There are countless hidden gems streaming on Netflix this month, including some underrated offerings from directors like Martin Scorsese (“Goodfellas,” “The Wolf of Wall Street”) and David Fincher (“Zodiac,” “Fight Club”). The streamer’s movie library also includes an absolute gut-punch sports drama that was released and, unfortunately, largely passed over by the entertainment industry’s awards bodies just a few years ago. One of this year’s Best Actor hopefuls, meanwhile, gives a transformative, shattering lead performance in a little-seen 2025 gem that just arrived on Netflix this month.
Here are seven hidden gems on Netflix that you can stream this February.
“The Iron Claw” (2023)
Director Sean Durkin’s “The Iron Claw” finds the right balance between intimate and epic, sweeping and yet sparse. A biographical sports drama, the film unpacks the history of the Von Erich family and, specifically, the tragic series of deaths that wiped out nearly an entire generation of the professional wrestling dynasty in the 1980s and ’90s.
Featuring standout performances from Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson and Holt McCallany, “The Iron Claw” transforms one of the saddest tales in the history of professional sports into a searing examination of generational trauma and toxic masculinity — all without losing an ounce of its real-life story’s gut-wrenching power.
“Blue Moon” (2025)
Ethan Hawke earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination this year for his lead performance in director Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” and for good reason. The film is a contained, single-location drama that follows alcoholic Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart (Hawke) as he mingles, drinks and reflects on the shortcomings of his life on the opening night of “Oklahoma!,” the new musical composed by former colleague Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney).
Hawke’s performance is breathless, transformative and entrancing in a film that bluntly breaks down his character’s walls to reveal the pain and loneliness hidden behind them. Few recent movies have so beautifully explored what it is like to feel truly alone — even in the middle of a crowded party.
“After Hours” (1985)
1985’s “After Hours” is one of the most underrated movies director Martin Scorsese has ever made. Led by a perfectly cast Griffin Dunne, the film follows an unassuming, everyday office worker (Dunne) as he experiences an endless series of misadventures with a number of women over the course of a single night in New York City. Featuring two wildly under-appreciated comedic performances from both Rosanna Arquette and the late, great Catherine O’Hara, “After Hours” is unlike any other movie Scorsese has directed.
It is zany, surreal, nightmarish and unforgettable, a one-of-a-kind comedy about a yuppie guy who wanders out of his usual circle and discovers he is no match for what awaits him in the world beyond. The film is, frankly, worth watching just for the scene where O’Hara’s character uses an ice cream truck to lead a vigilante mob after Dunne’s Paul Hackett.
“Caught Stealing” (2025)
“After Hours” may not have much of a reputation with the general moviegoing public, but it has influenced more movies than you would probably think, including last year’s “Caught Stealing.” Like Scorsese’s film, this crime thriller from director Darren Aronofsky is a blackly comic cross between a screwball comedy and a violent neo-noir drama. Based on the novel of the same name by Charlie Huston, the film follows baseball prodigy-turned-alcoholic-bartender Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) as his life is violently torn apart by New York City mobsters and corrupt cops looking for his MIA neighbor (Matt Smith).
“Caught Stealing” is nowhere near Aronofsky’s best film, but its twisty crime story keeps you constantly on the back foot and it is punctuated by more than a few shocking, sometimes visually inspired bursts of violence. It did not deserve to fly as far under the radar as it did when it hit theaters late last summer.
“Snatch” (2000)
Most movies wish they had as much pure swagger as “Snatch.” Director Guy Ritchie‘s early-career British crime comedy is a thriller about a stolen diamond, a small-time boxing promoter (Jason Statham), the merciless gangster (Alan Ford) he is forced to work with, a bare-knuckle boxer (Brad Pitt) he recruits to help him and the latter’s tightly knit family of Irish Travellers.
It is, in other words, a film about a man (Statham’s Turkish) caught up in an even bigger mess than he realizes, and “Snatch” has a ball getting to each immensely entertaining way that things just swing alternately between better and worse for him. Like all of Ritchie’s best films, “Snatch” is unpredictable, propulsive and hyper-confident. Fortunately, its confidence is earned.
“Mank” (2020)
“Mank” was director David Fincher’s first feature film since 2014’s “Gone Girl.” Despite that, the drama received a surprisingly muted response from both critics and moviegoers. As is always the case with Fincher’s films, though, there is more to “Mank” than meets the eye. Based on a script written by Fincher’s late father Jack, “Mank” follows real-life screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he writes the screenplay for Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane,” all while reflecting on the moments and relationships that led him to that point.
Made with style and an uncustomary dose of middle-aged reflection on Fincher’s part, “Mank” is a thought-provoking and contemplative drama about taking accountability, standing up to injustice and putting your own name on the line to do it. Oldman’s central performance is spell-binding, as is Amanda Seyfried’s Oscar-nominated supporting turn as Marion Davies, the actress partner of newspaper publisher and real-life “Citizen Kane” target, William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance).
“The Outfit” (2022)
Speaking of movies that feel lost to time, “The Outfit” is a tightly wound crime thriller from director Graham Moore that is centered around — and elevated by — a quietly commanding lead performance from star Mark Rylance. A single-location drama, the film follows an English tailor (Rylance) whose Chicago shop is taken over one night by a pair of gangsters (Dylan O’Brien and Johnny Flynn) with violent and ambitious thoughts on their minds.
A deceptive, clever thriller, “The Outfit” unfolds as both a battle of wills and a crime-driven mystery. Its plot is divided into multiple, slow-burn chapters separated by acts of inevitable violence. Said blood-splattered moments pile onto each other in a film that may not have much to say but knows how to keep you constantly, effortlessly engaged.
