Can you believe we're almost halfway through the year? 2022 has flown by and Netflix has been at the forefront of it for both good and bad reasons.
Whether it's numerous cancellations of the biggest Netflix shows or a major exodus from its subscriber base, it's not been an easy few months for the streaming platform. At the very least, it does continue to offer some of the biggest and best movies you can find anywhere. This all amounts to the crucial decision of what to watch first.
To help save you vital time, T3 rounds up what's trending, what's got critics talking and what films are setting the streaming world ablaze. These picks are specifically taken from Netflix in the UK, although the majority of Netflix Originals can be found worldwide. Alternatively, you can always opt for one of the best VPNs on the market to start streaming everything from everywhere.
For a more up to date update, check out the best new films to stream on Netflix and the best new films to stream on Disney Plus.
Doctor Sleep
Do you like horrors? How about Stephen King? Or even Ewan McGregor? If any or all of the former applies to you then you are in for a treat with Doctor Sleep. Serving as a sequel to The Shining from 1980, we pick up several decades after the events of the first film with Danny Torrance (McGregor) still dealing with the traumatic events of his childhood – who could ever forget an axe-wielding Jack Nicholson, to be fair?
Once it becomes clear that a young girl named Abra Stone also possesses "the shining" power just like Danny, it's up to the tormented man to protect the child at all costs from the mysterious True Knot and its cult leader Rose the Hat (played by Rebecca Ferguson). It's tense, atmospheric and does better justice to the source material than its predecessor.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Uma Thurman's iconic portrayal as the merciless Bride is as gloriously violent as you'd want from Quentin Tarantino. After a brutal team of assassins and their leader, Bill, attempt to kill our protagonist and her unborn child, she journeys on a perilous mission of revenge. In the first part, we journey to Tokyo where a bloody battle between Lucy Liu's O-Ren Ishii and the Yakuza takes place.
At less than two hours long, the action is relentless from start to finish. Couple that with a dynamite soundtrack (Battle Without Honor or Humanity still rocks to this day), stylish cuts and wonderfully homages to samurai and grindhouse cinema and Kill Bill is still as entertaining to watch as when it premiered.
Kill Bill: Vol 2 can be found on Sky Go or Now TV, however, we expect it to arrive on Netflix at some point in future.
Blade Runner 2049
One of the best cinematic experiences I've had in recent memory was directly down to Blade Runner 2049. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, best known for Dune and Arrival, the neo-noir sci-fi flick acts as a more than worthy sequel to the 1982 cult classic, featuring nuanced performances from Ryan Gosling as Nexus-9 replicant K and Harrison Ford as former bounty hunter Rick Deckard.
Criminally underperforming at the box office, the scope, audio design, cinematography and visual effects are on another level altogether – the latter two of which took home the Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards. If there's one criticism it would be the pacing at 163-minutes long, yet Blade Runner 2049 is still ambitiously rich and offers an unforgettable score that has stayed with me almost five years on.
Bonus: Senior Year
After almost two and half years away from the big screen, Rebel Wilson returns in the new US comedy Senior Year from Alex Hardcastle in his directional debut. The exclusive Netflix movie premieres today (May 13th) and sees high school cheerleader Stephanie Conway (Wilson) suffer a head injury that sends her into a 20-year coma the night before senior prom. Waking up at now age 37, she decides to re-enrol and complete high school.
Looking for more film ideas? Check out the top movies to watch on Netflix for April – including one of the best DC superhero movies of the last decade.
