Netflix is a streaming giant, and as such, its options can be a bit overwhelming to navigate.
Luckily, we’ve got you covered.
Below is our list of our favorite 61 movies currently streaming on the platform. We vary by genre, with everything from charming rom coms to serious documentaries to stone cold classics. Whatever you like, there’s probably something for you on the list.
You can also look over some of our other entertainment lists:
- Ranking the best new movies on Netflix in November
- The 55 best movies streaming free for Amazon Prime members
- 26 great video games to play while stuck at home
Let’s get to the best movies on Netflix in December.
1. JURASSIC PARK (New in December) -- Steven Spielberg's classic dino flick has aged tremendously. For a film so heavily reliant on early CGI, it still looks (and feels) spectacular.
2. E.T. (New in December) -- Another Spielberg masterpiece, another must-see movie for sci-fi fans young and old.
3. CHEF (New in December) -- Jon Favreau's delightful ode to the culinary world is a crowd pleaser for sure. If you're a foodie, or even if you just like good tunes and dudes being bros in food truck, you'll love it.
4. RUNAWAY BRIDE (New in December) -- Julia Roberts turns the charm up to 11 in this romantic comedy, with Richard Gere.
5. AIRPLANE! -- One of the great laugh-a-minute movies ever made, and one you quote probably more than you even realize.
6-8. BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY -- This is the last month the trilogy is available on Netflix, so get in on the classic films before they depart in 2021.
9. MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING -- Another charming Julia Roberts rom com. She really had a run of those in the 90s, didn't she?
10. BLUE RUIN -- One of the most unsung thrillers of the last few decades, BLUE RUIN is by turns violent, harrowing, moving, and oddly beautiful.
11. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE -- A deranged piece of cinema by a true auteur, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is a difficult watch, but with moments you will never forget.
12. DALLAS BUYERS CLUB -- Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto got tons of awards buzz for their performances in this film about the early days of the AIDS epidemic.
13. WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY -- A spoof so good it's made musical biopics all but unwatchable, because any time you try to sit through one, you realize that you'd rather be watching Dewey Cox.
14. DJANGO UNCHAINED -- Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio square off in Quentin Tarantino's pulpy revenge tale.
15. EASY A -- Emma Stone is charming, but this movie (an adaptation of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter) is stolen by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, who play her parents and crush every scene they're in.
16. ETERNAL SUNSHINE FOR THE SPOTLESS MIND -- Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are dazzling and heartbreaking in this sci-fi take on the romantic comedy.
17. EXTRACTION -- Wanna see a Hemsworth blow all sorts of stuff up? Do we have the movie for you.
18. FRUITVALE STATION -- Michael B. Jordan stars in his breakout role, about a young man shot and killed by a BART police officer in Oakland.
19. FARGO -- Arguably the Coen Brothers' masterpiece, a noir thriller with an unforgettable lead detective -- Frances McDormand playing a sweet, pregnant cop from Minnesota.
20. THE FOUNDER -- A movie about the start of a fast food chain has no business being this engaging, this funny, and this memorable.
21. FRIDA -- Salma Hayek worked for years to get this film made, about the legendary artist Frida Kahlo.
22. FROST / NIXON -- A movie about a conversation, but one that sets big stakes, defines them clearly, and then watches carefully as the two men (David Frost and Richard Nixon) go at it.
23. THE HELP -- A somewhat flimsy premise is elevated by performances from Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis.
24. HER -- Spike Jonze's modern love story is about a man (Joaquin Phoenix), and the disembodied digital assistant voice (Scarlett Johansson) he grows infatuated with.
25. THE HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE -- Taiki Waititi is a major director now, but my favorite film of his is still this small indie comedy, about an odd couple who go on the run in the New Zealand wilderness.
26. ICARUS -- This documentary starts out as one thing (a man trying to train hard for a cycling race by doping himself) and turns into a tense international spy thriller, almost by accident. A singular film.
27-29. INDIANA JONES TRILOGY -- More Spielberg classics. We're not including the fourth Indiana Jones movie, the one with Shia LaBeouf, but if you really want it, it's on the platform as well.
30. THE IRISHMAN -- Martin Scorcese makes another iconic gangster epic, this time straight to Netflix. With a cast that's hard to believe.
31. LA 92 -- A minute-by-minute look at the 1992 riots that rocked Los Angeles. You leave with a deeper understanding of everything that led to the city burning.
32. LADY BIRD -- Greta Gerwig wrote and directed this charming, honest look at her youth in Sacramento.
33. MARRIAGE STORY -- Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson give powerful performances about a couple trying to find hope and redemption as their marriage falls apart.
34. MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL -- Simply put one of the funniest movies ever made. If you haven't seen it, please correct this problem.
35. MOONLIGHT -- Barry Jenkins' moody, coming-of-age masterpiece won the Oscar for Best Picture.
36. NIGHTCRAWLER -- Jake Gyllenhall is terrifying as a paparazzo with no moral compass.
37. OKJA -- An allegorical tale about the meat industry, which somehow manages to (forgive the pun) skewer both sides, and find charm and heart while doing so.
38. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST -- Jack Nicholson's iconic role as Randy McMurphy, in the adaptation of the novel from Ken Kesey.
39. OPERATION ODESSA -- A documentary that's so bombastic it's hard to believe, in which you learn about the gangsters and crooks who tried to sell a Russian nuclear submarine.
40. MONEYBALL -- Brad Pitt adds warmth and humanity to this adaptation of the Michael Lewis book, about how numbers changed baseball.
41. QUANTUM OF SOLACE -- I rewatched this recently, and was surprised to find it better than I remembered it. Not a typical Bond film by any stretch, but one in which Daniel Craig makes headway finding the hurt in the character.
42. THE QUEEN -- Helen Mirren has made a cottage industry of playing the queen, but she's done so by adding a humanity to a woman who's a symbol for an empire.
43. ROMA -- Alfonso Cuaron's black-and-white epic is a gorgeous piece of personal cinema. Like a painting, you need to watch closely to appreciate every frame.
44. SENNA -- A documentary for racing fans and those who don't know how a car works alike, about a driven athlete who gave his all for the sport he loved.
45. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK -- A charming, odd romantic comedy about broken people finding love through dance and the Philadelphia Eagles.
46. SNOWPIERCER -- Chris Evans stars in this Bong Joon-ho film about income inequality, which also happens to be an action thriller which takes place on a train.
47. THE SOCIAL NETWORK -- David Fincher channels Aaron Sorkin's strongest script to create a fascinating portrait of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.
48. SPOTLIGHT -- Perhaps the greatest journalism film ever made, it proceeds with a quiet outrage, and pays homage to the diligent work needed to bring down a broken system.
49. STRANGER THAN FICTION -- Will Ferrell goes serious in this strange, fun little romantic film about a man who's life is actually controlled by an author, writing his story.
50. THE DAWN WALL -- A breathtaking documentary on a climber determined to scale a never-before-attempted route up a rock formation in Yosemite.
51. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING -- Light on science, big on heart, this film humanizes the genius of Stephen Hawking.
52. THE OUTPOST -- Jake Tapper wrote this intense film about an unsung group of soldiers who'd been set up to fail, yet fought on regardless.
53. THERE WILL BE BLOOD -- Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece, with the performance of a lifetime from Daniel Day Lewis.
54. TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY -- A quiet, brooding spy thriller that shows how so much of international espionage is really just between people -- sad, heartbroken, normal people.
55. THE TOWN -- Ben Affleck showed he could direct (and well!) with this Boston crime thriller, with a scene-stealing performance from Jeremy Renner.
56. THE TWO POPES -- A film about two popes talking for a few days doesn't sound all that interesting for those of us who aren't so ecclesiastically inclined, but my is this film wonderful.
57. UNCUT GEMS -- Adam Sandler is magnificent in this film, which is basically a ball of stress wrapped up and cut into 90 minutes.
58. WEST SIDE STORY -- This musical is a classic for a reason. Every song slaps.
59. THE WITCHES -- This deranged film is one of the few that actually captures the dark, funny weirdness that was Roald Dahl. (Only the Willy Wonka boat scene comes close!)
60. WHOSE STREETS? -- A powerful documentary that captures the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
61. ZODIAC -- David Fincher's understated epic shows how a serial killer brought an entire state to its knees, and broke the men who pursued him.
