Best Movies on Netflix This Week

The list above is ranked by what people on Netflix US are watching this week, which is a useful signal and a slightly misleading one. Popularity on Netflix is partly a function of what the service is currently promoting · a film that lands in the top row on a Wednesday will be in this week's numbers whether or not it is any good. Cross-check anything you haven't heard of against its rating on the title page before you commit two hours to it.

The more reliable read is the second half of the list. The top three or four titles are usually whatever launched most recently; positions five through twenty are closer to genuine word of mouth, and that's where the foreign-language dramas and the older catalogue films that quietly found an audience tend to sit. If you've been disappointed by Netflix's front page lately, start there instead of at the top.

One thing this list will not tell you is how long a title has left. Netflix owns most of what it promotes, so its originals stay put, but the licensed catalogue turns over monthly and gives no warning on the tile itself. If something here is on your maybe list rather than your tonight list, save it and check back rather than assuming it will still be there next month.