2026 has been a great year for theatrical movies, with films as varied as Project Hail Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Obsession breaking box-office records and receiving widespread critical acclaim.
It’s been a good year for Netflix, too, as the streamer has released a steady stream of high-quality films that make it worth subscribing to – at least until the next price hike.
Watch With Us loves making “best of” lists, and it’s around this time that we rank the best Netflix movies of 2026 so far.
From January’s intense action flick The Rip with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to May’s quiet drama Remarkably Bright Creatures with Sally Field, these movies made a lasting impression on us and deserve to be watched by as many people as possible.
5. ‘Apex’
Still mourning the loss of her husband, Sasha (Charlize Theron) travels to Australia for two weeks of rock climbing, kayaking in rough rivers and camping in the wilderness. She gets to do all those things, but not in the way she imagined when she runs into Ben (Taron Egerton), a seemingly nice guy who really wants to hunt and kill her for sport. Sasha doesn’t want to die, but she’s at a disadvantage in a land Ben knows all too well. It’s a fight to the death between Ben and Sasha, and only one of them will emerge victorious.
Apex is an effective survival thriller that blends elements of The River Wild with Meryl Streep and The Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins‘ charismatic cannibal, Hannibal Lecter. Ben isn’t just a deranged hunter – he’s also a deranged serial killer who likes to eat his victims. Theron’s already proven herself in the action genre, and her genre is another fierce yet flawed heroine who isn’t going to go quietly into that good night.
4. ‘Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere’
I’m a sucker for “how did we get here” documentaries, and Inside the Manosphere provides some juicy insight into a subculture that made Andrew Tate and Clavicular household names. The British journalist Louis Theroux spends the bulk of the documentary’s 90-minute runtime interviewing key figures in the alpha male movement, like Harrison Sullivan (better known as HSTikkyTokky) and Justin Waller, to find out what makes these guys tick.
The answer isn’t a surprise – it’s money. None of these really believe the toxic ideologies they’re selling; they just know they can sell them to a young male audience squeezed out by the economy and raised on a digital diet of easy-to-access porn. Inside the Manosphere deals with serious issues, but it often feels like an extended episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Theroux can’t quite believe these guys act the way they do, and when he holds a mirror to his subjects, the reflection isn’t pretty – it’s hysterical. No documentary this year has captured its subjects so truthfully, and it’s that honesty that makes Inside the Manosphere a social comedy worthy of Larry David.
3. ‘Thrash’
Thrash slams together a natural disaster epic and a shark thriller into one fun little B-movie. When a Category 5 hurricane renders most of a small South Carolina town underwater, the survivors are forced to find dry land wherever they can. Pregnant Lisa (Phoebe Dynevor) can’t – she’s trapped in her car and can’t get out. To make matters worse, all that water lets a few hungry sharks roam the town’s flooded streets – and Lisa’s next on the menu.
The premise is juicy enough, but the execution is even better. Director Tommy Wirkola knows how to stage a decent action scene, and he generates ample suspense when the sharks start invading people’s homes looking for their next meal. Jaws this ain’t, but Thrash joins 2019’s Crawl in the modern instant trash classic hall of fame.
2. ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’
Octogenarian aquarium worker Tova (Sally Field) doesn’t expect much out of life, so it’s a surprise to even her that she worms so quickly to drifter Cameron (Lewis Pullman), who is young enough to be her grandson. They’re both lost souls looking for friendship and a little closure. By working together, they eventually find a way to confront some painful trauma from their pasts.
There’s nothing revolutionary about Remarkably Bright Creatures; it’s a simple picture about simple people who can’t quite get over the pain they feel resulting from the absence of a loved one. But it has a quiet grace few modern movies lack, and it gives Field another complicated woman for her to bring to life. Plus, any film with an omniscient orange octopus has to be good, right?
1. ‘The Rip’
When Miami cop Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) receives a tip about a stash of illegal money hidden in a suburban house, he doesn’t expect it to be $20 million. That’s a lot of cash to hand over to someone else, and he’s tempted to take some for himself. But he’s not alone, and the rest of his team, including fellow police officer JD Byrne (Ben Affleck), are suspicious of Dumars – and each other. With a lot of cash and their careers on the line, can these cops trust each other?
The Rip is one of those Netflix films you wish had been released in movie theaters. Directed by Joe Carnahan, it has the look and feel of classic cops-and-robbers action thrillers like Miami Blues and Heat. The film’s plot is a little tricky, but it all makes sense – you know who is double-crossing whom and why. The large cast, which also includes Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor and Kyle Chandler, is on-point – you buy them as cops who might want to break their own laws to shore up their non-existent retirement accounts. Quentin Tarantino recently cited The Rip as one of the few movies he’s enjoyed in the post-COVID era, which is all the praise a film like this needs.
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