The 30 best movies to stream on Disney+ right now

The chills of winter demand a night in with a great movie. The problem? Choice paralysis. Every streaming platform has thousands of films available. To cut through that, here are 30 great hand-picked movies on Disney+ right now.

Don’t have Disney+? Check out our guides on Stan*, HBO Max, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

10 Things I Hate About You

Heath Ledger arrived in Hollywood with this quick-witted American high school take on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, playing the rebel who falls for Julia Stiles’s antisocial classmate after being paid to date her.

Aliens

The rare sequel – written and directed by James Cameron – that is just as good as its predecessor. Sigourney Weaver returns as the lone survivor, with the science-fiction setting switching from horror to furious Xenomorph action.

All of Us Strangers

A beautifully bittersweet invocation from Andrew Haigh, this London-set romantic fantasy stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal as marooned high-rise neighbours whose connection transcends time and loss.

The Avengers

Marvel’s original superhero team-up remains the genre’s benchmark, with Joss Whedon helming a drily bemused campaign to save the world that gave purposeful roles to the likes of Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson.

The Banshees of Inisherin

On a remote Irish island in 1923, the friendship shared by Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell’s characters is unilaterally severed by the former, bewildering the latter. Absurdist humour and bloody ramifications ensue.

Black Panther

A true masterpiece of the Marvel age. Ryan Coogler’s African epic is rich in anthropological detail, thrilling action and the tragic rivalry between Chadwick Boseman’s titular superhero and Michal B. Jordan’s ruthless usurper.

Broadcast News

The apex of the sophisticated Hollywood romantic-comedy, with writer and director James L. Brooks charting a memorable love triangle between William Hurt’s charming correspondent, Holly Hunter’s driven news producer and Albert Brooks’ yearning pal.

Con Air

A bonkers action-thriller pitting the likes of Nicolas Cage, Nicolas Cage’s mullet, John Malkovich, and – yes – John Cusack against each other. This airborne jailbreak is so over the top it acquires a screw-loose charm.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Prior to The Batman, filmmaker Matt Reeves announced himself with a compelling entry in this science-fiction saga that charts revolutionary compromise as apes and humans try to share a post-apocalyptic world.

The Descendants

With George Clooney and a young Shailene Woodley expertly matched as a father and defiant daughter dealing with a tragic mutual loss, this Alexander Payne tragicomedy explores familial forgiveness through messy circumstances and eloquent acceptance.

Die Hard

With a barefoot and bloodied Bruce Willis defying Alan Rickman’s suave terrorist and his dedicated crew, this landmark action-thriller is a treat. The action goes vertical as a skyscraper is filled with gunfire and sardonic dialogue.

Ed Wood

Tim Burton is at his most compassionate in this tragicomic homage to the titular 1950s director judged by history as Hollywood’s worst. A zesty Johnny Depp embodies Wood’s enthusiasm, with Martin Landau as a screen legend fallen on hard times.

The Empire Strikes Back

It’s still the best Star Wars movie. The adolescent heroics of George Lucas’ blockbuster space opera become a darkly powerful and resonant fable of family, faith, and looming doom.

Enough Said

Stars of The Sopranos and Seinfeld respectively, James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus memorably disappear into their vulnerable middle-aged roles in this tender, novelistic romantic-comedy about having the courage to grasp second chances.

The French Connection

The police officer as Hollywood good guy archetype was memorably dispelled by star Gene Hackman in this hard-nosed thriller, where his obsessive New York detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle cuts every corner to bust a vast heroin shipment.

Grosse Pointe Blank

In a Gen X cult classic balanced between ludicrousness and hopefulness, John Cusack plays a hitman suffering a career slump who attends his high school reunion and reunites with his lost love, played by a never-better Minnie Driver.

Inside Man

With clockwork cool plotting and pithy NYC observations, Spike Lee turns the heist thriller inside out as Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen face off as adversaries looking to stay one step ahead of each other.

Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World

A masterful period epic from Australian director Peter Weir, who turns a British warship during the Napoleonic Wars into an immersive community led by Russell Crowe’s dedicated captain. It’s a bloody, intricate and thrilling tale.

The Muppet Movie

The origin story of anarchically inventive comedy: the big screen debut of Jim Henson’s beloved performers starts with Kermit the Frog singing Rainbow Connection and swiftly accumulates beloved companions, out-there cameos and meta-humour.

Pinocchio

With When You Wish Upon a Star as the signature tune, this Disney masterwork remains one of animation’s great achievements. Rich in visual detail, it’s a musical fantasy that grapples with dark needs and empathetic renewal.

Poor Things

Emma Stone rightfully won a best actress Oscar when Greek provocateur Yorgos Lanthimos and Australian screenwriter Tony McNamara grafted sexual liberation onto a droll steampunk adventure. Rife with vivid images and – crucially – constructive hope.

Prey

A sparse, striking addition to the Predator franchise. On the early 18th century North American frontier, a budding young Comanche warrior (Amber Goodthunder) uses all her traditional skills to confront a creature hunting humans for sport.

Raising Arizona

Broadcasting on a hilariously deadpan frequency, the Coen brothers delivered a screwball crime romance with Nicolas Cage as a hapless thief determined to bring happiness – and a kidnapped baby – to Holly Hunter as his infertile wife.

Rogue One

A bracing Star Wars offshoot that profits immeasurably from no Skywalkers and little Jedi lore. Instead, we follow the desperate attempts by Diego Luna and eventually Felicity Jones’ rebels to defy totalitarian rule by any means necessary.

Rushmore

Wes Anderson’s breakthrough feature, co-written with Owen Wilson, established his trademark visual style in an idiosyncratic comedy where a polymath private school boy (Jason Schwartzman) and a disillusioned businessman (Bill Murray) aid each other.

Rye Lane

London’s dreamily calling in what is one of the best romantic comedies of this decade. David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah play a broken-hearted duo who spend a whirlwind day together. Raine Allen Miller’s debut feature is charmingly inventive.

The Thin Red Line

After 20 years of self-imposed exile, director Terrence Malick brought dozens of famous actors to Queensland to shoot a World War II epic that unfolds as a meditation on inhumanity in the face of nature’s wonder. A unique wonder.

Thor: Ragnarok

Taika Waititi is a hit-and-miss director, but he nailed this terrific update of Marvel’s squarest hero. Chris Hemsworth’s Norse deity gets a sense of humour and a fateful adversary – a commanding Cate Blanchett as the vengeful sister erased from history.

Toy Story

This is the imaginative delight that made Pixar a byword for joyous family filmgoing, with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen voicing the toys that come to life when humans aren’t playing with them. Groundbreaking computer animation augments timeless themes.

The Verdict

Paul Newman was a true Hollywood icon, but his finest performance eschewed leading man heroics. In this gritty legal drama, he played a self-loathing alcoholic lawyer who discovers the strength to take on the system.

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