The service features around 3,500 features, bewilderingly few of which you’ve ever heard of. Allow me to assist: Following are the 127 movies on Netflix that are worth a damn, arranged alphabetically within genre and linked to their trailers.
Excellent list! But I must disagree about "The Imitation Game". Benedict Cumberbatch played Alan Turing in his typical obnoxious prick style, while the actual Turing was genial and social. He was quirky, but barely eccentric by British standards. Hollywood likes the myth of the lone autistic genius, but the great majority of them aren't. Turing certainly was a genius, but he wasn't autistic, and had the good fortune to work with other brilliant people on decryption at Bletchley Park during WW II and on early computers at London and Manchester afterwards. People like Turing are not generally remote and rude - they are fascinating to be around and usually a pleasure to work with.
thanks for including Tucker: The Man and His Dream, a neglected movie that burned bright with Coppola’s recent loss of his son…and a lot of other stuff as well.
That's a lot of movies. Can I have a small list? Here's the comedy to watch. Here's the drama. Here's the obscure film. Here's the genre film. I have long queues of my own to get through, but I'd make time for a Ty Burr's must see list. I saw "Libelled Lady" on the morning of New Year's Eve.
Simply an epic undertaking - thanks Ty! And I think you have been championing Wilderpeople for a long time now and it is so much fun. Highly recommended from here.
When I got netflix, it was DVDs only. Streaming wasn't yet a thing. At that time, their goal was to have everything available. And since then: the streaming selection isn't good. The DVD selection, which USED to be good, has shrank more and more...they used to have lots of classic movies, but they apparently have dumped them. They've dumped lots of more recent.
I don't like streaming. For two reason. The first is, I very often don't watch a movie all at once. And many times with streaming, when i go back to continue, it's often not to the right place, but somewhere well before (I don't think Netflix is the worst offender at this). The other reason (the main one): is that rewind and fast forward are SO hard to use. I like to rewind, usually if I didn't clearly hear what someone said. Rewinding streaming things is a drag.
My preferred methods of watching movies. In order
Recorded on my TIVO. I have a Tivo with a huge hard drive and have a ton of movies on it, many of which I will probably never see...anything that looks like I might like I set to record. It's also the way best way to watch sports! I start watching the basketball game for instance, 20 minutes or so after it starts, and can fast forward through the commercials and the boring halftime stuff. Sometimes, I catch up to real time, so be it.
DVDs.
Live TV (with Tivo, one can pause and rewind, etc)
Streaming is last.
That being said: Netflix has gotten worse and worse.
Great list. All Quiet on the Western Front is a must see (I've seen the first two, the 1928 (?) and one from maybe the 90's and both are great. Christine looks really good. Your list has many that look worthwhile, including a good number I've not heard of. I've seen maybe as many as a third of them. Christine looks really intriguing. I never did much care for the Aviator. As I've heard so many rave about it (not just you) I watched Glass Onion. I was drawn in, but by the time it got to the end, I regarded it as ridiculous nonsense that I did NOT care about. I did wonder how Edward Norton made so much many (does this mean I didn't pay careful attention). But I loved Hail Caesar. I like (a lot) Reservoir Dogs, Forest Gump and Rocky. I regard Road House as being one of the all time worst movies I have ever seen: I despise it. This from a a guy who has a soft spot in his heart for Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry....go figure.
I'm delighted to see Lagaan is available on Netflix. For anyone who ventured into Indian cinema to see RRR and loved the spectacle, color, social commentary and genre mashup, Lagaan features all that, without the blood. Plus, trust me, you will come away from Lagaan with positive feelings about cricket.
What did you think of Wendell & Wild? It kind of got ignored with GDT's Pinocchio being the clearly superior Netflix stop-motion film, but I still dug it as Jordan Peele's way of teaching spooky tweens about the school-to-prison pipeline (also, great soundtrack).
Subscribed to this substack just for this list (and because I miss reading Ty’s reviews in the Globe). It’s exactly what one needs to navigate the morass of mediocrity that Netflix “recommends” for me. I look forward to more great content!
Thanks for this list! I don’t have Netflix because frankly, I could rarely find anything I was remotely interested in seeing.
I have to budget a bit so I’m opting for Prime Video and HBO Max.
HBO Max has some of the best series I have ever seen such as My Brilliant Friend, Big Little Lies, Sharp Objects, Succession, I May Destroy You and others.
But I will definitely use this list, especially the ones in Bold, to get ideas for new movies (new to me) that I can search for on other platforms!!
I hope Ty won't mind if I offer up six science-fiction titles, all of which I'm fairly sure he's never seen, given that they've averaged 24 reviews each at RT. Indie sci-fi is my thing (standing invite to write film entries for The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, etc.). Almost all of these have a second genre, which I've indicated.
1. The Block Island Sound (nuanced horror)
2. The Soul (police procedural)
3. Cities of Last Things (arthouse)
4. P.K. (satire)
5. Space Sweepers
6. See You Yesterday (BLM; Spike Lee producer)
All but the first and last are foreign films. The first four I hope or plan to see a second time, and the last two I would rewatch gladly.
There's also a seventh film that I think is the best of the lot, and has 100+ reviews ... including ** from Ty. But it's *not his fault.* If a film's marketing is grossly off base, you can't help seeing the film you've been told is there, even if it isn't. I may write this up later ...
"Dolemite is My Name" Absolutely hilarious film ( have you ever seen an Eddie Murphy film that isn't hilarious?). It makes me want to go back and watch others. We did turn on the subtitles in English 25 minutes into the film........so we caught all the humor. Thanks Ty Krishna Rao/ Diane Sakakini
I watched All Quiet On The Western Front, and thought it was great. I've seen the two previous, the 1928 Masterpiece, and a remake from maybe the 90's (?). The second one, if recall correctly, stayed very close to the 1928 film, but this new one had notable differences. All of which were great additions. I need to watch it a kind. There were some REALLY powerful conversations (towards the end) and I can't remember them well enough to comment, except they were (I thought) the heart and soul of the film.
I also saw (not on your list) The Menu, which has received many bad reviews. I don't remember if you have written about it. I liked it, found it disturbing....seems to me, it bears a resemblance to one of my favorites that I'd forgotten about, Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Another dinner movie with bad intent...and I'm sure I've seen another (european, from maybe Norway) about yet another....rich man gathers his relatives to rake them over the coals. I can understand NOT liking The Menu, but it worked for me. After hearing so many positive things bout it, reacted ultimately in total indifference to The Glass Onion...oh, it kept me entertained, but at the end I thought: what was the point.?These people, nor their situation have nothing to do with anything..... STILL don't care for Road House, but as i said, I have a soft spot for Dirty mary and Crazy Larry...which weirdly, as soon as I said that, showed up on TCM. It would have been a lot better if it had better actors doing less overacting on overwritten parts (I'm talking about Peter Fonda and Sandra George). And worse than that, I also have a soft spot for Starship Troopers. Never have totally answered the question, is it just a bad stupid movie, or is satire, both of sci films and our culture?
There are a lot of movies on your list that I'm glad are there, but there are some other good ones on Netflix (at least, there used to be....why they discard things they actually had is beyond me).
I’m glad an esteemed film critic has finally recognized Road House as a classic. I also agree that it is.
Excellent list! But I must disagree about "The Imitation Game". Benedict Cumberbatch played Alan Turing in his typical obnoxious prick style, while the actual Turing was genial and social. He was quirky, but barely eccentric by British standards. Hollywood likes the myth of the lone autistic genius, but the great majority of them aren't. Turing certainly was a genius, but he wasn't autistic, and had the good fortune to work with other brilliant people on decryption at Bletchley Park during WW II and on early computers at London and Manchester afterwards. People like Turing are not generally remote and rude - they are fascinating to be around and usually a pleasure to work with.
thanks for including Tucker: The Man and His Dream, a neglected movie that burned bright with Coppola’s recent loss of his son…and a lot of other stuff as well.
That's a lot of movies. Can I have a small list? Here's the comedy to watch. Here's the drama. Here's the obscure film. Here's the genre film. I have long queues of my own to get through, but I'd make time for a Ty Burr's must see list. I saw "Libelled Lady" on the morning of New Year's Eve.
Simply an epic undertaking - thanks Ty! And I think you have been championing Wilderpeople for a long time now and it is so much fun. Highly recommended from here.
When I got netflix, it was DVDs only. Streaming wasn't yet a thing. At that time, their goal was to have everything available. And since then: the streaming selection isn't good. The DVD selection, which USED to be good, has shrank more and more...they used to have lots of classic movies, but they apparently have dumped them. They've dumped lots of more recent.
I don't like streaming. For two reason. The first is, I very often don't watch a movie all at once. And many times with streaming, when i go back to continue, it's often not to the right place, but somewhere well before (I don't think Netflix is the worst offender at this). The other reason (the main one): is that rewind and fast forward are SO hard to use. I like to rewind, usually if I didn't clearly hear what someone said. Rewinding streaming things is a drag.
My preferred methods of watching movies. In order
Recorded on my TIVO. I have a Tivo with a huge hard drive and have a ton of movies on it, many of which I will probably never see...anything that looks like I might like I set to record. It's also the way best way to watch sports! I start watching the basketball game for instance, 20 minutes or so after it starts, and can fast forward through the commercials and the boring halftime stuff. Sometimes, I catch up to real time, so be it.
DVDs.
Live TV (with Tivo, one can pause and rewind, etc)
Streaming is last.
That being said: Netflix has gotten worse and worse.
Great list. All Quiet on the Western Front is a must see (I've seen the first two, the 1928 (?) and one from maybe the 90's and both are great. Christine looks really good. Your list has many that look worthwhile, including a good number I've not heard of. I've seen maybe as many as a third of them. Christine looks really intriguing. I never did much care for the Aviator. As I've heard so many rave about it (not just you) I watched Glass Onion. I was drawn in, but by the time it got to the end, I regarded it as ridiculous nonsense that I did NOT care about. I did wonder how Edward Norton made so much many (does this mean I didn't pay careful attention). But I loved Hail Caesar. I like (a lot) Reservoir Dogs, Forest Gump and Rocky. I regard Road House as being one of the all time worst movies I have ever seen: I despise it. This from a a guy who has a soft spot in his heart for Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry....go figure.
I'm delighted to see Lagaan is available on Netflix. For anyone who ventured into Indian cinema to see RRR and loved the spectacle, color, social commentary and genre mashup, Lagaan features all that, without the blood. Plus, trust me, you will come away from Lagaan with positive feelings about cricket.
Too bad they don’t have Prizzi’s Honor. That would be a great double feature with Phantom Thread ;)
What did you think of Wendell & Wild? It kind of got ignored with GDT's Pinocchio being the clearly superior Netflix stop-motion film, but I still dug it as Jordan Peele's way of teaching spooky tweens about the school-to-prison pipeline (also, great soundtrack).
Subscribed to this substack just for this list (and because I miss reading Ty’s reviews in the Globe). It’s exactly what one needs to navigate the morass of mediocrity that Netflix “recommends” for me. I look forward to more great content!
I see some quibbling over your choices. But you have performed a valuable service in creating this list. Thanks
Thanks for this list! I don’t have Netflix because frankly, I could rarely find anything I was remotely interested in seeing.
I have to budget a bit so I’m opting for Prime Video and HBO Max.
HBO Max has some of the best series I have ever seen such as My Brilliant Friend, Big Little Lies, Sharp Objects, Succession, I May Destroy You and others.
But I will definitely use this list, especially the ones in Bold, to get ideas for new movies (new to me) that I can search for on other platforms!!
Thanks so much! (I’m a new subscriber)😊
I hope Ty won't mind if I offer up six science-fiction titles, all of which I'm fairly sure he's never seen, given that they've averaged 24 reviews each at RT. Indie sci-fi is my thing (standing invite to write film entries for The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, etc.). Almost all of these have a second genre, which I've indicated.
1. The Block Island Sound (nuanced horror)
2. The Soul (police procedural)
3. Cities of Last Things (arthouse)
4. P.K. (satire)
5. Space Sweepers
6. See You Yesterday (BLM; Spike Lee producer)
All but the first and last are foreign films. The first four I hope or plan to see a second time, and the last two I would rewatch gladly.
There's also a seventh film that I think is the best of the lot, and has 100+ reviews ... including ** from Ty. But it's *not his fault.* If a film's marketing is grossly off base, you can't help seeing the film you've been told is there, even if it isn't. I may write this up later ...
"Dolemite is My Name" Absolutely hilarious film ( have you ever seen an Eddie Murphy film that isn't hilarious?). It makes me want to go back and watch others. We did turn on the subtitles in English 25 minutes into the film........so we caught all the humor. Thanks Ty Krishna Rao/ Diane Sakakini
I watched All Quiet On The Western Front, and thought it was great. I've seen the two previous, the 1928 Masterpiece, and a remake from maybe the 90's (?). The second one, if recall correctly, stayed very close to the 1928 film, but this new one had notable differences. All of which were great additions. I need to watch it a kind. There were some REALLY powerful conversations (towards the end) and I can't remember them well enough to comment, except they were (I thought) the heart and soul of the film.
I also saw (not on your list) The Menu, which has received many bad reviews. I don't remember if you have written about it. I liked it, found it disturbing....seems to me, it bears a resemblance to one of my favorites that I'd forgotten about, Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Another dinner movie with bad intent...and I'm sure I've seen another (european, from maybe Norway) about yet another....rich man gathers his relatives to rake them over the coals. I can understand NOT liking The Menu, but it worked for me. After hearing so many positive things bout it, reacted ultimately in total indifference to The Glass Onion...oh, it kept me entertained, but at the end I thought: what was the point.?These people, nor their situation have nothing to do with anything..... STILL don't care for Road House, but as i said, I have a soft spot for Dirty mary and Crazy Larry...which weirdly, as soon as I said that, showed up on TCM. It would have been a lot better if it had better actors doing less overacting on overwritten parts (I'm talking about Peter Fonda and Sandra George). And worse than that, I also have a soft spot for Starship Troopers. Never have totally answered the question, is it just a bad stupid movie, or is satire, both of sci films and our culture?
There are a lot of movies on your list that I'm glad are there, but there are some other good ones on Netflix (at least, there used to be....why they discard things they actually had is beyond me).