We all have a favourite Netflix Original Show, but lately they’ve making a lot of very impressive noise in the movie department, too.
Just this week they’ve been getting standing ovations for their forward-thinking environmentally-friendly thriller, as well as making something that genuinely has the words “Adam Sandler” and “Oscar Buzz” in the same sentence, without putting “never in a million years” somewhere in between.
That being said, not every single Original Movie has been a winner – The Ridiculous Six or Special Correspondents spring to mind – but with big budget Will Smith blockbusters and spending $100 million on Scorsese’s new gangster epic The Irishman, they’re going all out from here on in.
So with that in mind, here are the ten best Netflix original movies that you can sit down and watch right now, in our humble (but very correct) opinion. So, in handy alphabetical order, we start off with…
13TH
Not a back-to-basics retelling of the story of Jason Vorhees, but a powerful and intelligent documentary which looks at the modern prison system in America, and how it has basically become this generation’s answer to slavery. With the US containing 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s incarcerated population, the Oscar-nominated doc goes deep to get some answers.
Barry
An interesting look at the early life of a man everyone knows but don’t know a whole lot about, Barry tell the story of a young Barack Obama and in his early days as a 21-year-old student in Columbia University back in 1981. The people he meets and the events he takes part in will go on to form the man we know the today as one of the most liked and well respected leaders of America.
Beasts Of No Nation
This was the biggie when it was first announced, the first time people properly took notice of Netflix as a potential Oscar-winning movie-maker. It didn’t quite work out like that at the time, but you never know what might happen in the not too distant future.
Idris Elba is a powerhouse as a child-soldier leader in a Central Africa, with the movie directed by the guy who gave us the seminal first season of True Detective. It is a grim watch, but also very, very important.
Hush
One of the more purely entertaining entries on this list, Hush tells the story of a deaf women who discovers that an intruder has broken into her home, and so begins an incredibly tense game of cat-and-mouse between a woman who isn’t as weak as you’d think she is, and a man who is far more demented that he’s letting on.
A perfect Friday night in kinda flick.
Into The Inferno
Werner Herzog can make just about anything seem interesting, and his filmography is about as bizarre and eclectic as you could imagine. This time he’s in documentary mode, flying around the world to take a look over the rim into the currently active volcanoes. He’s accompanied by a man who is hoping to study them to help create a more successful predictive theory, but Herzog is here for the most Herzogian of reasons: “to gain an image of our origins and nature as a species.” Oh Herzog, never change.
Especially not if you’re going to keep breath-takingly beautiful movies like this.
Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday
And now for something completely different. Lead star Paul Reubens hasn’t approached the title character since 1991 and all of that … unpleasantness … but with the help of super comedy producer Judd Apatow, they’ve successfully brought back Pee Wee to the big small screen.
When Joe Manganiello arrives and quickly becomes Pee Wee’s BFF and convinces him to take his first ever holiday, you’ll already know exactly what to expect, and whether you’ll love it or hate it. Personally? We loved it.
Spectral
A futuristic sci-fi-horror-action-thriller (boy, that’s a lot of genres) which sees a group of military men and women facing off against a supernatural enemy that could kill them and everyone they know and love, there isn’t a lot of originality here. But the basic elements of “Ghosts V Soldiers” is told in a very entertaining way, with some seriously enjoyable action sequences and decent special effects. Not to mention it’s got Bruce Greenwood in it, and everyone loves Bruce Greenwood, because Bruce Greenwood is a god-damned LEGEND!
Tallulah
The definition of an “underseen gem”, we get Ellen Page as a forced-upon babysitter for a mom who clearly would just rather party. But when she and the baby get caught up in a series of misunderstandings, she’s forced to seek help from the mother of her ex-boyfriend, played by the always brilliant Alison Janney. The back and forth between these two actresses is what will keep you hooked in this very emotional film.
Tramps
There’s nobody in this you’ve ever heard of, but trust us, this is worth seeking out.
A boy and a girl get themselves involved in a simple bag swap for a local drug dealer, but the simplicity of the bag swap seemingly gets lost on them both, and they soon find themselves running all over the city trying to recover it before the drug dealer decides somebody needs to pay. Funny, romantic and exciting, keep an eye out for everyone involved in this micro-budget indie, because they’re all going places.
The White Helmets
The winner of Best Documentary Short at the Oscars (it’s only 40 minutes long, so no excuses!), this is a powerful and important film that tells the story of a group of volunteer rescuers as they worked within the Aleppo, Syria and Turkey in 2016.
We get a glimpse at the horror inflicted upon the locals on a ground level, as well as the awe-inspiring heroism and selflessness that some people will bring to their daily lives in order to help those around them who can’t help themselves.
