11 Must-See Movies on Netflix to Stream Right Now (April 2025)

Within the temper for an intense motion film with death-defying stunts and a cynical lead hero? Then Havoc is for you. Tom Hardy stars as Walker, a jaded detective who’s in a number of hassle. A drug deal has simply gone dangerous and he’s on the run from a gun-happy crime syndicate that desires him lifeless and a few soiled cops who don’t need their prison facet hustles uncovered. 

To make issues worse, he has to guard a crooked politician’s son who was concerned within the drug deal and is aware of greater than he’s letting on. Can Walker save the boy and never be killed within the course of?

The plot isn’t something new, however Havoc is price watching only for the stunts alone. The film was directed by Gareth Evans, who made the fashionable motion classics The Raid and Gangs of London, so there are a number of gunshots, explosions and face-smashing fights. Hell, there’s even a chase scene the place somebody throws a washer onto a pursuing cop automobile. 

In different phrases, Havoc rocks, and it makes you need to see Hardy and Evans collaborate once more on one other loopy motion film like this one.

The premise is irresistible: Cooper (Josh Hartnett), a firefighter and devoted dad, takes his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a pop live performance in Philadelphia, however he rapidly realizes it’s an elaborate setup by the authorities to catch him. Why? Nicely, he’s really a serial killer named “the Butcher,” and he’s holding his newest sufferer hostage in a basement miles away. As Cooper realizes he’s caught in a entice, he should work out a approach to evade the authorities with out letting his daughter know who he actually is.

Lure’s premise is absurd, illogical and utterly superficial, however when you get previous that, the film is all types of enjoyable. Director M. Night Shyamalan focuses on making the ridiculous considerably believable, and he really makes you root for a protagonist who’s each actually evil and father. As Coop, Hartnett is all too convincing because the charismatic killer, and by the top, you really need him to get away with it.   

Australian teenager Mia (Sophie Wilde) goes to a pal’s occasion and is coerced into taking part in a parlor recreation known as “Discuss to Me,” which entails holding a supposedly cursed severed hand and permitting a spirit to own them. However Mia rapidly realizes that is no recreation because the spirit that possesses her begins to take over her life. Can she discover a approach to eliminate this undesirable demonic presence with out shedding her pals, household and sanity?

A sleeper hit in 2023, Discuss to Me takes its out-there premise critically. Removed from an Exorcist knock-off, Discuss to Me is extra of an A24 “trauma horror” film that makes use of soar scares to discover Mia’s fractured emotional state. The film might be heavy, nevertheless it’s additionally scary as hell, with an ending that may depart you wanting a sequel. (One’s on the way in the near future.)

On February 9, 2020, Parasite shocked Hollywood by profitable 4 Academy Awards, together with Greatest Image. However anybody who noticed the film wasn’t actually stunned — it’s an on the spot masterpiece, one which’s each fascinating to ponder and entertaining to look at. 

In Seoul, South Korea, a lower-class household cons their method into the circle of a rich household who has all the things they need: a giant home, a flowery automobile and loads of food and drinks to devour. However because the poor household grows nearer to their benefactors, class traces start to blur and shortly a buried secret threatens each households. 

To say extra could be a criminal offense, as Parasite’s twisty narrative is greatest loved unspoiled. The director, Bong Joon-ho, has one thing to say about how class works in his residence nation and the way the wealthy actually are simply the worst. However Parasite additionally works as a purely entertaining thriller, with a denouement that simply may break your coronary heart.

Aubrey Plaza is cursed with being too good at what she does. She’s greatest recognized for her comedic work on Parks and Recreation and her nuanced activate season two of The White Lotus, however she’s additionally quietly a terrific dramatic actress, and the perfect function she’s arguably ever had was within the underrated Emily the Prison, a 2022 thriller that isn’t humorous in any respect.

Plaza performs Emily, an Angeleno who’s drowning in scholar mortgage debt and might’t discover a good job to pay it off. In desperation, she joins a bank card fraud group and begins to earn cash by stealing from others. All the things has a worth, although, and shortly Emily discovers her life as a prison isn’t as satisfying as she’d like. Can she return to her life as an trustworthy employee who will get paid low wages? Or is the attraction of a life in crime definitely worth the threat?

Earlier than he was Willy Wonka and Bob Dylan, Timothèe Chalamet was a king — King Henry V, to be precise. Buried in a terrific 12 months that included such releases as 1917, As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood and Little Ladies (which additionally starred Chalamet), The King deserves extra respect and a spotlight than it’s obtained. A historic epic that feels uncooked and visceral, it options not solely a terrific lead efficiency by Timmy but additionally a scene-stealing flip by Robert Pattinson as a foppish French royal and a stirring rating by Nicholas Britell.

It’s the early fifteenth century, and England is at warfare with France. King Henry IV (Ben Mendelsohn) is already serious about who will succeed him, and he in the end chooses Henry V, or Hal, to take the throne after he dies. But his ascension to energy creates friction amongst his household, and even Hal’s closest pals aren’t as reliable as they seem. Hal should discover a approach to win over those that doubt his potential to rule whereas additionally profitable an not possible warfare with an enemy hellbent on taking on England.

2024 had its fair proportion of nice animated films like Stream, Memoir of a Snail and Inside Out 2, however some inevitably obtained misplaced within the shuffle. Orion and the Darkish was a type of films, and it’s a future basic ripe for rediscovery. Primarily based on Emma Yarlett’s kids’s e book of the identical title, the film chronicles 11-year-old Orion (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) as he offers along with his concern of the darkish. One night time, he’s visited by Darkish itself (Paul Walter Hauser), who takes the younger boy on a magical journey the place he meets different nighttime entities like Candy Goals (Angela Bassett) and Insomnia (Nat Faxon). However will Orion really settle for Darkish, and all of the fears related to it, earlier than Gentle comes and disintegrates the entity eternally?

That’s solely a part of the film, however to spoil any extra would smash the expertise of discovering all of its unusual twists and turns. The film was written by Charlie Kaufman, and his bizarro sensibility is obvious within the film’s even stranger second and third acts. But it surely’s the animation, produced by the French studio Mikros Animation, that actually impresses and makes Orion and the Darkish a keeper for all generations.

1917 is among the biggest — and most bold — warfare films ever made. The movie follows two British troopers, Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), as they attempt to survive the horrors of World Struggle I. They’re tasked with delivering a message to a different army unit to cease a scheduled counterattack in opposition to German troops that might endanger the lives of over a thousand males, together with Tom’s older brother. Since pace is of the essence, they must enterprise into no man’s land and face virtually sure dying to attain their mission.

What units 1917 aside from different movies is the sheer talent and innovation concerned in its manufacturing. The movie is constructed so it looks as if it’s one steady shot with no apparent edits, which immerses you into the motion and brings an additional layer of depth to each bullet flying by and bomb exploding within the distance. The score by Thomas Newman is one for the ages, and the ending will wring a tear from essentially the most hardened viewer. It’s a momentous achievement in filmmaking, and you are feeling it in your bones.  

Saturday Night Live turned 50 in 2025, and the dramatic leadup to the half-centennial celebration included the discharge of a function movie depicting the legendary present’s first episode. On October 11, 1975, neophyte producer Lorne Micheals (Cooper Hoffman) struggles to maintain his Not Prepared for Primetime Gamers, amongst them Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Dan Ackroyd (Dylan O’Brien), and Andy Kaufman (Nicholas Braun), centered and prepared for the launch of his new present whereas additionally coping with disapproving execs and a sullen author (Rachel Sennott) who additionally occurs to be his girlfriend. Can he maintain everybody collectively, rein in all of the egos and hold the naysayers away lengthy sufficient to get his showcase the bottom?

Nicely, you realize the reply. Director Jason Reitman opts to set his film in real-time, roughly, which lends a frenzied, genuine really feel to the entire thing. The film’s wealthy ensemble shines, significantly Sennott as Rosie Shuster, and it precisely captures the push of improv and placing on a present. Whereas it’s not significantly deep, Saturday Night time leaves you with a better appreciation for a broadcast establishment all of us take with no consideration. 

The Place Past the Pines stars Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper as two males on reverse sides of the legislation whose paths cross with tragic outcomes.

Gosling performs Luke Glanton, a tattooed stuntman who robs banks to offer for his ex-girlfriend Romina (Eva Mendes) and their new child Jason. However Luke’s way of life will get him in hassle with the legislation and shortly he’s on the run with decided cop Avery Cross (Cooper) in sizzling pursuit. Will Avery catch Luke earlier than he can rob once more? And is Luke keen to spend time in jail if Avery catches him?

The Place Past the Pines is one half crime film and one half drama because the movie takes an surprising flip halfway by means of and focuses on each Luke and Avery’s private lives. Cooper and Gosling are terrific because the bold cop and charismatic robber who’ve extra in widespread than not, whereas the route by Derek Cianfrance retains the plot transferring alongside properly.

Cantor Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) has seen higher days. His spouse, Ruth, died a 12 months in the past and he’s struggling a disaster of religion that’s rendered him unable to sing. To get his musical groove again, he sees his previous music instructor, Carla (Carol Kane), who desires him to assist her examine for her long-delayed bat mitzvah. As Ben turns into nearer to Carla, each understand their rising emotions for each other may isolate them from their respective households. 

Between the Temples (a reference to each their shared Jewish religion and their mind matter) is a comedy rooted in disappointment, nevertheless it’s not a downer. Because the film’s unconventional couple, Schwartman and Kane have a chemistry you possibly can’t bottle, and the movie’s stuffed with full of life moments that make you giddy. It is a throwback comedy that remembers such classics as Moonstruck and Crossing Delancey, however its beneficiant spirit will make you need to watch it many times.