when a kind bus driver (David Oyelowo) takes a shine to her, she begins to question her choices and allegiances. Corinealdi is a marvelous presence, playing the role with empathy and complexity, and the considerable charisma of Oyelowo — who would team up again with DuVernay for “Selma” — makes her dilemma all the more difficult. (For more heart-wrenching drama, queue up “Girl, Interrupted.”)

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‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ (2020)

The acclaimed stage director George C. Wolfe brings August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winner to the screen, quite faithfully — which is just fine, as a play this good requires little in the way of “opening up,” so rich are the characters and so loaded is the dialogue. The setting is a Chicago music studio in 1927, where the “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) and her band are meeting to record several of her hits, though that business is frequently disrupted by the tensions within the group over matters both personal and artistic. Davis is superb as Rainey, chewing up her lines and spitting them out with contempt at anyone who crosses her, and Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020 and won a posthumous Golden Globe best actor award for his performance, is electrifying as the showy sideman, Levee, a boiling pot of charisma, flash and barely concealed rage. A.O. Scott calls the film “a powerful and pungent reminder of the necessity of art.” (For more character-driven drama, check out “The Two Popes” and “High Flying Bird.”)

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‘His House’ (2020)

Genre filmmakers have spent the past three years trying (and mostly failing) to recreate the magic elixir of horror thrills and social commentary that made “Get Out” so special, but few have come as close as the British director Remi Weekes’s terrifying and thought-provoking Netflix thriller. He tells the story of two South Sudanese refugees seeking asylum in London, who are placed in public housing — a residence they are forbidden from leaving, which becomes a problem when things start going bump in the night. In a masterly fashion Weekes expands this simple haunted-house premise into a devastating examination of grief and desperation, but sacrifices no scares along the way, making “His House” a rare movie that prompts both tears and goose bumps. (For more horror, queue up “It Follows.”)

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‘Dick Johnson Is Dead’ (2020)

“I’ve always wanted to be in the movies,” Dick Johnson tells his daughter Kirsten, and he’s in luck — she makes them, documentaries mostly, dealing with the biggest questions of life and death. So they turn his struggle with Alzheimer’s and looming mortality into a movie, a “resonant and, in moments, profound” one (per Manohla Dargis), combining staged fake deaths and heavenly reunions with difficult familial interactions. He’s an affable fellow, warm and constantly chuckling, and a good sport, cheerfully playing along with these intricate, macabre (and darkly funny) scenarios. But it’s really a film about a father and daughter, and their lifelong closeness gives the picture an intimacy and openness uncommon even in the best documentaries. It’s joyful, and melancholy and moving, all at once.

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‘The Old Guard’ (2020)

Gina Prince-Blythewood’s adaptation of Greg Rucka’s comic book series delivers the expected goods: The action beats are crisply executed, the mythology is clearly defined and the pieces are carefully placed for future installments. But that’s not what makes it special. Prince-Blythewood’s background is in character-driven drama (her credits include “Love and Basketball” and “Beyond the Lights”), and the film is driven by its relationships rather than its effects — and by a thoughtful attentiveness to the morality of its conflicts. A.O. Scott deemed it a “fresh take on the superhero genre,” and he’s right; though based on a comic book, it’s far from cartoonish. (For more throwback thrills, queue up “The Mask of Zorro” and “The Quick and the Dead.”)

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‘Da 5 Bloods’ (2020)

Spike Lee’s latest is a genre-hopping combination of war movie, protest film, political thriller, character drama and graduate-level history course in which four African American Vietnam vets go back to the jungle to dig up the remains of a fallen compatriot — and, while they’re at it, a forgotten cache of stolen war gold. In other hands, it could’ve been a conventional back-to-Nam picture or “Rambo”-style action/adventure (and those elements, to be clear, are thrilling). But Lee goes deeper, packing the film with historical references and subtext, explicitly drawing lines from the civil rights struggle of the period to the protests of our moment. A.O. Scott called it a “long, anguished, funny, violent excursion into a hidden chamber of the nation’s heart of darkness.” (For more genre-infused drama, check out “Sleight.”)

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‘13TH’ (2016)

Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) directs this wide-ranging deep dive into mass incarceration, tracing the advent of America’s modern prison system — overcrowded and disproportionately populated by Black inmates — back to the 13th Amendment. It’s a giant topic to take on in 100 minutes, and DuVernay understandably has to do some skimming and slicing. But that necessity engenders its style: “13TH” tears through history with a palpable urgency that pairs nicely with its righteous fury. Our critic called it “powerful, infuriating and at times overwhelming.”

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‘Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution’ (2020)

“This camp changed the world,” we’re told, in the early moments of James LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham’s documentary, “and nobody knew about it.” The most refreshing and surprising element of this moving chronicle is that, title notwithstanding, the subject is not Camp Jened, the Catskills getaway that offered disabled kids and teens a “normal” summer camp experience. It’s about how that camp was the epicenter of a movement — a place where they could be themselves and live their lives didn’t have to be a utopian ideal, but a notion that they could carry out into the world, and use as a baseline for change. (Documentary fans should also seek out “F.T.A.”)

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‘American Factory’ (2019)

Documentary filmmakers have long been fascinated by the logistics and complexities of manual labor, but Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s recent Oscar winner for best documentary feature views these issues through a decidedly 21st-century lens. Focusing on a closed GM plant in Dayton, Ohio, that’s taken over by a Chinese auto glass company, Bognar and Reichert thoughtfully, sensitively (and often humorously) explore how cultures — both corporate and general — clash. Manohla Dargis calls it “complex, stirring, timely and beautifully shaped, spanning continents as it surveys the past, present and possible future of American labor.” (Netflix’s documentaries “Icarus” and “The Life and Death of Marsha P. Johnson” are also well worth your time.)

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‘The Irishman’ (2019)

Martin Scorsese reteams with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci for the first time since “Casino” (1995), itself a return to the organized crime territory of their earlier 1990 collaboration “Goodfellas” — and then adds Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa. A lazier filmmaker might merely have put them back together to play their greatest hits. Scorsese does something far trickier, and more poignant: He takes all the elements we expect in a Scorsese gangster movie with this cast, and then he strips it all down, turning this story of turf wars, union battles and power struggles into a chamber piece of quiet conversations and moral contemplation. A.O. Scott called it “long and dark: long like a novel by Dostoyevsky or Dreiser, dark like a painting by Rembrandt.” (Fans of gangster movies — and Pacino — will also enjoy “Donnie Brasco.”)

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‘Roma’ (2018)

This vivid, evocative memory play from Alfonso Cuarón is a story of two Mexican women in the early 1970s: Sofía (Marina de Tavira), a mother of four whose husband (and provider) is on his way out the door, and Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), the family’s nanny, maid and support system. The scenes are occasionally stressful, often heart-wrenching, and they unfailingly burst with life and emotion. Our critic called it “an expansive, emotional portrait of life buffeted by violent forces, and a masterpiece.” (Cuarón’s “A Little Princess” is also streaming on Netflix.)

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‘Private Life’ (2018)

Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti shine as two New York creative types whose attempts to start a family — by adoption, by fertilization, by whatever it takes — test the mettle of their relationships and sanity. The wise script by the director Tamara Jenkins is not only funny and truthful but also sharply tuned to their specific world: Few films have better captured the very public nature of marital trouble in New York, when every meltdown is interrupted by passers-by and lookie-loos. “Private Life,” which our critic called “piquant and perfect,” is a marvelous balancing act of sympathy and cynicism, both caring for its subjects and knowing them and their flaws well enough to wink and chuckle. (For more character-driven comedy/drama, add “Friends With Money” to your list.)

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‘Deliverance’ (1972)

James Dickey’s brutal, muscular novel gets an appropriately unsettling big-screen treatment in this film adaptation from the director John Boorman. Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox play a quartet of Atlanta businessmen who head to the Georgia backwoods for a canoeing trip, and get a bit more local color than they’re planning on. Our critic called the film, nominated for three Oscars (including best picture), a “stunning piece of moviemaking.” (For more testosterone-fueled action, try “The Dirty Dozen” and “Point Break.”)

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‘My Happy Family’ (2017)

A 52-year-old Georgian woman shocks her family, and her entire community, when she decides to move out of the cramped apartment she shares with her husband, children and parents in order to begin a life of her own. “In this world, there are no families without problems,” she is told, and the conflicts of the script by Nana Ekvtimishvili (who also directed, with Simon Gross) are a sharp reminder that while the cultural specifics may vary, familial guilt and passive aggression are bound by no language. Manohla Dargis praised its “sardonically funny, touching key.” (For more critically acclaimed foreign drama, try “Happy as Lazzaro,” “Everybody Knows” or “On Body and Soul.”)

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‘Atlantics’ (2019)

Mati Diop’s Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner is set in Senegal, where a young woman named Ava (Mama Sané) loses the boy she loves to the sea, just days before her arranged marriage to another man. What begins as a story of love lost moves, with the ease and imagination of a particularly satisfying dream, into something far stranger, as Diop savvily works elements of genre cinema into the fabric of a story that wouldn’t seem to accommodate them. A.O. Scott called it “a suspenseful, sensual, exciting movie, and therefore a deeply haunting one as well.” (For similarly out-of-this-world vibes, try Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja.”)

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