The best Netflix movies of 2023

David Yates took a break from directing Harry Potter movies to make this scathing take on America’s opioid epidemic. Emily Blunt carries the movie (doesn’t she always?) as Liza Drake, a struggling single mother and exotic dancer who in a moment of desperation accepts a questionable job offer from a would-be pharma bro (Chris Evans). Drake’s unlikely corporate success is offset by the very real damage being done by the product she is shilling.

In this gothic whodunnit, Christian Bale plays Victorian detective Augustus Landor, who is called in to help solve the case of a creepy killing at a US military academy. Before too long, Landor comes to call upon the services of a young and unusually observant cadet named Edgar Allan Poe (yes, the author) played by Harry Melling. Needless to say, all is not as it seems, with dark deeds and questionable motives in every direction. The Pale Blue Eye is deliciously overwrought stuff, and it’ll keep you guessing until the end.

Based on a true story, Bank of Dave certainly wins the ‘feel-good vibes’ prize for 2023. British character actor Rory Kinnear plays Burnley businessman Dave Fishwick, who took on the London establishment in a bid to secure a banking license and serve his local community following the 2008 financial crash. Bank of Dave is a time-honoured underdog story with all the requisite charm, not to mention a fair amount of resonance in light of the current cost of living crisis.

Wes Anderson’s take on a Roald Dahl short story stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a rich man who studies clairvoyance in a bid to cheat at cards. If you like your movies short and to the point, there was no better option in 2023 than The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. At just 39 minutes long, it’s shorter than most Netflix TV series episodes. Despite that fact, it crams an awful lot of charm and typical Andersonian craft into its stunted running time.

The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die serves as both a movie spin-off and a neat conclusion to the beloved Netflix series based on Bernard Cornwell’s historical fiction novels. In particular, it proves to be a fitting send-off for its rough and ready main character, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, played by German actor Alexander Dreymon. For one last time, our conflicted hero finds himself a pivotal piece in the ongoing struggle to unite England and force out the encroaching Danes.

Annette Bening plays Diana Nyad, a real life long distance swimmer who set out to swim the 103 miles from Cuba to Florida in 2013 at the age of 60. Based on the swimmer’s autobiography, the film captures the gruelling, borderline delusional commitment it took for Nyad to pull off the feat. An overqualified supporting cast includes Jodie Foster as her best friend and former lover, and Rhys Ifans as the grizzled boat captain tasked with guiding her along the shark-filled route.

May December might be a late addition to the end of year considerations, but it’s managed to attract plenty of attention in a short space of time. The latest film from Todd Haynes (Carol, I’m Not There, Far From Heaven) stars Natalie Portman as a Hollywood actor cast to play the part of a woman (Julianne Moore) with a scandalous past. As Portman’s actor observes her subject’s family life, emotional fissures are exposed and lines are inevitably crossed.

This extravagantly shot South Korean action movie takes the well worn (and unmistakably John Wick-ish) concept of an elite assassin turning against the shady organisation that reveres them, and applies a disarmingly domestic twist. Said killer is Jeon Do-yeon’s Gil Bok-soon, a middle-aged single mother who struggles to connect with her teenage daughter. While the film’s extended fight scenes are both plentiful and imaginatively choreographed, there are also plenty of quiet character moments to help give the brutal beat downs some extra bite.

They Cloned Tyrone packs an awful lot into its two hour running time. Starting out as a nod to the gritty exploitation movies of the ’70s, it soon morphs into a raucous sci-fi action-adventure. It also sports a phenomenal cast, with John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx playing a trio of criminals embroiled in a creepy cloning conspiracy. Writer-director Juel Talor (Creed II) shoots with considerable panache, while the film’s blend of action, comedy, and sharp social commentary gives it a unique flavour.

Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke star as a jaded American couple who decide on a whim to take their two teenagers on a vacation to a swanky Long Island Airbnb rental. Shortly after arrival they start experiencing power and telecommunication issues, while the alleged owner of the house (played by Mahershala Ali) turns up with his daughter (Myha’la) and asks to stay. What unfolds is a distinctly tense, uneasy, and painfully relevant thriller as our starry cast struggles to get along while their world seemingly collapses around them.

Superstar South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan, Hellbound, Psychokinesis) here turns out a thoughtful sci-fi thriller in which a climate-ravaged future Earth has taken its resource-based quarrels into orbit. Into this protracted war steps an AI-driven super-soldier, created by a scientist (played by the late Kang Soo-yeon) using the personality of her dead mother. It’s a tale that relies far more on family dynamics and emotional beats than the fantastical premise might suggest.

Pablo Larraín follows up his bold take on Princess Diana, Spencer, with this black and white oddity. El Conde is a dark fantasy horror and a satire about Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. In this telling, the murderous general is a 250-year-old vampire who stalks the skies of Santiago, all while contending with a contentious family life and a murderous butler. It presents a unique slice of alternative history, and is one of the most imaginative send ups of fascism that you’re likely to see.

Bradley Cooper’s lavish biopic of composer Leonard Bernstein centres on the great man’s complex home life, in which his marriage to actor Felicia Montealegre (played by Britain’s own Cary Mulligan) frequently came into conflict with his homosexuality. Cooper may have attracted criticism for his choice of prosthetic nose and inherent non-jewishness, but Maestro is otherwise a beautifully written, shot, and performed tribute to one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century.

Describing a film as a light comedy starring Adam Sandler and his real life teenage daughters is a sure fire way to warn a lot of people away (and, to be fair, attract a bunch of others). But You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is an absolute delight, whichever side of the great Sandler divide you fall on. Based on a book by Fiona Rosenbloom, it details the emotional trials and tribulations of a young Jewish American girl as her family plans her coming-of-age party.

One of the most original animated movies of 2023, Nimona is a delightful mish-mash of sci-fi and fantasy elements, with a charming hand-drawn art style and a bold handling of LGBTQ themes. Chloë Grace Moretz plays the part of a shape shifting teenager, while Riz Ahmed plays a disgraced knight out to clear his name. They make for a chaotically fun pairing as they set out to right the wrongs done against them. Disney could certainly learn a thing or two on all fronts.

Michael Fassbender came out of his extended hiatus (he’s been off racing cars) to play the role of a fastidious, dorkily attired assassin fighting to maintain his highly ordered life. When a major hit goes wrong, Fassbender’s amoral antihero finds himself on the other end of the sniper scope, forcing him to hit back. David Fincher brings his familiar flair for violence and his keen eye for dissecting toxic masculinity to what could, in other hands, have been a fairly run-of-the-mill revenge thriller.

This slick Netflix drama stars Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich as a power couple working at the same Manhattan hedge fund. When Dynevor’s character gets a promotion ahead of her partner, the dynamic of their seemingly idyllic relationship changes, with jealousy and gender expectations rearing their ugly heads. It might technically belong to that most vapid of 90s genres, the erotic thriller, but director Chloe Domont’s sharp debut has more than enough meat on its bones to start conversations.

Directed by Tamil upstart Atlee, this Hindi-language action thriller is packed full of ludicrously OTT action set pieces. It also casts Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, fresh from his comeback success in Pathaan, in not one but two roles. Khan plays both ex-commando Captain Vikram Rathore and his son Azad. It’s a one-man acting showcase, albeit surrounded by plenty of big budget explosions and hair-raising feats. Switch your brain off and wallow in the madness.

Rustin tells the criminally overlooked story of Bayard Rustin, a gay black civil rights activist and friend of Martin Luther King during the ’60s. Plagued by vicious rumours surrounding his relationship with King, Rustin sets out to plan a march on Washington, but is faced by resistance from within as well as without the movement. While the film itself is fairly workmanlike, the story Rustin tells most certainly isn’t, nor is the central performance from Colman Domingo.

This belated sequel to the beloved Aardman original has been more than two decades in the making. There have been some controversial cast changes (Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson making way for Thandiwe Newton and Zachary Levi) along the way, but the end result is another supreme slice of British stop motion animation from the masters of the form. Having found their way to a utopian bird sanctuary after breaking out of ‘prison’ in the first film, our heroes find that they must break back in if they want to protect their way of life.