You’re wasting your money on Netflix if you haven’t watched these 10 films

Comedy, horror, romance, action. You name it, Netflix has got it. But it can take a while to trawl through the endless listings to find a true gem, which is why we’ve done the hard work for you.

While Netflix has plenty of ‘so bad they’re good’ films on offer – you know, the ones you love to hate – the streaming service is also home to a fair few critically acclaimed films too.

But, despite this, we often find ourselves scrolling aimlessly through the streaming service’s catalogue, struggling to find anything that catches our eye. If that sounds familiar to you, save this list for your next movie night.

Here are 10 films on Netflix that you just have to watch if you haven’t already…

1. Past Lives

When two childhood friends reconnect decades later, they are forced to confront the deep feelings between them that struggle to co-exist with the current state of their lives, leaving them to choose between then and now.

Past Lives boasts a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with one critic writing: ‘It is a heartbreaking film that is so masterfully made and profoundly sincere that you want to stay in its world regardless of the emotional cost’.

2. Society of the Snow

This one is a harrowing retelling of a true story. In 1972, a Uruguayan rugby team’s flight crashed in the Andes mountains, leaving them to become each other’s best hope of survival.

Society of the Snow scooped up handfuls of awards and is third on the list of Netflix’s most popular non-English movies of all time, racking up an enormous 98.5 million views in its first three months on the streamer.

Since its release in December 2023, fans have expressed their anger that the drama didn’t land an Oscar.

3. Parasite

From a film that didn’t bag an Oscar to one that cleaned up at the awards. It’s unlikely you haven’t already seen – or at least heard about – Parasite, but for newcomers or repeat watchers, it’s always worth experiencing.

It follows the struggling Kim family, who identify an opportunity for themselves when their son gets a job working in a wealthy home.

They each manage to create a new role for themselves, while pretending not to know one another, but everything changes when they discover a dark secret within the household that employs them.

4. Submarine

A quirky watch that may have sailed a little under the radar, Submarine can be considered one for Netflix’s ‘hidden gem’ list.

It carries a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 88% and is brilliantly summed up by one critic who wrote: ‘While emotionally powerful and incredibly affecting, Submarine doesn’t lack for laughs, even, if at times, you’ll not be ready for them.’

It’s a coming-of-age tale, following 15-year-old Oliver Tate, who is determined to make his own love life a success while simultaneously destroying his mother’s chances with an ex flame.

5. All Quiet on the Western Front

Based on the world renowned bestseller of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front flips the usual perspective, telling the story of a young German soldier during World War I.

We watch as his initial euphoria and excitement at becoming a war hero turns to desperation and fear as reality of life on the front line turns out to be very different from the promises made.

The film won four Academy Awards, making it the joint most-awarded foreign language film in the Oscars’ history alongside three others – one of which is Parasite.

6. Four Lions

This dark-comedy, British satire film directed by Chris Morris follows a group of young Muslim men who hatch an inept plan to carry out a terrorist attack, including a disastrous visit to a training camp and a failed attempt to teach birds to carry bombs.

It’s been branded a work of ‘satirical brilliance’ with one critic writing: ‘I laughed out loud a lot, and by the time the plot catches up to the plotters and people start dying, there’s genuine poignancy amid the ridicule’.

7. My Neighbor Totoro

In a change of pace, this animated tale follows two sisters who move to live in a country house with their father while their mother recovers from an illness, only to encounter playful spirits in the home and nearby forest.

It’s rated at 94% by Rotten Tomatoes critics and is perfect if you’re on the lookout for something a little more relaxing, with one critic’s verdict reading: ‘A magic that, from the beginning of the action to the end, delivers [a] sublime 86 minutes of footage whose charm is impossible to resist’.

8. Marriage Story

Starring the combined forces of Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story is a stark look at the end days of a relationship.

It follows a stage director and his actor wife as they struggle through a grueling divorce that pushes them to their limits as they confront where it went wrong.

One viewer said: ‘I’ve never sobbed and related to a movie so much. Like I genuinely cried with a passion, I cried like not take a pic and save it to snap type of way. Just emotionally unable to breathe. Must watch movie! Too good’.

9. Nightcrawler

No list is ever complete without a few thrillers, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nightcrawler from 2014 is one that may have passed you by.

His character, Louis Bloom, finds a new career as a cameraman, using police scanners to document grisly crime scenes across Los Angeles. When his work is noticed by a news director, she becomes reliant on it to raise her struggling ratings.

But as both become increasingly hooked on finding the next big story, the line between fact and fiction begins to warp in their relentless pursuit of viral fame.

10. Emily the Criminal

Okay, so the title might make it sound like a daytime kids’ TV show, but it’s far from it.

We’re in LA again as Emily finds herself spiraling into debt and unable to land a job, before a co-worker points her in the direction of a credit card scam to make a quick buck.

Emily (now a criminal – see it’s a clever title really) finds herself descending deeper and deeper into the underworld as she begins to be shaped and hardened by her new career.

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