In the 10 years since releasing its first original film, Beasts of No Nation, Netflix has evolved into a power player in the movie scene. It's earned honors at award shows, including the Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmys.
The streaming giant won three Oscars in 2025, and action-thriller Rebel Ridge nabbed an Emmy Award for Best TV Movie this year. Earlier in December, the streamer also received several Golden Globe nominations for films like Jay Kelly, Train Dreams, Frankenstein and KPop Demon Hunters (which is now the platform's most-watched movie ever). If you find yourself with some time over the holidays, these films are some of the best movies you can watch on Netflix right now and are definitely worth checking out.
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If you'd rather go with a series, peruse our picks for the best TV shows to watch on Netflix.
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Netflix Jay Kelly (2025) George Clooney and Adam Sandler both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances in Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly, which arrived on Netflix this December. Clooney stars as the title character, a movie star grappling with his age, career and relationships during a trip to Europe.
Netflix Frankenstein (2025) Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein received five Golden Globe nominations this year, including for Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Actor in a Drama (Oscar Isaac), Best Supporting Actor (Jacob Elordi) and Best Director. The film, a reimagining of the Mary Shelley classic, is pure del Toro, filled with the dark, fantastical style the director is known for.
Netflix Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) Daniel Craig returns for a third time as Benoit Blanc in the newest film in the Knives Out mystery series, Wake Up Dead Man. This time around, the charming detective has been summoned to a small town in New York to investigate the death of a monsignor at a small church, and everyone in the sprawling, A-list ensemble is a suspect. The film co-stars Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, Josh O'Connor, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington and many more. Why not make it a double feature and watch 2022's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, also on Netflix, while you're at it?
Paramount Pictures Mean Girls (2004) Mean Girls is a contemporary take on the horrors of being a teenage girl. Written by Tina Fey, the film stars Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron, a new student at an American high school, who gets pulled between two cliques, the popular mean girls, led by Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and outcasts Janis and Damian (Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Franzese). The imminently quotable movie also spawned a Broadway musical which was turned into a 2024 movie musical, and now both films are available to stream.
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