Best Movies on Netflix March 2020 — A Playlist for Filmmakers

Quentin Tarantino has said he wanted to challenge himself as a filmmaker. He was known for his dialogue scenes, but he wanted to throw himself head-first into a straight-up action flick with beautiful choreography. It resulted in one of his most kinetic works complete with awesome practical effects.

Vol. 2 manages to keep you engaged throughout the four hours you’ll spend watching both movies back-to-back. It manages to accomplish this by being a very different kind of movie. There are still awesome action set pieces, but not as many as the first one. Instead, Tarantino goes back to his roots and includes some amazing dialogue sequences and provides us with ample backstory on The Bride. Together, they make an amazing motion picture.

To this day, The Dark Knight remains the pinnacle of superhero films. It works within the confines of the Batman mythos to deliver an insanely satisfying crime story, and star Heath Ledger delivers a Joker performance to end all Joker performances. 

The Safdie Brothers are experts at craftins highly tense, anxiety-ridden films. Uncut Gems brought that aesthetic into the mainstream, but it all started with 2017’s Good Time, which has similar frenetic editing and fast-paced plot to put you in the protagonist’s shoes. Once the film’s over, you’ll finally feel like you can breathe.

The 1980s spawned plenty of classic horror films, but none have aged quite as well as Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead. Its sequels may have darted in more comedic directions, but the original remains a masterclass in blending pitch black humor with full-blown horror.

American Honey proves one thing: Shia LaBeouf is one hell of an actor. LaBeouf starred in a stint of popcorn films that rarely gave him much room to showcase his talent, but his range has been on full display for several years now, and that renaissance began with American Honey. 

Atlantics is one of the most rewarding cinematic experiences of 2019. It almost feels as if the film created its own genre: Just when you think you know where its plot is headed, it changes direction on you. 

That misdirection—that sense of gradual discovery with new narrative development—isn’t frustrating. It’s rewarding.

It’s hard to find a good parody movie these days. So many give into “reference” jokes where you just mention a pop culture thing and expect it to give a laugh. The reason films like The Naked Gun work well is that they stand up as their own movies. They have plots and characters you like, and they just happen to poke fun at other movies. But at their core, you can also sense a respect for the genre. The filmmakers obviously love police movies, and you can see that love on display, which is something you can’t say for something like Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, or any other “Insert Word Here” Movie.

Klaus is a strange little film. Though it’s less than a year old, its gorgeous animation and unexpected take on the story of Santa Claus make it feel like it’s been a part of Christmas programming for years.

Event Horizon had a stressful production process and a shortened editing turnaround time. This all likely resulted in the final product meeting below expectations and meeting mostly negative reviews upon release. However, when you watch the film today, you see the nuggets of something great, including a genuinely terrifying horror story that shakes you to your core. It has plenty of faults, but in this instance, you can still learn from and appreciate the mess.

The found footage sub-genre is typically associated with horror movies, but End of Watch applied some of its stylistic techniques to the buddy cop movie. While there are action and thrills by the handful, this film is first and foremost a bromance and an awesome one at that. 

You didn’t expect to find Tremors on this list, did you? When you want plain good B-movie fun on a Friday night, Tremors is where it’s at. The film pokes fun at the tropes of creature features without ever tipping over into self-parody. And not only does it establish a serious set of rules—it actually follows them.

All of this results in one of the best monster movies of the 1990s. And if you like what you see, you’ll be happy to learn it has a plethora of sequels, each one more insane than the last.

Jeff Baena dug comedy out of tragedy with his excellent Joshy. He returns to similar territory with Horse Girl, a film about a woman battling mental illness who soon finds herself struggling to distinguish dreams from reality. Alison Brie, who co-wrote the script, plays the lead role in a truly remarkable performance, no doubt inspired by something personal in her.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is noteworthy for being the last film the late Heath Ledger starred in. (Ledger passed away before the crew finished filming, so director Terry Gilliam had to bring on Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to finish his parts.) Considering all that went on behind the scenes, it’s impressive to see how all these moving parts mostly came together. 

Philadelphia is noteworthy for being one of the first major Hollywood productions to focus on homosexuality and HIV/AIDS. It tapped into the zeitgeist and delivered a story people may not have wanted to have but needed to listen to.

You have to give credit to Horns for really shooting for the moon. Daniel Radcliffe stars as a man wanted for the murder of his girlfriend. He inexplicably grows horns, which compels him to admit to his greatest sins and submit to his basest impulses. 

Dirty Harry was insanely influential in the 1970s: The film paved the way for how the action genre would evolve during the era. And it all started with a bad cop out to do anything to bring the bad guy to justice. 

Documentaries are interesting to create. You may set out with one idea in mind but change the film’s focus halfway through production. The filmmakers behind American Factory had that happen as they decided during the editing process to focus on the experiences of average workers at an Ohio plant during a takeover from a Chinese business. The decision was a good one. The film would go on to win Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards.

Blade Runner is required viewing for any science-fiction fan. With director Ridley Scott’s Final Cut now on Netflix, you can see the film the way it was intended to be seen, with an ending that greatly improves upon the theatrical version.

Frances Ha is content to move at its own pace. While the film’s narrative may wander, you never really mind because Greta Gerwig is utterly charming as the titular character. Frances moves along trying to make something out of life, before discovering what she needs to do to actually have a life in the first place. 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre featured mostly unknown actors at the time. Combined with documentary-style camerawork, it gave the entire production a rawer, more realistic feel. It made the violence seem like it was happening right in front of you. This movie changed the horror game forever.

Jim Henson’s Creature Shop designed the costumes for the titular turtles. There may not be a whole lot to talk about with this movie in terms of plot or character, but those costumes sure are cool. They’ve held up remarkably well, and they give the movie an extra layer of cheesy, 80s greatness.

There’s one thing To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before does incredibly well where other rom-coms fall short. The lead, Lara Jean, never changes who she is as a person. Instead, she discovers new aspects of herself while remaining ultimately the same person. There’s growth, but there’s also a message about how you don’t have to change who you are to find love. It’s a great message for teens, and it makes this a refreshingly unique rom-com.

Moneyball is based on true events, and follows the creation of sabermetrics and the Oakland Athletics as they compete with teams that have larger budgets for acquiring players and “buying playoff spots”. 

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of Tim Burton’s best films. The macabre subject matter of this musical is brilliantly filmed and its surreal qualities are ideally suited to the director’s uncanny sensibility. 

With such an unusual plot, a severed hand going on a quest to reunite with its body, this kind of story needs a similar inventive animation. The medium works remarkably well for this offbeat story, creating one of the most idiosyncratic works of 2019.

The great thing about Taylor Swift’s documentary is that you don’t have to be a die-hard Swiftie to enjoy it. That’s because it focuses less on the pop star’s rise to fame than on her complicated relationship with fame and her struggle to form some kind of political identity. 

The Wandering Earth has a pretty outlandish concept about the world’s nations physically moving the planet to avoid being consumed by the Sun turning into a red giant. However, the filmmakers still consulted scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to help ground the film. Even if you don’t plan on obeying all the laws of nature, it still helps to have some kind of baseline to work off of.

Coraline picked up the torch from The Nightmare Before Christmas and delivered an entertaining, albeit sometimes frightening, stop-motion animation film. It’s visually stunning, complemented by frames of utter beauty and significant terror. 

Accents can do more than color a film. They can also serve the plot, which was Scorsese’s goal for Gangs of New York. In the film, a character’s accent often reveals his or her loyalties. A wide breadth of accents and speech patterns are on display, coloring the world and remaining true to  history.

Out of all of PT Anderson’s films, The Master might be the most engrossing. That’s in part due to a trio of incredible performances from Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. 

If you haven’t already seen Inception, then you’ve likely been confused by the debate that’s surrounded it over the past decade. Director Christopher Nolan’s film follows a band of thieves who set out to implant an idea within a wealthy business owner’s mind. It’s discombobulating. It’s sneaky. It’s brilliant. And it remains one of Nolan’s very best films. 

They say the best VFX in film are those you don’t notice. The Two Popes takes place in many sensitive locations, and the crew couldn’t film absolutely everywhere around Rome. Therefore, there are many shots that were accomplished through green screens and CGI. It’s an impressive feat specifically because you don’t even realize you’re looking at a fake location. You’re just carried by the magnitude of the story and a pair of superb performances.