Buttering up the popcorn and firing up one of the best movies on Netflix New Zealand has got to be our favourite thing ever.
But how often do you find yourself endlessly scrolling, looking for something half-decent to kick back to? Well, scroll no more friends, Urban List is here to save the day with all the best movies worth watching on Netflix NZ right now.
Scoop
Greenland
Spaceman
Damsel
Millie Bobby Brown can't do much wrong in our eyes, so we were thrilled to hear about her latest whimsical Netflix release. Damsel is a dark modern take on the fairytale classics, Brown's marriage to a charming prince turns into a fierce fight for survival when she's offered up as a sacrifice to a terrifying fire-breathing dragon. Perfect for those who love a little fantasy in their lives, there's a big backing cast (think Angela Bassett and Ray Winstone) that's sure to transport you into another realm.
Shirley
The Beautiful Game
Badland Hunters
You might also like:
- Neon NZ's Very Best Shows To Binge
- Shows And Movies To Binge On Apple TV+
- What To Watch On Disney Plus
The Kitchen
Orion And The Dark
NYAD
Three decades after giving up marathon swimming in exchange for a prominent career as a sports journalist, at the age of 60, Diana Nyad (four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening) becomes obsessed with completing an epic swim that always eluded her: the 110 mile trek from Cuba to Florida—often called the “Mount Everest” of swims. Watch it here.
Pain Hustlers
Pain Hustlers is Erin Brocavich meets Wolf Of Wall Street. If that should tell you anything, it should say this flick is one you can't skip. This high-octane and sharp Netflix movie is naturally filled with all the laughs, casting the likes of Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Catherine O’Hara, and Andy Garcia.
Taking place in the heart of sunny Florida, Liza (Blunt) envisions the dream life for her and her young daughter. After landing a job at a struggling pharma start-up let by Pete (Evans), Liza's charisma and wit feeds her right into the underbelly of a criminal conspiracy.
Reptile
Following the brutal murder of a young real estate agent, a hardened detective attempts to uncover the truth in a case where nothing is as it seems. By doing so, he dismantles the illusions in his own life. Watch it here.
They Cloned Tyrone
A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (Boyega, Foxx and Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in They Cloned Tyrone, a pulpy mystery caper. Watch it here.
Extraction 2
Chris Hemsworth returns as Tyler Rake in Extraction 2, the sequel to Netflix's blockbuster action film Extraction. After barely surviving the events of the first movie, Rake is back as the Australian black ops mercenary, tasked with another deadly mission: rescuing the battered family of a ruthless Georgian gangster from the prison where they are being held. Watch it here.
The Mother
Let's just say, if it stars Jennifer Lopez—we're down to watch it. In The Mother—A deadly female assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men.
The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die
Fantasy fiends, this one's for you. When King Edward dies, peace is threatened as his two potential heirs, Aethelstan and Aelfweard, battle to claim the crown. Uhtred hears that Aethelstan, once his ward and protégé, is to fight, he rides to help him secure victory, but the young prince has fallen under a dark influence. And when Aethelstan’s actions threaten the life Uhtred has known, Uhtred has to decide where his loyalties lie, with the king, or with his homeland. Watch it here.
Luther: The Fallen Sun
Everyone's favourite rough-around-the-edges British cop Luther is back for a feature-length film in an epic continuation of the award-winning TV saga. Prepare to be gripped as a gruesome serial killer (in the form of Gollum himself, Andy Serkis) terrorises London while brilliant but disgraced detective John Luther (Idris Elba) sits behind bars. Haunted by his failure to capture the cyber psychopath who now taunts him, Luther decides to break out of prison to finish the job by any means necessary. Watch it here.
The Pale Blue Eye
Christian Bale, the man can seriously act. His latest feature is the Netflix murder-crime thriller 'The Pale Blue Eye' in which Bale plays the enigmatic detective, August Landor who must decipher a series of brutal killings in the fog and snow-ridden plains of 19th-century upstate New York. Aided by a quirky young poet, Edgar Allen Poe, the pair slowly unravel the mystery but discover an even darker truth and tragedy along the way. Watch it now
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
So, some people are saying this could be one of the best Netflix movies of all time but we'll leave that decision up to you. Benoit Blanc returns to peel back the layers in a new Rian Johnson whodunnit. This fresh adventure finds the intrepid detective at a lavish private estate on a Greek island, but how and why he comes to be there is only the first of many puzzles. Blanc soon meets a distinctly disparate group of friends gathering at the invitation of billionaire Miles Bron for their yearly reunion. Among those on the guest list are Miles’ former business partner Andi Brand, current Connecticut governor Claire Debella, cutting-edge scientist Lionel Toussaint, fashion designer and former model Birdie Jay and her conscientious assistant Peg, and influencer Duke Cody and his sidekick girlfriend Whiskey. As in all the best murder mysteries, each character harbours their own secrets and lies. Watch it here.
The Wonder
If you think you could get sick of Florence Pugh, think again. In The Wonder, Pugh stars as an English Nightingale Nurse Lib Wright in 1862 (13 years after the Great Famine) who gets called to the Irish Midlands by a devout community to conduct a 15-day examination over one of their own. Anna O’Donnell is an 11-year-old girl who claims not to have eaten for four months, surviving miraculously on “manna from heaven”. As Anna's health rapidly deteriorates, Lib is absolutely determined to unearth the truth, challenging the faith of Anna’s community. Watch it here.
The Good Nurse
Amy, a compassionate nurse and single mother struggling with a life-threatening heart condition, is stretched to her physical and emotional limits by the hard and demanding night shifts at the ICU. But help arrives when Charlie, a thoughtful and empathetic fellow nurse, starts at her unit. While sharing long nights at the hospital, the two develop become pretty good friends but a series of mysterious patient deaths sets off an investigation that points to Charlie as the prime suspect. Not to freak you out but this one is based on true events. Watch it here.
Luckiest Girl Alive
Luckiest Girl Alive centres on Ani FaNelli, a sharp-tongued New Yorker who appears to have it all: a sought-after position at a glossy magazine, a killer wardrobe and a dream Nantucket wedding on the horizon. But when the director of a crime documentary invites her to tell her side of the shocking incident that took place when she was a teenager at the prestigious Brentley School, Ani is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life. Watch it here.
The Gray Man
The Gray Man is CIA operative Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), AKA Sierra Six. Plucked from a federal penitentiary and recruited by his handler, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), Gentry was once a highly-skilled, Agency-sanctioned merchant of death...just your run-of-the-mill job, right? However, the tables turn and now Six is the target, hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out. Watch it here.
Hustle
Adam Sandler is back and this time around, he’s starring as a basketball scout. After discovering a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past, Stanley Beren (Sandler) takes it upon himself to bring the phenom to the States without his team's approval. Against the odds, they have one final shot to prove they have what it takes to make it in the NBA. Watch it here.
Bubble
Get comfy for one of the most beautiful anime animations you’ll ever witness. This story is set in Tokyo after bubbles that broke the laws of gravity rained down on Earth. Cut off from the outside world, Tokyo has become a playground for a group of young people who have lost their families, acting as a battlefield for parkour team battles as they leap from building to building. Hibiki, a young ace, makes a pretty damn reckless move one day and plummets into the gravity-bending sea. His life is saved by Uta, a girl with mysterious powers. Watch it here.
Rescued By Ruby
We mean, how can you go wrong with yet another movie about his man and his dog? Based on a true story, state trooper Dan (Grant Gustin) dreams of joining the K-9 Search And Rescue team, but no one will give him the chance. Shelter dog Ruby dreams of having a home, but is running out of hope. When fate brings Dan and Ruby together, it's their unshakable bond that helps them face their toughest challenge yet. Watch Rescued By Ruby here.
The Adam Project
If you’re keen to hit cruise on your brain then you’re going to love The Adam Project. Deep in the sci-fi genre, after accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-travelling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a big ol’ mission to save the future. No, it won’t be up for any big film awards but it will give you a nice dose of escapism and we mean, with its stars Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner and Zoe Saldaña at the helm—you’re in good hands. The Adam Project is also directed by Shawn Levy who’s responsible for the likes of Stranger Things, Night At The Museum and Free Guy. Not to mention, the film is completely action-packed and speckled with good laughs too. Watch The Adam Project here.
Munich—The Edge Of War
If you haven’t previously picked up the paperback of the same name by Robert Harris, you’re in for a treat. The year is 1938 and Europe is on the brink of war, Adolf Hitler is preparing to invade Czechoslovakia and the UK is desperately trying to find some kind of solution. Pressure builds and Hugh Legat, a British civil servant, and Paul von Hartmann, a German diplomat, travel to Munich for an emergency conference. As negotiations begin, the two, who also happen to be old friends, find themselves at the centre of a web of political subterfuge. Watch Munich—The Edge of War here.
The Lost Daughter
We love it when Netflix gets a jumpstart on streaming hotly anticipated movies early in the year so get ready to lap up all that is Olivia Coleman in Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut—The Lost Daughter. In this one, Leda (Olivia Coleman) meets a mother and her young daughter while holidaying in Italy. Becoming obsessed with the mother-daughter relationship, Leda remembers her own experiences of early motherhood, memories filled with terror, intensity and a whole lot of confusion. You'll also find Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Ed Harris, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Mescal and Dagmara Dominczyk starring in this psychological thriller.
Don't Look Up
Don't Look Up follows Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. The problem—it’s on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. With the help of Dr Oglethorpe, Kate and Randall embark on a media tour that takes them from the office of an indifferent President (Meryl Streep) and her sycophantic son and Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill), to the airwaves of The Daily Rip, an upbeat morning show hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry).
Looking for more? Check out:
Main image credit: Netflix
Urban List Best Of: has our highest stamp of approval—curated lists of the very best recommendations for you to eat, do, see, buy or book, carefully chosen by our Editors.