You plop down in front of the couch. You boot up your Netflix. You look at all the content available to stream. And you think to yourself, “WAGHHHHH!” There’s, like, so much to watch, right? Sometimes an overwhelming amount, right? Not to fear, fellow Netflixers. For just as we keep track of everythingcoming tothe service, month to month, we’re also here to help you cut through the noise.
These five movies are available to stream on Netflix starting today, June 29, 2025. They’re some of the best the service has to offer, and they range the gamut from curios distributed by Netflix itself, to literally one of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters ever made. This November, be thankful for these five, high-quality movies you’ll be dozing in front of after the tryptophan kicks in.
And if you want more Netflix recs, check out these guides:
Directed by: David Michôd
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Lily-Rose Depp, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsohn
Shakespearerules. But I get that there’s a barrier of entry to his work – hard-to-understand old-fashioned language, convoluted plotting, and you have to go to a dang theatre to see most of it! However, for the latest and greatest Shakespeare adaptation, all you have to do is boot up Netflix. AndThe Kingis more accessible than others, taking Shakespeare’s various plays about all the King Henrys and turning them into a gripping, streamlined drama with an unprecedentedly intimidating central performance fromTimothée Chalamet(Call Me By Your Name). DirectorDavid Michôdis best known for his vicious Australian crime dramas likeAnimal KingdomandThe Rover– and this time, he co-wrote the script with actor and screenwriterJoel Edgerton(The Gift). Their pedigrees might give you as to the direction they’re taking the historical drama. Even if you don’t normally go for films about medieval warfare,The Kingjust might be your exception.
The Man Without Gravity
Directed by: Marco Bonfanti
Cast: Elio Germano, Michela Cescon, Elena Cotta
The Man Without Gravityis an Italian magical-realist fable from first-time narrative filmmakerMarco Bonfanti. Bonfanti is normally known for documentary works likeBozzetto non troppoandThe Last Shepherd, which follow the sometimes-fantastical journeys of an animation pioneer and a shepherd who decides to stay in a metropolitan city. Now, in his fiction debut, he takes this interest in imaginative whimsy and blows it out with an irresistible premise. Oscar (Elio Germano) is the titular man without gravity. Which is to say – he’s always floating. From the moment of his birth (as shown quite convincingly in the Netflix-provided trailer) to his attempts to live in a normal home, Oscar is not bound to the Earth like you or I. During his childhood, his caretakers do their best to protect him from an outside world that might not understand him. But as he grows up, he decides he must engage with the world – and becomes a minor celebrity in the process. For the sheer uniqueness of the premise alone – combined with the very European aesthetic sensibilities therein –The Man Without Gravityis worth a stream.
Step Brothers
Directed by: Adam McKay
Cast: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn
With 2004’sAnchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,Adam McKayandWill Ferrellfused their absurdist sensibilities to a satisfyingly slick mainstream narrative. With 2008’sStep Brothers, the team laser-focused in on the absurdity, crystalizing their flights of nonsense into a sneakily influential work of pure comedy. What I’m trying to say is:Step Brothersis fucking funny. It does have a plot, and a surprisingly emotional one at that: Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (John C. Reilly) are stunted adults who still live at home. When Brennan’s mom (Mary Steenburgen) marries Dale’s dad (Richard Jenkins), the two must reckon with change, growth, burgeoning friendships, and the power of family. Relatable stuff, right? The perfect anchor to allow for everyone’s comedic impulses to veer into calculated insanity, providing for a murderer’s row of gut-hurting set pieces, improvised riffs that go further than you think, and the beginnings of McKay’s interests in muckraking filmmaking. “Did we just become best friends?” After you watchStep Brothers, your answer will be a hearty, “Yup!”
The Matrix
Directed by: The Wachowskis
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
So, like, what the hell can I say to get you to streamThe Matrixon Netflix that hasn’t been said already? It’s both one of the best science fiction and action films ever made. It’s likely the most influential Hollywood film made in the past 20 years. It fuses a cornucopia of wild ideas from Eastern philosophies, cyberpunk manifestos, and right-down-the-middle blockbuster filmmaking. It’s got some of the dopest iconography ever put on screen, from “I know kung fu” to “Dodge this.” But beyond all this, what givesThe Matrixits eternal staying power? Well… it’s just, like, really entertaining. Every scene is a blast to watch, every performance is pitch-perfect, everyWachowski-crafted sequence plays exactly as it should. Just, like, drop whatever the heck you’re doing and friggin’ streamThe Matrixon Netflix already! Oh, P.S. the other twoMatrixfilms are now streaming on Netflix as well –The Matrix Reloadedboasts some dope action sequences among some very pretentious info-dumps, andThe Matrix Revolutionsis also a movie that exists.
Directed by: David Fincher
Cast: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn, Deborah Kara Unger, Peter Donat, Carroll Baker, Armin Mueller-Stahl
So you’ve finished streamingThe Matrix, per my emphatic instructions. But you’re still in the mood for a “man tugs at a thread until he discovers his entire world isn’t real” kind of flick. Might I interest you inThe Game,David Fincher’s underrated 1997 suspense thriller? It starsMichael Douglasat his most Michael Douglas-y: An mega-rich investment banker who’s estranged from his family and kinda doesn’t care about anything. His younger brother, the manically-pitchedSean Penn, wants to give him a birthday present: a real-life “game” that promises to change lives. Douglas reluctantly obliges. And then finds himself catapulted into a propulsive underworld of danger, lies, double-crosses, and earth-shattering circumstances.The Gameplays with realities-within-realities in ways that are clever and twisty, yet helpfully accessible. This film is also one of the most “fun” Fincher has ever made – while it still reckons with typically Fincherian themes of obsession and corruption, it does so with rollicking action sequences. And while some may knock its ending, I find it to be the most appealingly optimistic of Fincher’s oeuvre. Sometimes it’s good to have heart, you know?
