![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/97a2e97aa086e197d6a0ce69fed71b91ee-05-jake-gyllenhaal-nightcrawler.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler.
\n Photo: Chuck Zlotnick\/Open Road Films\n <\/p>\n
As box-office records are broken by The Odyssey<\/a> and Spider-Man: Brand New Day<\/a>, Netflix counterprogrammed in the first few days of the month with one of its biggest updates of the year. The slow trickle of catalogue titles became an unexpected deluge in early August, leading to an edition of our monthly highlights column that\u2019s bursting with variety: a horror classic, a kids\u2019 movie for MLB fans, a Best Picture winner, an underrated indie comedy, and, oh, some needed background in the battle of the best webslinger movies<\/a>. Pick your faves.<\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>2008 Joel and Ethan Coen followed their Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men with one of their most cynical and hysterical movies, a comedy of errors about some incredibly stupid people. Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Richard Jenkins, John Malkovich, and J.K. Simmons star in a movie that\u2019s basically about, well, a bunch of total idiots. No one drops an F-bomb like John Malkovich. \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>1995 You can keep all those stuffy Jane Austen adaptations \u2014 one of the best remains Amy Heckerling\u2019s updating of the 1815 classic Emma to mid-\u201990s L.A. Is this the most \u201990s movie ever? From its fashion to its references to its beloved characters, it\u2019s certainly one of the most iconic, a movie that made a small impact when it was released but feels like it grows even more popular with each generation that discovers it. (And that fan base will only continue to grow with the just-announced legacy sequel featuring Alicia Silverstone.) \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>2018 Bo Burnham\u2019s feature directorial debut is old enough now that we can start wondering what\u2019s taking him so long to deliver a follow-up. Until he does, check out one of the best A24 movies of its era in this nuanced coming-of-age tale. Elsie Fisher gives a breakthrough performance as a young lady who makes YouTube videos that pretty much only she sees and struggles her way through the most socially awkward years of existence. Smart, moving, and incredibly clever, this is a great comedy that rings of so much truth that it hurts. \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>2020 This low-budget dramedy always had a bit of a low ceiling in terms of national attention, but a 2020 Toronto International Film Festival debut didn\u2019t help given a little thing called COVID. It\u2019s exactly the kind of movie that should gain cult-classic status on a service like Netflix. The title is misleading. This is not a kids\u2019 movie. It\u2019s the story of Abe Applebaum (Adam Brody, never better), a guy who once was a local celeb as the \u201ckid detective\u201d but now has to face a very adult case. Smart, funny, and twisting, it also packs an unexpected emotional wallop. \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>2015 It\u2019s a bit depressing that the best Minions movie yet<\/a>, the truly funny Minions & Monsters, was kind of a box-office disappointment, but it\u2019s still a good time to go back to the beginning of this franchise and see why people can\u2019t get enough of these little yellow idiots. Put on your best suit and sit down for an origin story about the little dudes who stole so many scenes in the Despicable Me movies that they got their own unstoppable franchise. \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>2014 Jake Gyllenhaal does what is arguably still the best work of his career as Lou Bloom, a Los Angeles stringer who discovers that the violent events he records late at night in the City of Angels can make him a TV-news star. Propulsive and kind of terrifying, this is a brilliant examination of the underbelly of journalism and the people on the fringe of society who are willing to cross any moral boundary to find their brief time in the light. It now looks ahead of its time. \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>1993 People who were of a certain age in 1993 probably remember this film with nostalgic fondness. It was a surprising hit that summer, telling the story of a kid who has arm surgery that makes him into a Major League Baseball star. Critics thought it was pretty mediocre when it came out, but it\u2019s the kind of film that kids loved at the time. And those kids may now be the parents who want to pitch it to a new generation. \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>1993 Let\u2019s leave the Disclosure Day debates<\/a> of 2026 behind and find a movie from the master that most of us can agree on. Steven Spielberg\u2019s personal masterpiece is the saga of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish refugees in Poland during the Holocaust. Spielberg is one of our greatest film historians, telling chapters of world history in a way that only he can, and this remains one of his most notable achievements, a reminder of the power of extreme good even in the face of extreme evil. \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>1996 Netflix recently added the most random array of Scream movies, so consider this an entry for them all, even if the Wes Craven original remains the best of the bunch. It\u2019s an essential genre flick that changed everything when it dropped three decades ago. Reinventing the slasher genre, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson crafted a brilliant mystery that owes as much to Agatha Christie as it does Jason Voorhees. It\u2019s a perfect horror flick, and one that launched a franchise that\u2019s still rolling today. (Netflix currently houses the first three Craven flicks, and the fifth and sixth from the reboot era.) \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>1994 Jan de Bont directed one of the best movies of the \u201990s and gave dozens of imitators a template when he released this simple-but-fantastic flick. In fact, its simplicity is one of its charms. A bus is equipped with a bomb that will explode if it drops below 50 miles per hour, and Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are the only people that can stop it. (Note: The sequel is also on Netflix, but you should watch just about anything else.) \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>2004 Most superhero movies on streaming services are the exclusive property now of Disney+ given Disney\u2019s ownership of the MCU, but Sony superhero films are allowed to escape the clutches every now and then and find their way to other streaming services. Right now, all three films<\/a> from Sam Raimi<\/a> are on Netflix, just in time for some Brand New Day<\/a> (and maybe even Avengers: Doomsday) homework. The second film is easily still the best, but they\u2019re all worth a rewatch (yes, even the third one). \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Year: <\/strong>2022 One of the best films of the 2020s, Cate Blanchett stars here as a famous conductor named Lydia T\u00e1r, who may or may not be undergoing a mental meltdown. Blanchett throws herself into the role (she should have won the Oscar), and it\u2019s worth noting that this film has very rarely been on streaming services. Take the shot on it while you can. \u27bd Streaming now.<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up for the Vulture Daily<\/p>\n An entertainment newsletter for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 35m
Director: <\/strong>Joel Coen<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 37m
Director: <\/strong>Amy Heckerling<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 33m
Director: <\/strong>Bo Burnham<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 37m
Director: <\/strong>Evan Morgan<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 30m
Director: <\/strong>Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 57m
Director: <\/strong>Dan Gilroy<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 45m
Director: <\/strong>Daniel Stern<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>3h 15m
Director: <\/strong>Steven Spielberg<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 52m
Director: <\/strong>Wes Craven<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>1h 56m
Director: <\/strong>Jan de Bont<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>2h 8m
Director: <\/strong>Sam Raimi<\/p>\n
Runtime: <\/strong>2h 38m
Director: <\/strong>Todd Field<\/p>\n