The original streaming disruptors never rest. With US$3 billion (~AU$4.2 billion) in projected ad revenue and a major expansion into gaming and live sports, it seems that single-handedly driving Blockbuster Video to extinction was just the beginning for Netflix.
And while total entertainment domination is clearly on their business bucket list, Netflix still knows how to curate a decent haul of movies to keep their core audience engaged. They have plenty of prestige picks you can sink your teeth into, but they’ve also well and truly tapped into our insatiable demand for entertaining-enough options that let you switch your brain off and go full second-act-Wall-E without judgement.
A lack of choice or variety is certainly not an issue when it comes to Netflix’s ever-expanding library. From the easy-watching B-movies to the old classics and everything in between, here’s our curated list of the best movies to watch on Netflix Australia right now.
Best Comedies on Netflix
72 Hours
This latest offering from Kevin Hart has got everyone talking, but not necessarily for the right reasons. This 2026 Netflix comedy is reportedly one of the platform’s worst-reviewed comedies of all time (sitting at a 15% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes as we speak). And yet, it debuted at No.1 in the Netflix Top 10 and stayed there – make of that what you will!
72 Hours follows a forty-year-old marketing exec who ends up on a crazy three-day Gen Z bachelor party after he’s accidentally added to his colleagues’ group chat. So, essentially, a poor man’s version of The Hangover that sits firmly in the switch-your-brain-off category.
21 Jump Street
From the brand-new and questionable to the old-school and reliable. Starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, this 2012 buddy comedy follows two underachieving cops sent back to high school in an attempt to bring down a drug ring.
We doubt anyone reading this has yet to see 21 Jump Street, but just in case, it's basically Never Been Kissed meets Superbad. So very juvenile but oh so good.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
This long-awaited sequel to the 1988 cult classic sees Michael Keaton and Tim Burton team up once more for dark, gothic chaos. The 2024 comedy-horror follows new generations of the Deetz family as they return to Winter River after a family tragedy and accidentally open a portal to the afterlife, letting Beetlejuice loose once more.
Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, and Winona Ryder all returned as their original characters, along with new additions Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a nostalgic crowd-pleaser, albeit a little overstuffed on the narrative front.
A Minecraft Movie
Lukewarm with critics, but an unequivocal smash at the box office, A Minecraft Movie is best enjoyed if you don’t think too hard about the plot. Based on the video game, it’s a prime example of Hollywood’s IP-first business strategy. Starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, it’s a vibrant, chaotic, and goofy CGI-hybrid spectacle that will leave you a little dizzy and potentially confused.
The story follows four misfits who are pulled into a cubic wonderland through a mysterious portal. There, they must work together to master the terrain, defeat an army of evil Piglins, and find their way home. It’s unapologetically silly and leans heavily on visual spectacles and video game fandom. A popcorn movie to watch with the family.
Wedding Crashers
Another comforting comedy classic. Starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, it follows two divorce mediators who strategically crash high-society weddings to get bridesmaids into bed. But when one of them unexpectedly falls for the daughter of a prominent politician, things get complicated. It’s your typical R-rated mid-noughties comedy that reeks of Frat-Pack improv vibes in all the best ways.
The stellar cast also includes Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Bradley Cooper, Isla Fisher, Jane Seymour, and Will Ferrell. Grossing US$288 million globally (~AU$414 million) against a US$40 million (~AU$57 million) budget, Wedding Crashers was a box office smash and the first R-rated comedy to cross $200 million domestically in the US.
Spit
If you haven’t seen the cult 2003 classic Gettin’ Square, go and do that right now. Then, once you’re all caught up on one of the best Aussie comedy crime thrillers of all time, you can settle down to watch David Wenham reprise his role as a hapless heroin addict and small-time criminal in Spit.
The story follows Johnny "Spit" Spitieri (David Wenham) as he re-enters Australia on a fake passport after 20 years on the run, only to end up in an immigration detention centre. And of course, as his trademark terrible luck would have it, he somehow finds himself dodging old vengeful enemies while simultaneously bonding with fellow detainees. It’s a nostalgic indie throwback with another stellar performance by Wenham.
Best Dramas on Netflix
Juror #2
Let’s face it, this is most likely the last directorial outing we’ll see from Clint Eastwood (now 96). And what a note to leave on. A riff on courtroom classics like 12 Angry Men, this tense character-driven legal thriller follows a jury member who realises mid-murder trial that he may have been the one responsible for the victim’s death.
Nicholas Hoult shines in the lead role (as he often does, in all fairness), supported by excellent performances from Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Kiefer Sutherland, and Zoey Deutch. Juror #2 also has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so you know you’re in for quality drama here.
The Gentlemen
If you simply can’t wait for Season 2 of The Gentlemen TV series on September 3, why not watch (or realistically re-watch) the movie that inspired it? This 2019 comedy action drama follows a chaotic chain of blackmail, schemes, and gangster backstabbing as an American drug lord decides to sell his cannabis empire in England. It screams Guy Ritchie in every possible way.
The impressive cast of The Gentlemen movie includes Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant, at his peak Renaissance era (which arguably is still going strong).
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
While you can probably get away with watching this feature-length movie even if you haven’t seen the award-winning TV series, it’ll be a much better experience if you have. Serving as an epic conclusion to the 6-season crime drama, it follows Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) in the late 1930s as he’s pulled back into a dangerous criminal underworld just as fascist forces rise across Europe. Faced with deadly betrayals and ghosts from his past, he’s pushed to the brink in one last brutal gamble to save his family legacy.
Murphy puts in a stellar performance alongside returning cast members Sophie Rundle, Stephen Graham, Ned Dennehy, and Packy Lee, and new additions Rebecca Ferguson, Barry Keoghan, and Jay Lycurgo. Fans and critics have generally praised it and agree that Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is a fitting cinematic send-off that honours the TV show’s legacy. Which isn’t actually all that common of an achievement when you think about it…
The Wolf of Wall Street
Certainly not new, but we couldn’t in good conscience curate a Boss Hunting list of the best movies on Netflix without including The Wolf of Wall Street.
Directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese and written by Terence Winter, it follows Jordan Belfort’s meteoric rise from a fraud-fueled, penny-stock broker to a hedonistic multi-millionaire. From the rampant drug abuse, fast cars, and extreme excess to his eventual downfall at the hands of the FBI, it’s an epic and relentless dark-comedy told with unapologetically obnoxious decadence.
Leonardo DiCaprio obviously puts in a shift in the lead role, and he’s supported by a stacked cast including Margot Robbie, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Jon Bernthal, and Rob Reiner. The movie earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for DiCaprio, and Best Supporting Actor for Hill.
It’s supposed to be a cautionary tale about the perils of excessive wealth and capitalism. But TBH you wouldn’t be alone if you also found it strangely aspirational…
Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix
War Machine
It seems like Alan Ritchson is absolutely everywhere right now. Or maybe he’s just harder to miss than your average movie star. Either way, he pops up again in this high-concept military sci-fi action thriller.
Reminiscent of classic 80s creature features like Predator, it follows a gritty and grieving Army Sergeant (Ritchson) who is battling through the gruelling final stages of Ranger selection in honour of his dead brother, only to be rudely interrupted by an indestructible extraterrestrial war machine. It’s a high-octane, adrenaline-fuelled man-vs-machine epic.
War Machine is not exactly a high-brow Oscar contender, but if you want brute force and fast-paced fight sequences with old-school sci-fi action, this is your Sunday night movie pick sorted. It was also filmed in Australia, so it’s got that going for it too.
Mickey 17
This long-awaited film from Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) got some mixed reviews among fans and critics. But most agree that it’s an interesting take if nothing else.
Based on Edward Ashton’s novel, Mickey 17 is a darkly satirical sci-fi comedy shot with an eccentric visual style. The story follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), an expendable employee sent on a deadly colonising mission on another planet. Each time he dies on the job, he is regenerated as a clone with all his previous memories intact. But when he unexpectedly survives one of these deadly missions and returns home, he finds his replacement clone already printed, setting off a new mission to hide their identities from a paranoid human colony.
The cast is pretty epic, with Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie supporting Robert Pattinson’s acclaimed performance. And, if you like Bong Joon-ho’s trademark mix of absurdity and anti-capitalist bite, you’ll probably enjoy this one.
Bugonia
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, The Lobster), Bugonia is a sci-fi thriller with some seriously dark comedy vibes. Based on the 2003 South Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet!, it follows deranged conspiracy theorists who kidnap a CEO of a major pharmaceutical company because they’re convinced she’s an undercover alien sent to destroy planet Earth.
Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons were both widely acclaimed for their performances, earning Golden Globe and Oscar nominations between them. Expect a surreal mix of deadpan humour and tense psychological horror.
Jurassic Park
If the sad news of Sam Neill’s passing has inspired you to re-watch some of his best work, this iconic 1993 masterpiece is a pretty good place to start. If you’ve never seen it (how?!), the story follows a group of visitors trapped inside a Costa Rican wildlife park where a wealthy businessman and his team of genetic scientists have brought dinosaurs back from extinction. Think action, tension, horrifyingly grizzly deaths, and lots of running and hiding.
The special effects in Jurassic Park are obviously dated now, but, honestly, you can’t really beat old-school Spielberg tension. It still holds up. It might even be better than some of the wildly over-processed effects of today, to be honest.
Best Thrillers on Netflix
Apex
Shot in Australia and starring Taron Egerton and Charlize Theron, Apex is a cat-and-mouse thriller with a survivalist edge. The story follows a grieving rock climber whose solo trip in the wilderness is somewhat rudely interrupted by a deranged serial killer. Think Saw meets 127 Hours.
The plot is kind of predictable, but thanks to strong performances, stunning scenery, and plenty of grit and action, you’ll still enjoy the ride.
The Rip
We don’t need an excuse to watch anything that features Ben Affleck and Matt Damon together on screen. Produced by the pair’s company, Artists Equity, and directed by Joe Carnahan (The Grey), The Rip is a claustrophobic crime thriller that’ll get your heart rate up.
The story follows narcotics detectives who find over $20 million in cash during a routine stash-house raid, setting off a chaotic rollercoaster of paranoia, betrayal, greed, and savagery within their own ranks. It’s got a throwback ‘90s cop thriller feel along with plenty of tension, grit, and action. It’s also based on a true story, which makes it all the more entertaining.
Sinners
Michael B. Jordan’s Oscar-winning performance as twins in this Southern Gothic supernatural horror is worth a watch. Set in 1930s Jim Crow-era Mississippi, the story follows twin brothers who return to their hometown to open a juke joint for the Black community. But when their establishment is terrorised by a bloodthirsty vampire with a penchant for blues prodigies, things don’t quite go to plan.
Sinners is a genre-bending period horror movie infused with blues culture and afro-surrealism. Directed by Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed), shot on 65mm film, and influenced by the works of Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peele, and Christopher Nolan, it was both a massive box office hit and a critical sensation.
Uncut Gems
Directed by the Safdie brothers, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, and starring Adam Sandler in a career-defining dramatic role, Uncut Gems is a relentless and adrenaline-fuelled crime thriller for the ages. The story follows a jeweller with a gambling addiction as he risks everything on a high-stakes bet involving a rare black opal and NBA star Kevin Garnett (as you do).
Sandler is supported by an incredible ensemble cast, including Julia Fox, Lakeith Stanfield, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian. And, with a documentary-style aesthetic that’s as claustrophobic as it is intense, the film will leave you with your heart in your throat for all the right reasons.