Peacock: 16 of the Best Movies to Stream Right Now

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle serves as a spiritual successor to the original 1995 Robin Williams movie. Instead of a board game, this movie uses a video game as the gateway from our world to the adventurous game world of Jumanji. This entry kicked off the present-day Jumanji movie trilogy and is a whole lot of fun, thanks to the writing, visuals and the chemistry between its cast: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jack Black and Kevin Hart.

• Director: Jake Kasdan
• Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas.
• Runtime: 119 min

Rian Johnson’s love for the murder mystery genre is on full display in Knives Out. The writer-director brings together an epic ensemble cast here, featuring the likes of Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, Don Johnson, Toni Collette and Christopher Plummer, to explore the mysterious death of a famed author. Everyone’s a suspect in the first, and still the best, entry in the franchise.

• Director: Rian Johnson
• Stars: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield
• Runtime: 130 min

Steven Spielberg’s classic thriller, which kicked off the summer blockbuster trend over five decades ago, made the great white shark a terrifying monster. Many see Jaws as the perfect movie, from beginning to end, and there are reasons for that: the writing, direction, emotional stakes and performances from its cast all elevate the film to its cinematic pedestal. 

• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Stars: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw
• Runtime: 124 min

Bob Odenkirk, action star? After the actor, who began as a sketch comedy performer and writer, became a household name thanks to his work as Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, his roles have skewed darker and more dramatic. In Nobody, he plays a retired government assassin living a simple domestic life until an attack on his home ignites his fighting fury — and introduces his unsuspecting family to the John Wick lifestyle.

• Director: Ilya Naishuller
• Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon, RZA
• Runtime: 92 min

Before James Cameron wowed audiences with Terminator 2, Titanic and the Avatar movies, he made waves with The Abyss. The sci-fi movie features envelope-pushing special effects for 1989, its release year, and it follows a race between the US and Russia to recover a crashed nuclear submarine. While down in the ocean’s depths, the sailors face another potential threat: aliens.

• Director: James Cameron
• Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn
• Runtime: 140 min

Men in Black stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as Agent Jay and Agent Kay, members of the secret agency that monitors all alien activity on Earth and protects humanity from invading threats. The sci-fi comedy, based on the Marvel comic of the same name and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, became the third-highest-grossing film of 1997 and led to three sequels.

• Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
• Stars: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D’Onofrio, Rip Torn, Tony Shalhoub
• Runtime: 98 min

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair combines both Kill Bill movies into one long, well, affair. It’s how Quentin Tarantino originally envisioned the project and requires some patience, if I’m being honest. However, seeing volumes 1 and 2 presented together cohesively is a viewing “must” for martial arts fans, Tarantino fans or simply fans of exciting cinema. 

• Director: Quentin Tarantino
• Stars: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Vivica A. Fox, Sonny Chiba
• Runtime: 253 min

Freaky takes a note from body swap films like Freaky Friday and Vice Versa and puts a horror spin on the genre. Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon brings his unique sensibilities to the story, which finds Vince Vaughn playing a serial killer who swaps bodies with a girl named Millie. The result is a movie that is campy, gory and surprisingly heartwarming. You’ve never seen Vaughn like this.

• Director: Christopher Landon
• Stars: Kathryn Newton, Vince Vaughn, Celeste O’Connor, Misha Osherovich, Emily Holder, Nicholas Stargel
• Runtime: 102 min

This is the second half of the two-part movie adaptation of the Wizard of Oz-inspired Broadway musical hit Wicked. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo return as former besties Glinda and Elphaba — now known as The Wicked Witch of the West. It’s been five years since the events of the first film, and their paths must cross again to expose the fraudulent ways of the Wizard of Oz.

• Director: Jon M. Chu
• Stars: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum
• Runtime: 137 min

Hamnet, which is adapted from the book of the same name, imagines the life and family trauma of William Shakespeare before he gains fame as a poet and playwright. It’s a beautifully acted tragedy that will sneak up on you in the final act. Have a box of tissues nearby.

• Director: Chloé Zhao
• Stars: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Noah Jupe, Jacobi Jupe, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn
• Runtime: 125 min

Director Steven Spielberg drew on his own childhood to bring to life this semi-autobiographical film about a boy who falls in love with cinema. It’s a coming-of-age story about the power of movies and how his parents’ difficult divorce helped inform his art.

• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Stars: Michelle Williams, Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano
• Runtime: 151 min

The Commitments follows music promoter Jimmy Rabbitte, who takes it upon himself to create an R&B group to address a void in the Dublin music scene. He has one problem: The group he assembles consists entirely of Irish folks with no experience in that specific music genre. Well, they do it anyway. The result is a surprisingly energetic, heartfelt and uplifting movie.

• Director: Alan Parker
• Stars: Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Andrew Strong, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy
• Runtime: 118 min

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the first full-length feature starring the legendary comedy group. The movie takes place during the time of King Arthur and follows the group as they embark on a quest to find the Holy Grail. This is one of those movies that should be considered required viewing for comedy fans. 

• Directors: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
• Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin
• Runtime: 91 min

In Point Break, a gang of renegade surfers don the masks of ex-presidents and rob banks. And they’re pretty good at it, too. Enter FBI agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves), a young and brash law enforcement officer who goes undercover and infiltrates the group and cozies up to its leader, Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), to take them down. Kathryn Bigelow directed this over-the-top action movie, which was a memorable role for Swayze and a star-making turn for Reeves.

• Director: Kathryn Bigelow
• Stars: Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Gary Busey, Lori Petty
• Runtime: 122 min

Shrek was the first movie to win the Academy Award for best animated feature. It’s sort of crazy to think that animated movies weren’t recognized by the Oscars until 2001, but Shrek deserved the win. The voice performances of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy are on point and deliver delightful comedy and memorable pop culture moments. The movie helped usher in a new era of CGI effects and put DreamWorks on the map. More than two decades later, it’s still a thoroughly enjoyable watch.

• Director: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
• Stars: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz
• Runtime: 90 min