Summer is here, which means it's time to kick back and chill out.
Netflix's ever-growing list of movies includes many of the essentials needed to ensure that your lazy days of the season are well-spent. To make sure you reel all of the good ones in, we've curated a list of 52 of the best movies currently on Netflix, which include family-friendly movies perfect for kids, romances, comedies, action movies and more.
Settle back, grab some snacks and get ready to create your own home multiplex! (And be sure to come back here regularly for updates and additions!)
‘Hit Man’ (2024)
Glen Powell stars in this action comedy as Gary Johnson, a man whose life is rather unordinary for as an undercover professional killer until he falls in love. For those who need the ending explained, Powell himself broke it all down for us.
'Atlas' (2024)
Jennifer Lopez straps into this sci-fi action flick about a data analyst with real artificial intelligence trauma. With the world on the brink of oblivion, she must pair up with the very thing she fears the most and learn how to trust it.
'Living with Leopards' (2024)
Alex Parkinson and Brad Bestelink direct this up-close nature documentary about two leopard cubs as they enter adulthood.
'Thelma the Unicorn' (2024)
On her small little farm, Thelma is a plain old pony with big ambitions. When she's miraculously turned into a unicorn and international superstar, she learns a thing or two about chasing dreams and the importance of dancing to the beat of your own rhythm.
‘Anyone But You’ (2023)
Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell drew fans back to the Rom-Com era with this delightfully funny and sexy story about a couple whose first date goes terribly south. Months later, they find themselves having to place nicely for a destination wedding in Australia.
'Something's Gotta Give' (2003)
Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson star in this classic from Nancy Meyers. Keaton is Erica, a New York playwright and divorcée in desperate need of getting out of her own head. When she heads up to Hamptons beach house to do just that, she ends up getting more than she bargained for when she meets her daughter's brief fling, Harry (Nicholson), an arrogant playboy who only dates women under 30.
'Out of Africa' (1985)
Meryl Streep stars as Karen Blixen in this 1985 classic as a Danish aristocrat set on moving to Nairobi in order to marry a baron. Her plans are disrupted by a series of disappointments including her husband’s decision to invest in a coffee plantation as well as his infidelity. Then, a hunter, Denys (Robert Redford), captures her attention. Soon, Karen realizes that she must decide to continue with her unhappy marriage with all of its comforts or settle into a simplistic life with Denys.
'Phantom Thread' (2017)
In 1950s London, Reynolds Woodcock and his sister Cyril arrested the world of fashion with their designs. Reynolds, the dressmaker behind the designs, creates for royalty, socialites and the starlets of their world. Then Reynolds finds a new muse: Alma, a stubborn woman who refuses to bend to his every whim.
'Marriage Story' (2019)
Noah Baumbach directs the dissolution of a marriage between a stage director (Adam Driver) and an actor (Scarlett Johansson).
'American Graffiti' (1973)
This 1970s classic directed by George Lucas picks up on last day of summer vacation and follows a group of friends as they take to the streets of a small town in California in 1962. Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and Charles Martin Smith star.
'The Conversation' (1974)
In this 1970s classic suspense film from Francis Ford Coppola, Gene Hackman stars as a surveillance expert hired by a mysterious client who has hired him to track a young couple. Paranoias and moral dilemma ensue as the expert realizes he might be part of a murder plot.
'Mary and the Witch's Flower' (2017)
Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi film follows Mary a girl who wanders after cat and into a forest to find a rare flower that blooms only once every seven years. Soon after Mary is swept up with the flower into the clouds where she lands at Endor College a magical school run by a mysterious headmistress.
'Society of the Snow' (2023)
The fateful Uruguayan 1972 flight disaster is dramatized in this Spanish language film about the 16 survivors of the crash.
‘The Wonder’ (2022)
Florence Pugh is an English nurse who arrives at a tiny village set in the Irish Midlands in the mid-1800s to keep an eye on the local wonder, an 11-year-old girl named Anna O’Donnell, believed to be surviving without food.
‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ (2024)
This documentary highlights the night in 1985 when the most popular singers and actors of the time came together to record the hit "We Are the World." The charity single was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and brought together a supergroup comprised of singers like Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and Billy Joel called USA for Africa. The song became the fastest-selling U.S. pop single in history, and proceeds went to African famine relief.
‘Take Care of Maya’ (2023)
In this heartbreaking documentary, Jack and Beata Kowalsk face a legal nightmare when their 10-year-old daughter begins to exhibit painful symptoms and the bring her to an emergency room seeking help.
'Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness' (2022)
Yes, this is the silliest title for a film you've heard of in a long time, but stick with us, because things get both sillier and more meaningful from there. When a critter who's half-hare and half-chicken decides to follow his adventureous spirit (despite incredible clumsiness), he finds not just fellow outcast friends but a sense of being loved because of his differences, not just in spite of them.
'A Walk to Remember' (2002)
Based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, the film follows the unlikely love story of two teenagers, one a rebellious with the threat of high school expulsion hanging over his head and the other, sweet, cardigan-wearing, preacher's daughter: Jamie Sullivan. When the head of their high school gives Landon the option of being expelled or taking part in the school play, Landon turns to Jamie for help. She accepts under one condition. Landon has to promise not to fall in love with her.
'The Irishman' (2019)
Hit man Frank Sheeran looks back at the secrets he kept as a loyal member of the Bufalino crime family in this Martin Scorsese film.
'The Lost Daughter' (2021)
A seaside vacation turns unsettling when a woman's fixation on a young mother in a nearby villa awakens memories from her past. With Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson and Ed Harris.
'The Power of the Dog' (2021)
A domineering rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) wages a war of intimidation on his brother's (Jesse Plemons) new wife (Kirsten Dunst) until some secrets of his own surface. From director Jane Campion ("The Piano").
''The Mitchells vs. the Machines' (2021)
Robots take over the world, which interferes with a family's road trip, which means the Mitchells are the only ones who can save the human race.
'The Adam Project' (2022)
After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) teams up with his 12-year-old self for a mission to save the future.
'The Trial of the Chicago 7' (2020)
A peaceful protest turns into a violent clash with police and leads to a trial of several dissidents (played by Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II among others).
'The Two Popes' (2019)
Controversial Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) forges a surprising friendship with future Pope Francis (Jonathan Pryce), in a film inspired by true events.
'Paddington' (2014)
The little bear from Darkest Peru who loves marmalade has arrived in London, specifically at the station he's named for. Now all he needs to do is find his forever family.
'All Quiet on the Western Front' (2022)
A young German soldier faces terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I. Based on the classic novel.
'The Good Nurse' (2022)
An infamous caregiver (Eddie Redmayne) is implicated in the deaths of hundreds of hospital patients. Also starring Jessica Chastain.
'Call Me By Your Name' (2017)
In 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student (Timothée Chalamet) and the older man hired as his father’s research assistant (Armie Hammer).
‘Sly’ (2023)
This documentary tracks the 50-year acting career of Sylvester Stallone and the impact of his iconic characters like Rocky and Rambo.
‘Dune’ (2021)
Let this epic sci-fi film, directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, transport you to a future far, far away. There, mankind has long accomplished the venture of interstellar travel and colonized thousands of worlds beyond our own. Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya star.
‘The Florida Project’ (2017)
This early A24 film zooms in on the harsher conditions that exist just outside the world of the Disney Parks in Orlando, Florida. Moonee is a 6-year-old girl living in a motel complex with her young mom and around the corner from the building's various preoccupied tenants and managers. Moonee’s high-spiritedness and sense of imagination allow her to conjure up activity outside the active world. Still, it’s not enough to protect her from the very real and harsh realities of her financial circumstances and surroundings.
‘Maestro’ (2023)
Celebrated American conductor Leonard Bernstein strikes up a stormy romance with actress Felicia Montealegre in this Bradley Cooper-directed biopic, generating Oscar buzz.
‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ (2018)
Set in post-World War II London, Juliet Ashton is a novelist who develops a letter correspondence with a small circle of residents on the island of Guernsey. After reluctantly accepting a marriage proposal, Juliet heads off to the island under the guise of learning how the small island and her new friends faired to the German occupation. Ultimately, she finds inspiration, tragedy, and an unimaginable story of love on a farm.
‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’
This early film from director Martin Scorsese follows a childish widow named Alice who jumps on the opportunity of her broody husband's untimely death to pack her bags, heels and preteen son to chase a singing career in Monterey, California. You will laugh, you will cry, you will want to head to your nearest retro American diner.
