I'm talking to you, master marathoner. You've somehow worked through your entire Netflix TV to-do list. (How? Teach me your ways.) You've completed your Friends rewatch, solved all of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, and knocked out the entire New York City Marvel canon. In the words of The West Wing's Jed Bartlet (which you also watched), "What's next?" With the amount of great shows streaming on the service, I often think of Netflix as primarily a source for TV. But when those marathons have been exhausted, you can always venture into its feature film library. But it can take forever to make a choice. So, to help you do that, here are 14 movies to watch on Netflix after you've seen all the TV there is.
I'm very goal-oriented, so when I'm in the thick of them, I tend to stick to my TV marathons rather than break for a movie or two. But that's a mistake, because Netflix has a wide-ranging collection of movies, from the early days of the industry right up to straight-outta-the-editing-bay originals that never even saw the inside of a movie theater. If you let it, Netflix can stretch your understanding of the kind of movies that you like. And when you need a mental break, it delivers on the mindless and comforting entertainment too.
Unsure what to watch next? Give these 14 movies a try:
1. Imperial Dreams
Predating his defection from the First Order in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this LA-set John Boyega drama came to Netflix this year with an intimate story about family and community that addresses broader themes of race, class, and gentrification.
2. The Pacifier
On the other end of the seriousness spectrum, there's this wafer-thin but strangely entertaining Vin Diesel comedy vehicle. Basically, it's what would happen if Triple X played The Manny on This Is Us instead of Kevin.
3. Blue Jay
High school sweethearts reconnect and remind each other of the best of themselves.
4. How To Steal A Million
Audrey Hepburn serves straight Givenchy looks as a French art thief with a sexy partner. How To Steal A Million is as fizzy and elegant as a glass of champagne.
5. Pete's Dragon
The 2016 live-action Pete's Dragon remake turns the creature in question into a graceful and affectionate puppy of a thing, so dog people be warned. The whole movie is wholesome without being grating and its environmentalist message is never heavy-handed.
6. I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore
Melanie Lynskey is an effortless wonder of an actor. I'd watch her in anything, including this Sundance entry about a woman who gets burgled and refuses to take it lying down.
7. The Day The Earth Stood Still
I just find rickety, black-and-white science fiction really soothing for some reason.
8. Growing Up Wild
Forget skipping from YouTube video to YouTube video. Disney's full-length nature doc about exotic baby animals puts Cute Overload to shame.
9. Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging
Based on a popular British YA novel, this movie gets painfully, hilariously real about adolescence, especially in acknowledging that the girls are as hormonally driven (if not more so) than the boys.
10. Superman Returns
Before Zack Snyder got his hands on the Man Of Steel, he was played by Brandon Routh in an homage to the beloved Christopher Reeves Superman movies. It's conveniently streaming on Netflix, for whenever you forget it exists.
11. The Way He Looks
A blind boy and his new classmate hit it off in this movie coming-of-age story from Brazil.
12. The Shining
I've heard not great things about all work and no play. Better take a break to watch Stanley Kubrick's claustrophobic psychological horror opus, which could saddle you with a lifelong fear of identical twins.
13. Desk Set
Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey were box office gold together. Their snappy chemistry is at its height in this workplace comedy.
14. Bee Movie
Do it for the memes.
With the way Peak TV is moving, you'll have new shows lined up on Netflix soon. In the meantime, reacquaint yourself with the idea of movies: the good, the bad, and the bee.
