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[title]Streaming is hard. That seems like a misnomer, given that practically every movie you could ever want to watch is now a few clicks away. But that’s the issue: knowing precisely what’s out there, and where to find it, can become overwhelming. Here, we’re doing the hard work for you, by cutting through the clutter and getting straight to the best movies available to watch right now – not just at home, but in theaters as well. We will update this guide regularly, so you can always find something to watch. Here’s the latest and greatest available right now.
What to Watch Now: New Movie Releases
In Cinemas and Theaters This Month
Sinners
Michael B Jordan is the Michael Jordan of playing Michael B Jordan in this spectacular horror-thriller, pulling double duty as twins in the 1930s American South returning home after a prison stint and discovering malevolent forces (vampires, perchance?) waiting for them. Director Ryan Coogler, meanwhile, solidifies his case as perhaps the best big-time filmmaker of his generation.
In theaters April 18
Warfare
Ray Mendoza, a longtime Hollywood military advisor, and Civil War’s Alex Garland co-direct this matter-of-fact depiction of Mendoza’s own experiences in the Iraq War. It stars a who’s-who of rising young actors, including Will Poulter, May December’s Charles Melton and Shogun’s Cosmo Jarvis, but this ain’t The Dirty Dozen – its portrayal of modern combat is so bluntly realistic, it barely qualifies as cinematic.
In theaters April 18
The Wedding Banquet
In this modern update of Ang Lee’s 1993 romantic comedy, a gay Korean immigrant living in Seattle (newcomer Han Gi-Chan) enters into a marriage of convenience with a lesbian friend (Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone) that’s complicated by the sudden arrival of the former’s grandmother (Minari’s Youn Yuh-jung). Highly touted out of Sundance, it also features another profile-elevating performance from Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang as Gi-Chan’s put-upon boyfriend.
In theaters April 18
The Accountant 2
A few weeks after The Amateur, Ben Affleck’s original action nerd returns. In this sequel to the weirdly successful 2016 crime thriller, criminal CPA Christian Wolff is summoned by the Treasury Department to help solve a murder – reuniting him with his loose cannon brother, Brax, played by John Bernthal. Numbers will be crunched, and so will skulls.
In theaters April 25
Until Dawn
Among gamers, the 2015 Playstation title Until Dawn is well-regarded as a horror-influenced mystery in which the story shifts based on individual player decisions. As a movie, it’s harder to see the hook: the plot is your standard-issue cabin-in-the-woods slasher. But director David F Sandberg (Annabelle: Creation) is a horror die-hard, and the film is being described as a ‘love-letter’ to the genre.
In theaters April 25
Best Movies on Streaming
Best Movies on Netflix
One of Them Days
Keke Palmer and R&B singer SZA are roommates desperately trying to scrape together enough money to avoid eviction in this low-key gem that has both Friday and Insecure in its DNA. (Issa Rae, creator of the latter HBO show, is a co-producer.) Can we get more comedies like this, please?
Watch One of Them Days now on Netflix
Trap
Girl-dads unite! Josh Harnett is a serial killer who just wants to take his daughter to see her favorite pop star and walks into a convoluted police sting, while M Night Shyamalan casts his own aspiring pop star daughter as the hero. Can you really root against either of them?
The Outrun
Ignored during awards season, Saoirse Ronan is nevertheless captivating as an alcoholic drying out at home in Scotland’s Orkney Islands in this adaptation of the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot. If nothing else, it’s a stunning travel brochure for the archipelago – just look at all those cute seals!
Watch The Outrun now on Netflix
Best Movies on Hulu
Anora
If you spent the Oscars wondering what the deal is with the movie with all the Russians that won every award, you can now get acquainted. And you should: it’s a rollicking screwball tragicomedy, powered by the third-rail energy of Mikey Madison as a New York sex worker who’s whisked off her feet, then taken for a ride.
The Order
Jude Law grows out an ’80s cop mustache and relocates to rural Idaho in pursuit of a neo-Nazi gang, led by a convincingly menacing Nicholas Hoult. Overlooked in theaters, this grim, taut thriller from Australian director Justin Kurzel deserves to find a new life on streaming.
Watch The Order on Hulu starting April 18
In a Violent Nature
A deranged killer stalks a group of teens through the Canadian wilderness. Sounds painfully generic, but this deliberately slow-paced slasher generates nauseating levels of terror through near-ambient stillness – and some extremely gnarly kills.
Watch In a Violent Nature on Hulu starting April 22
Best Movies on Max
Heretic
Hugh Grant turns heel as a mix of Richard Dawkins and the Jigsaw Killer, tormenting two Mormon missionaries who have the misfortune of knocking on his door. Delightful!
Babygirl
Nicole Kidman does for milk what Madonna did for candles in the ’90s in this sly erotic thriller about a high-powered CEO risking it all for a hot young intern, played by Harris Dickinson. Wouldn’t you?
Watch Babygirl on Max starting April 25
Best Movies on Peacock
Nosferatu
Of the many iterations of FW Murnau’s 1922 Dracula riff made over the last century, Robert Eggers’ rigorously detailed retelling may be the most visually arresting – that is, if you can get past Count Orlok looking like Soda Popinski from Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out.
Watch Nosferatu now on Peacock
Wicked
Ozians, now you may sing along without fear of getting shushed by an usher! Presumably everybody invested in the Wicked phenomenon has already seen the movie a dozen times, but for the Elphaba-curious, now’s your chance to see if singing witches are for you before the concluding half drops in November.
Watch Wicked now on Peacock
Best New Movies on Disney+
Mufasa: The Lion King
Did you spend the ’90s wondering what caused the initial rift between Scar and Mufasa in The Lion King? No? Well, maybe your kids have, and this prequel to the 2019 live-action remake provides the answer.
Watch Mufasa: The Lion King now on Disney+
Moana 2
The plucky daughter of a Polynesian tribal chief sets out to sea yet again to save another island from a terrible curse and reunite with her old pal, the demigod Maui. Yes, it’s pretty much the same movie as before – and was originally planned as a streaming series – but the young’uns will hardly mind.
Best New Movies on Paramount+
September 5
Swiss director Tim Fehlbaum recounts the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics entirely through the eyes of the ABC Sports team covering the games. It’s a no-frills newsroom thriller whose tight focus recalls the naturalism of 1970s cinema.
Watch September 5 now on Paramount+
Rumours
Canadian iconoclast Guy Maddin serves up a bizarre political satire, in which a group of world leaders, including Cate Blanchett as the German chancellor, get lost in the woods during a summit meeting and face all sorts of surreal horrors, not the least being a giant, pulsating brain that’s just sort of… sitting there.
Watch Rumours now on Paramount+
Strange Darling
Willa Fitzgerald, of Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher, delivers a breakout performance in this twisty, stylish and bloody thriller that’s almost impossible to discuss without spoiling. A strong stomach is required, not just because of the violence but for one of the nastiest breakfasts ever put on camera.
Watch Strange Darling now on Paramount+
Gladiator II
Paul Mescal steps into Russell Crowe’s sandals in Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel to his 2000 Oscar-winning epic. It’s Denzel Washington, though, who ends up stealing the whole thing as the flamboyantly villainous would-be emperor Macrinus.
Watch Gladiator II on Paramount+ starting May 12
Find Movies to Watch By Genre & Mood
Best Action Movies
Aliens (1986)
What James Cameron’s beefed-up sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien lacks in creeping, claustrophobic dread it more than makes up for in big guns, mecha-suits and badass one-liners – ‘get away from her you bitch’ and all that.
Streaming on Hulu
Police Story (1985)
Jackie Chan’s daring stunt work reached new levels of insanity in this franchise-starter about a cop framed for murder – see his climatic three-storey freefall at a shopping mall.
Streaming on Max
Point Break (1991)
Easily the greatest zen-surfing, bankrobbing, parachuteless skydiving, beach-football-playing, double-meatball-sub-eating, pitbull-tossing action-thriller ever made.
Streaming on Peacock
See Time Out’s full list of the Best Action Movies of All-Time
Best Comedy Movies
Meet the Parents (2000)
Before going full horny grandpa, Robert DeNiro perfectly recalibrated his intimidating image for comedy as an ex-CIA interrogator torturing his daughter’s new boyfriend, played with exasperated anxiety by Ben Stiller.
Streaming on Netflix
Three Amigos! (1986)
Steve Martin, Martin Short and Chevy Chase riff on Seven Samurai as vainglorious silent-film stars who accidentally become the protectors of a small village in Mexico. It’s gleeful silliness of the highest order.
Streaming on Hulu
Withnail & I (1987)
A seminal British cult classic following two down-and-out actors (Richard E Grant and Paul McGann) to the English countryside, where things only get worse – and weirder – for the both of them.
See Time Out’s full list of the Best Comedy Movies of All-Time
Best Sci-Fi Movies
Dune (2021)
Denis Villeneuve cracks the code on Frank Herbert’s highly influential yet seemingly unadaptable 1965 novel with this operatic, eye-popping rendering. Each platform has Part Two available to stream as well, so make sure to carve out about five and a half hours.
Blade Runner (1982)
Ridley Scott’s gritty future-noir is the standard-bearer for sci-fi world-building. Netflix is currently streaming Scott’s ‘Final Cut’, which die-hards consider the definitive version.
Streaming on Netflix
The Endless (2017)
Two escapees from a UFO death cult return years later seeking answers, only to fall into a vortex of all-new mysteries. A top-shelf example of low-budget ingenuity.
Streaming on Peacock
See Time Out’s full list of the Best Science Fiction Movies of All-Time
Best Horror Movies
The Invisible Man (2020)
Director Leigh Whannell cleverly updates HG Wells’ classic sci-fi novel as the story of an abusive boyfriend menacing his ex, powerfully played by Elisabeth Moss.
Stream on Peacock
Les Diaboliques (1955)
The wife and mistress of a cruel boarding-school headmaster collaborate on his murder, which goes swimmingly – until his body disappears. From Henri-Georges Clouzot, aka the French Hitchcock, this classic is playful and frightful in equal measure.
Streaming on Max
It Follows (2014)
Horror has a long history of demonising sex, none more literally than in this unnerving chiller, starring Longlegs’ Maika Monroe as a teenager haunted by a sexually transmitted curse.
See Time Out’s full list of the Best Horror Movies of All-Time
Best Date Night Movies
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Jacques Demy’s candy-colored confection is the musical even the most ardent musical haters can’t resist – which is saying something, since every word in the movie is sung.
Ghost (1990)
Recently murdered Patrick Swayze is stuck haunting the earth as he attempts to avenge his death – and have one last shtup with his wife, Demi Moore.
Stream on Paramount+
Something Wild (1986)
Melanie Griffith is the wild thing of the title, a dream girl less manic than maniacal, who ‘kidnaps’ a buttoned-down yuppie (Jeff Daniels) and brings him home to mom. Jonathan Demme’s screwball romcom has mad energy, great music and a star-making turn from Ray Liotta in cackling psycho mode.
Streaming on Prime
See Time Out’s full list of the Best Romantic Movies of All-Time
See Time Out’s full list of the Best Romantic Comedies of All-Time
Best Family Movies
The Wild Robot (2024)
A hyper-intelligent robot ends up lost in the Pacific Northwest forest, where it begins caring for an orphaned gosling and experiencing imposter syndrome over its status as a mother. Kids’ll love it, parents will cry.
Streaming on Peacock
The Princess Bride (1987)
Few films boast the cross-generational appeal of Rob Reiner’s swashbuckling crowd-pleaser, which is at once a send-up of classic fairy tales and a genuinely exciting adventure on its own.
Streaming on Hulu
Jumanji (1995)
Did your kids love A Minecraft Movie? Show them this classic, also about a man (Robin Williams, the Jack Black of an earlier generation) trapped inside a game.
Streaming on Hulu
See Time Out’s full list of the Best Family Movies of All-Time