Lucy Boynton stars in the 2016 musical comedy-drama ‘Sing Street.’
Netflix
There are many great movies that have come close to achieving the rare 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but they aren’t always easy to find on your favorite streaming services. But Netflix is no stranger to these critically adored features, as the streaming giant is home to dozens of films that achieved near-universal praise from critics—including the ten movies featured on this list. The movies I highlight for this article include some new releases, from coming-of-age stories based on classic novels to black comedies about the instability of identity, to classics that have long stood the test of time, from family-friendly sci-fi adventures to culturally critical horror flicks that redefined the genre. The tones and styles on this list are all over the place, but the films are united in their incredible ability to appeal to a wide array of cinematic tastes.
So what Rotten Tomatoes juggernauts are we discussing today? I’ve done lists like this before for Netflix (if you’d like more movie options, you can find my previous articles here, here, here and here), but this fresh batch of ten movies goes down a different path entirely. Below, I’ve covered everything you need to know about all ten movies, from their plot summaries to why they won people over (there is a trailer included for each film as well). I hope you find a new favorite in this bunch.
The Most Critically Acclaimed Movies On Netflix
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (2023)
232 reviews — 99% approval rating
Some of the best movies are based on books that were banned. To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple and A Clockwork Orange were banned for their societal observations, for their fearlessness in depicting racism and violence. But sometimes young adult books featuring teenage characters, such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower, are banned for approaching “taboo” subjects for young people—in the case of Judy Blume’s classic Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, religious identity, menstruation and female adolescence were the driving factors. But with those topics much more approachable and prolific in young adult movies these days, the film adaptation from Kelly Fremon Craig (who also directed The Edge of Seventeen) was primed to connect with a modern audience. The movie follows 11-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson), who grapples with a new school, with new friends, with the confusing transition from childhood into adolescence after her family moves from New York City to suburban New Jersey. Margaret must navigate theological dilemmas within her religious family—she has a Christian mother, Barbara (Rachel McAdams), and a Jewish father, Herb (Benny Safdie)—while fitting in with her new group of friends—led by the outspoken Nancy Wheeler (Elle Graham)—who obsess over puberty, bras, periods and, of course, boys. Oh, and the ever-great Kathy Bates puts on a show as the strong-willed grandmother, Sylvia. Ultimately, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is about the beauty and messiness of becoming yourself—through trial, through doubt, through the tentative act of reaching out for something greater than yourself.
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
71 reviews — 96% approval rating
Many great filmmakers and their films have achieved generation-defining milestones at the Academy Awards. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win Best Director at the 2010 Oscars (for The Hurt Locker). Bong Joon-ho’s Parasitebecame the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture. Ian McKellen became the first openly gay actor to be nominated for playing an openly gay character in Gods and Monsters. And John Singleton stands among such company for the seminal hood film Boyz n the Hood, which made him the first Black person (and the youngest person ever) to be nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards. This classic story follows 10-year-old Tre Styles (Desi Arnez Hines II), who, after he gets into a fight at school, is sent to live with his father, Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne), by his mother, Reva (Angela Bassett), in South Central Los Angeles. As Tre grows into a teenager (now played by Cuba Gooding Jr.), his father instills in him values of discipline, education and responsibility—values often at odds with the violence and peer pressure around him. Tre’s best friends are Doughboy (Ice Cube), a charismatic but troubled youth who embraces street life, and Ricky (Morris Chestnut), Doughboy’s half-brother, a promising football player with college aspirations. As the boys walk their paths, they’re increasingly pulled in different directions by cycles of crime, racism and poverty, all before a senseless act of violence shatters their group and forces a decision. Boyz n the Hood is ultimately a tragedy about choice—or the lack of it. While some characters try to escape the system, others are caught in cycles that make escape nearly impossible.
Train to Busan (2016)
128 reviews — 95% approval rating
We rarely see zombie movies move with the pace and rhythm of Train to Busan. Director Yeon Sang-ho (also known for movies like Peninsula and the series Hellbound) magically transforms a simple setup—a father and daughter on a train from Seoul to Busan—into something furious, emotional and relentless, with each and every car of the train becoming its own little film fighting its own little apocalypse. The story follows Seok-woo (Gong Yoo), a fund manager who always seems to be too busy for his daughter—and, as we’ll soon see, too proud to admit he’s scared. And during their train ride, the inevitable infection hits. One passenger and one bite later, the whole trip suddenly goes off the rails. Yeon doesn’t waste time explaining what caused such mayhem because, really, it doesn’t much matter at that point. The chaos spreads fast, and loud, and messily, and that’s the point of Sang-ho’s aesthetic—one that is built upon a claustrophobic structure and real-time momentum, with kinetic camerawork and practical effects, with themes that comment on class, selfishness and redemption all at once. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes praised how the movie never loses its heart amid all that motion, how it remembers to care about people even when they’re covered in blood. By the time the train finally reaches its last stop, you realize that Train to Busan is not about zombies at all, but about how people help each other when everything is falling apart; ultimately, the film argues for community over individualism, with its most resonant scenes showcasing strangers who band together, who risk their lives for each other and challenge rigid hierarchies we perceive to make up our world.
E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982)
146 reviews — 99% approval rating
We all have that one movie that reminds us what it felt like to be small, to feel like we’re helpless in the face of the world’s intimidating obstacles. And for a lot of people that movie is E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial—that flashlight glow, that late-night hush, that backyard that somehow felt like outer space. Spielberg’s 1982 classic doesn’t just show childhood wonder, but remembers it, cinematically envisions it, all the way down to the dust in the beam of a bicycle headlight. Many, if not most, people have seen this glorious movie. But if you never have, or you just haven’t seen it in a while—perhaps ever since you were a child yourself—then fix that now, because, trust me, it holds up. This wonderful story follows Elliott (Henry Thomas), who finds an alien—a wrinkled little creature left behind when the ship panicked and lifted off—hiding in his family’s shed. Elliott hides this extraterrestrial from his mom (Dee Wallace) and his sister (Drew Barrymore) and slowly figures out that they share a pulse, a mood, a fear. Soon, it becomes Elliott’s job to hide E.T. from the government agents searching for him; they work together to build a device to “phone home,” hoping E.T.’s alien family will return before it’s too late. Director Steven Spielberg (who created other 1980s classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Color Purple) shoots suburbia, fittingly, like it’s another planet, with light spilling through blinds and bikes cutting across the moon with an otherworldly aura. The most beautiful aspect of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’s titular character is how the creature doesn’t represent conquest or fear like many sci-fi aliens, and instead embodies vulnerability, compassion and the ability to love across boundaries—inherent childlike qualities reflected in our young protagonists.
Sing Street (2016)
216 reviews — 95% approval rating
Honestly, it surprised me to see this movie ranking among all-time classics. But perhaps it shouldn’t have. After all, the director of Sing Street, John Carney, previously gave us the wonderful Oscar-winning musical Once, as well as the critical hit Begin Again, two movies that thrive on their authentic performances, on their musical fluidity, on their optimistic energy. And in 2016, Carney returned to his Irish roots for this semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story, drawing inspiration from his own youth and experiences in Dublin for its heartening story. The film is set in 1985 Dublin, where 15-year-old Conor Lawlor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) is forced to transfer from a cushy private school to the much rougher state school Synge Street, where he is bullied and isolated—that is until he meets the mysterious girl Raphina (Lucy Boynton). Trying to impress her, Conor claims he’s in a band and invites her to star in their music video. With the help of his new friend Darren (Ben Carolan), and the musical guidance of the quirky and talented Eamon (Mark McKenna), Conor forms a band, quickly diving into songwriting, DIY videos and various musical genres, drawing inspiration from various ’80s bands like Duran Duran and The Cure. As the group evolves, so does Conor’s confidence, and through music he begins to rebel and tests the limitations of 1980s Ireland. This film is sure to be a hit with music lovers, as it features a healthy mix of real pop songs (The Cure, Spandau Ballet, A-ha) as well as original compositions by Carney and musician Gary Clark. At its core, Sing Street is about using art to carve out identity in a world that wants to define you before you’re ready.
Chicken Run (2000)
172 reviews — 97% approval rating
Nick Park, an English filmmaker who became a key member of Aardman Animations, has become a staple of these Rotten Tomatoes lists, as other films he’s directed—such as Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl—scored insanely high with critics upon their releases. But the very first feature film he ever directed set the stage for such praise, as Chicken Run came close to achieving 100% adoration back in 2000. This wacky, wild film that set the stage for Park’s soon-to-be legendary career in animation is set on a dreary chicken farm in 1950s England. There, the clever and determined hen Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha) constantly tries to escape the oppressive rule of Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy (Benjamin Whitrow and Miranda Richardson), who run the family farm like a prison camp. While all the other chickens are too scared or resigned to drive such a rebellion—even when Mrs. Tweedy plans to turn the hens into chicken pies via a monstrous pie-making machine—things take a turn when a brash American rooster named Rocky (Mel Gibson) crash-lands into the coop. Mistaken for a flying expert, Rocky agrees to help the chickens learn to fly in exchange for Ginger keeping his secret: he…can’t actually fly. With time slowly ticking away as their enemy, Ginger and the flock must work together to plan a daring aerial escape before they’re all turned into pastries. At the time, Chicken Run was a huge success, becoming the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time with over $220 million in worldwide earnings. To this day, the film stands as a relic of what the art of stop-motion animation is capable of.
Hit Man (2023)
301 reviews — 95% approval rating
While there are many great movies in Netflix’s library that were hits on Rotten Tomatoes, there are very few that were actually produced by the streaming giant—which is where Hit Man stands above the rest. Few movies released by Netflix have been as critically adored as this genre-bending black comedy directed by Richard Linklater (the creator of such films as Boyhood and Dazed and Confused), who effortlessly stitches screwball romance, noir and philosophical satire together in this modern triumph. Loosely inspired by a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth about the real Gary Johnson, who worked undercover for the police posing as a contract killer, this comedy sidesteps the gritty true-crime nature of that tale, producing a deeply interesting character study that masquerades as a thriller. In this adaptation, Johnson (played by current superstar Glen Powell) is a quiet, rule-following philosophy professor by day, and a tech specialist for the local police department during sting operations by night. But when the department’s fake “hit man” is suspended, Gary is asked to step in and impersonate one of the contract killers—and, to everyone’s surprise (including his own), Gary is a natural and creates an array of false personas tailored to each client’s fantasy of a hit man. Things get much more complicated, however, when he meets Madison (Adria Arjona), a woman desperate to escape her abusive husband. Instead of turning her in, Gary (posing as a brooding, confident killer) tells her to flee yet falls for her all at once. Through Hit Man, it seems Linklater is obsessed with the question of who we really are: is our “identity” stable, or is it simply something we perform for others, for ourselves? Gary’s philosophical training isn’t just a quirk, but the film’s thematic backbone.
The Hurt Locker (2008)
288 reviews — 96% approval rating
We mentioned Kathryn Bigelow earlier in the write-up for Boyz n the Hood, but it’s worth mentioning again: no woman in the history of film was a pioneer in the way she was—at least when it comes to the Academy Awards. She joins the likes of Lina Wertmüller (the first woman ever nominated for Best Director, for Seven Beauties), Hattie McDaniel (the first Black person to win an Oscar, for Gone with the Wind) and Ruth E. Carter (the first Black woman to win two Oscars, for Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), as Bigelow became the first woman to ever (finally) win the Best Director award. And it was much deserved for what, at this point, has become a war movie classic, The Hurt Locker. The film centers on adrenaline junkie William James (Jeremy Renner), a Staff Sergeant and bomb disposal expert assigned to a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team in Iraq during the final years of the war. Known for his reckless confidence and incredible instincts, James quickly clashes with his more cautious teammates—which includes Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty)—who are still grieving the death of their previous team leader. The tension between these men escalates as they take on various high-stakes bomb scenarios, which were inspired by screenwriter Mark Boal’s time embedded with an EOD unit in Iraq. His firsthand observations lend the film a raw, documentary-like realism that, unlike Bigelow’s stylish action films like Point Break and Strange Days, helps The Hurt Locker become a war movie without conventional ideology, and focus on character psychology rather than politics. As a result, not only was Bigelow rewarded with the top director’s prize at the Academy Awards, but the film won Best Picture as well.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
82 reviews — 95% approval rating
I have to admit: I may have included Night of the Living Dead on this list purely out of spite. Because it is beyond me how a horror classic of this stature (it is the best horror film on Netflix, in my opinion) could have anything less than a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. George A. Romero directed so many incredible films during his lifetime, from Dawn of the Dead to Martin to The Amusement Park, but none changed the face of his favorite genre or redefined zombie movies like Night of the Living Dead, a landmark independent film that, to this day, stands as a deeply prescient piece of social commentary, serving as a metaphor for political division, for the inability of people to work together even in the face of extinction. The story is also so beautifully simple: Barbra (Judith O’Dea), who is on the run after a strange man kills her brother in a cemetery, escapes to a nearby farmhouse where she finds refuge. Soon enough, the area is swarming with what appears to be the “undead,” a collective force that rises from graves and feasts on the living. She’s soon joined by Ben (Duane Jones), a calm and resourceful man who takes charge of fortifying the house, and several others who struggle to cooperate under pressure—from both the undead siege outside and rising tension within. While the living fail to unite, the dead grow in number and strength. As the night wears on, paranoia, mistrust and fear escalate to tragedy, culminating in one of the most shocking and bleak endings in horror film history. Night of the Living Dead was released in 1968 without a rating (this was just before the MPAA system was introduced), meaning its unrelenting violence, pessimism and lack of a moral safety net shocked audiences like never before—and thus ushered in a new era of horror cinema.
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
229 reviews — 97% approval rating
Few genres or cinematic art forms have evolved quite like animation has in the past several decades—not just in its look and style, but also in its pure cinematic presentation, its ability to draw from outside genre influences for a brand-new kind of storytelling. Take Kubo and the Two Strings, an eye-popping movie that—along with its unique hybrid blend of stop-motion and digital animation—brings in elements from Japanese folklore and samurai cinema. The result is an Oscar-nominated affair with cutting-edge visual effects. In 2016, it stood above its peers with its vast, painterly landscapes and epic battles that had never before been attempted in the medium. The story starts in a seaside cave in ancient Japan, where young Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson) quietly cares for his ailing mother by dazzling nearby village locals with magical origami performances, animated through his shamisen (a three-stringed instrument). But, as his mother warns, Kubo must never stay out after dark, when his family’s dark secret can be awakened. Sure enough, Kubo accidentally summons spirits from his past one night, including his mother’s malevolent sisters (voiced by Rooney Mara) and his grandfather, the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes), who seeks to take Kubo’s eye and erase his humanity. Thus, Kubo embarks on a mythic quest alongside a no-nonsense warrior named Monkey (Charlize Theron) and a cursed samurai named Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) to retrieve his father’s magical armor. In Kubo and the Two Strings, our young protagonist’s journey is as much about recovering his past as shaping his future—his power lies not in violence, but in the ability to tell his family’s story truthfully.