Interesting Movies on Netflix: 24 Unique Films to Watch

Our curated guide to interesting movies on netflix (hand‑picked for variety)

1. Uncut Gems (2019)

• Runtime: 135 min
• Starring: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Lakeith Stanfield
• Director: Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
• Genre: Crime Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 7.4

This pressure‑cooker thriller traps you with a hustler convinced the next score will fix everything. Sound, blocking, and overlapping dialogue create breathless momentum that rarely loosens its grip. Sandler straddles charisma and catastrophe with a ferocity that keeps you rooting and wincing. The Safdies turn chaos into choreography without sanding off the rawness. Neon textures and grainy close‑ups keep you inside the character’s skin. Humor slips through the cracks like light in a sealed room. Each decision compounds until consequence feels inevitable. The final beat lands with tragic clarity that sparks immediate conversation.

2. The Power of the Dog (2021)

• Runtime: 126 min
• Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit‑McPhee
• Director: Jane Campion
• Genre: Western Drama
• IMDb Rating: 6.8

Jane Campion’s tense chamber piece examines performance, secrecy, and how dominance disguises fear. Cumberbatch crafts a brittle magnetism that attracts and repels in the same breath. Dunst and Smit‑McPhee alter the emotional weather with small, precise choices. The Montana vistas feel both liberating and suffocating, mirroring inner states. Silence becomes an instrument as sharp as any barb. Every prop matters, especially the ones that seem harmless. The payoff reframes what came before without shouting. It rewards viewers who savor slow‑burn precision and moral ambiguity.

3. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

• Runtime: 134 min
• Starring: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Collette
• Director: Charlie Kaufman
• Genre: Psychological Drama
• IMDb Rating: 6.6

This snowy odyssey bends memory, identity, and time until the ordinary turns uncanny. Buckley’s interior monologue collides with a world that won’t stay put or play fair. Plemons gives awkwardness an unsettling gravity that lingers in silences. The house shifts, the dog loops, and rooms behave like stages for half‑remembered plays. Musical detours and dance arrive without grandstanding, simply part of the dream logic. Confusion becomes a legitimate emotional state rather than a puzzle to “solve.” You may rewatch scenes just to bathe in their mood. Among interesting movies on netflix, it’s fearless, tender, and deeply weird.

4. Roma (2018)

• Runtime: 135 min
• Starring: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira
• Director: Alfonso Cuarón
• Genre: Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.7

Cuarón’s memory piece gathers power through patience and luminous black‑and‑white imagery. Domestic rituals become epic through exacting framing and movement. Political turbulence hums underneath private lives without flattening them. Performances feel lived‑in rather than performed, honoring small gestures. Set pieces arrive like waves: a beach, a hospital, a protest that swallows the frame. The camera glides without calling attention to itself, letting space breathe. Silence earns as much respect as sound. The result is generous, intimate, and quietly devastating.

5. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

• Runtime: 129 min
• Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul‑Mateen II
• Director: Aaron Sorkin
• Genre: Historical Courtroom Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.7

Sorkin’s whip‑smart dialogue turns protest history into a brisk civics lesson. An absurdly deep ensemble gets room to volley and bruise. Editing keeps timelines crisp while letting jokes and gut punches land. It invites strong opinions without drowning in sermonizing. The craft is classical yet caffeinated, sunny and stinging by turns. Performances layer swagger with vulnerability in ways that surprise. Coalition‑building looks messy because it is. This is a smart crowd‑pleaser with staying power and bite.

6. Annihilation (2018)

• Runtime: 115 min
• Starring: Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez
• Director: Alex Garland
• Genre: Sci‑Fi Horror
• IMDb Rating: 6.8

Garland’s shimmering enigma turns grief into alien biology and back again. The Shimmer is beautiful, predatory, and indifferent, a living thesis about change. Portman leads with focused cool that fractures at the edges. The score vibrates under your skin like an electrical hum. Ideas matter more than answers, yet images linger regardless. Each teammate splinters in distinct, revealing ways that feel inevitable. The lighthouse sequence sears itself into memory. Among interesting movies on netflix, it’s a high‑water mark for cosmic dread.

7. The Social Dilemma (2020)

• Runtime: 94 min
• Starring: Tristan Harris, Shoshana Zuboff (participants)
• Director: Jeff Orlowski
• Genre: Documentary
• IMDb Rating: 7.6

This hybrid doc‑drama makes invisible algorithms legible and unsettling. Insider testimony clarifies how design nudges escalate engagement. Dramatic scenes render abstractions tactile for any viewer. It is not subtle, but it is effective at sparking reflection. You may tweak notification settings by the credits. The film pairs alarm with practical steps rather than pure scold. It makes a lively conversation starter across generations. Stream it when you want context that leads to action.

8. The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

• Runtime: 114 min
• Starring: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph
• Director: Mike Rianda
• Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
• IMDb Rating: 7.6

A family road trip collides with a robot uprising in a burst of doodles and heart. The visual style is gleefully handmade without sacrificing clarity. Jokes stack yet never steamroll character or warmth. The film champions creative weirdness with sincerity and bite. Action beats are inventive and cleanly staged. A very silly dog commits grand larceny of scenes. Under the memes lives a tender story about seeing one another clearly. It’s a rare four‑quadrant romp with genuine personality.

Mid‑list focus: more interesting movies on netflix to keep the momentum

9. The Irishman (2019)

• Runtime: 209 min
• Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci
• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Genre: Crime Epic
• IMDb Rating: 7.8

Scorsese’s elegy to the mob film watches loyalty curdle into loneliness. De Niro carries decades of silence like a stone in his shoe. Pesci underplays with devastating restraint that chills. Pacino injects combustible energy without hijacking the tone. The de‑aging is a headline; the final hour is the soul. Debts outlast usefulness, and memory edits itself with cruelty. It is long but whisper‑quiet in grief. No wonder it anchors conversations about interesting movies on netflix and legacy.

10. Okja (2017)

• Runtime: 121 min
• Starring: Ahn Seo‑hyun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal
• Director: Bong Joon‑ho
• Genre: Adventure, Satire, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.3

Bong blends child‑and‑pet tenderness with corporate absurdism and sharp eco‑ethics. Swinton and Gyllenhaal go gloriously big while Ahn keeps the film grounded. The chase scenes pop without losing heart or humor. Jokes graze genuine sorrow with disarming ease. The ending refuses easy catharsis, asking you to sit with the cost. Production design builds a cartoonish world with barbed edges. Activists and execs get skewered with equal verve. It’s a fable that invites moral reflection, not homework.

11. Mank (2020)

• Runtime: 131 min
• Starring: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins
• Director: David Fincher
• Genre: Biographical Drama
• IMDb Rating: 6.8

Fincher’s studio‑era homage is prickly, witty, and gorgeously controlled. Oldman plays brilliance as burden and bit, sometimes in the same breath. Seyfried brings warmth and steel to Marion Davies. The script is dense but nimble, rewarding both casual viewers and cine‑nerds. Sound and score echo across decades like looping film. It’s about credit, compromise, and who shapes the story that survives. The craft flex is undeniable without turning monastic. For interesting movies on netflix completists, it’s essential process catnip.

12. The Dig (2021)

• Runtime: 112 min
• Starring: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James
• Director: Simon Stone
• Genre: Biographical Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.1

This excavation drama finds wonder in patience, skill, and shared purpose. Fiennes and Mulligan play different kinds of expertise learning to listen. The English countryside becomes a quiet conspirator full of sky. War’s approach sharpens small human choices into lifelines. Detail work receives the cinematic respect it deserves. Grief and discovery move in tandem like tide and moon. The pace is meditative yet never inert. It belongs with other interesting movies on netflix when you want restorative storytelling.

13. The Platform (2019)

• Runtime: 94 min
• Starring: Iván Massagué, Antonia San Juan, Zorion Eguileor
• Director: Galder Gaztelu‑Urrutia
• Genre: Sci‑Fi Horror, Satire
• IMDb Rating: 7.0

Brutal and allegorical, this single‑location shocker turns hunger into a social diagram. The vertical prison is clever world‑building and metaphor in one. Pacing toggles between gnawing dread and jagged bursts of violence. Sound and practical effects sell the premise without numbing you. It invites arguments about complicity, reform, and revolt that spill offscreen. Even the food becomes a character, adored then desecrated. Ambiguity fuels thought rather than frustration. It’s a conversation grenade among interesting movies on netflix.

14. Beasts of No Nation (2015)

• Runtime: 137 min
• Starring: Abraham Attah, Idris Elba
• Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
• Genre: War Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.7

Unflinching yet compassionate, this follows a child soldier’s descent and flickers of resilience. Attah’s performance is soulful beyond his years without sentimentality. Elba is terrifying and charismatic in equal measure. The camera finds beauty without romanticizing trauma. The soundscape is immersive and propulsive, a pulse you can’t ignore. Violence is present but never sensationalized or glamorized. Small mercies keep the film from hopelessness. It remains foundational to the platform’s original film slate.

15. Da 5 Bloods (2020)

• Runtime: 154 min
• Starring: Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Chadwick Boseman
• Director: Spike Lee
• Genre: War Drama, Adventure
• IMDb Rating: 6.5

Spike Lee fuses treasure‑hunt thrills with memory, guilt, and old wounds that refuse quiet. Lindo delivers a towering, wounded turn that anchors the ensemble. Aspect‑ratio shifts are purposeful, not gimmicks, cueing time and perspective. Vietnam’s landscapes feel haunted by history and friendship. Humor and pain scrape against each other and spark. Archive and fiction collide with intent rather than nostalgia. The film embraces mess as part of truth. It is ambitious, angry, and vividly alive.

16. Enola Holmes (2020)

• Runtime: 123 min
• Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter
• Director: Harry Bradbeer
• Genre: Adventure, Mystery
• IMDb Rating: 6.6

Spry and fourth‑wall‑friendly, this sleuthing romp delivers puzzles with personality and pep. Brown’s charisma anchors themes of voice and independence without preaching. The Victorian palette is bright and inviting rather than dour. Action beats are cleanly staged and never overstay. Humor keeps momentum even when clues are obvious. Supporting turns add charm without stealing focus. It’s light but not weightless, a welcome breather. A cheerful change‑up in a high‑intensity lineup.

17. Spiderhead (2022)

• Runtime: 107 min
• Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett
• Director: Joseph Kosinski
• Genre: Sci‑Fi Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 5.4

Sleek and divisive, this adaptation pokes at consent and engineered emotion with glossy precision. Hemsworth weaponizes charm as a laboratory showman who rewrites boundaries. The sterile architecture feels theatrical in a good way, channeling stage energy. Retro needle‑drops add ironic fizz to controlled rooms. Ethical questions linger longer than plot mechanics. Performances get space to breathe and complicate. It’s a polished thought experiment, not a puzzle box. Curiosity alone makes it worthy of a spin.

Deep‑dive segment: even more interesting movies on netflix (mood boosters ahead)

18. The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

• Runtime: 128 min
• Starring: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson
• Director: Scott Cooper
• Genre: Gothic Mystery, Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 6.6

A candlelit murder mystery at West Point builds dread through texture and restraint. Bale’s weary detective meets Melling’s proto‑Poe with wary curiosity and grudging respect. Frosted air and gaslight do half the storytelling, settling on faces like secrets. The script toys with authorship and mythmaking from start to final sting. Sharp supporting turns add flavor without dilution. The pacing respects patience, not short attention spans. A last reveal reframes the entire journey with tragic clarity. Among interesting movies on netflix, it’s a mood piece par excellence.

19. The Two Popes (2019)

• Runtime: 125 min
• Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce, Juan Minujín
• Director: Fernando Meirelles
• Genre: Biographical Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.6

Two titans debate legacy, change, and humility with surprising warmth and humor. Meirelles stages theological sparring like an airy hangout. Hopkins and Pryce trade grace notes that reveal rather than score. Flashbacks widen context without losing intimacy. Sunlight sneaks in where dogma might close shutters. The film invites empathy over point‑scoring, a rare generosity. It’s less about doctrine than listening well. Nourishing, humane, and quietly funny.

20. I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017)

• Runtime: 93 min
• Starring: Melanie Lynskey, Elijah Wood, David Yow
• Director: Macon Blair
• Genre: Dark Comedy, Crime
• IMDb Rating: 6.9

A fed‑up woman teams with a timid neighbor for a scruffy revenge caper that keeps zigzagging. The violence is human‑scale and weird rather than slick. Lynskey radiates exasperated warmth that tethers the chaos. Petty cruelty gets skewered with bruised humor instead of nihilism. Blair’s direction finds empathy in the margins, not just the plot. It’s oddly uplifting for a backyard noir. You’ll laugh, wince, and maybe call your neighbor. A perfect palate cleanser between heavier entries.

21. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)

• Runtime: 112 min
• Starring: Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman
• Director: Noah Baumbach
• Genre: Dramedy
• IMDb Rating: 6.9

A thorny, funny portrait of adult siblings orbiting a needy artist father. Sandler plays gentle frustration with moving restraint. Stiller’s prickliness finds unexpected softness in small gestures. Hoffman weaponizes self‑absorption with comic precision. Conversations crackle with overlapping hurts and half‑apologies. Scenes end on hanging notes rather than tidy buttons. It’s prickly but humane, caustic but affectionate. Family, art, and attention become the movie’s currency.

22. Marriage Story (2019)

• Runtime: 137 min
• Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern
• Director: Noah Baumbach
• Genre: Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.9

Baumbach’s divorce drama is generous to both sides of a breaking partnership. Humor punctures tension without excusing harm. Blocking and editing invite empathy over judgment. Small details feel painfully, recognizably true. The infamous argument is brutal and cathartic in equal measure. Dern’s monologue lands like a gavel and a wink. It’s about love, law, and the stories we tell ourselves. Clear‑eyed but never cruel.

23. The King (2019)

• Runtime: 140 min
• Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris
• Director: David Michôd
• Genre: Historical Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.2

Shakespearean threads weave into a muddy, tactile meditation on power and youth. Chalamet underplays, letting steel creep in by degrees. Edgerton’s Falstaff becomes a bruised mentor rather than pure mischief. The Battle of Agincourt favors confusion and weight over spectacle. Politics look like rooms full of whispers and wagers. Costumes feel worn rather than paraded. The ending questions victory with a bitter aftertaste. It’s a somber counterpoint to louder royal dramas.

24. Don’t Look Up (2021)

• Runtime: 138 min
• Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep
• Director: Adam McKay
• Genre: Satire
• IMDb Rating: 7.2

A comet comedy about media whirlpools and attention economics that refuses to whisper. McKay’s maximalism balances absurdity with anger and despair. The ensemble feasts on hypocrisy with savage glee. Needle‑drops and caffeinated edits keep the bloodstream humming. It is messy on purpose, mirroring the news cycle we inhale. You’ll argue about tone even if you agree on the target. Jokes are barbed rather than blunted for safety. It caps a list built on risk, intent, and after‑the‑credits debates.