10 popular Netflix original movies ranked from worst to best

Tired of searching for the best Netflix original movies from the seemingly endless category menus?

It might be a little harder than ever right now, given that Netflix has changed its account-sharing rules in Canada, leaving many to cancel their subscriptions. Last year had some amazing movies stream and hit theatres, so at least we will always have that option.

But for anyone who is left, we are here to help.

All of Netflix’s original TV series are incredibly popular and the limited miniseries might be even more so, but sometimes you just want to relax to a low-commitment movie.

When it comes to movie streaming (and Blockbuster and theatre-destroying strategies), few have done it better than Netflix.

Sure, there are some bad ones. Okay… a lot of bad ones. But there are also interesting ones that would struggle with a theatrical release, like The Meyerwitz Stories, A Futile and Stupid Gesture, The Lost Daughter, and Mudbound.

Movies using the Netflix model can be done so easily and quickly, it’s even made a string of very forgettable action movies featuring our favourite movie stars, like 6 Underground, Red Notice, and The Grey Man. These are pretty bad, but not the lowest of the low (Bright, Cloverfield Paradox, Don’t Look Up, The Bubble, or Blonde. Skip them all!

If you’d rather seek out some movies that didn’t make our list but were still highly praised by critics and award-winning, check out The Two Popes, Mank, or Da 5 Bloods.

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Here are our picks for the best Netflix original movies, ranked from worst to best.

10. Okja

From the mind of Bong Joon Ho (Parasite), this is a science-fantasy action-adventure genre film extravaganza that only Ho could create.

This is an international co-production, an international story, and an international cast all working together to create this story about a young girl and a genetically modified “super pig.” It’s a tearjerker that was fairly ignored when it was released but has continued to live on in memes, pop culture, and of course, our hearts.

9. Set It Up

Hollywood doesn’t make rom-coms anymore? Netflix is terrible at romance? Tell that to the two most charming leads currently working: Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell.

Many of the best rom-coms have absurd side characters, a heavy dose of charm, believable romance, and a nonsensical premise that could never work in real life. Recently, a few movies have had one, maybe two of these factors, but Set It Up has it all. Besides being an easy and genuinely romantic watch, this thing is ACTUALLY funny.

8. His House 

Modern horror films have developed a reputation for being very focused on underlying themes to tell a larger story. Sure, Nightmare on Elm Street is about child trauma, but really, it’s about a scary killer who can infect your dreams.

When The Babadook crept its way into the cultural landscape, a creepy movie with definitive themes about grief, became a hit that many others tried to replicate.

His House is a horror movie that uses that model with complete success, terrifying at every turn. This story feels slow, uncertain, and jarring, just like arriving in a new country as a refugee couple from war-torn South Sudan might feel. What makes this so terrifying, besides starting an entirely brand new life and leaving a horrific past behind, is the evil lurking in this new home…

7. Ritual

Ritual, like His House, is a movie about SOMETHING.

His House is more successful in exploring its underlying themes of loss and guilt than Ritual is about exploring… well, loss and guilt. But that doesn’t mean it’s any worse. Ritual is a much more terrifying movie, and incredibly unique, changing from a stressful lost in the woods tale to a haunted story, to a creature feature, to something else entirely.

It’s violent and in your face, but the scariest (and best) moments are still the quiet ones where the ones left are left waiting just a little bit longer.

6. Beasts of No Nation 

This is the first original movie Netflix produced and released to its service. It was Idris Elba’s serious bid at an Oscar as well, but audiences and the Academy largely ignored it all. Maybe if we had paid attention then, Netflix would have kept trying to make great work instead of mostly whatever content.

Many have forgotten this movie, but many have also revisited it and it really does hold up as one of the best, and most ambitious, things the streaming service has ever made. With a plot tracing the arc of a child war soldier, it’s not an easy watch, but it feels like a necessary one.

5. The Irishman

Martin Scorsese back with DeNiro and Pesci making a gangster movie? DeNiro and Pacino together again for an incredible Heat reunion? It didn’t matter that this was nine hours long (or whatever it was), we couldn’t wait to see it.

Mileage varies here as the CGI’d young faces aren’t exactly perfect and it is a bit slow, but it’s an amazing retelling of a true story, with an implied impression of history, making the final act a retelling of what MIGHT have happened to the very famous American labour union leader Jimmy Hoffa.

This movie even went to theatres for quite a while, earned itself plenty of Oscar nominations, and gave Scorsese a new producing relationship that’s about to give us Killers of the Flower Moon.

4. The Power of the Dog 

Another bid for Oscar glory, this movie was proof that Netflix wanted to take chances at getting that Best Picture gold statue. It couldn’t quite do it in 2022 (CODA beat it), but it was a genuine Netflix film, directed by a female auteur (Jane Campion), with major movie stars and that’s always going to feel like a win.

This might be a bit slow for some, but the ending is unforgettable.

3. The King

Look… let’s keep this one simple. This is a historical epic based on the true events that inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Besides being extremely well directed, this movie has scenes that are just as amazing when we are sitting in a room with two side characters as we are watching a battle of thousands.

Need proof that the small framed Chalamet can pull off grand speeches to thousands? Here it is. Need proof that Lily-Rose Depp is the real deal? Here it is. Need ANOTHER example that Robert Pattinson is the most fun actor to watch on screen right now? Here it is.

2. The Dig

The Dig might not have the sexiest title on the list. At first glance, it’s not the most romantic premise either — a widow hires a self-taught archaeologist to dig up some hills on her land. But The Dig skyrocketed to the Netflix top ten the day it premiered because it’s one of the more beautiful looks at love in recent years.

This isn’t the familiar story about two unlikely strangers who fall for each other over the course of their work together. The Dig is about our lives and our love and how neither should be wasted because, like the ancient ship they’ve discovered proves, our time here is finite. The story splinters off to explore the different loves between a man and his wife, a son and his mother, two closeted men, and the new spark of true love.

You’ll dig this one (sorry).

1. Roma 

Finally…Roma.

This was the REAL first bid for the streaming service at finally getting that Best Picture award. Green Book ultimately won (thumbs down for that), but this has had a much larger impact. It’s the modern movie that kicked off the recent trend of directors exploring their childhoods and this STILL did it the best.

If you’ve seen Children of Men or Gravity, then you know Cuaron can direct an action movie with a massive scope, but he can also do grounded and slow burning. Roma feels like both. The motif of water appearing throughout, whether it’s in a reflective puddle showing a plane filled with people coming and going when our main character can’t, or in the crashing waves doing their best to pull a family apart, Cuaron has full control of his own story here.

It might be too slow for some, but Roma is the most ambitious thing Netflix has ever done because they must have known it wouldn’t have been for everybody. But for some, it would mean so much. We wish there were more Roma movies and fewer The Grey Man movies.

Besides a simple but incredibly specific story, Roma uses enormous set pieces and long takes to make it feel real, and when creating a story about memory, what could matter more?