The 50 Best Movies on Paramount+, Updated for March 2023

Paramount+ may have been one of the last major streaming services to market, but that certainly doesn’t mean you should consider them last on your list of streaming subscriptions. In addition to bringing the best of CBS, Comedy Central, BET, and Nickelodeon, Paramount+ boasts a robust library of movies fit for a great night in. The bulk of the options comes from the legendary Hollywood studio indicated in the name, but the platform also contains many great indie and mainstream options alike available through licensing.

So whether there’s no new episode of a Taylor Sheridan show ready for viewing or you’ve burned through all 19 seasons of NCIS available to stream (no judgment if so!), Paramount+ has a movie for your mood. Dig into legendary franchises like Star Trek or Mission: Impossible. Revisit recent dramas like Licorice Pizza or Fences. Catch up on blockbusters like A Quiet Place and Top Gun: Maverick. Discover a classic comedy like Beverly Hills Cop and His Girl Friday. Here are 50 such options for you on Paramount+, updated for March 2023.

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‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (2013)

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
STARS: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken
RATING: PG-13

Leonardo DiCaprio’s career has been laser-focused on shedding the “Tiger Beat” teen idol trappings that followed him after Titanic, so much so that he almost never allows himself to have fun on-screen in the name of being taken seriously. But every once in a while, he finds an excuse to cut loose like he does in Catch Me If You Can. Like a mid-century forebearer to today’s audacious scammers, DiCaprio’s Frank Abagnale Jr. cuts quite a trail of fraud and deception as he cons his way into three different professions with the FBI hot on his trail. He’s forging checks, breaking hearts, and proving irresistibly watchable.

Watch Catch Me If You Can on Paramount+

‘The Ring’ (2002)

DIRECTOR: Gore Verbinksi
STARS: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox
RATING: PG-13

If you watch the cursed videotape, you die within the week. Though The Ring comes from an outdated analog era, its thrills and chills still persist today. The first major Hollywood feature to adapt “J-horror” from Japan for an English-speaking audience set the bar high with emotional stakes that feel grounded but horror that feels other-worldly.

Watch The Ring on Paramount+

‘Fences’ (2016)

DIRECTOR: Denzel Washington
STARS: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo
RATING: PG-13

It’s common to hear people throw around the term “filmed theater” as derogatory, implying a kind of hierarchy between the mediums that establishes screen as inherently better than stage. That kind of quibble falls by the wayside watching Denzel Washington tackle August Wilson’s play Fences for the cinema. He knows how to key into the earth-shattering power of the performances delivered by himself and Viola Davis to transcend the limits of a talky, location-limited script. It never feels as if we’re just watching a camera record a play.

Watch Fences on Paramount+

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018)

DIRECTOR: Christopher McQuarrie
STARS: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames
RATING: PG-13

By installment six of the Mission: Impossible franchise, they’ve got this thing running like a well-oiled machine. No series today better understands how to deliver on the promise of a great action set-piece, and the death-defying stuntwork of Tom Cruise adds a palpable sense of danger that elevates them above mere CGI spectacle. Fallout also delivers for longtime fans of the series by putting Ving Rhames’ sidekick Luther front and center.

Watch Mission: Impossible – Fallout on Paramount+

‘Jackass Forever’ (2022)

DIRECTOR: Jeff Tremaine
STARS: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius
RATING: R

No need to see any previous Jackass to appreciate the new Jackass Forever. All you need to know is that the boys are back, crazier and older than ever, to do some absolutely bonkers stunts. Sure, maybe you can watch these types of shenanigans on YouTube now, but there’s something to be said for the tremendous amount of planning that goes into ensuring enough camera capture their hijinks from every necessary angle. It’s a guaranteed gut-buster of a watch.

Watch Jackass Forever on Paramount+

‘Pain & Gain’ (2013)

DIRECTOR: Michael Bay
STARS: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie
RATING: R

It’s understandable to have limited toleration for “Bayhem,” but the bombastic director finds a very fitting story for his maximalist style in Pain & Gain. As some swole bodybuilders get in way over their heads in some sketchy financial schemes, Bay’s over-the-top sensibilities perfectly convey the absurdity of these larger-than-life men. While the allegory does get a little bit muddled under all the stylistic flourishes and unfocused storytelling, there’s more than just a kernel of an interesting take on the roided-out state of the American Dream. If you want enough thoughtfulness to elevate your action movie night without overwhelming it, here’s your pick.

Watch Pain & Gain on Paramount+

‘Annihilation’ (2018)

DIRECTOR: Alex Garland
STARS: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson
RATING: R

Alex Garland knows how to make sci-fi for the discerning viewer. The filmmaker followed up his triumphant Ex Machina with the beguiling Annihilation, maybe the closest thing we’ll ever get to a truly avant-garde blockbuster. This tale of four female scientists entering “The Shimmer,” a mysterious ethereal realm where an extraterrestrial presence lurks, goes in boldly experimental directions that defy all expectations. Kudos to Garland for getting Paramount to give him enough money to fully realize this singular vision.

Watch Annihilation on Paramount+

‘Within Our Gates’ (1920)

DIRECTOR: Oscar Micheaux
STARS: Evelyn Preer, Floy Clements
RATING: TV-PG

Time for a little history lesson via cinema! If you just went by the traditional narrative of movie history, you’d think D.W. Griffith’s 1915 racist agitprop epic The Birth of a Nation went entirely unanswered as it incited a revival of the Ku Klux Klan. But that’s far from the truth as Black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux delivered a blistering indictment of contemporary race relations in 1920’s Within Our Gates, the oldest known surviving feature film by an African-American director. The fire of outrage igniting this film still gives off serious heat over a century later.

Watch Within Our Gates on Paramount+

‘Clueless’ (1995)

DIRECTOR: Amy Heckerling
STARS: Alicia Silverstone, Brittany Murphy, Stacey Dash
RATING: PG-13

Knowing that Alicia Silverstone now has a kid she can cheekily recreate scenes from Clueless with on TikTok might make you feel a little old. But little else about the humor of the film feels dated because Amy Heckerling roots the teen comedy in the classic story of Jane Austen’s Emma. Also, Paul Rudd still looks exactly the same today as he did in 1995.

Watch Clueless on Paramount+

‘Charlotte’s Web’ (1973)

DIRECTORS: Charles A. Nichols, Iwao Takamoto
STARS: Debbie Reynolds, Paul Lynde, Henry Gibson
RATING: G

Skip the CGI update and stick with the hand-drawn animated classic. The first adaptation of E.B. White’s timeless novel about friendship and loyalty among farm animals is still the best. It’s got a sweetness of spirit accentuated by the gentle voicework of Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte the spider … not to mention those toe-tapping tunes that will forever rattle around in the head of anyone who saw this movie at a young age.

Watch Charlotte’s Web on Paramount+

‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ (2003)

DIRECTOR: Donald Petrie
STARS: Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Adam Goldberg
RATING: PG-13

At the height of the “McConaissance,” it became popular to trash Matthew McConaughey’s participation in the kind of early-‘00s studio rom-coms that helped make him a household name. Maybe it’s time for the pendulum to swing back a little bit, though, because a lot of those movies are actually quite fun! The peak might be How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, where McConaughey gets to ooze easygoing charm as he’s the unwitting mark in a plot by Kate Hudson’s magazine writer to drive him batty with her behavior.

Watch How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days on Paramount+

‘Interstellar’ (2014)

DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
STARS: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain
RATING: PG-13

Christopher Nolan is not exactly well-known for his emotionalism, and some bristled at the sentimental streak running through his galactic drama Interstellar. Whether you think love can cut across dimensions or not, you can surely appreciate the methodical craftsmanship of this sci-fi story about a mission to the edges of space to save earth from extinction. Matthew McConaughey’s crying scene might have its own Know Your Meme page, but within the context of the movie, it works given the personal and global stakes underlining the moment.

Watch Interstellar on Paramount+

‘Elizabethtown’ (2005)

DIRECTOR: Cameron Crowe
STARS: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon
RATING: PG-13

Yes, it’s the movie that gave us the phrase “manic pixie dream girl,” but there’s more to Elizabethtown than the cultural punchline it’s become. Filmmaker Cameron Crowe makes unabashedly sincere movies that wear their hearts on their sleeve. If you’re willing to deal with the messiness of emotions like grief and failure faced by Orlando Bloom’s protagonist, you can spot the glimmering diamond hiding in the rough here.

Watch Elizabethtown on Paramount+

‘Beverly Hills Cop’ (1984)

DIRECTOR: Martin Brest
STARS: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton
RATING: R

The high-water mark for the fish-out-of-water comedy (pun fully intended) may still be Beverly Hills Cop. This blockbuster hit featuring Eddie Murphy at his brashest transplants a streetwise Detroit police officer in the posher environs of Beverly Hills to solve the murder of his friend. The gags arising from the clash of cultures still amuse, as does Murphy’s outsized comic persona poured into the character of Axel Foley.

Watch Beverly Hills Cop on Paramount+

‘Black Bear’ (2020)

DIRECTOR: Lawrence Michael Levine
STARS: Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon
RATING: R

If you only know Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate from Parks & Recreation, time to readjust your bearings. While she most frequently channels that off-kilter sensibility into comedy, Plaza knows how to vibrate on more mysterious and inscrutable wavelengths as well. She’s put to perfect use in the lo-fi, single location indie Black Bear, a film where the surface tension between three guests at a lakehouse covers something dark. Know as little as possible going in for maximum impact, and brace yourself for something truly unique.

Watch Black Bear on Paramount+

‘Top Gun’ (1986)

DIRECTOR: Tony Scott
STARS: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis
RATING: PG

If you want to understand how Tom Cruise swaggers so confidently, look for the roots in Top Gun. Get past the film’s thrilling aerial fight sequences and you’ll find this jingoistic Reagan-era military actioner makes Cruise’s cocksure Maverick out to be the coolest cat in town. It’s a testament to the era’s supercharged masculinity that Maverick reaps the rewards of his brash bravado (though Quentin Tarantino picked up on some undercurrents running beneath the film).

Watch Top Gun on Paramount+

‘Nebraska’ (2013)

DIRECTOR: Alexander Payne
STARS: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb
RATING: R

Filmmaker Alexander Payne has set many a movie in his native Nebraskan environs, yet he’s often accused of picking on the salt-of-the-earth Midwesterners with his brutal sense of ironic comedy. Nebraska strikes a beautiful balance, finding the quiet dignity of their commitment to family while remaining unafraid to point out how foolhardy he finds some of their endeavors. The film is quite the career-capper for the legendary Bruce Dern as he masterfully conveys the senility and sincerity of an aging man convinced he’s won a giant prize.

Watch Nebraska on Paramount+

‘Election’ (1999)

DIRECTOR: Alexander Payne
STARS: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein
RATING: R

The best movie about the 2016 election was actually made in 1999. When smug Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) just can’t stomach the ascendancy of overqualified Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) to win student body president, he throws a wrench in the democratic system by recruiting an airheaded jock (Klein) to thwart her candidacy. This vicious, delicious satire of American politics and campaigning has not lost one iota of bite or humor over two decades later.

Watch Election on Paramount+

‘Paranormal Activity’ (2009)

DIRECTOR: Oren Peli
STARS: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs
RATING: R

Fun fact: it’s Steven Spielberg you have to thank for the bone-chilling ending of Paranormal Activity. Leave it to the father of contemporary blockbusters to be able to spot the next frontier in horror and play a part in the biggest financial success in movie history. Oren Peli made his DIY horror movie about a couple who set up a camera in their house to try and observe a supernatural spirit haunting them for just $15,000 … and it spawned a nearly-billion dollar franchise. The first installment still stands as a remarkable testament to how to make a big impact with a tiny budget.

Watch Paranormal Activity on Paramount+

‘The General’ (1926)

DIRECTORS: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
STARS: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack
RATING: Not Rated

Tom Cruise’s stunt work has nothing on Buster Keaton, cinema’s original daredevil showman. His silent-era comic caper The General reminds us that there’s no more expressive instrument than the human body. If you can bracket the unsavory plot element that Keaton’s wannabe heroic soldier is on the side of the Confederacy, you’ll find his endearing and epic journey to impress the girl of his dreams a wild ride worth taking.

Watch The General on Paramount+

‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968)

DIRECTOR: George A. Romero
STARS: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman
RATING: Not Rated

Were you a fan of the “social thriller” as configured by Jordan Peele in Get Out? Thank George A. Romero, a pioneer of the subgenre in Night of the Living Dead. What this lo-fi zombie film might lack in scares after 50 years of advances in technology, it more than makes up for in subversive social commentary. It’s living proof that sometimes the most enduring political messages are smuggled through genre films, not blared out from a soapbox in self-important dramas.

Watch Night of the Living Dead on Paramount+

‘C.O.G.’ (2013)

DIRECTOR: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
STARS: Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll
RATING: R

Fans of David Sedaris’ writing, rejoice! As we wait for someone to just make an omnibus adaptation of one of his essay books, we can more than make do with C.O.G.. Jonathan Groff makes for one heck of a Sedaris surrogate as Samuel, a young man leaving the Ivy League for the apple orchard in search of “real” experience. It’s a different twist on the coming-of-age story with all the wry, pithy wit Sedaris fans have come to associate with his writing. Consider it an origin story, if you must.

Watch C.O.G. on Paramount+

‘The Lost City’ (2022)

DIRECTORS: Aaron and Adam Nee
STARS: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe
RATING: PG-13

Is The Lost City basically just doing Romancing the Stone – romance novelist and rugged suitor meet-cute in the jungle – for a new generation? Sure. But if you don’t need novelty and just want to see the sparks fly between a type A Sandra Bullock heroine and a lovable Channing Tatum himbo, then this is a guaranteed great night in. The Lost City delivers on romance and comedy, with a number of cunning belly laughs that far outshine the familiarity of the script.

Watch The Lost City on Paramount+

‘Licorice Pizza’ (2021)

DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson
STARS: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Bradley Cooper
RATING: R

Paul Thomas Anderson has conjured visions of the 1970s before in Boogie Nights, yet they’ve never had such heart and warmth as this sun-soaked vision of the San Fernando Valley in his youthful years. Licorice Pizza has that ambling, aimless feeling of growing up but not necessarily coming of age. This amusing tale of two youthful spirits finding themselves amidst a pile-up of odd misadventures is as electrifying as the needle-drops powering the film.

Watch Licorice Pizza on Paramount+

‘Star Trek’ (2009)

DIRECTOR: J.J. Abrams
STARS: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana
RATING: PG-13

Here’s a Star Trek movie that’s not purely for the Trekkies. Director J.J. Abrams finds a clever way to reboot the legendary franchise (with a good plot motivation, to boot) so he can reintroduce the characters and themes of the space opera to a new generation of fans. It’s an exciting, invigorating action movie in its own right, but its real magic is to open a portal to welcome the uninitiated to boldly go back into the wide world of the series.

Watch Star Trek on Paramount+

‘His Girl Friday’ (1940)

DIRECTOR: Howard Hawks
STARS: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
RATING: Not Rated

With all due respect to today’s stars, they don’t make romantic leads like they used to. The chemistry between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell practically jumps off the screen in His Girl Friday, one of the most beloved screwball comedies. It’s a madcap blast as Grant’s newspaper editor Walter tries to lure back his lost love and former star reporter, Russell’s Hildy, by giving her one final assignment he knows she can’t resist … and might struggle to escape.

Watch His Girl Friday on Paramount+

‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’ (2009)

DIRECTOR: Rebecca Miller
STARS: Robin Wright, Alan Arkin, Maria Bello
RATING: R

If you only know Robin Wright as ice queen Claire Underwood from House of Cards, you’ve only just scratched the surface of her formidable talents. In Rebecca Miller’s ardently feminist drama The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Wright devastates working in a quieter register as the titular character. We see Pippa in many stages of her life, incarnated by multiple actresses, as a woman thrust into many pre-defined roles without establishing a firm sense of self. It’s incumbent on Wright to embody this inner turmoil and convincingly bring the film to a boiling point where she can no longer remain in silent suffering. She delivers in simple, satisfying fashion.

Watch The Private Lives of Pippa Lee on Paramount+

‘Grease’ (1978)

DIRECTOR: Randal Kleiser
STARS: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing
RATING: PG

Do the values of this teen movie hold up? Not really. Grease basically sends the message to girls that they should erase their personality and subsume their wants into being exactly the kind of beauty and personality their male romantic interest wants. So why is it still so much fun? This nostalgic musical uses a soundtrack of show-stopping tunes for a ‘50s that had past – and perhaps never was. The film stands a reminder that it’s possible to enjoy something you disagree with, and sometimes the most interest viewing comes from wrestling with that kind of tension.

Watch Grease on Paramount+

‘Saint Maud’ (2021)

DIRECTOR: Rose Glass
STARS: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle
RATING: R

Oh my Maud. Director Rose Glass storms out of the gate in her feature directorial debut Saint Maud, a go-for-broke tale of religious horror that’s unwaveringly committed to its vision. She’s got an extraordinarily game partner in Morfydd Clark as Maud, a nun increasingly given to fits of fanaticism in practicing and professing her Catholic beliefs. It’s bad enough when this evangelism affects the former dancer (Jennifer Ehle) in Maud’s care as a hospice nurse, but soon enough, the fire and brimstone come to consume Maud herself.

Watch Saint Maud on Paramount+

‘Minority Report’ (2002)

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
STARS: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton
RATING: PG-13

Director Steven Spielberg is no stranger to imagining the future, but no vision of what lies ahead is as expertly realized as Minority Report. Some elements of this 2054 are already here, technologically speaking, but we’re still (knock on wood) a long while away from this world’s approach to criminal justice where three soothsaying “Pre-Cogs” can predict crimes before they occur. Tom Cruise’s police chief John Anderton has no problem enforcing their visions … that is, until they claim he will murder someone he’s never met within 36 hours. He’s forced on the run to maintain his innocence for something he hasn’t even done – a concept as chilling as it is thrilling.

Watch Minority Report on Paramount+

‘Citizen Ruth’ (1996)

DIRECTOR: Alexander Payne
STARS: Laura Dern, Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds
RATING: R

In a post-Dobbs world, the message of Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth has only grown more relevant. This satire of ‘90s-era culture wars shows how people’s humanity gets when two sides debate anything and entrench themselves in ideology. Laura Dern’s Ruth Stoops gets caught in the crossfire when she seeks an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy. While she’s not the brightest bulb, she’s sharp enough to know when she’s being used as a mere prop.

Watch Citizen Ruth on Paramount+

‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1968)

DIRECTOR: Roman Polanski
STARS: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon
RATING: Not Rated

And you thought your neighbors were bad! Over fifty years later, Rosemary’s Baby is still an absolutely terrifying movie to behold as Mia Farrow’s guileless expectant mother gets the sense that there’s something nefarious growing inside of her. Director Roman Polanski amplifies her sense of impending doom with a visual sense of claustrophobia that makes us feel as trapped as she does. Consider the movie something of a cinematic contraception.

Watch Rosemary’s Baby on Paramount+

‘Into the Wild’ (2007)

DIRECTOR: Sean Penn
STARS: Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrook, Catherine Keener
RATING: R

“Happiness only real when shared,” scrawled the nomadic Christopher McCandless against a bus just before dying on his foolhardy solo Alaskan adventure. Though it’s often repeated as a tritely optimistic maxim, Into the Wild understands his motto more as a warning. It’s a tragedy, not an inspiration, that a young man bought into the American mythology of self-determination so blindly that he lost sight of the joys of human connection right under his nose. This beautifully elegiac drama is the kind of movie that makes you hug your loved ones a little tighter.

Watch Into the Wild on Paramount+

‘The Kid’ (1921)

DIRECTOR: Charlie Chaplin
STARS: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan
RATING: Not Rated

The Kid might be a silent film, but you’ll fill the void of noise with the sound of holding back tears. Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length feature has a heart that transcends spoken dialogue as his iconic Little Tramp learns to love a small orphaned child. This movie will break your heart but then mend it again, leaving you enriched and renewed. If you’re looking to learn why Chaplin is still the greatest artist cinema ever produced, start here.

Watch The Kid on Paramount+

‘Morning Glory’ (2010)

DIRECTOR: Roger Michell
STARS: Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton, Harrison Ford
RATING: PG-13

Fans of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show who want the breezy behind-the-scenes drama of broadcast news with a little bit lighter touch ought to check in for some Morning Glory. Rachel McAdams, the great rom-com star who just missed her window to shine in the genre’s heyday, is radiant as a producer hired to turn around a flailing morning program. She earns her keep having to wrangle two veteran anchors played by Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford who mix like oil and water.

Watch Morning Glory on Paramount+

‘Days of Heaven’ (1978)

DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick
STARS: Richard Gere, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz
RATING: PG

Much of what made Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven such a watershed in cinematography – early use of Steadicam to stabilize a moving camera, insistence on natural lighting outdoors – is rather commonplace now. All the same, this impressionistic tale of twentieth-century Texas lovers is still breathtaking as ever because Malick knows how to capture a grace note like few others have. Something about his imagery just stirs the soul on a spiritual level, and it truly must be seen to be believed. So long as you focus on his brushstrokes and not a traditional story, you’ll be captivated.

Watch Days of Heaven on Paramount+

‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981)

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
STARS: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
RATING: PG

Nothing says adventure quite like the legendary team-up of director Steven Spielberg and writer George Lucas channeling the swashbuckling serials of their youth. The globetrotting escapades of Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones never lose their luster — not even Kingdom of the Crystal Skull can change that! Nothing beats the original Raiders of the Lost Ark, though. It still possesses that little hint of magic that renders you back to seeing the world as you did in your formative years.

Watch Raiders of the Lost Ark on Paramount+

‘The Virgin Suicides’ (2000)

DIRECTOR: Sofia Coppola
STARS: Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, James Woods
RATING: R

Anyone wondering where Kirsten Dunst’s Oscar nomination for The Power of the Dog came from clearly wasn’t paying attention. From an early age, Dunst found fruitful artistic partnership with directors like Sofia Coppola and channeled a palpable sense of ennui. As Lux Lisbon, one of five ‘70s-era sisters drawn into irreparable despair, Dunst effortlessly embodies the conflicts and tensions explored in The Virgin Suicides. She can make a theme and idea come to life without forcing it.

Watch The Virgin Suicides on Paramount+

‘South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut’ (1999)

DIRECTOR: Trey Parker
STARS: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Isaac Hayes
RATING: R

Don’t judge a show by its fandom. While South Park has long been a favorite of immature teenage boys who just enjoy all the irreverent humor, the satirical knives of creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always been sharp. Their feature-length film version of the show, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut blows up the musicals – both animated and theatrical – from the inside. (In many ways, it feels like a trial run for their Broadway smash The Book of Mormon.) It’s a sendup so strong it could reach the sky.

Watch South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut on Paramount+

‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’ (2004)

DIRECTOR: Adam McKay
STARS: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd
RATING: PG-13

Adam McKay’s recent elevation to a perennial Oscars favorite did not just come out of nowhere. He was honing his satirical chops for a full decade before breaking through with The Big Short … the satire was just often so poker-faced that the targets took it at face value. Much of McKay’s ‘00s output was a farcical sendup of masculine hubris, and it’s realized best in the riotously funny Anchorman as Ron Burgundy and his Channel 4 colleagues embody some of the worst elements of toxic machismo.

Watch Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy on Paramount+

‘Up in the Air’ (2009)

DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman
STARS: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick
RATING: R

The passing of the Great Recession might have dulled some of the topical sting from Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, an irony-rich dramedy about a man who finds professional satisfaction in firing people he doesn’t know. But separated from the immediate context of its release, the poignancy of its emotional story really shines. Its themes about making connections and finding the humanity in unexpected places have a timeless resonance.

Watch Up in the Air on Paramount+

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (2008)

DIRECTOR: David Fincher
STARS: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson
RATING: PG-13

Though it’s widely regarded as the “one for them” David Fincher had to make for Paramount to get financing for Zodiac, his work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is far from workmanlike studio hackery. This is an emotionally and visually heart-stopping journey backward through life with Brad Pitt’s titular character who is fated to age in reverse. All the technical wizardry in which Fincher excels all works in service of a story that shows a different way to live and live. It’s a commitment to watch nearly three hours, but an epic story deserves a canvas this grand.

Watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Paramount+

‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ (2011)

DIRECTOR: Brad Bird
STARS: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton
RATING: PG-13

There are cases to be made for just about any of the Mission: Impossible movies being the best, but I’m here to settle this once and for all: it’s 2011’s Ghost Protocol. Director Brad Bird, best known for his work with Pixar, brings a real ingenuity to the action sequences that stems from working in the limitlessly imaginative realm of animation. Even on the smallest screen, the visual of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt scaling the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is breathtaking.

Watch Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on Paramount+

‘Almost Famous’ (2000)

DIRECTOR: Cameron Crowe
STARS: Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand
RATING: R

It’s all happening. Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe’s autobiographical tale of a young music journalist swept up into the fast-paced world of rock, is still every bit as magical twenty years after its release. Crowe’s openly sentimental, uncynical filmmaking style makes this coming-of-age story easy to get absorbed in because we get to feel all the emotions of experiencing freedom for the first time once again. This is the magic of movies incarnate.

Watch Almost Famous on Paramount+

‘Collateral’ (2004)

DIRECTOR: Michael Mann
CAST: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith
RATED: R

A movie set over the course of a single night is bound to get the blood flowing, but few pack the end-to-end tension of Michael Mann’s Collateral. In a pre-Uber LA, Max (Jamie Foxx), a taxi driver trying to make the jump to limousine service, gives five-star service to the passenger from hell. He mucks up the car, yes, but the real danger is from what Tom Cruise’s Vincent does outside the car as a hitman. As Max becomes chauffeur to Vincent’s murder spree, the stakes ratchet steadily upwards as he becomes an unwitting accomplice to a brutal killer. Mann makes the audience feel trapped in the moment and in the claustrophobic cab space with Vincent, who’s so terrifying that you’ll wish Cruise was doing more serious acting and less action hero.

Watch Collateral on Paramount+

‘A Quiet Place’ (2018)

DIRECTOR: John Krasinski
STARS: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds
RATING: PG-13

Remove all distractions, turn off the lights, unwrap your candies … do whatever it takes to recreate the quiet, cavernous environment of a movie theater. The more silent you can make it, the better to watch A Quiet Place. This thrilling monster movie set in a dystopian future where lurking aliens slaughter anything they can hear makes every move fraught with peril. John Krasinski, stepping behind the camera, knows how to orchestrate terrifying tension to an almost unbearable degree.

Watch A Quiet Place on Paramount+

‘A.I.: Artificial Intelligence’ (2001)

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
STARS: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor
RATING: PG-13

Twenty years ago, A.I. was too cheery for fans of Stanley Kubrick, the legendary director who originated this sci-fi story about a robotic boy programmed to love. At the same time, it was a little too dour for fans of Steven Spielberg, the famous crowd-pleasing director who helped push the film across the finish line. (Ironically, it was Spielberg who pulled the film in darker directions!) This is a film ripe for rediscovery and reappraisal as it probes the mysteries of emotion and authenticity in a robotic age. Spielberg strikes an appropriate balance of sentimental and skeptical.

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‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998)

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
STARS: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Edward Norton
RATING: R

Steven Spielberg’s visceral, immersive take on the D-Day invasion in Saving Private Ryan does not just show you the terror of war. It forces you to live inside of it, so much so that it reportedly triggered PTSD episodes for veterans who survived the landing. The extended battle sequence is an important frame for the film but not the entirety of it. While combatting nations tear the world apart, one squad’s journey to save the last surviving fighter among four brothers serves as a testament to how war summons untold heroism from the unlikeliest of men.

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‘Mean Girls’ (2004)

DIRECTOR: Mark Waters
STARS: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey
RATING: PG-13

How many times can you watch the millennial high school movie classic Mean Girls without getting tired of it? To quote just one of the manifold lines it’s gifted to the popular vernacular, the limit does not exist! This boundlessly funny comedy captures the early-aughts with devastating accuracy while also tapping into something timeless about the clique mentality that defines adolescence in any era. Good luck getting anything this good for your cohort, Gen Z!

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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (2022)

DIRECTOR: Joseph Kosinski
STARS: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell
RATING: PG-13

Tom Cruise once again proved his bona fides as perhaps our last real movie star in Top Gun: Maverick. With his daredevil spirit and cocksure attitude, he swaggers across the screen with a boldness that feels sorely missing from today’s cinema. Cruise knows exactly what his audience wants from a retread of his ‘80s action-adventure classic, and he gives it to us with precision, poise, and pizzaz.

Watch Top Gun: Maverick on Paramount+