Netflix has seen a number of movies come and go this month, which may make it difficult for some viewers to pick which films to watch this week. Fortunately, that is why we made this list. Right now, the streamer’s best film titles include a 20th-century Hollywood epic that has decidedly stood the test of time and a deeply underrated early 2020s biopic drama from one of America’s greatest living directors. Elsewhere, Netflix also has an early ’90s crime thriller that combines surreal humor, earnest romance and bloody violence to surprisingly great effect.
Here are the three best movies you can watch on Netflix this week.
“Lawrence of Arabia” (1962)
Rightly regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” is an epic of breathtaking visual scale and astonishing emotional power. Based on the life of T.E. Lawrence, the film follows an ambitious, confident British army officer (Peter O’Toole) as he becomes a key figure in the Arab Revolt of World War I, achieving a kind of respect along the way that proves to be far less immovable than he believes.
A mesmerizing portrait of hubris and the unrelenting, erosive nature of time, “Lawrence of Arabia” is a film that knows how to leave you sitting in stunned silence. (It may, indeed, also have the single greatest cut in the history of cinema. You’ll know it when you see it.)
“Ferrari” (2023)
Speaking of movies about mankind’s arrogance, director Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” is a wildly underrated 2023 drama about the life, career, sins and triumphs of Italian race car driver and entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver). Set during a specific, pivotal summer in its subject’s life, the film follows Driver’s scrambling, stubborn businessman and maverick as he tries to juggle his volatile marriage, ongoing affair, personal racing ambitions and his company’s growing financial struggles.
Featuring volcanic performances from both Driver and co-star Penélope Cruz, “Ferrari” may not be as monumental an achievement as some of Mann’s more beloved films, but it is still absolutely worth your time. It’s a gripping and deeply considered exploration of the moral and personal concessions that come when a man refuses to bend to the will of the world.
“True Romance” (1993)
1993’s “True Romance” came out one year after Quentin Tarantino’s feature directorial debut, “Reservoir Dogs,” and it helped establish him as one of cinema’s most distinct emerging artistic voices at the time.
Written by Tarantino and directed by “Top Gun” filmmaker Tony Scott, “True Romance” is a lurid, silly and surprisingly romantic “Bonnie and Clyde” riff about an eccentric cinephile (Christian Slater) and a prostitute (Patricia Arquette) who decide to defy the latter’s pimp by getting married, stealing some valuable cocaine and going on the run to try to sell it in Hollywood. In typical Tarantino fashion, plenty of over-the-top violence ensues in “True Romance,” a film that has no business working as well as it does.
The Top 21 New Movies Streaming Right Now