Looking for a fast-moving car chase? Aerial acrobatics? How about a bit of fisticuffs? Or a tiger eating a dude? Look no further: Netflix has what you need.

The best action movies streaming on Netflix right now run the gamut: You can catch a high-minded thriller that uses action to underline plot, character, and message; or a hyper-stylish beat-em-up with cinematography and choreography that make art of violence; or you can just watch a lot of stuff blow up real good. No judgments! The only criteria is that the movie provides a fair share of fast-paced action thrills.

---

Damsel (2024)

Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things, Enola Holmes) is virtually the face of Netflix at this point. In her latest movie, she plays the title's damsel, Elodie, who agrees to marry a handsome prince, as young damsels did back in medieval times. Only she discovers that it's a trap, and she's actually meant to serve as a sacrifice to satisfy an ancient magical debt to a dragon. Luckily, our distressed damsel is far more resourceful than her would-be in-laws might have guessed. Angela Bassett, Robin Wright, and Shohreh Aghdashloo round out the cast of this fun action fantasy.

---

The Woman King (2022)

Though the movie has deeper ambitions, and succeeds on multiple levels, the fun here is in watching surprisingly swole Viola Davis lead a team of all-but-unstoppable African women warriors as they fight back against colonialist invaders. Set in West Africa in 1823, and based on the real-life the Agojie (also known as the Dahomey Amazons). Davis is General Nanisca, leader of the country’s army, forced to navigate complicated regional politics even though her skills, and the movie’s most exhilarating scenes, involve kicking slave-trader ass.

---

RRR (2022)

A fast-paced action movie should almost certainly not be as long as RRR, but there is not one single dull moment in this nearly three-hour Bollywood film. Likewise, a historical drama that touches on the national trauma brought on by the British Raj and depicting two real-life revolutionaries who died as martyrs to the cause of independence shouldn’t be this much pure fun, but somehow the context only makes it more satisfying. Find me a more thrilling moment in the movies than the bit where a truck full of wild animals is forcefully unleashed upon a sedate gathering at a British politician’s compound, or when a meet-cute between the two main characters involves wild acrobatics over and around a bridge. If American action epics insist on being this long, they could learn a thing or two or three from RRR’s refusal to ever sag.

---

Kill Boksoon (2023)

Gil Bok-Soon (Jeon Do-yeon) is just a working single mom struggling to relate to her teenage daughter. Or, at least, that’s how it looks. It turns out that the company she works for, M. K. Ent., is in the assassination business, and Bok-Soon is their top-rated killer—she’s also in a slightly awkward relationship with one of her co-workers. It’s not a comedy, but the movie has fun playing up its parallels between a typical corporate job and Bok-Soon’s gig, while also offering up some impressively well-defined characters. What’s at least as important as all of that, though, is the plethora of spellbinding action sequences and brilliant fight choreo.

---

Starship Troopers (1997)

Director Paul Verhoeven pulled off a rather brazen bit of literary criticism by adapting the Robert Heinlein military sci-fi novel without changing much, while bringing the book's fascistic undertones to the fore. It's a brightly colored satire, but it also works as an absolutely over-the-top action movie (so much so that many contemporary critics and audiences didn't get the joke) involving Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) and the rest of his squad at war with "Bugs," insect-like aliens that appear to represent an existential threat to humanity. Filled with the same subversive touches as the director's earlier RoboCop (including fake news broadcasts and propaganda), it's a hoot on many levels. Do you want to know more?

---

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

The '80s fantasy movie wave saw a string of movies about sweaty, shirtless guys in loincloths battling dragons and demons, and the greatest of these was, of course, Conan the Barbarian, a brilliant vehicle for a young Arnold Schwarzenegger to show off those famous biceps. Here, Conan begins a lifelong quest of vengeance against the evil sorcerer Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), beset by giant snakes, cannibal orgies, and the Wheel of Pain. It's all very silly while taking itself very seriously, which is just the right approach for adapting the pulpy novels of Robert E. Howard, and kind of the sweet spot for action movies of the era.

---

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

On a relatively small budget, Beverly Hills Cop became an instant blockbuster, turned Eddie Murphy into an international superstar, and even earned an Oscar nomination for its screenplay. This was the golden age of the buddy comedy, and few succeeded on the same level. Murphy plays Axel Foley, a Detroit cop moonlighting in sunny California to solve an old friend's murder. He reluctantly teams up with Judge Reinhold's bumbling Detective Billy Rosewood, and action-packed antics ensue. It's success led to a trilogy and a 2024 legacy sequel, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. And that soundtrack!

---

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Even given the success of Hollywood's recent stabs at the franchise, the best Godzilla movies still come from Japan, a fact made crystal clear by this emotional roller-coaster, set in the aftermath of World War II. With clear-cut and inventive action set against a story involving human characters who we genuinely care about, this isn't just the best recent kaiju movie...it may be the best ever.

---

The Matrix (1999)

The Wachowskis redefined the action movie for a generation with this stylish and cerebral bit of sci-fi that blends philosophy with Hong Kong-style martial arts action in an expertly cool package. Subsequent movies (even its own sequels) chased the highs produced here for years without ever quite managing to top them.

---

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Burt Reynolds has a long way to go and a short time to get there. He's Bo "The Bandit" Darville, running point for an illegal shipment of bootleg beer (400 cases of Coors, to be precise) from Texas to Atlanta, using his cool car to draw attention from Jackie Gleason's Sheriff Buford T. Justice. He's joined along the way by Sally Field's Carrie, a runaway bride who makes a surprisingly helpful companion. The practical car action makes it a slightly more believable alternative to the Fast and the Furious films.

---

The Guns of Navarone (1961)

With plenty of action and hints of melodrama, this World War II-set adventure finds Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn leading a commando unit tasked with taking out a couple of giant guns on the titular island in order to clear a path to rescue 2,000 marooned soldiers. Dogged by Nazis, the team faces the Germans on sea and land, with guns, fists, and their wits. It doesn't have much more on its mind that Nazi-punching action, and that's not a bad thing.

---

The Equalizer (2014)

2014's The Equalizer was the first of two ongoing, largely unrelated, takes on the original 1980s TV series—a new CBS show starring Queen Latifah premiered in 2021. Given the success-to-failure ratio of reboots, finding success with two of them is no small feat, and it doesn't hurt the film version reunites Denzel Washington with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua. The setup is straightforward—former marine and intelligence officer Robert McCall is drawn out of retirement when a young woman he meets at a diner turns out to be connected to a world of sex trafficking and Russian oligarchs—but the plot is really secondary. This one's all about watching Denzel getting violent, action-packed revenge.

---

The Old Guard (2020)

Greg Rucka wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of his graphic novel about a mercenary special ops team made up of impressively long-lived humans with unexplained regenerative powers. Charlize Theron leads the cynical group of warriors in a movie that effectively blends superhero tropes with military action. The lack of superpowers that don't have to do with healing helps differentiate it from Marvel and DC flicks, foregrounding skillfully choreographed fight sequences that don't feel like complete fantasy.

---

Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2 (2003/2004)

Quentin Tarantino's two-part martial arts spectacular pays brilliant homage to the classics of the genre, with Uma Thurman as a nameless (at least initially) vengeful bride out to kill everyone who destroyed her happiness (specifically: her one-time fellow assassins, played by Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox, and David Carradine). With brutal, beautiful fighting and colorful, over-the-top set-pieces, it's a heightened and bloody experience with real emotional resonance.

---

Mortal Kombat (2021)

This reboot doesn't quite reach the gloriously cheesy heights of the 1995 version, but at least retains a charming B-movie feel, despite the larger budget. Blending fighting action with CGI goofery, this story of a mystical martial arts tournament that will determine the fate of Earth doesn't take itself any more seriously than is strictly necessary, making for an enjoyable live-action video game. (Never mind that it doesn't actually get to the tournament itself—I guess they were saving that for the sequel.)

---

The Harder They Fall (2021)

The modern western takes on the story of real-life Black American cowboy Nat Love (played by Jonathan Majors), and he’s joined by several other characters out of actual American history, played by the likes of Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Regina King, and Delroy Lindo. It’s not a history lesson, but western movies have never been particularly troubled by the idea of heightening the true stories of the old American west into something like mythology. Here, young Nat Love’s parents are killed by Elba’s outlaw Rufus Buck, sending Love on a lifelong quest for revenge. This leads to a series of brilliantly exciting shoot-outs, stunts, and chases that pay tribute to the classic movies of the western genre, while also nodding to modern fight choreography and staging.

---

The Night Comes for Us (2018)

A sort-of successor to The Raid series (including many of the same actors), this movie from Indonesian writer/director Timo Tjahjanto (May the Devil Take You, a great horror movie also on Netflix) tells the story of a Triad member forced to fight his way out of the organization. The movie is on the bloodier end of its genre; the action is brilliant and stylized, but there’s quite a bit more realism in terms of blood and gore. The concluding fight scene is an all-time great one, if you’ve got the stomach for it.

---

Kate (2021)

Though it’s lead by a French director and an American actor (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Kate stands apart in its anime-inspired, neon-lit, new-Tokyo aesthetic. There’s nothing new here, plot-wise, but that’s beside the point. Assigned to kill a yakuza assassin by her handler (Woody Harrelson), the titular assassin discovers that she’s been poisoned and has only 24 hours to live (i.e., 24 hours to get violent revenge). Imagine if the 1940s film noir classic D.O.A. were a martial arts action movie.

---

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

An appearance by Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh doesn’t necessarily guarantee guarantee “action” (the Everything Everywhere All at Once and Crazy Rich Asians star can do it all)—but an appearance from Yeoh is guaranteed to be the icing on any action-movie cake. A modern take on classic gun-fu, this one further gilds that lily by adding in Lena Headey, Karen Gillan, Carla Gugino, and Angela Bassett(!) The cast aside, the film deals with two rival groups of assassins battling it out over the fate of a kidnapped child.

---

Baahubali (2015)

The two Baahubali movies might not have quite the rousing political appeal of RRR (they’re all from the same director, S.S. Rajamouli)—honestly, it’s hard to beat the thrill of watching snotty colonials being eaten by tigers—but, if anything, these movies are even bigger, grander, and more operatic in their interests. Roughly inspired by the ancient Indian stories of the Mahabharata and featuring endless sweaty shirtless men (and not a few women, although more often clothed) fighting people and animals, the first film includes a 45-minute battle sequence that’s topped by the sequel. There’s just enough plot and romance to propel the action, but they’re the kinds of movies that know exactly what we’re here for, and they’re not afraid to give it to you. Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali: The Conclusion are both on Netflix, in English-dubbed and subtitled versions.

---

Enola Holmes (2020)

Her brother Sherlock wasn’t above a bit of fisticuffs now and then, but it was his sister, Enola (Millie Bobbie Brown), we learn here, who really got to mix it up—with some help and training from their mother, Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter). Enola uses that combat training throughout the movie in fights involving fists, guns, knives, explosives, and a moving train or two as Enola searches for her missing mum while staying a step or two ahead of big bro (Henry Cavill). The sequel is just as fun.

---

Outlaw King (2018)

Chris Pine plays Robert the Bruce in this film that, unsurprisingly, takes plenty of liberties with the Scottish Wars of Independence of the 14th century. No matter. The film sees underdog Robert lead a guerrilla campaign against the future Edward II of England in a number of exceptionally (though believably) bloody Medieval battles. Spears and swords clash in a number of extended and expensive-looking sequences, making it look like a real-life (well, kinda) Game of Thrones.

---

Beckett (2021)

The film aspires to the paranoid, conspiracy-style of movies like The Parallax View, The Bourne Identity, or Enemy of the State, but the plot here is a little too thin to work on that level. Where Beckett excels, though, is in presenting a straightforward man-on-the-run action thriller. John David Washington stars as the title character, who finds himself getting chased through Greece, for reasons unclear to him, following an auto accident. Washington is fun to watch as he runs and gets shot at; the scenery is striking; and the movie does a good job of making Greece feel incredibly sinister, especially for a lead character who doesn’t know the language.

---

Da 5 Bloods (2020)

It feels strange to include Spike Lee’s thoughtful Vietnam War story—one that grapples with the experiences of Black American soldiers during that conflict as few (if any) movies have before. Nevertheless, part of the reason that it works as well as it does is that Lee’s film does all of that while also offering up plenty of impressively shot and choreographed action sequences. With a cast led by Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, and Clarke Peters, the movie finds four aging Vietnam vets returning to that country to recover the remains of their fallen squad leader—and also to dig up the gold bars they left behind. Set in two time frames, it plays as a war movie in the past and, often, a thriller in the characters’ present, as they’re hunted by mercenaries while they hunt their lost treasure.

I’ve always been perfectly content to watch movies by myself. Seeing a movie with a crowd is all well and good if it’s an action flick or a comedy, but there are movies that demand more focus and reward careful attention—and having kids, partners, and even friends in the room with you can frankly be very distracting.

What follows are 27 of the best movies to watch solo and get quietly lost in. They’re all relatively quiet and generally thoughtful, which isn’t to say boring—not that there's anything wrong with a slightly boring movie.

(Note: There are a lot of American films here, in part because quiet introspection is a bit more novel in Hollywood; a list of introspective Swedish films, for example, would be a heck of a lot longer.)

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Charlie Kaufman’s film about a theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who lives his life within the context of a theatrical mock-up is seen as either assertively pretentious or utterly life-changing. Much of the film’s appeal is in the desire, made real here, to pull ourselves out of our own miserable lives and view them from a more objective place.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Waking Life (2001)

I’m not sure that Waking Life’s experimental animation style is strictly necessary, especially given the rotoscoping that required the bodily presence of actors—but there’s enough in the film’s discussions of free will and existentialism to make for an enjoyably thoughtful film about a man on the verge of a full-scale existential crisis. The ambitious visual style, though, does add a dreamlike quality that makes it harder to see as some sort of cinematic bull session.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Arrival (2016)

There have been quiet, contemplative alien invasion movies before—but it’s not exactly the style we’ve come to associate with the form. The movie that solidified Denis Villeneuve’s reputation as a maker of smart, heady genre films deals with the universal challenges and rewards of communication, topped with a unique sci-fi twist.

Where to stream: Paramount+, digital rental

---

The Man from Earth (2007)

Written by sci-fi legend Jerome Bixby while on his deathbed, an appropriate mournfulness hangs over this (very) low-budget movie abut a man who might or might not be 14,000 years old. David Lee Smith plays John Oldman (*wink*), a professor having some friends over for a going-away party. Over the course of the gathering, he lets his secret slip, prompting an evening of conversation during which his fellow professors grill him about his life from their own academic perspectives. Heady stuff.

Where to stream: Tubi, digital rental

---

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Marketed as the sexiest movie you’d ever see in major movie theaters, Eyes Wide Shut is, instead, a dreamlike walk through a twilight world of joyless, mechanistic sex: the message being not “sex is bad,” but, instead, that sexual obsession can be as dehumanizing as anything else in a Stanley Kubrick movie.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Pi (1998)

A bit more intense than some others here, Darren Aronofsky’s feature directorial debut involves a mathematician who becomes obsessed with the idea that math can entirely elucidate the world’s underlying meaning, even as his own mental health struggles as an imperfect and irreducible human make that quest increasingly quixotic.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Paterson (2016)

Idiosyncratic indie director Jim Jarmusch takes "contemplative" to new levels with this film following a week in the life of a New Jersey transit driver played by Adam Driver (hmmm). During breaks from work, Paterson writes small poems with encouragement from his wife (Golshifteh Farahani), but his dreams of publishing them go out the window when a dog gnaws his notebook. With impressive performances from the two leads, this quiet and rather moving film turns on the seemingly minor occurrences that can upend our own small universes.

Where to stream: Prime Video

---

My Dinner with Andre (1981)

Louis Malle’s My Dinner with Andre has a fanbase to rival many more obvious cult classics in American film history; fascinating in that it’s a movie about two actors playing themselves (they share names, anyway) chatting at a cafe for nearly two hours. Yet people watch it over and over. The material veers from funny to despairing, but it’s always surprising, with the two actors selling their stories at least as well as any special effects could.

Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, digital rental

---

An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)

There's very little consolation to be found in the first and only film from novelist Hu Bo, which turns on an anecdote about an elephant in a circus in Manzhouli that remains absolutely still under any provocation: perhaps feeling peaceful, perhaps just surviving without living. The film's characters determine to visit the elephant, their stories cumulatively speaking of disconnection from and disaffection for life.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)

Directed by Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, Werckmeister Harmonies might be the most approachable of Tarr's film projects. Which admittedly isn't saying much, given that his previous film, Satan's Tango, is over seven hours long. Here, we take a long, languid, and beautifully shot tour of a small village in Hungary, following its residents through their lives as a slightly sinister circus comes to town. The film isn't much interested in plot or incident, preferring instead to languidly observe its characters.

Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, digital rental

---

George Washinton (2000)

On one level, George Washington is the story of an unintentional murder by a school kid and the efforts to hide the evidence...but that synopsis doesn’t in any way capture the feel of this deliberately-paced and beautifully shot tone poem.

Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, digital rental

---

The Lobster (2015)

As offbeat dark comedies go, they don’t get much more offbeat than this: in Yorgos Lanthimos’ dystopian dark comedy, single people get exactly 45 days to find romantic partners—otherwise they’re turned into animals. It’s definitely weird, but no weirder than the modern courtship rituals it satirizes.

Where to stream: Max, digital rental

---

Being There (1979)

Hal Ashby’s film is, on one level, a particularly biting satire involving a (very) simpleminded gardener (Peter Sellers) whose every banal, plant-related utterance comes to be seen as a piece of wisdom by a world desperate for meaning. While it mocks our willingness to see what we want to see, it centers the gentle presence of Chance the gardener, and invites us to ask whether his innocent view of the world is really such a bad thing.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)

Slow and sometimes baffling, Uncle Boonmee is also a funny and beautifully meditative story about a man’s final days, and about the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt our lives.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Stalker (1979)

After the apocalypse, a guide sets out with a writer and a scientist across a distinctive and highly stylized wasteland in search of The Room, the one place left on earth where someone’s desires might still be fulfilled. There are elements of political and religious metaphor, but no one meaning really satisfies here, and it’s precisely that slipperiness that makes it so haunting.

Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, digital rental

---

Valhalla Rising (2009)

Our leading man here is a non-speaking, one-eyed former prisoner (played by Mads Mikkelsen), who begins a long, hypnotic journey over the sea when the Norseman falls in with Christian Crusaders in the nasty, brutish middle ages. There’s blood and battle here, but the idiosyncratic director is more interested in the silences in between.

Where to stream: Shudder, AMC+, digital purchase

---

Only Yesterday (1991)

Not many of the films on this list topped the box office when they were released, but director Isao Takahata's anime (from Studio Ghibli) was the highest grossing film of its year in Japan. Twenty-seven-year-old Taeko Okajima works in the city but takes a train trip into the country side to visit relatives and escape from the hectic pace of Tokyo. The journey conjures memories of her life, some good, some less so, forcing her to reconcile her present with everything she has left behind.

Where to stream: Max, digital rental

---

A Ghost Story (2017)

A ghost (Casey Affleck) returns to the home he shared with his wife (Rooney Mara), only to discover that he’s untethered in both time and space, forced to view events in seemingly random order. Desperate to connect, all he can do is observe.

Where to stream: Max, digital rental

---

Nomadland (2020)

After Frances McDormand's Fern loses her job at a gypsum plant, she sells everything and buys a van to live and travel in while she hunts for work (including at an Amazon warehouse). Attachments come and go during her travels, as writer/director Chloé Zhao's funny, elegiac film considers life within America's increasingly precarious capitalist system, while also exploring more general themes of permanence and impermanence.

Where to stream: Hulu, digital rental

---

The Whales of August (1987)

A grace note at or near the end of the careers of Lillian Gish, Bette Davis, Ann Sothern, and Vincent Price, Whales of August finds two elderly and very different sisters spending yet another summer in the same seaside house in Maine that they've visited since childhood. Davis' bitter Libby is ready to give up on life, while Gish's Sarah is tired of being a caretaker and is increasingly delighted by the prospect of a romance with local widower Price. The gentle film explores the potential for dignity and liveliness among these octogenarians.

Where to stream: Prime Video

---

The Tree of Life (2011)

Though early reviewers saw it as pretentious, there’s no mistaking the quiet ambition of Terence Malick’s gorgeously rendered exploration of the meaning of life itself, with a stopover in 1950s Texas. It’s probably the closest any director has come to the scale and scope of 2001 since that movie’s 1968 release.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Russian Ark (2002)

What starts out as a novelty gradually builds to something breathtaking as director Alexander Sokurov’s follows a mysterious narrator through the walls of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, encountering different moments and historical characters from the building’s history as he goes. It’s mostly a film about philosophical conversation, but Sokurov filmed the movie in one continuous cut, with no false cuts, choreographing a cast that, by the end, is in the thousands.

Where to stream: Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex

---

Wild Strawberries (1957)

Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries has some of his most nightmarish imagery, but ultimately it’s the most humane of all his works. Its story of an old man recalling his past is as sad as it is sweet, but builds toward something very nearly celebratory.

Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, digital rental

---

Pariah (2011)

There are some big emotions in Dee Rees’ semi-autobiographical coming-out story Pariah, and so, in that sense, it’s not the most quietest of quiet dramas. In its performances and visual style, though, it’s utterly hypnotic, conjuring a world that, for all its turmoil, I could get lost in forever.

Where to stream: Prime Video

---

Under the Skin (2013)

An alien seduces men by the side of the road in this languid and elusive study of sex and power relationships. With a stroking visual style that evokes Blade Runner (just a bit), Under the Skin is as haunting as it is tough to pin down.

Where to stream: Max, digital rental

---

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

Bafflingly dreamlike—but so beautiful that it’s hard to care—Alain Resnais’ masterpiece takes place at a luxury hotel and involves two lead characters who seem to have become completely untethered in time and space, and who might have met at Marienbad once before. It plays much like a ghost story, minus the horror-movie trappings.

Where to stream: The Criterion Channel, digital purchase

---

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring (2003)

Kim Ki-duk’s story follows a Buddhist monk (O Yeong-su) from young apprentice to old age, with the different seasons representing phases of life and the circular nature of existence. It’s appropriately meditative, without extraneous or excessive drama, and not even much dialogue. It’s (nearly) as quiet as filmmaking gets, but rather lovely and rewarding.

Where to stream: Digital rental

To quote Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho, “...once you overcome the 1-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” Fortunately, in the streaming area, a great many of said films are more readily available than ever—and certainly there’s no shortage of great films from Bong Joon-Ho’s own South Korea available at the tap of a button.

Naturally, American producers are well aware, and plotting to create English-language remakes that will make these foreign-language films “more accessible” to American audiences, which usually means removing everything that makes them unique cultural artifacts. As evidence I present: the Korean A Tale of Two Sisters became the American The Uninvited, Il Mare became The Lake House, Oldboy became…Oldboy, but worse. A Train to Busan remake called Last Train to New York has been in the works for some time, but honestly, you can just watch Train to Busan. It’s excellent.

Remakes can be good, sure, but there’s usually a reason the original was popular enough to inspire a remake. Some of these 25 South Korean films have remakes in the works, some are being actively speculated upon, and the rest are popular enough internationally that someone is undoubtedly thinking of a way to domesticate them. Every one of them is worth watching in its original version.

Train to Busan (2016)

Before Parasite, Yeon Sang-ho’s film was, perhaps, the biggest South Korean film to break into the American market, setting off an immediate bidding war for remake rights eventually won by New Line. The (maybe) upcoming American version (it's been delayed), somewhat generically titled Last Train to New York, may well be perfectly fine, but the title suggests some of the subtext of the original will have been lost. Busan, for example, was a haven for refugees during the Korean War—and it’s hard to imagine an American film carrying over the original’s critiques of capitalism and nods to working class solidarity. I can’t really conceive of a remake improving on this thoughtful, heartfelt, bloody zombie masterpiece.

Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, Hi-YAH!, digital rental

---

Badland Hunters (2024)

Ma Dong-seok, supporting MVP of Train to Busan, stars as a hunter in a post-apocalyptic Seoul, scavenging for the resources necessary to keep his small community afloat. The village is just barely scraping by as it is when a young girl is kidnapped by a scientist looking for test subjects for his radical experiments. While not entirely novel in its take on a brutal, violent wasteland this is an effective survival story nonetheless, with hints of humor that keep things moving along. (It's an entirely standalone sequel to Concrete Utopia, which is also good, but much harder to find on streaming.)

Where to stream: Netflix

---

Exhuma (2024)

This spooky supernatural horror film follows a shaman and her protégé as they're called upon to help a rich Korean American family uncover the source of their newborn's illness. Its deep dive into traditional Korean shamanistic practices, blended with a modern and convincingly realistic feel, earned rave reviews and sold a ton of tickets; it's in the top ten films of all time at the South Korean box office. Americans love remaking Asian horror films, and the success of this one doubtless has it in someone's crosshairs.

Where to stream: Shudder, digital rental

---

The Villainess (2017)

If we’re not exactly seeing through the eyes of enigmatic killer Sook-hee (played by Ok-bin Kim), we’re still drawn in with a level of kinetic, sometimes frantic, you-are-there immediacy. In July, it was announced that Amazon Studios is working on an English-language TV series based on the film, but director Jung Byung-gil brings a unique, visceral, and bloody style to the original that will be hard to replicate, and tougher to improve upon.

Where to stream: Peacock, Hi-YAH!, digital rental

---

I Saw the Devil (2010)

Action movie? Thriller? Raw horror? Yup. Cult classic I Saw the Devil hits all those notes, balancing genuinely grisly torture porn with solid emotional beats. Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) stars as Gyeong-cheol, a serial killer who chooses his latest victim rather poorly: Her boyfriend Soo-hyeon is an intelligence officer and when he figures out who killed her, he has no intention of turning the killer over to the authorities. Instead, he plans to torture Gyeong-cheol with a stomach-churning cat-and-mouse game. Given its cult status and its similarity in vibes to Oldboy, it's surprising American filmmakers haven't taken a shot at this one. Yet.

Where to stream: Hulu, digital rental

---

Night in Paradise (2020)

There’s a noir quality to writer/director Park Hoon-jung’s bloody tale of a gangster on the run who develops a relationship with the terminally ill niece of an arms dealer. It’s an interesting blend of ultraviolence and quiet rumination (over many elaborate and exquisitely presented meals), though there’s a dark inevitability to the whole thing that would make a remake either appealing in its rare and complete refusal to offer an easy way out...or a complete turn-off for doing just that.

Where to stream: Netflix

---

The Call (2020)

This timey-wimey sci-fi thriller involves Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) visiting her childhood home in 2019, only to discover that an old cordless phone still works, and connects her to Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), living in the house in 1999. The two bond over shared experiences, but things go wrong when Seo-Yeon tells the other young woman about the future, and influences her to make changes. Some events, it seems, are best left alone. Clever and disturbing, with a solid high-concept.

Where to stream: Netflix

---

Alienoid (2022)

Silly title aside (and I have no idea if it's any better in Korean), Alienoid is a very effective thrill ride, even if the convoluted plot (involving multiple overlapping timelines, aliens, shamans, cat people, and robots) is often hard to follow. It all kicks off when warrior monks attempt to retrieve a holy sword in 1380, only to cross paths with alien hunters from 2012 via a time portal. If you dig what's on offer here, it's followed directly by a 2024 sequel. Move the past action from the Goryeo Dynasty to, say, medieval France, and you've got your remake (not that I'm encouraging it).

Where to stream: Tubi, Hi-YAH!, digital rental

---

Broker (2022)

The feel of this sweet, sensitive road movie will be familiar to fans of American indie road movies (think Little Miss Sunshine), so a remake really isn't out of the question. Song Kang-ho (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Snowpiercer) stars as the owner of a laundry with a grim side-hustle: He occasionally collects babies from a church drop-off box and sells them on the adoption market. He doesn't have a lot of scruples about it until he's approached by a mother who's had second thoughts about giving up her baby. With his sidekick, they set off to find the baby's adoptive mother, with a couple of detectives on their heels.

Where to stream: Hulu, digital rental

---

Right Now, Wrong Then (2015)

An arthouse take on Groundhog Day, romantic drama Right Now, Wrong Then follows a famous film director who strikes up a flirty relationship with a young painter while visiting a small town for a film screening. It goes well, until the drinks start to flow and the painter gets wind of his reputation for womanizing. Then the day starts over again, and he gets another shot—but this isn't the kind of movie that traffics in pat resolutions, blending its high concept with real human drama.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Decision to Leave (2022)

Like most of writer/director Park Chan-wook's films (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, The Handmaiden), this one's tough to classify by genre. It alternately feels like a romance, a thriller, and a mystery—or all three at once. Insomniac detective Jang Hae-jun doesn't miss a clue, until he starts to fall for (and then become obsessed with, Vertigo-style) a recently widowed woman who doesn't seem all that upset about her husband's death. The mysterious and gorgeously directed film won Park Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022.

Where to stream: Mubi, digital rental

---

Miss Granny (2014)

A cute fantasy comedy that did major business in South Korea, the U.S. is just about the only country that hasn't (yet) tried to remake it—seriously: China, Japan, India, and Mexico are just some of the countries that have made their own versions. Oh Mal-soon is a 74-year-old widow living with her son and daughter-in law. She's controlling and generally mean, so much so that her son plans to put her in a nursing home to get her away from his increasingly depressed and anxious wife. One day, while looking to have anticipatory funeral pictures taken, Mal-soon stumbles upon a mysterious photo studio...and walks out of it a 20-year-old woman. Her new lease on life forces her to confront her outlook on life and the challenges of youth.

Where to stream: Netflix, digital rental

---

Silenced (2011)

Based on real events, Silenced is a challenging but effective drama about a new teacher at a school for the Deaf who gradually uncovers an insidious pattern of physical and sexual abuse that the school has tried to cover up. It started a national conversation about child sexual abuse in private schools, and inspired new laws removing statutes of limitations for victims to make legal claims. Tragically, I'm sure there are similar cases in the United States that deserve the spotlight.

Where to stream: Netflix, Tubi

---

Psychokinesis (2018)

Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho followed up that zombie film with another genre reinvention, tackling superhero movies with a similar eye toward redefinition. There’s no spandex on display here, just a delinquent dad who drinks some meteorite infused water that gifts him with the ability to move things with his mind. With the ever-growing stakes of major superhero movies, it’s not unwelcome to find one that follows a middle-aged schlub who decides to use his powers to save his daughter’s trendy, but failing, chicken restaurant and the other tenants in her neighborhood being pushed out in favor of a new mall. It’s not quite up there with Busan, but it is a refreshingly lighthearted take on an increasingly serious genre.

Where to stream: Netflix

---

Extreme Job (2019)

You want another action comedy centered around a chicken restaurant? No problem. Director Lee Byeong-heon’s Extreme Job sits somewhere near the top of all-time Korean box office records, so, naturally, Universal Pictures is interested in a remake. The premise is amiably silly, but clever: a group of narcotics officers are given one last chance to stop fucking up their assignments. They manage to secure a great stakeout location in a local chicken restaurant, only to find that the business is going under. The only solution? Save the business by taking over operations—a plan that develops unexpected consequences when their new marinade becomes a sensation.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Space Sweepers (2021)

It doesn’t entirely reinvent the wheel, but there’s a refreshing focus on the underclasses of the future, without edging too far into the dystopian. I’m not the first to make a comparison between Space Sweepers and Cowboy Bebop, but, given the speedy failure of Netflix’s live-action version of that cartoon, it’s not going too far to say that you’ll find a better encapsulation of Bebop’s spirit of rag-tag found family and its outer space western milieu here then in the live-action show that bore its name. What this one lacks in originality, it makes up for in engaging characters and extravagant special effects. It’s also nice to see a less American-centric perspective on the future—something that would inevitably be lost in a remake.

Where to stream: Netflix

---

The Box (2021)

Wildly popular upon its South Korean release, the jukebox-style musical The Box already has an international flavor: in it, a wise and up-and-coming singer sets out on a cross-Korea road trip with a washed-up producer (think A Star is Born, without the doomed love story). In the course of their journey, they either perform or encounter modern Korean pop songs, along with American standards and contemporary-ish hits from Coldplay, Billie Eilish, Pharrell Williams, etc., proving that you don’t have to remake something for it to cross borders and connect with audiences.

Where to stream: Prime Video

---

Pandora (2016)

Pandora has much of the classic disaster movie about it: It’s a loud, crowded, and slightly bloated story of a small group of everyday people heroically fighting to avert a nuclear meltdown. The perspective, though, is where the movie will stand out for (particularly) American audiences. More interested in (some genuinely spectacular) action set pieces, Pandora doesn’t go quite as hard on government incompetence and class as Korean productions tend to, but there is a not-subtle undercurrent of anti-capitalist social commentary throughout the film.

Where to stream: Netflix

---

The Day After (2017)

With shades of Scenes from a Marriage, prolific director Hong Sang-soo’s movie tracks the decline of a relationship in the wake of a case of mistaken identity. It might not be at the top of anyone’s list for a remake, but it’s a good reminder that Korean cinema isn’t all about high-concept genre films—those are just the most heavily marketed overseas. Hong’s quiet, emotional drama is as emblematic of what Korean cinema is capable of as any action thriller or horror film.

Where to stream: Digital rental via Apple TV or YouTube

---

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)

I would say that this one’s more a case of Korean filmmakers playing with western found footage horror tropes...except that there’s an American remakein the works, so. Gonjiam, the original, was incredibly popular in South Korea, and deservedly so: the format is familiar, but it’s a particularly effective and well-made example of the sub-genre. The key here, as in real estate, is location, location, location: director Jung Bum-shik and the rest of the filmmakers meticulously recreated the real-life Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital in Gwangju—by reputation, one of the most haunted locations in Korea. It’s an incredibly freaky setting for undoing of the film’s doomed web series crew.

Where to stream: Prime Video, Peacock, Hi-YAH!, Tubi

---

#Alive (2020)

This one, released back in June of 2020, has already seen its American remake come and go (sort of): both #Alive and the Tyler Posey/Donald Sutherland-starring Alone were produced at around the same time from the same script. This one is about a charming gamer (Yoo Ah-in) who triesy to ride out a zombie apocalypse by locking himself away (aka quarantining) inside his apartment, eventually forging a connection with a woman in the apartment across the way. Might or might not be fun to make a double-feature of it. (You can watch a confusingly unrelated thriller also from 2020 also called Alone, but I’m not sure what that gets you.)

Where to stream: Netflix

---

Night Flight (2014)

To be fair, American producers probably aren’t desperate to remake this queer melodrama, but they could probably learn a thing or two from the boldness of gay director Leesong Hee-il. Pushing boundaries with his films that others were unwilling to push, his Night Flight, which follows the shifting relationships between three middle school friends when one of the boys is revealed to be gay, made clear that there’s a decent market in Korea for LGBTQ+ content. In portraying the costs of social stigma, the movie winds up dramatizing some of the darker tropes of cinematic gays, but nevertheless opened doors for Asian filmmakers.

Where to stream: Plex

---

The Wailing (2016)

Though things have been quiet on the remake front for a couple of years, it could still happen: Ridley Scott’s production company immediately cast its eye on The Wailing when it first came out in 2016. A commercial and critical success, the horror movie tracks the spread of a rage-inducing plague that impacts a remote village—a plague with extraterrestrial origins. The concerns expressed by the film’s producer at the time remain legitimate: the religious undertones of the movie are based in Korea’s religious pluralism, making a direct translation tough, if not impossible.

Where to stream: Peacock, Netflix, Hi-YAH!, digital rental

---

Midnight (2021)

Squid Game's Wi Ha-jun is chilling as a serial killer playing a cat-and-mouse game with Kim Kyung-mi (Jin Ki-joo), a deaf woman working late at a call center. Ha-jun stalks first Kyung-mi and then her mother, while the brother of a former victim tries to find the murderer and stop him from killing again. With a plot that unfolds over the course of a night and is packed with tricky twists, it's well worth a watch.

Where to stream: Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi

---

Parasite (2019)

You might have heard of this obscure film, but only if you watch a little independent film award show called “the Academy Awards.” Adam McKay (The Big Short) is working on an HBO TV series adaptation with the input and cooperation of Parasite’s director, Bong Joon-ho. He’s promising an original story based on the film, but Bong is such a singular filmmaker, and his brand of deeply cutting social satire is so specific, that it’s tough to understand the appeal of an Americanized side-quel. It sounds a bit like the TNT series based on Bong’s Snowpiercer—a show that's OK, sure, but lacks much of the focus and bite of the original.

Where to stream: Max, digital rental

Other streamers, especially those with close corporate ties to major movie studios, might reel in a few more major theatrical releases than Netflix. Where Netflix outshines them, however, is in its slate of original movies produced specifically for the streaming service. At a glance, it might seem as though the streamer emphasizes quantity over quality, but they've released nine Best Picture Academy Award nominees since 2019. Oscars aren't everything, of course—but they're not nothing, either.

Here, then, are some of the best recent movies streaming on Netflix, whether wide theatrical releases you might have missed, or originals.

---

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

This one's a tiny bit of a cheat, as it technically came out in 2023...but most of its North American run happened in January, so we're going to count it. The American Godzilla movies have been doing a very effective job by taking an entertaining more-is-more approach, but Godzilla Minus One makes clear that Japanese filmmakers will always have a deeper connection with the kaiju king. A prequel, of sorts, to the original 1954 film, this one finds kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) encountering Godzilla multiple times over the years following World War II. That trauma, going back to that first movie, lends this one an emotional weight. Nearly as important, the masterful visual effects make Godzilla scary again. One of the very best in a series with plenty of movies to choose from.

---

Hit Man (2024)

Glen Powell (who co-wrote the film alongside director Richard Linklater) stars as Gary Johnson, a withdrawn New Orleans professor who's roped into a side gig at which he's surprisingly good: He impersonates hired assassins for the police. People looking to hire a killer come to Gary, believing that he's a hit man, only to find that they've been entrapped. Things get complicated (in a darkly comedic way) when he's approached by Madison (Adria Arjona) to bump off her abusive husband, and he's suddenly not so clear as to whose side he's on.

---

Under Paris (2024)

I'm not sure that this shark-themed disaster movie is going to pick Netflix up any new Oscar nominations...but we ain't always here for all that. This is an aggressively fun (and very French) update on Jaws that sees a killer mako shark loose first in the Seine and then the catacombs...under Paris. An Olympic qualifying event is about to occur in the city which, of course, the mayor won't call off inspite of the danger. And the deaths. There's some stuff here about environmental catastrophe, but mostly it's just a bone-chomping good time.

---

Society of the Snow (2023)

The true story of the 1972 Uruguayan rugby team lost in the Andes following a place crash has been the subject of multiple documentaries and two previous dramas. For all that, this would seem to be the best of all of them: a thoughtful and tasteful take on what's sometimes been presented as a salacious drama, with director J. A. Bayona emphasizing both the physical perils faced by the team, but also the spiritual toll of survival.

---

Shirley (2024)

John Ridley (screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave) directs this rather necessary biopic of sometimes-forgotten pioneer Shirley Chisholm. The first Black woman elected to Congress (in 1969), Chisolm ran a forcefully progressive campaign for president just three years later. Even if the movie is a bit formulaic, Regina King (perhaps unsurprisingly) gives a moving, powerhouse performance in the title role.

---

Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution (2024)

We often treat comedy as pure entertainment but, of course, at its most meaningful, it's more than that: It can be healing, and it can be destructive in the best possible way, serving as an agent of change. Outstanding charts nearly a century of queer comedy and its power for individuals and as an essential part of the LGBTQ movement. Prominently featured is Robin Tyler, one-half of a "sister" act in the 1960s who ultimately became the first lesbian or gay comic to come out on TV, and later became a central figure in queer liberation. Lily Tomlin, Wanda Sykes, Billy Eichner, Margaret Cho, Suzy Izzard, and Joel Kim Booster are just a few of comics on hand to tell their stories.

---

Ultraman: Rising (2024)

This Japanese-American co-production reboots the beloved franchise with help from director Shannon Tindle and co-writer Marc Haimes (both of Kubo and the Two Strings). Here, professional baseball player Ken Sato returns home to Japan when he inherits the mantle of Ultraman from his retired father. There's plenty of family-friendly action and some really lovely animation, but the movie's real selling point is in its emotional arc: The egotistical Sato needs to reconnect with his distant father while, at the same time, he becomes the unwilling father of an orphaned child (well, kind of a child...).

---

Mea Culpa (2024)

Tyler Perry's latest is a steamy legal thriller with Kelly Rowland as a defense attorney who takes the case of an artist (Trevante Rhodes) accused of killing his girlfriend—Rowland's character's name is actually Mea, which probably tells you all you ned to know about this blend of silly and sexy. Her husband's Kal's been cheating on her, and her brother-in-law is the prosecutor, and there seems to be some sort of larger political scheme at play. It's all a bit of juicy fun.

---

Thelma the Unicorn (2024)

Brittany Howard leads an all-star voice cast including Will Forte, Jemaine Clement, Edi Patterson, Fred Armisen, Zach Galifianakis, Jon Heder, and Shondrella Avery in this cute family-friendly story of a farm pony with big dreams of music stardom. Fun soundtrack, too.

---

Remembering Gene Wilder (2024)

Gene Wilder serves as the posthumous narrator of this smart, accessible introduction to the life and career of the actor and comedian: using the audiobook of his biography as a basis, as well as archival clips and interviews with friends and collaborators (Mel Brooks is, naturally, prominently featured). With Wilder himself to guide us along, it's a good reminder of the long career and impressive range of one of our finest and funniest actors.

---

Madame Web (2024)

Nobody's here to make the case that Madame Web is a work of misunderstood genius...but it is a contender for unintentional camp classic. The hyperbole surrounding its release saw it as a herald of the end times for superhero movies, but the Dakota Johnson-lead film is honestly a lot more fun (endless "ironic" product placement and all) than many of its more serious, better-reviewed contemporaries. Sit back, grab a Pepsi, and hang out with some less reputable spider-people.

---

Black Barbie (2024)

Writer and director Lagueria Davis pays tribute to her aunt, Beulah Mitchell, who worked at Mattel for decades and became instrumental in the development of the first Black Barbie, designed by Kitty Black Perkins and released in 1980. 1980! The doll was such a success that it inspired a world of more diverse toys, not just at Barbie, and generally changed the face of the toy industry. This brisk documentary, from Shondaland, makes a great case for the importance of dolls, play, and representation.

---

The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)

Telling the story of the night that the biggest pop stars of the 1980s (well, except Madonna) got together to record "We Are the World" for charity, The Greatest Night in Pop reunites several of the famous voices (Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Dionne Warwick, and Cyndi Lauper) who were there to tell the story. The recording itself is an interesting story, of course, but a big part of the fun here is remembering a world in which you had to assemble all of these people on short notice without cell phones. The logistics are positively harrowing.

---

Thanksgiving (2023)

Patrick Dempsey stars in this funny but bleak satire from Eli Roth, his first horror film since 2013. When an unruly mob storms a Walmart (sorry: RightMart) on Black Friday, violence and bloodshed ensue, leaving one of the victims of the incident to seek revenge. It's wild and gory holiday fun.

---

Anyone but You (2023)

A loose spin on Much Ado About Nothing, Anyone But You stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell as a couple who meet, hit it off—and then immediately piss each other off such that neither really wants to see each other again. Until, of course, they need wedding dates and find themselves surrounded by scheming friends. It's not wildly out there as rom-com premises go, but this one's briskly directed and boasts strong chemistry between the leads.

---

Orion in the Dark (2024)

Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) wrote this DreamWorks animated adaptation of the Emma Yarlett novel. When Orion is visited by the literal incarnation of his fear of the dark, he's taken on a whirlwind journey around the world to explore the world of night and help him to face his fears.

---

Damsel (2024)

Netflix's favorite action lead, Millie Bobby Brown, is back in this dark fantasy from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later). Brown plays Elodie, the damsel of the title, offered into an arranged marriage by her family, only to discover that she's marked as the sacrifice to a dragon. Which turns out to be bad news for her new in-laws.

---

Rebel Moon, Parts One and Two (2023/2024)

Zack Snyder, late of the entire DC cinematic universe, isn't to everyone's taste—but his Army of the Dead, also for Netflix, was a fun spin on the zombie formula, done as a heist movie. His followup is pure science fiction: a multi-part (it's unclear how many parts that will be) space opera that blends Snyder's distinctive visual style with Star Wars-style action. Sofia Boutella stars as a former soldier who rallies warriors from across the galaxy to join in a revolt against the imperial Motherworld on the title's out-of-the-way farming moon.

---

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

This short adaptation of the Roald Dahl story finally earned Wes Anderson his first Oscar. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as the titular Henry Sugar, a man who uses his inherited fortune to fund his gambling habit. When he learns of a secret means of winning by seeing through the eyes of others, he comes to perceive more than he, perhaps, bargained for. It's cute and sweet, and among one of Anderson's most visually inventive works (which is saying quite a bit). At 39 minutes, it never has time to wear out its welcome—even if you're not a huge fan of Anderson''s twee sensibilities. Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade also star.

---

American Symphony (2023)

Director Matthew Heineman's film follows a year in the lives of writer Suleika Jaouad and her husband, musician Jon Batiste, during which she confronts a recurrence of a rare form of leukemia while he constructs his first symphony. It's a moving film that goes beyond the obvious tropes to make the case that there are things that only music can say. It had a lot of Oscar buzz, while receiving just a single nomination for Best Song.

---

Scoop (2024)

The great Gillian Anderson plays real-life British journalist Emily Maitlis, who lead the BBC2 team that secured the disastrous (for the Prince) interview with Prince Andrew (Rufus Sewell) that laid bare his associations with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Keeley Hawes and Billie Piper also star.

---

May December (2023)

Todd Haynes directs this insightful and moving, but also deliberately campy, story of an actress visiting the woman whom she'll be playing in a film. The movie's deft, and unexpected, blending of tones makes it pretty consistently fascinating, and the lead performances from Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton are all top-tier.

---

Nyad (2023)

Annette Benning stars as the real-life Diana Nyad, who swam from Florida to Cuba in her 60s. The movie succeeds in large part because of the performances from and chemistry between lead Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, both of whom received Oscar nominations for their work here.

---

The Killer (2023)

David Fincher's latest didn't seem to generate his typical buzz, perhaps because it's so thoroughly action-oriented (a far cry from his last Netflix original, the screenplay-writing drama Mank). Michael Fassbender plays the movie's nameless hitman protagonist, a fastidious and ruthless killer who makes the first mistake of his career—accidentally shooting the wrong person—and then finds his carefully managed life crumbling faster than he can keep up.

---

Rustin (2023)

Colman Domingo gives a stellar performance (earning a Best Actor Oscar nomination) as the title's Bayard Rustin, the gay Civil Rights leader who planned the March on Washington. Not only is it a corrective to our very straight-centered vision of the Civil Rights Movement, it's a stylish and moving biopic in its own right.

---

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Look at this cast: Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la Herrold (Industry), and Kevin Bacon are all on hand for this apocalyptic thriller that has that Bird Box vibe without the alien implications—the monsters here are all human. As technology begins to inexplicably fail, our protagonists find themselves in a last-days-of-America scenario, including a scene of self-driving Teslas run amok. It's occasionally a little on the nose, but still a pretty compelling thriller.

---

City Hunter (2024)

The City Hunter manga, about the titular detective agency, has been adapted several times in the past, with very mixed results. This latest looks like it might be the best: a candy-colored, high-action, appropriately goofy take starring Ryohei Suzuki as lead detective Ryo Saeba and Misato Morita as the daughter of his murdered partner, with whom he teams up to avenge that death and to find a missing teenage runaway with deadly superpowers.

---

Spaceman (2024)

Adam Sandler stars here in one of his occasional dramatic roles, here as a Czech astronaut coming to terms with the potential dissolution of his marriage. At the edge of the solar system. With some help from a spider-like alien creature trying to understand humanity. Carey Mulligan and Isabella Rossellini co-star.

---

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)

If it's not entirely on the same level as the Aardman-animated original from way back in 2000, it's still a delightful and cheeky return from the escapees from Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy's Farm. Thandiwe Newton leads the impressive voice cast.

---

Down the Rabbit Hole (2024)

The House of Flowers creator Manolo Caro directs this quirky and thoughtful drama about meticulous, fussy kid Tochtli (Miguel Valverde), living in a palatial estate somewhere in rural Mexico. He's old enough to start questioning his wildly privileged and sheltered life, slowly discovering that his father Yolcaut (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is a major, well-connected drug lord. It's a quietly stylish drama that avoids taking any obvious routes.

It feels as though maintaining a reasonable level of mental health is particularly challenging right now, whether we're talking about clinical depression or just a general feeling of unease brought on by being bombarded with negative news on a much-more-than-daily basis. So a little self-care is rarely a bad idea—and while this is in no way a clinical recommendation, I find that a good cry is often the best way to make myself feel a little better. Just as sad songs are often a comfort in dark times, so are sad movies often just the thing when a good cry is called for.

Some movies earn their tears honestly, while others are more manipulative—the ones sometimes dismissively called tearjerkers. I’m not sure how much it matters, though: Many of us are naturally suspicious of entertainment that moves us, but, like a good jump scare or thrilling action sequence, there’s skill, and art, to plucking at our emotional strings. Just thinking of some of these movies—which are enough to make all but the most hard-hearted among you ugly cry—gets me feeling misty.

A warning though, before we proceed: it's hard to talk about what makes these movies weepy without getting into some spoilers. Proceed with caution.

---

Past Lives (2023)

Greta Lee plays Nora, whose family emigrated from South Korea to the United States when she was a child. Years later, and then over the course of several years, she reunites with childhood friend Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), forcing an examination of her life as it is, and as it might have been.

The crying bit: I'm not sure there's one particular moment here (this isn't a tearjerker), but the film's ending—with its cumulative sense of love, loss, and roads not taken—packs a powerful emotional punch. Just posting the trailer here made the tears start welling up in my eyes.

Where to stream: Paramount+, Digital rental

---

Dancer in the Dark (2000)

Minimalist Dogme 95-style filmmaking somehow meets Douglas Sirk-style melodrama, all mixed up in a stripped-down homage to the artificiality of the Old Hollywood musical. Starring none other than outré Icelandic singer Björk (who apparently had a terrible time making it), this is deeply strange, and strangely compelling, in its story of a Czech immigrant who’s forced into increasingly dire straits as she tries to get the money for a medical procedure that will save her son’s vision.

The crying bit: Björk and company create such a compelling (though bleak) fantasy world that the movie’s ultra-dark denouement hits hard.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Sounder (1972)

A family of sharecroppers in rural Louisiana, lead by Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield, is tragically disrupted when Winfield’s Nathan Lee Morgan is arrested for having stolen a bit of food.

The crying bit: Sounder, the dog, is a relatively minor part of the film, and, though he does get injured, you needn’t fear any dog-related tragedies. This is one for which the tears really come when the family is reunited.

Where to stream: Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi

---

Beaches (1988)

Bette Midler has never been so schmaltzy as in this movie charting the ups and downs of her lifelong friendship with Barbara Hershey, beginning way back when Midler’s character is played by Mayim Bialik. Though history hasn’t come to recognize Beaches as an all-time classic, there were a couple of years during which the haunting strains of “Wind Beneath My Wings” were utterly inescapable. Be warned, though: I listened to this soundtrack on repeat around the time this first came on TV, and I’m pretty sure it made me gay.

The crying bit: You can see the death scene coming from all the way down the beach, but only the hardest heart isn’t going to feel a twinge when C.C. and Hillary watch one final sunset.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Love Story (1970)

Less a work of genius, perhaps, than a masterpiece of emotional manipulation, Love Story is a classic tearjerker in the finest tradition of the form. Love means never having to say you’re sorry, and I won't apologize for recommending this.

The crying bit: After we’ve established the central couple’s meet-cute, opposites-attract relationship and marriage, we’re primed for tragedy when Oliver (Ryan O’Neal) learns that Jenny (Ali McGraw) is terminally ill, attempting to conceal the diagnosis from her (which was, apparently, a thing you could do circa 1970). Alas, this isn’t a movie about successful treatments and permanent remission.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

A young suffragette (Greer Garson) breaks the stiff, stuffy, oh-so-British reserve of teacher Charles Edward Chipping (Robert Donat)

The crying bit: Following the death, in childbirth, of his beloved, Mr. Chips returns to the classroom, stiff upper lip fully starched. It’s clear he’s lost not just his love, but also the joy in living she’d helped him discover.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Based on the James Baldwin novel and directed by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins, this is the tragic story of a young couple (played by KiKi Layne and Stephan James) torn apart by a false allegation and injustice.

The crying bit: I’m not sure that there’s a single moment here, and that’s to the non-linear movie’s credit. There’s a pervasive sense of sadness and injustice as we’re drawn deeply into the story of this couple. The most emotional moment is, perhaps, the moment near the end when Tish realizes that there’s no hope of undoing the injustice that landed Funny in jail.

Where to stream: Peacock, Starz, Digital rental

---

The Color Purple (1985)

Steven Spielberg directs Whoopi Goldberg as the abused Celie, separated from her beloved sister at a young age in rural Georgia of the early 20th century. It’s a better adaptation of Alice Walker’s acclaimed novel than it is often given credit for.

The crying bit: The greatest heartbreaks come closer to the beginning than the end. And, though there are tearful moments throughout, the real catharsis comes when we finally feel like things finally (finally) start looking up for Miss Celie and company. You’re invited to cry at the sad moments and the joyous conclusion.

Where to stream: Tubi, Digital rental

---

Steel Magnolias (1989)

They used to call this sort of thing a “chick flick,” as though the mere presence of women at the top of the cast list were enough to place a film in its own genre. Regardless, with the all-legend casting of Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts, this is the Avengers of movies set largely in a beauty salon.

The crying bit: The film’s death scene is gutting, but less so than Sally Field’s graveside breakdown, both for its own emotive power and for her realization that she’s not alone. Somehow “Take a whack at Ouiser!” is the film’s supreme moment of catharsis.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Another great film with women in the lead and a brilliant ensemble cast (including Ming-Na Wen, Rosalind Chao, Tamlyn Tomita, and Lauren Tom), The Joy Luck Club centers around a group of Chinese elders who gather to play Mahjong and trade stories that span generations.

The crying bit: There are plenty of emotional moments across the film’s many vignettes, but by far the most wrenching is the story of Suyuan Woo’s escape from the Japanese invasion of China. Near death and at the end of her strength, she’s forced to abandon her twin daughters. The moment would, understandably, haunt Suuyan and color her relationship with her other daughter, June.

Where to stream: Hulu, Digital rental

---

Imitation of Life (1959)

Even if it’s not flawless in its perspectives, Imitation of Life is as close to racial consciousness as Hollywood got in the 1950s, doing the original version of the film (from 1934) one better by shifting the focus away from single mother Lora Meredith (here played by Lana Turner) and toward Juanita Moore’s Annie Johnson and her light-skinned-to-the-point-of-passing daughter, Sarah Jane.

The crying bit: Their relationship having entirely broken down through the course of the film, mother and daughter never truly reconcile before Annie’s untimely death. It’s the funeral, though, that clinches it, as Mahalia Jackson sings “Trouble of the World” while Sarah Jane falls on her mother’s casket.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Stella Dallas (1937)

Barbara Stanwyck plays the title’s sassy mill worker’s daughter, whose plans to better her own situation go consistently awry, leading to a deeply unhappy marriage. Eventually, she places all her hopes in her daughter, Laurel.

The crying bit: Circumstances lead Stella to believe that her daughter’s only road to happiness is apart from the troubled mother. So, she forces Laurel away with cruel comments, then watches her daughter’s marriage through a window, sadness and joy mingled in her expression.

Where to stream: Prime Video

---

Up (2009)

Belying the unfair reputation that cartoons once had as goofy kids’ stuff, the ability of a Pixar movie to reduce grown people to tears is legendary.

The crying bit: The montage, early in the film, depicting Carl Fredricksen’s life with his late wife, Ellie, and their inability to ever save up enough money for their dream trip, is gutting. Gutting. (Later there’s a talking dog, which helps.)

Where to stream: Disney+, Digital rental

---

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Oh, hey, just Pixar again, here to make us cry over some damn computer generated toys.

The crying bit: You think it’s the ending, but it’s actually the moment when the toys, seemingly at the ends of their usefulness, make their peace with death (if living toys can truly “die”) while on a conveyor belt leading to an incinerator. Yeah, it’s also wistfully sad when Andy passes the toys along to Bonnie, saying goodbye to his childhood, but that’s like a gentle jab after getting hit over the head with a folding chair.

Where to stream: Disney+, Digital rental

---

The Fox and the Hound (1981)

The kindly Widow Tweed adopts an orphaned fox, Tod, while her neighbor, hunter Amos Blade, brings home a hound named Copper to be his new hunting dog. They become friends. Then they aren’t, and it’s sad.

The crying bit: Oh, lord. We start out with a Bambi-esque death scene and, later, a heartbreaking abandonment. The emotional crux of the film is the bit about how Tod and Copper will “always be friends forever.” But fate has other ideas.

Where to stream: Disney+, Digital rental

---

Old Yeller (1957)

A young boy (Tommy Kirk) has a lovely, special bond with the titular Labrador Retriever in Texas of the late 1860s.

The crying bit: Let’s just say that Old Yeller doesn’t fare terribly well here. They made this movie for kids, if you can believe it.

Where to stream: Disney+, Digital rental

---

The NeverEnding Story (1984)

Ten-year-old Bastian Bux is an outcast (translated from movie parlance: a reader) who finds himself drawn into his new book rather literally, as he's gradually pulled into the story of warrior Atreus, on a quest to save The Childlike Empress from "The Nothing" in the world of Fantasia.

The crying bit: Atreyu's faithful steed, Artax, is overcome in the Swamp of Sadness. It's a genuinely powerful emotional moment, representing a low point for both Bastion and Atreyu.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

A Star Is Born (1954)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the 2018 Lady Gaga version is sad, too, but this earlier version is the template (we can't call it the original, since it's the second of four takes, and not the same general plot). Judy Garland stars alongside James Mason as one half of a Hollywood power couple—except that her star is in the ascendant, while his is in substance-dependent decline.

The crying bit: Upon her return to the stage following her husband's death, Vicki announces herself as "Mrs. Norman Maine." A little awkward, perhaps, to modern eyes, but still rather stirring in context. It's also rather poignant that this was meant to be Judy Garland's big comeback, but inexplicably died at the box office.

Where to stream: Tubi, Digital rental

---

The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

The John Green adaptation stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as two teens who meet at a support group for cancer patients, before going on a whirlwind trip to Amsterdam to meet one of their favorite authors and find out why his last book doesn't really have an ending.

The crying bit: It's not entirely, nor unnecessarily, maudlin, but it's a movie about two kids with cancer, one of whom turns out to have a terminal diagnosis. Their first kiss is at the Anne Frank House. So, take your pick.

Where to stream: Disney+, Digital rental

---

Brief Encounter (1945)

Director David Lean is best known today for his epics: Lawrence of Arabia, A Passage to India, etc. But this early classic of his is every bit as impressive a work, even if the scale is much smaller. Laura is a respectable middle-class woman in a stable but dull marriage, while Alec is an idealistic doctor, also married with children. They start running into each other whenever Laura goes to a nearby town for a bit of shopping and, as their relationship and affections develop, each separation becomes more difficult.

The crying bit: It's what doesn't happen that breaks your heart here, as the final encounter between the two is interrupted and cut short.

Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, Prime Video

---

Inside Out (2015)

The Disney/Pixar tear train has been running for a long time—at least since Bambi—and Inside Out continues the tradition ably. Here we venture into the mind of 11-year-old Riley, processing her feelings about a family move via personifications of emotions with personalities of their own.

The crying bit: Bing Bong. Definitely Bing Bong. Oh, god, Bing Bong.

Where to stream: Disney+, Digital rental

---

The Iron Giant (1999)

In Cold War-era Maine, a giant alien robot becomes the focus of fear and paranoia from an American military who can only see his potential as a weapon.

The crying bit: Is is the moment when the Giant realizes that he can be what he chooses to be, saying “Superman” as he sacrifices himself to save Hogarth and his other friends? Or the bit at the end when it appears that he didn’t die after all? I mean, it’s definitely the first one—but they’re both incredibly emotional.

Where to stream: Digital rental

---

Titanic (1997)

Titanic’s extraordinary popularity has bred a certain cynicism about the movie, with discussion turning on the relative buoyancy of floating doors and the camp appeal of Billy Zane. There’s still a brilliantly constructed old-school Hollywood epic here, of the kind they truly don’t make anymore. In theaters in 1997, the final scenes were typically drowned out (sorry, pun intended) by the sounds of sobbing audiences—and time hasn’t entirely dulled that power.

The crying bit: She says that she’ll never let go. But she absolutely lets go. But then they meet again on the ship where dreams are born, and they look so young and pretty, and everyone claps. (Thank god they skipped the original ending.)

Where to stream: Paramount+, Prime Video

---

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Baz Luhrmann’s over-the-top, La Bohème-inspired jukebox musical about star-cross’d lovers in turn-of-the-20th-century Paris was never going to have an entirely happy ending.

The crying bit: Once you see the blood on the handkerchief, you know how it’s going to end. I’m not sure that consumption was nearly so elegant a way to go as the movies suggest, but, in this case, there’s so much spectacle and distraction that we’ve almost forgotten the foreshadowing, setting up an ending that still manages to come as a bit of a shock.

Where to stream: Hulu, Apple TV+

---

The Farewell (2019)

New York-based Chinese-American writer Billi (Awkwafina) learns from her parents that her grandmother, diagnosed with lung cancer, has just months to live. They’ve decided not to tell her, and are concerned that their Americanized daughter won’t keep the secret if she travels to China to spend time with Nai Nai during her final days.

The crying bit: It’s not a maudlin movie, despite the subject matter, but the night, near the end of the film, when Nai Nai encourages Bill to live life on her own terms, got me. There are also tears to be had at the film’s surprisingly upbeat ending. It’s also sadder because it’s all true.

Where to stream: Max, Digital rental

---

The Laramie Project (2002)

A theatre company travels to Laramie, Wyoming to meet with and interview residents in the aftermath of the murder of Matthew Shepard. Based on the same-named play, the film is a curious hybrid of cinema, theater, and documentary with a cast of recognizable names.

The crying bit: Being the story of the very real Matthew Shepard, this one cuts deeper than the more explicitly fictional narratives, and might be a bit much if you’re looking for some gentle catharsis. Still, there’s no question that it’s a worthwhile and important watch—the moment when a local gay resident (played by Bill Irwin) relates his emotions following a parade in Shepard’s honor hits particularly hard.

Where to stream: Max, Digital rental

---

Sophie’s Choice (1982)

From the William Styron novel, we gradually learn the story of Polish immigrant Sophie Zawistowska, a Holocaust survivor who was faced with a particularly horrific choice, as the title suggests.

The crying bit: Near the end, we learn that Sophie had to choose between her two children upon entering Auschwitz.

Where to stream: Peacock, The Criterion Channel, Tubi, Crackle, Prime Video

---

Ordinary People (1980)

A family drama elevated by some truly excellent performances, Ordinary People deals with the impact of tragedy on a family led by an increasingly emotionally distant mother (Mary Tyler Moore).

The crying bit: There are plenty of emotional scenes in this drama, but there’s a moment during a therapy session when Timothy Hutton’s Conrad expresses his feelings over the sailing accident that killed his brother, admitting that he considers having survived his greatest failure, that really smacked me in the face.

Where to stream: Max, Digital rental

---

Just Mercy (2019)

Michael B. Jordan plays the real-life attorney and activist Bryan Stevenson, here at the beginning of his career and representing the wrongfully convicted Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx).

The crying bit: We know that the criminal justice system fails Black Americans more often than not, which makes the happy ending here (which, granted, only comes after McMillian serves multiple years on death row) a brief, but joyous moment.

Where to stream: Prime Video

---

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Quvenzhané Wallis plays Hushpuppy, who constructs an elaborate fantasy world around her Louisiana Bayou community and her ailing father.

The crying bit: Confronting the much-feared aurochs, Hushpuppy saves the people of her island in the face of her father’s death, at which point she gives him one hell of a funeral.

Where to stream: Digital rental