Here’s the thing: The best movies on Netflix one month may not be the best movies on Netflix of next month. As of this writing, for example, the service has Jaws, Rocky, Psycho, Stand By Me, and Field of Dreams. If you haven’t seen those movies, by all means, have at it. The problem is, depending on when you’re reading this, these selections may not be there anymore; such are the vagaries of streaming licenses. Further example: In 2024, Netflix ran some anniversary-year series that included a bunch of 1974 titles (California Split; The Conversation; The Taking of Pelham 123) that would easily make anyone’s list of the best movies on Netflix; it would be reasonable to expect that in 2025, there might be similar stints for classics like Dog Day Afternoon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and, uh, maybe Jaws again—but it’s hard to say for sure.
However, the world’s biggest streaming service has also been greedily stockpiling their own future classics as they pay less attention to catalog titles that reach back earlier than the early 2000s. Now, the lack of proper theatrical and/or physical releases for these movies suggests that Netflix doesn’t much care about preserving film in any form but On Netflix, which sucks. But look, if you have Netflix anyway, you might as well use it to watch some genuinely good-to-great movies, which they have produced and/or picked up a fair number of those over the years. It’s possible to miss some of them in the flood of 110-minute sitcoms, green-screened action movies, Fear Streets, and Kissing Booths. With that in mind, here are the 21 best movies on Netflix that are likely to stay on Netflix, unless they are dragged into the digital recycling bin for tax purposes.
21. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
Everett Collection
