These are the greatest films of all time you need to stream right now
With a plethora of films accessible at our fingertips, choosing which film to watch in the evenings can result in endless scrolling and indecision, debating between the latest Netflix rom-com or a chilling crime documentary.
But hidden away on most platforms are some gems that have been lauded by film critics for decades – and in some cases, generations.
The top seven films – as voted for by critics on Rotten Tomatoes – are all different in theme and genre, and all available to stream.
From Schindler's List to Top Gun: Maverick, here's a breakdown of some of the absolute corkers to watch tonight.
Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
The Godfather is the number one top-rated film of all time with an impressive 97% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Francis Ford Coppola's Mafia drama was met with both critical and commercial acclaim, earning over $200million (£147.5m) at the box office and winning three Oscars, including Best Picture.
The film focuses on the powerful Italian-American crime family, the Corleones, and its patriarch, Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando).
The story unfolds as the youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), joins the mafia and becomes increasingly involved in the life of crime he had been reluctant to join.
The film is available to stream on Amazon Prime, Now, and Paramount.
Casablanca is a classic romance movie from 1942 which has stood the test of time and earned a 99% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film follows Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) romance which was filmed and set during World War II.
One night while at his nightclub in Casablanca, Rick discovers his old flame Ilsa is in town with her husband Victor (Paul Henreid), a rebel with the Germans after him.
Rick can help the couple escape – but at what cost?
The film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Michael Curtiz was selected as Best Director.
The film is available to stream on BBC iPlayer
With a 100% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes, LA Confidential is a 1997 American neo-noir crime thriller from Curtis Hanson.
The movie stars Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, and Guy Pearce and focuses on a group of 1950s LAPD cops, some of whom are more than a little corrupt and collaborate with tabloid journalists.
While it's not a true story, the film draws inspiration from a variety of real events that took place in the 1950s, and the title refers to the 1950s scandal magazine Confidential, portrayed in the film as Hush-Hush.
LA Confidential is available to stream on Disney Plus.
With a 100% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes, Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai action film directed by Akira Kurosawa.
The film follows a village of farmers who, out of desperation, attempt to hire a samurai who will fight off the bandits who steal their crops.
The critics' consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: 'Arguably Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai is an epic adventure classic with an engrossing story, memorable characters, and stunning action sequences that make it one of the most influential films ever made.'
The film is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
The Godfather (1972) Casablanca (1942) L.A. Confidential (1997) Seven Samurai (1954) Parasite (2019) Schindler's List (1993) Top Gun: Maverick (2022) Chinatown (1974) On the Waterfront (1954) Toy Story 2 (1999) Rear Window (1954) The Battle of Algiers (1966) Modern Times (1936) Finding Nemo (2003) How to Train Your Dragon (2010) Toy Story 3 (2010) Up (2009) All About Eve (1950) Godzilla Minus One (2023) Toy Story (1995)
With a 100% ranking, the 2019 Korean movie Parasite was a blockbuster hit, following the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan who ingratiate themselves in the Park's lives.
The film came from writer-director Bong Joon Ho, and received huge oscar buzz, snagging the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards, as well as five other Oscars.
Parasite is available to stream on Netflix.
Schindler's List is Steven Spielberg's World War II epic starring Liam Neeson. Despite being released in 1993, the film is entirely in black and white – except for one haunting piece of colour used devastatingly in the film.
Schindler's List focuses on Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved more than a thousand mostly Polish–Jewish refugees from the Holocaust.
The film shows how Schindler used bribery and his status as a prominent businessman to employ over a thousand people and save them from the concentration camps.
With a 98% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes, the film is considered a classic and has been lauded as powerful and brutal.
The film is available to stream on Netflix and Now.
Released in 2022, Top Gun: Maverick is the long-awaited sequel to the hit 1986 film, Top Gun More Trending
Starring Tom Cruise reprising his role, the film has an A-list cast with Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, and Monica Barbaro all starring.
The movie has a 96% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes and follows the Maverick (Cruise) a naval aviator who is forced to confront his past while training a group of younger Top Gun graduates – including the son of his dead best friend – for his most dangerous mission yet.
The movie is available to stream on Channel 4.
Got a story?
If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you.
MORE: Doctor Who fans finally get sci-fi crossover they've been waiting 20 years for
MORE: The Vivienne was going to play 80s legend in movie – 'we had it all planned'
MORE: TV fans defend 'unbelievably stupid' crime thriller that's streaming for free
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
2 hours ago
- Spectator
Spectator Competition: Category error
Comp. 3413 was prompted by J.G. Ballard's story 'The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race' (itself inspired by Alfred Jarry's 'The Crucifixion Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race'). You were invited to consider some event in a category to which it did not belong. It was harder than ever to choose winners; Adrian Fry, Bill Greenwell, Paul Freeman, Martin Brown, Sue Pickard, J.S.R. Fleckney, Nicholas Stone and Sylvia Fairley are a few of the runners-up. The prizes go to those below. The Big Bang considered as a TV baking challenge The initial cosmic oven temperature was unbelievably high. Whoever was responsible for turning it on should have read the thermodynamic instructions with more care. The particle dishes eventually cooled down, while the all-seeing Judge oversaw the creative aspects of the show to ensure things were co-ordinated. The three challenges were: a signature volcanic bake to test creativity; a technical bake which took skill and talent, especially with dark matter ingredients; and finally a showstopper with fruity neutron bombes. Two would-be stars were eliminated due to a surfeit of black holes in their sponges, while another lost out during desert week. Sadly, the baked Alaska dish was not received well. In the later stages, the fundamental forces of the strong and weak came to the fore. Various quirks and quarks combined to form exciting new recipes. Uplifting, like gravity. John O'Byrne Anne Boleyn's death as an RHS seminar Tower Green today hosted an RHS seminar on the early dead-heading of tender young blooms judged to have become expendable following their excessive and unsuitable cross-pollination. The event culminated in a dramatic demonstration given by a visiting French expert who, despite an initial concern over the proper positioning of his main prop, performed his task with admirable speed and neatness which earned him a Patron's Gold Award of some £23. The said Patron, though absent due to a prior engagement, was reported to have been well satisfied with the morning's outcome and confident that it would not deter his country's most respected seedsmen from continuing to supply him with the most desirable specimens from their own exclusive stock. Indeed, an early replacement for the once-fragrant, though apparently unreliable, Rosa Boleynii may be announced very shortly. Martin Parker The first world war as a Netflix crime series The first episode of this much talked-about crime noir opened literally with a bang, the murder of a feathery-hatted aristocrat and his wife. The hit-man is swiftly arrested, but who was behind it all? Cue then a whole range of the usual stock figures, often expendable, to come and try to sort things out, including incompetent Frenchmen who need to be rescued, until things get repetitive and the plot gets bogged down near the unlikely and insignificant river Somme. In a somewhat predictable twist in episode five, the increasingly implausible action requires some entirely new characters, of course American, to tidy it up. In an overly showy final scene set – why? – in a palace full of mirrors, the principal American, apparently called Woody, apportions rewards and blame. Every-one claims it to be 'the end', but it is abundantly clear that we are being set up for a second series. Brian Murdoch The Charge of the Light Brigade as a cricket match Raglan gave the order. From the top of the pavilion he rang the starting bell. When Cardigan trotted out, it was believed he had misunderstood the instructions. He had a bad start. Dancing down the wicket to Starc he missed entirely. Next ball he repeated the madness and was caught in the deep. Raglan looked on in horror. As Australia brought out the big guns things only got worse. The 13th Light Dragoons were hit hardest at first: Duckett, Crawley and Pope all fell before lunch. Later, the 17th Lancers and the 11th Hussars took the brunt, with Brook and Smith gone by 2.30. Only Root held out till tea, when the end of the innings brought a stop to the madness. Still, the question remained. Why had England tried to play T20 cricket in a Test match? David Harris It's the Brexit round of Strictly Come Dancing, the European Union holding the floor as the UK considers a move; will she stay or withdraw? They have long been uneasy partners, out of step, missing the beat, dancing to different tempos as they struggle over who will lead. A brisk comparison of choreography; it may be a case of 'take back control' with the UK as the music starts. Leavers and Remainers begin to tango, pressed close, a passionate, heated dip and rise, a kick or two. Incredible tension. A battle for independence, a flirtation with staying in sync. This may be the last tango in Paris, or anywhere in Europe for that matter. The judges confer, and the Leavers waltz away with the crown, leaving the Remainers feeling slighted, shocked and boxed into a corner with little room to manoeuvre. It's been absolute murder on the dancefloor. Janine Beacham The Annual Budget as a Branch of Mathematics Sturtevant and Yang propose erecting a new branch of maths, to be known as Governmental, Impure or Speculative Mathematics, but there is more to the subject than the commonplace that cancellarian two and two do not usually make four. Consider Cook's Variable Constant, C, (the 'Fudge Factor') defined as modulus (Ng – Nw), where Ng = the number you have and Nw = the number you want. Particularly interesting is the finite summation of an infinite diverging series, so that government borrowing can increase forever without repayment. A further promising development is Quantum Statistics, in which figures can be right and wrong simultaneously. The novel use of infinitesimals, as applied to spending cuts, is more controversial, but a ground-breaking use of pi, as something we can have tomorrow, but never today, exemplifies the useful creativity of the new subject. Frank Upton No. 3416: Throuple You are invited to submit a passage which marries romantasy with a third genre, e.g. political thriller, comic fiction, noir (150 words max, not too rude). Please email entries to competition@ by 3 September.
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Hostage review: Political thriller sets bonkers bar high
*** Channel 4 was understandably delighted this week to acquire Sherlock creator Steven Moffat's Number 10, a drama set in what its makers dub 'the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent'. Let the record show, however, that Suranne Jones got there first with Hostage. There have been Downing Street thrillers before Netflix's latest, and there will be more after, starting with Moffat's, but Hostage sets the bonkers bar impressively high. Jones plays British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton. The Dalton government is beset by crises, chief among them a shortage of cancer drugs. To top it all, the PM's teenage daughter has been out on the town with mates, and the French president is coming round to tell Dalton off for being soft on migrants. Madame President is played, rather magnificently, by Julie Delpy, bona fide French cinema goddess/writer/director. What a hoot it is to see her character waft into Downing Street, a right-winger ready to do battle with Dalton's seemingly soppy liberal. But what do you know: fate has brought these two alpha women together for a reason, or reasons, that will emerge over five episodes. Created and written by Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies), it is almost impossible to say more about the plot of Hostage because the series relies so heavily on killer twists and handbrake turns. I'm convinced Netflix and the other streamers have secret labs somewhere churning out plot surprises, the crazier the better, and there are some doozies here. Best to consider the title a clue and take it from there. Read more: With all this high-octane mayhem going on, Hostage needs its ballast. Lending Jones and Delpy a hand are James Cosmo as the Prime Minister's dad (complete with a north of England accent to match his screen daughter), Lucian Msamati (Conclave, Gangs of London) as her chief of staff, and Ashley Thomas as her doctor husband. Jones and Delpy do most to smooth the rough edges, and there are a few. The Downing Street in Hostage has the smallest press pack I've ever seen. They look more like a bus queue than a posse of reporters. Some of the dialogue sounds like a beginner's guide to British politics. And if you want a drinking game, take a gulp for every time Dalton kicks her heels off to signal how fed up she is with keeping up appearances when her world is crumbling. Jones is an executive producer on Hostage. What a distance she's come since playing one of Steve McDonald's many wives in Coronation Street. Doctor Foster made her a small-screen A-lister, and from then on she had her pick of parts. Not everything has gone her way - HBO fell out of love with period drama Gentleman Jack - but the successes, including the Scotland-set police thriller Vigil - have kept coming. Now she's an industry player in her own right, her name enough to carry a series, nationally and internationally. Real-life Prime Ministers should watch and learn.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Baby Reindeer actor Richard Gadd undergoes beefed up transformation for new role - see the Netflix star now
Richard Gadd has seriously bulked up after the smashing success of his Netflix series Baby Reindeer. The 36-year-old Scottish multihyphenate showed off his very impressive bulkier and more muscular figure in new promotional images released from his latest project Half Man. Richard has cultivated some serious mass as his arms and torso were noticeably bigger in the upcoming HBO-BBC drama. The Primetime Emmy winner was joined by costar Jamie Bell in one of the images as they created the series together. Richard revealed earlier this year that he wants the new series to be a departure from the intensely personal and autobiographical Baby Reindeer. After first joking that his next project would be a 'musical,' Richard called Half Man a 'departure from the kind of autobiographical, semi-biographical stuff that I've done before, but it's still dark. 'It still explores the contradictions of the human condition, but it feels nice not to be turning in it all the time while I'm doing it,' he explained. 'So this one I wouldn't say is a full departure. However, he suggested it was 'still probably totally what you'd expect from me,' though its 'subject matter' might surprise Baby Reindeer fans. He added that he hoped that working on something that wasn't based on his own life would 'be a healthy thing to do.' His upcoming series charts 40 tumultuous years in the lives of brothers who are now estranged. The action begins in the present, when Gadd's character Ruben crashes Bell's character Niall's wedding, setting of an exploration of their traumatic relationship from decades earlier. Speaking of a beefed up transformation, earlier this year Richard talked about the surprising actor he would like to team up with. Speaking with Daily Mail at the SAG Awards back in January, he sounded excited about the possibility of teaming up with a major wrestler-turned-film star: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. 'I love The Rock. I'm waiting for his call currently,' Gadd joked when asked if he'd consider working with the Jumanji star. 'No, he hasn't been in touch,' Gadd clarified, but he wouldn't mind a call, as he is a 'big wrestling fan.' Even though that fact seems to surprise people, he admitted that one of his dreams would be a 'road trip with me, The Rock, John Cena, and let's just say Bret Hart.' 'I don't know what we'll talk about, but we'll do it,' he continued. 'They'll be talking and I'll just be there... ' Richard created, wrote and plays the lead role in Baby Reindeer, his hit dark dramedy thriller that was adapted from his autobiographical one-man show. In the series, he plays a version of himself named Donny Dunn who works as a bartender and moonlights as an aspiring comedian. One of his pub customer's, Martha (fellow Indie Spirit winner Jessica Gunning), develops an unhealthy obsession with him that escalates to stalking. The series also delves into his conflicted feelings about his relationship with his girlfriend Teri, a transgender American therapist (played by Nava Mau, who won the best supporting performance honor at the Independent Spirit Awards), and an abusive collaboration with a TV writer who takes him under his wing. The series, which was released on Netflix, has been a hit with critics and fans alike. Richard went on to share his advice to other stars who may be dealing with stalkers, including Piers Morgan, who recently revealed he was dealing with a situation that seemed to be straight out of the hit series. He urged anyone tormented by similar circumstances to 'keep going' and to not let it get in their way. 'I think there's times in my life where I felt like the pressure was so intolerable,' he admitted. 'I almost didn't think there would be any sort of way out, but I think it's almost cliché, the sort of time-is-the-greatest-healer type of thing, but it really is. 'Every now and again in the darkness, there will be a crack of light, and then as the days go by, those cracks get bigger and ultimately suddenly you're standing in sunlight,' Richard continued. 'It is strange, but I never thought it would end, but I think just the belief that one day it will was enough for me,' he said on a hopeful note. 'I think, no, nothing bad sustains forever. I do believe that, and I think that the simple two words would be, "Keep going..."'
