Pig.
Photo: David Reamer/NEON
Spring is a strange time for the powerhouse streaming service that is Netflix, since it spends so much energy in the fall and winter on big, original awards bait, saving escapist fare like Apex and Swapped for the offseason. To supplement, it often digs into the catalogue for heavy hitters in April and May, as evidenced by recent drops of cult classics, projects from renowned masters, and a Best Picture winner. The Coen brothers, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and even a major Oscar nominee from the most recent Academy Awards stand out this month among the best movies on Netflix. Find your faves.
Year: 2025
Runtime: 1h 58m
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
The director of Poor Things reunited with his favorite star, Emma Stone, for this clever remake of Save the Green Planet! Stone stars opposite Jesse Plemons in this story of a troubled couple of cousins who kidnap a high-powered CEO because they’re convinced she’s an alien. It doesn’t all come together, but Stone and Plemons remind you that they’re among the best actors working today, and it feels like a film that’s already being reappraised as better than the first impression, especially by younger viewers. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2008
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Joel Coen
Joel and Ethan Coen followed their Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men with one of their most cynical and hysterical movies, a comedy of errors about some incredibly stupid people. Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Richard Jenkins, John Malkovich, and J.K. Simmons star in a movie that’s basically about, well, a bunch of idiots who come across the memoirs of a former CIA analyst. No one drops an F-bomb like John Malkovich. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 1995
Runtime: 2h 50m
Director: Martin Scorsese
Often forgotten in the massive shadow of Scorsese’s masterful ’90s crime saga from a few years earlier, time has been kind to this epic tale of the founding of Las Vegas, a film that features some of the master’s most ambitious filmmaking. Robert De Niro plays Ace Rothstein, the guy who ended up managing the Tangiers casino just as the mob was taking full control of the city in the desert. Sharon Stone does career-best work here, and Joe Pesci is pretty phenomenal, too. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2018
Runtime: 2h 20m
Director: Christian Gudegast
Is this Gerard Butler’s best movie? It’s right up there. Yes, we’ve all seen the story of corrupt L.A. cops a few too many times, but this underrated heist thriller pulses with dark energy thanks to its great cast that includes Butler, 50 Cent, Pablo Schreiber, and a star-making performance from O’Shea Jackson Jr. They even made a sequel (also on Netflix). ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director: James Ponsoldt
When Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky went to interview the reclusive, eccentric, and brilliant David Foster Wallace for a feature, he couldn’t have known he’d someday be played by Jesse Eisenberg in a dramedy about that interaction. DFW is played by Jason Segel in this fictionalized account of the five days they spent together, a piece that unpacks where creativity, depression, and even just basic day-to-day living intersect. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 1999
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Doug Liman
In the wake of Pulp Fiction, dozens of movies tried to replicate that film’s incredible energy, but most of them fell flat. One of the most engaging (and a film that seems to find an audience more and more every year) is this 1999 banger that stars a young Taye Diggs, Sarah Polley, and Timothy Olyphant. This one rocks. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Mike Flanagan
It’s rare for horror sequels to surpass the original as much as this 2016 flick does compared to 2014’s Ouija. Why is it so much better? Well, it helps to have The Haunting of Hill House mastermind Mike Flanagan in the director’s chair. He brings so much style and tension to this origin story, one of the better studio genre flicks of its generation. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 31m
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Nicolas Cage gives one of the best performances of his career in this 2021 drama about a chef who has become a reclusive hermit, living off the grid with his pet pig. When the pig is kidnapped, Cage will go to whatever lengths necessary to get her back. A moving study of what we value in life, Michael Sarnoski’s Pig was one of the best films of 2021, and after helming A Quiet Place: Day One, its director has another film out this June with The Death of Robin Hood. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2026
Runtime: 1h 52m
Director: Olivia Newman
Based on the hit novel by Shelby Van Pelt, this tender drama tells the story of a woman named Tova (a transcendent Sally Field, always great) who works at a smalltown aquarium with a memorable resident: an octopus named Marcellus. Tova’s story is narrated by the observant octopus (voiced wonderfully by Alfred Molina) and intertwines with that of a young man named Cameron (Lewis Pullman) who comes to town looking for his father. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 1993
Runtime: 3h 15m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg’s personal masterpiece is the saga of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish refugees in Poland during the Holocaust. Spielberg is one of our greatest film historians, telling chapters of world history in a way that only he can, and this remains one of his most notable achievements, a reminder of the power of extreme good even in the face of extreme evil. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 1997
Runtime: 2h 9m
Director: Paul Verhoeven
The bugs! No one else but the director of Robocop could have made this unforgettable sci-fi/action epic about giant bugs from outer space. On the surface, it’s a wildly entertaining action movie about young soldiers trying to stop an unimaginable force. Dig deeper and you’ll find a richly rewarding satire of the military-industrial complex and fascism. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 1998
Runtime: 1h 59m
Directors: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
The best movie of the Farrelly brothers’ career came out in 1998 and immediately became a comedy classic. Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz are charming in a film that has a bit of a stalker edge nowadays but remains consistently hysterical in terms of how far it’s willing to go to get a laugh. Matt Dillon, Lee Evans, and Chris Elliott are fantastic too. ➽ Streaming now.
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 48m
Director: Jonathan Glazer
A trippy sci-fi masterpiece, this one stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien being exploring the world around her and, well, doing some terrifying things to the men she comes into contact with. That description only scratches the surface of why this is a special movie, a terrifying tone piece that has more in common with Twin Peaks than Species. It’s unforgettable and brilliant, one of the best films of the ’10s. ➽ Streaming now.
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