Best Movies on Netflix Right Now
Last updated: April 20, 2026
How this list works: I update this page every week. New arrivals land at the top. The catalog picks at the bottom are tested — I’ve watched all of them. If something leaves Netflix or stops being worth recommending, it goes. No padding. No filler.
Table of Contents
🆕 New This Week (April 20–26, 2026)
Apex (2026) — arrives Friday, April 24
Genre: Action / Thriller | Runtime: 1h 35m | Rotten Tomatoes: TBD (not yet released)
This is the week’s headliner. Charlize Theron plays Sasha, a grieving rock climber who retreats to the Australian Outback for solitude — and discovers someone is hunting her. Taron Egerton plays the predator. Director Baltasar Kormákur shot in New South Wales, and the terrain is as much an antagonist as Egerton’s character. Theron did most of her own stunts, including real climbing work with professional climber Beth Rodden, and finished filming with a fractured toe. That kind of commitment tends to show on screen. Kormákur previously directed Everest and Adrift, so he knows how to use a hostile landscape. Whether the script matches the physical ambition is the open question — we’ll know by Friday.
Worth it? Tentative yes, with a caveat. The premise isn’t fresh (The Most Dangerous Game has been remade in every decade), but Theron + Egerton + Kormákur in the Australian wilderness is a real combination. Pre-save it for the weekend.
Bugonia (2026) — arrives Saturday, April 26
Genre: Dark Comedy / Sci-Fi | Runtime: TBA | Rotten Tomatoes: TBD
Two men become convinced that a powerful businesswoman is not human — and take extreme action on that belief. The premise sounds like it could go anywhere from sharp satire to complete disaster. Worth checking the early reviews when they land Saturday morning before committing your evening.
Worth it? Wait for the first reviews. High ceiling, uncertain execution.
Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill (2026) — available now
Genre: Documentary / Sports | Runtime: TBA | Rotten Tomatoes: TBD
The latest entry in Netflix’s long-running Untold sports documentary series examines the shooting of Lauren Kanarek and its aftermath. The Untold series has been consistently strong — Jail Blazers earlier this month was well-received — and this one comes with the same production pedigree. If you’re a fan of the series, this is reliable.
Worth it? Yes, for documentary fans. The Untold format works.
🎯 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now — My Top Picks
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)
Genre: Horror | Runtime: 1h 49m | Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Ralph Fiennes anchors this Nia DaCosta-directed sequel, and the film had a rough start — Sony’s decision to release it just months after Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later confused audiences who assumed it was a re-release. They were wrong. This is its own brutal, deeply unsettling thing, following Spike and a gang of tracksuit-clad Satanists through a changed Britain. The cinematography is stunning. Watch this before the conversation catches up.
Why it’s on this list: One of the best horror films of 2026, landing on Netflix while most people still haven’t seen it.
Anaconda (2025)
Genre: Comedy / Monster | Runtime: 1h 58m | Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
Jack Black and Paul Rudd play two buddies who travel to the Amazon to shoot their own remake of the 1997 Anaconda — and get hunted by the real thing. The meta-humor lands more than it doesn’t. It’s currently dominating Netflix’s US charts, and for once the algorithm and I agree: this one is genuinely fun. Don’t read too much into it. Just watch it.
Why it’s on this list: It’s the most-watched movie on Netflix right now for a reason.
A House of Dynamite (2025)
Genre: Political Thriller | Runtime: 2h 11m | Rotten Tomatoes: 85%
Kathryn Bigelow’s first film since Detroit (2017) and it was worth the wait. A nuclear missile has been launched at Chicago by an unknown source. U.S. officials have hours to figure out who did it and stop what comes next. Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, and Greta Lee lead an exceptional cast through a film that never lets you breathe. A rare Netflix Original that feels like a real theatrical event.
Why it’s on this list: The best Netflix Original of 2026 so far, full stop.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (2025)
Genre: Crime Drama | Runtime: 2h 14m | Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Cillian Murphy returning as Tommy Shelby was the most-anticipated Netflix event of the year. The film delivers — it’s darker, more contained, and more emotionally honest than the later series seasons. If you watched the show, this is mandatory. If you never did, the film is self-contained enough to work on its own.
Why it’s on this list: 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and one of the most-watched films on Netflix globally in early 2026, with over 44.7 million views in its first two weeks.
His Three Daughters (2024)
Genre: Drama | Runtime: 1h 55m | Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
An old man is dying in hospice. His three daughters — Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon, and Natasha Lyonne — are together in his New York apartment for what might be the last time. They don’t get along. What follows is one of the sharpest, most human pieces of writing Netflix has produced. Carrie Coon in particular is stunning. This one asks nothing of you except attention.
Why it’s on this list: 98% on RT. If you haven’t seen it, this is the most urgent recommendation on this page.
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action | Runtime: 2h 5m | Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Post-war Japan, devastated and broken, faces a new kind of catastrophe. This Japanese-language kaiju film earned an Academy Award for visual effects while costing a fraction of what Hollywood typically spends on its monster movies. The human stories are genuine. The destruction is extraordinary. According to Box Office Mojo, it became the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film ever released in the US.
Why it’s on this list: It’s simply one of the best blockbusters of the decade. No other kaiju film comes close.
The Perfect Neighbor (2026)
Genre: Documentary | Runtime: 1h 42m | Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Director Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary examines the 2023 murder of Ajike “AJ” Owens in Florida — a Black mother of four shot by her neighbor through a closed door — and the stand-your-ground laws that shaped the aftermath. It premiered at Sundance to extraordinary reviews. It’s a difficult, necessary watch. Not Friday-night entertainment, but exactly the kind of documentary that earns the “important” label without being preachy.
Why it’s on this list: Sundance-acclaimed. The best documentary currently on Netflix.
The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson (2026)
Genre: True Crime Documentary | Runtime: 1h 28m | Rotten Tomatoes: N/A (new)
Currently dominating Netflix’s movie chart. Pro cyclist Moriah Wilson was murdered in 2022 in what became one of sport’s most disturbing true crime stories. This Netflix documentary brings the story together with clarity and emotional weight. True crime is dominating the movie chart this week, and this documentary has taken a comfortable lead over licensed catalog hits.
Worth it? Yes — particularly if you followed the original case.
📽️ Catalog Picks Worth Watching This Month
These aren’t new, but they’re the catalog films I’d point anyone to first right now.
RRR (2022)
Genre: Action / Adventure | Runtime: 3h 7m | Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
S.S. Rajamouli’s epic about two real figures from India’s history who become friends before fighting the British Raj together. It runs over three hours. You won’t feel it. The action sequences are genuinely physics-defying in a way that makes most Hollywood blockbusters look timid. This is the film that convinced a generation of Western viewers to stop ignoring non-English cinema.
American Gangster (2007)
Genre: Crime Drama | Runtime: 2h 37m | Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Just added to Netflix this month. Ridley Scott directing Denzel Washington as drug kingpin Frank Lucas, with a throwback script from Steven Zaillian. This is one of Scott’s most underrated films, and it holds up completely. If you missed it in theaters or haven’t revisited it in years, now’s the time.
Hell or High Water (2016)
Genre: Crime / Drama | Runtime: 1h 42m | Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Two brothers rob banks to save their Texas ranch. Two Rangers try to stop them. Before Taylor Sheridan became the Yellowstone machine, he wrote this — and it remains his best work. Chris Pine and Ben Foster are excellent. Jeff Bridges earned an Oscar nomination. One of the best crime films of the 2010s.
Ex Machina (2014)
Genre: Sci-Fi / Thriller | Runtime: 1h 48m | Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Alex Garland’s directorial debut, about a programmer invited to test an AI housed in a humanoid robot body. In 2026, it hits differently — the questions it asks about consciousness, manipulation, and who controls emerging intelligence feel less like speculative fiction and more like something we should have been taking notes on. Oscar Isaac is terrifying in it.
Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
Genre: Legal Drama | Runtime: 2h 32m | Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
A woman is suspected of murdering her husband. The trial unfolds. Sandra Hüller’s performance won a Palme d’Or at Cannes and is one of the great acting performances of the decade. The film is a Palme d’Or winner that refuses easy answers. Stick with it.
Train to Busan (2016)
Genre: Horror / Thriller | Runtime: 1h 58m | Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
The zombie film that made everyone reassess zombie films. A train to Busan, South Korea. A viral outbreak. A father and daughter trying to survive. The action is relentless, but it’s the characters you’ll remember. This is the standard against which every zombie thriller should be measured.
Glory (1989)
Genre: War / Drama | Runtime: 2h 2m | Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Denzel Washington’s Oscar-winning performance in Edward Zwick’s Civil War drama about the first all-Black regiment in the Union Army. Described by film critics as one of the finest Civil War movies ever made, it remains a benchmark. Some movies age. This one deepens.
📅 Coming to Netflix Soon
- Man on Fire — April 30. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars in this adaptation of the novel that spawned the 2004 Denzel Washington film. A Special Forces soldier with PTSD fighting for redemption. The cast is strong and the source material is solid.
- Straight to Hell — April 27. Netflix Original. Details still thin — watch this space.
- Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 — April 23 (this week, series not film). If you’re a Stranger Things completionist, it’s there.
❌ Skip These (So You Don’t Have To)
A few titles showing up in your recommendations that don’t deserve your evening:
- Thrash (added last week) — Sharks-in-floods premise, no follow-through. 38% on RT. Hard pass.
- Him (added last week) — Well-intentioned horror about NFL culture, messy execution. For dedicated genre completionists only.
How I Pick These
I don’t sort by Rotten Tomatoes score alone. A 95% score means something different for a beloved 2023 arthouse film than for a comfortable crowd-pleaser from 2004. My criteria for every recommendation here:
- Is it actually good? I’ve watched everything on this list.
- Is it worth your specific evening? I categorize by what you’re in the mood for, not just what critics liked.
- Does it earn its runtime? Anything over 2 hours gets extra scrutiny.
- Is it still on Netflix? I verify before every update. Titles leave without notice.
For more streaming picks, browse our full streaming coverage or read our breakdown of how to cut your streaming costs without losing the good stuff.
Page last updated: April 20, 2026. Netflix library verified for the US. Availability varies by region.
Alex Rivera covers consumer technology at Axis Intelligence. He’s been reviewing gadgets since 2017, testing over 400 products from smartphones to wearables. Alex doesn’t care about specs that don’t translate to real-world experience — he cares about whether a product actually makes your life easier. He covers smartphones, laptops, tablets, wearables, earbuds, and mobile apps.
Voice: Practical, user-first. Writes for normal people buying real products. Doesn’t use jargon unless he explains it immediately.