Summary
Catch up on Oscar candidates and some of the most exciting releases of the previous year with our weekly list of the greatest movies to watch on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Max (HBO), and other services. In addition, we track fresh original content from your preferred streaming providers each week, along with other highlights you may have missed.
Several intriguing new shows have been added to this list as March approaches, such as the highly anticipated films Napoleon and Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom on Apple TV+ and Max, respectively.
New movies to stream at a glance
The greatest films available on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon Prime Video, and other streaming services are all covered in our recommendations.
Apple TV+
Napoleon (2023)
Joaquin Phoenix plays the renowned French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, one of the greatest films of 2023. The action-packed epic follows Napoleon’s ascent to power and his innovative military and political strategies that drove his conquest of Europe. It also depicts his tumultuous marriage to Josephine (Vanessa Kirby). By increasing the stakes and the scope of 19th-century combat, Scott draws inspiration from the exciting action scenes of Gladiator.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
The American epic Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese, is a front-runner for Best Actress among many other Oscars. The Osage Nation became some of the richest people in the world over night when they found oil underneath their Native American territory in the early 1900s. It should come as no surprise that the money attracted white extortionists, robbers, and manipulators who threatened and plunder the Osage as much as they could before turning to open murder to seize control of the oil resources. Through the eyes of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his unlikely infatuation with Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), Killers of the Flower Moon recounts this horrifying tale.
Max (formerly HBO and HBO Max)
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)
Even if the superhero genre is having difficulties, Jason Momoa is determined to give it his all. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta (in the second Aquaman movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom), wants to finally defeat Aquaman (Momoa) in order to get revenge for the loss of his father. Black Manta is more powerful than ever thanks to the legendary Black Trident, which releases a powerful and ancient energy. Aquaman is forced to go to his brother, Patrick Wilson, who is now imprisoned, for assistance in rescuing the family and the planet.
Priscilla (2023)
A strange and complex relationship begins when teenage Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) meets world-famous rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) at a party. By examining this well-known love tale via Priscilla’s perspective, Sofia Coppola captures an untold aspect of Elvis and Priscilla’s protracted relationship and turbulent marriage. Priscilla delves deeply into the Elvis legend, starting with the German army post where they first met and ending at Graceland.
The Color Purple (2023)
The Color Purple, a musical version of Alice Walker’s groundbreaking book, chronicles Celie’s (Fantasia Barrino) tenacious path to freedom over many decades. Celie is buoyed up by the strength of her unbreakable relationships with her sisters, Shug (Taraji P. Henson) and Sofia (Danielle Brooks), in spite of several challenges and hurdles.
Dicks: The Musical (2023)
Dicks: The Musical, an Off Broadway musical based on Fucking Identical Twins, is now a Max Original. Dicks centers on two self-obsessed businessmen who find out they are long-lost identical twins, played by original writers/actors Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp. The two men devise a scheme to reunite their bizarre divorced parents. The parents are portrayed by Nathan Lane and Megan Mullaly, so maybe quirky is an understatement.
Barbie (2023)
Barbie, the feel-good summer success and the meme factory, was one half of the moviegoing craze, Barbenheimer. Barbie Land may seem like an ideal place for all the Barbies and Kens to dwell, but Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) can’t help but feel uneasy about something. She enters the actual world hoping to discover a matriarchal utopia since she is determined to find out what’s going on. She is not only utterly demoralized, but everything is turned upside down when her cunning brother Ken (Ryan Gosling) brings certain patriarchal concepts back to Barbie Land.
Netflix
Spaceman (2024)
Spaceman, a science fiction thriller about an astronaut six months into a lonely research trip to the end of the solar system, is the next installment in Adam Sandler’s ridiculous “do whatever I want” tour on Netflix. After a moral dilemma, Jakub (Sandler) at last understands that his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) may not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Luckily, Hanuš, a mystery monster hiding in Jakub’s ship’s bowels and spoken by Paul Dano, is there to assist him figure out what went wrong.
Code 8 Part II (2024)
Part II of the sci-fi sequel to Netflix’s original popular series Code 8 dives further into this dystopian future in which machines police people. Pavani (Sirena Gulamgaus) is striving for justice in the death of her brother, which was caused by dishonest robot police. She enlists the aid of an ex-convict and his brother, Robbie and Stephen Amell, to confront a police sergeant who is heavily armed.
Thanksgiving (2023)
Players (2024)
In the Netflix original romantic comedy Players, Gina Rodriguez and Damon Wayans Jr. portray two friends who have been creating hook-up “plays” for years with great success. While having several one-night relationships, New York sportswriter Mack (Rodriguez) and her closest buddy Adam (Wayans) have established a rigid set of ground rules. The most important guideline is that a play cannot establish a bond. However, Mack starts to second-guess the game as she starts to fall for her newest target, Nick (Tom Ellis).
Shortcomings (2023)
Shortcomings, which is based on the critically acclaimed graphic book of the same name and had its Tribeca picture Festival premiere last year, marks Randall Park’s feature picture directing debut. A struggling filmmaker named Ben (Justin H. Min) resides in Berkeley, California with his girlfriend Miko (Ally Maki). Ben often finds himself lost in thought or dining out with his closest friend Alice (Sherry Cola) when he’s not working at his arthouse movie theater job. However, Ben has his first prolonged period of solitude when Miko relocates to New York for an internship, and he at last starts to give his life some serious thought.
Hulu
Dreamin’ Wild (2023)
Dreamin’ Wild, based on the actual tale of singer/songwriter Donnie Emerson (Affleck) and his family, stars Casey Affleck and Zooey Deschanel. The album Donnie and his brother Joe (Walton Goggins) made as teenagers is considered a last masterpiece and comes out of 30 years of obscurity. Donnie, Joe, their father Don Sr. (Beau Bridges), and Donnie’s wife Nancy (Zooey Deschanel) all have to face new challenges as they navigate a new future in the spotlight and come to terms with the past after their unexpected rediscovery that catapults them to fame and offers the possibility of second chances.
All of Us Strangers (2023)
Andrew Scott plays Adam, a regular guy who lives in a mostly empty tower block in London, in this surrealist contemporary drama. But one night, he meets by coincidence with his enigmatic neighbor, Harry (Paul Mescal of Aftersun), and the two strike up a conversation that reaches far into Adam’s past. at All of Us Strangers, Adam sees parallels between his bright future and a bleak past at the boyhood house of his parents, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, who passed over thirty years ago and seem to be living there to this day. The film explores love, memory, and grief through a fanciful lens.
The Pod Generation (2023)
Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Rachel (Emilia Clarke) are prepared to begin a family. As a rising star in the IT industry, Rachel was able to get a coveted position at the Womb Center, which provides artificial wombs, or pods, to enable couples to share pregnancy on a more equitable basis. Alvy, a biologist and botanist, wears a pod in support of Rachel even if he has his reservations. Their combined technological journey to parenting is known as the Pod Generation.
Next Goal Wins (2023)
This comedy, written and directed by Taika Waititi, centers on the soccer squad of American Samoa, a small Pacific island. They were dubbed the worst soccer team in the globe after losing to Australia 31-0 in 2001, setting a world record. Ten years later, they remain dead bottom in FIFA’s world rankings, have only scored twice in seventeen years, and have lost every game they have ever played. They now have to qualify for Brazil’s 2014 World Cup. Thomas Rongen, a brilliant Dutch coach, comes in.
Cat Person (2023)
The two have a cutesy connection after college student Margot (Emilia Jones) meets 33-year-old Robert (Niccolaus Braun) at the movie theater where she works. Through messages, they develop a bond and mutual perspectives. When they do go on an in-person date, however, things don’t quite line up, and things get out of hand.
Peacock
Oppenheimer (2023)
Oppenheimer, widely regarded as Christopher Nolan’s masterwork by both critics and audiences, stands as one of the finest films of 2023. For his depiction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who laid the groundwork for the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II, Cillian Murphy has already won numerous significant accolades. Famously, Oppenheimer regretted his involvement in The Manhattan Project because he was afraid of the devastating effects of the weapon he helped unleash on the world.
The Holdovers (2023)
The Holdovers is a dry comedy directed by Alexander Payne (Sideways, Nebraska). It centers on Paul Giamatti, a teacher at a prep school in New England, who is requested to stay on campus during Christmas break to watch the pupils who have nowhere to go. Initially mistreated, Paul Hunham quickly makes strange friends with the school’s head chef (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who just lost a son in Vietnam, and Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a disturbed but intelligent troublemaker.
The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
In the mood for some well-made horror? Let’s start with The Exorcist: Believer by David Gordon Green. Over ten years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.) raised his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) by alone when his pregnant wife died in a Haitian earthquake. An evil that Victor is unable to defeat on his own seeps into their life when Angela and her buddy go into the woods for three days and then return without recalling their experiences. In a state of desperation, he goes in search of Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), the last surviving witness to what is happening to his daughter.
Amazon Prime Video
This Is Me…Now (2024)
Enter Jennifer Lopez’s world in This Is Me… Now: A Love Story. This genre-bending, story-driven Amazon original film, directed by Dave Meyers, is releasing concurrently with the release of Lopez’s first studio album in ten years. The musical film offers a contemplative look at Lopez’s history and her path to self-acceptance and self-love along the course of an illustrious career.
The Underdoggs (2024)
In this Prime Video Original, Snoop Dogg plays the role of Jaycen “Two Js” Jennings, a disgraced former football player. Jaycen’s bottom line is serving a community service term coaching the Long Beach, California, Underdoggs, a boisterous peewee football club. Instead of focusing on the bad, however, Jaycen rises to the occasion and takes on the task of turning the wild Underdoggs into champions, all the while making amends with former comrades and reliving the good old days.
Role Play (2023)
In Role Play, Kaley Cuoco, who just saw success with Max’s The Flight Attendant, maintains the humor-thriller feel. Emma, portrayed by Cuoco, is an apparently obedient housewife with two children who lives a tranquil existence in the suburbs of New Jersey. However, she also has a covert existence as a hired killer. Things become a bit too real when David (David Oyelowo), Emma’s spouse, finds out about her hidden existence, when they decide to add some role playing to their marriage.
Foe (2023)
Based on Ian Reid’s best-selling book, Foe is an Amazon Original sci-fi romance starring Saoirse Ronan. Living a tranquil existence, Hen (played by Ronan) and Junior (Paul Mescal of Aftersun) cultivate a remote plot of land that has been in Junior’s family for many generations. Their lives are upended, however, when an unexpected visitor (Aaron Pierre) arrives with a weird proposition.
Saltburn (2023)
At Oxford University, Barry Keoghan’s character Oliver Quick finds it difficult to blend in. Oliver is thus the ideal target for the enchanting and aristocratic Felix Catton (played by Priscilla’s Jacob Elordi), who extends an invitation to Oliver to spend a strange and depressing summer at Saltburn, the expansive estate of his eccentric family.
Disney+
The Marvels (2023)
The Marvels, one of Marvel’s major releases of 2023, features the return of Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), after her revenge on the Supreme Intelligence and identity regain from the Kree. She must now, however, bear the weight of a cosmos in instability. Carol discovers that her talents are intertwined with those of her estranged niece, S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Jersey City superfan Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), when she journeys through a wormhole connected to a Kree revolutionary. As The Marvels, they must combine their abilities to preserve the world.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
In Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Indiana Jones returns for what may be the last adventure. Harrison Ford’s character, Indiana Jones, is nearing retirement and finding it difficult to integrate into a society that appears to have forgotten him. However, the world turns to Indiana again to take up the mantle and prevent a powerful, ancient item from becoming up in the hands of the bad guys when a well-known evil reappears in the shape of an old foe. Upon forming an alliance with Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Indiana sets off on an additional journey.
Haunted Mansion (2023)
The well-known Disneyland attraction comes to life when single mother Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) finds her recently purchased house entirely haunted by spirits and decides to rid herself of them. To assist her, she employs a tour guide, a psychic, a priest, and a historian. LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween Ends), Tiffany Haddish, and Jared Leto are among the all-star cast members.
Paramount+
The Tiger’s Apprentice (2024)
In this Paramount+ original, Tom (Brandon Soo Hoo), a typical Chinesetown youngster in San Francisco, is dragged, kicking and screaming, into a mystical realm after the death of his grandmother, who was the custodian of a legendary, potent phoenix egg. Tom now has to work as an apprentice for Mr. Hu, the tiger, who is played by Henry Golding. Tom will have to acquire old magic in order to fulfill his destiny as the egg’s new guardian, together with Mr. Hu and a group of strange animals from the Chinese zodiac.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Under the direction of Christopher McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible has developed into one of the greatest action franchises available right now. Unbelievably, Tom Cruise is still pulling off his own stunts, which only become wilder, despite having portrayed IMF agent Ethan Hunt in four distinct decades.
Hunt and the other members of his IMF team are assigned the mission of locating a deadly new weapon that poses a danger to all of mankind in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Deadly forces from Ethan’s past are closing in on him as they race against time and an enigmatic, all-powerful foe, pushing him to make some of the hardest choices he has ever had to make.
