The 30 Best Movies on Paramount+ Right Now

This post will be updated frequently as movies enter and leave the service. *New titles are indicated with an asterisk.

In 2021, CBS All Access rebranded with the name Paramount+, reflecting the history of the legendary film and TV company with that nifty little mathematical sign that all the streaming companies seem to love these days. The name Paramount brings a deep catalogue of feature films, and the streaming service also includes titles from the Miramax and MGM libraries. They have also added a more robust original selection than at launch to complement the service’s classics like Gladiator, the Mission: Impossible series and Grease.

For now, Paramount+ can’t compare to the depth of a catalogue like Max’s or the award-winning original works at other streamers, but it has a solid library with at least 30 films you should see.

This Month’s Editor’s Pick

*Attack the Block

Year: 2011
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: Joe Cornish

Long before he won a Golden Globe for Small Axe, John Boyega broke through in this 2011 sci-fi/action flick from director Joe Cornish. With echoes of John Carpenter, it’s the tale of a street gang who end up being the final defense between the world and an alien invasion. Smart and action-packed, it’s a great one to catch up with on Max.

Almost Famous

Year: 2000
Runtime: 2h 3m
Director: Cameron Crowe

Cameron Crowe wrote and directed this masterpiece about a young man (Patrick Fugit) who ends up on tour with a rock band known as Stillwater. With incredible supporting performances from Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this is one of the richest and most timeless films of its era, a rare movie that gets better every time you see it.

*Babel

Year: 2006
Runtime: 2h 23m
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu

Before Birdman and The Revenant, Alejandro González Iñárritu directed this highly acclaimed Oscar nominee in 2006 about intersecting lives in a moving narrative that takes place around the world. The remarkable ensemble includes Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Adriana Barraza, and Rinko Kikuchi — the last two were nominated for Oscars for Best Supporting Actress.

Beverly Hills Cop

Year: 1984
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Martin Brest

It’s hard to explain to people too young to experience it how big a star Eddie Murphy was in 1984 when his Axel Foley ruled the world. Murphy’s wit and charm were put to perfect use in Beverly Hills Cop that produced two inferior sequels, and both happen to also be on Paramount Plus.

*Brokeback Mountain

Year: 2005
Runtime: 2h 14m
Director: Ang Lee

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal star in this romantic drama, one of the best films of the ‘00s. Adapted from the short story by Annie Proulx, Ang Lee’s film is tender and heartbreaking, the story of unaccepted love between two men in the American West. It features some of the career-best work from Ledger, Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams.

Chinatown

Year: 1974
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Roman Polanski

Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown. One of the best movies of the ‘70s, this Best Picture nominee (and Best Screenplay winner) tells the story of Jake Gittes, played unforgettably by Jack Nicholson, as he investigates an adulterer and finds something much more insidious under the surface of Los Angeles. It’s a must-see, as important as almost any film from its era.

Collateral

Year: 2004
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Michael Mann

Tom Cruise gives one of his most fascinating performances as Vincent, the passenger to Jamie Foxx’s L.A. cab driver on a very fateful night. It turns out that Vincent is hitman and he needs Foxx’s character to drive him on a killing spree in this tense, gorgeously-shot thriller from the masterful craftsman Michael Mann.

Finding Yingying

Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Jiayan “Jenny” Shi

Jiayan Shi directed and produced this heartbreaking documentary about the disappearance and death of Yingying Zhang in 2017. Shi has unique access to the story in that she knew Yingying, and so her film has an incredible you-are-there quality as Shi captures the investigation and grief that would emerge from this horrific crime. Paramount+ deserves credit for bringing smaller projects like this to their subscribers, ones that other major streamers might ignore.

Gladiator

Year: 2000
Runtime: 2h 34m
Director: Ridley Scott

One of the most popular films of its era, this action epic stars Russell Crowe as the legendary Maximus, a warrior whose family is murdered by the vicious Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Forced into slavery, Maximus has to rise the gladiator arenas to get his vengeance. The film made a fortune on its way to winning the Oscar for Best Picture.

The Godfather

Year: 1972
Runtime: 2h 55m
Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Maybe you’ve heard of it? In all seriousness, there’s a very cool opportunity right now to watch the entire Godfather trilogy on Paramount+, including the superior recent cut of the third film. You could then slide from some of the best filmmaking of all time into the streaming service’s original series The Offer, about the making of Coppola’s masterpiece.

*The Hunt for Red October

Year: 1990
Runtime: 2h 15m
Director: John McTiernan

This adaptation of the 1984 novel of the same name introduced the film world to Jack Ryan, played here by Alec Baldwin (and currently by John Krasinski on the Prime Video series). Still the best Ryan movie, The Hunt for Red October sees the character match wits with a Soviet naval captain played by Sean Connery, who wants to defect to the United States but may cause World War III by doing so.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Year: 1981
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Steven Spielberg

The first four films in the franchise featuring one of the world’s most famous action heroes is finally back on Prime Video (jump over to Disney for the fifth if you must). Of course, the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, remains the best of the bunch but there’s some value and fun in Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade too (and even parts of Crystal Skull. Yeah, we said it.)

Interstellar

Year: 2014
Runtime: 2h 49m
Director: Christopher Nolan

No one else makes movies like Christopher Nolan, a man who took his superhero success and used it to get gigantic budgets to bring his wildest dreams to the big screen. Who else could make this sprawling, emotional, complicated film about an astronaut (Matthew McConaughey) searching for a new home for humanity? It’s divisive among some Nolan fans for its deep emotions, but those who love it really love it.

Jackass

Year: 2002
Runtime: 1h 25m
Director: Jeff Tremaine

Jackass Forever helped 2022 start with a bang. Now you can go back and watch the whole series exclusively on Paramount+ right now! (Even the “alternate” ones like Jackass 3.5). Go back to the heyday of Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, and the rest of the dangerous idiots. These movies are often derided as being dumb but they’re a glorious, infectious kind of dumb that wants nothing more than to make you laugh.

Jerry Maguire

Year: 1996
Runtime: 2h 18m
Director: Cameron Crowe

One of Cameron Crowe’s best films became something of a punchline with its heavily quoted lines (“Show me the money,” “You had me at hello,” everything that cute kid says) but it’s actually a character-driven romantic comedy that has held up incredibly well in the quarter-century since its release. Tom Cruise plays the title character, a sports agent who is pushed into starting his own agency while he falls in love with a single mother, played by Renee Zellweger. It’s sweet, smart, and funny.

The Lost City

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 52m
Director: Aaron Nee, Adam Nee

With echoes of beloved rom-coms like African Queen and Romancing the Stone, this film truly felt like an anomaly in 2022, and yet it turned into a pretty big hit at the theater. It’s already on streaming services, and it’s a great choice if you’re looking for some escapism tonight. Travel to the middle of nowhere with a romance novel writer (Sandra Bullock) and the cover model (Channing Tatum) who tries to save the day.

Michael Clayton

Year: 2007
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Tony Gilroy

George Clooney does phenomenal work as the title character in Tony Gilroy’s feature debut. He’s a lawyer who has spent his career defending big business, but he finds himself in a moral quandary over a toxic cover-up. Nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, it won Best Supporting Actress for the legendary Tilda Swinton. (Note: This one is especially poignant with the recent loss of Tom Wilkinson.)

Minority Report

Year: 2002
Runtime: 2h 25m
Director: Steven Spielberg

One of Steven Spielberg’s best modern movies is this adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story about a future in which crime can be predicted before it happens. Tom Cruise stars as a man who is convicted of a crime he has no intent of committing in a fantastic vision of a future in which the systems designed to stop crime have been corrupted. It’s timely and probably always will be.

*Muriel’s Wedding

Year: 1994
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: P.J. Hogan

This 1994 breakthrough for Toni Collette has maintained a loyal following for over a quarter-century for a reason, and it’s not just the great songs by ABBA. Collette is delightful as a socially awkward young woman who moves to Sydney to start life anew away from her small Australian town. It’s a delightful comedy about a memorable oddball but it has a huge heart.

Past Lives

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Celine Song

A current Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nominee, this phenomenal film isn’t on any of the other streamers. It stars the excellent Greta Lee and Teo Yoo as a couple who were close as children but reunite years later after she immigrated to the United States. It’s as much a story of what people leave behind when they change their entire lives as it is a traditional story of unrequited love. It’s beautiful and unforgettable.

A Quiet Place

Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: John Krasinski

Who could have possibly guessed that Jim from The Office would be behind one of the most successful horror films of the ‘10s? You’ve probably already seen this story of a world in which silence is the only way to survive, but it’s worth another look to marvel at its tight, taut filmmaking and a stellar performance from Emily Blunt. Plus, Paramount+ recently added the sequel, so: double feature time!

Scream

Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: Wes Craven

The Ghostface killer came back in January 2022 with the release of Scream, the fifth film in this franchise and the first since the death of Wes Craven, and the fun continued with another sequel in 2023 (although the troubles around the production of the seventh film have been, well, notable). Paramount+ is the best place for a marathon with the original trilogy and the fifth and sixth films (but, bizarrely, not Scream 4.) The first movie is still a flat-out genre masterpiece.

*Shakespeare in Love

Year: 1998
Runtime: 2h 3m
Director: John Madden

The Best Picture winner for 1998 (controversially over Saving Private Ryan), this John Madden film stars Joseph Fiennes as the Bard himself, who falls in love with Viola de Lesseps (Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow) while writing Romeo & Juliet. The ensemble here is aces, including Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, and Judi Dench, who won an Oscar for only eight minutes of screen time.

Smile 2

Year: 2024
Runtime: 2h 7m
Director: Parker Finn

It’s very rare for a sequel to be better than the original, but that’s the case here as writer/director Parker Finn builds on the ideas of the first Smile in a manner that’s ambitious and accomplished. Naomi Scott gives one of the best performances of the year as a pop star who becomes attached to the smile demon, sending her down a terrifying rollercoaster to one of the most memorable horror movie endings in years. Finn has said he’s working on a third film, but the bar is now remarkably high.

Titanic

Year: 1997
Runtime: 3h 14m
Director: James Cameron

More than just a blockbuster, this Best Picture winner was a legitimate cultural phenomenon, staying at the top of the box office charts for months. There was a point when it felt like not only had everyone seen the story of Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet), but most people had seen it twice. History has kind of reduced this epic to its quotable scenes and earworm theme song, but it’s a better movie than you remember, a great example of James Cameron’s truly robust filmmaking style.

Top Gun: Maverick

Year: 2022
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Joseph Kosinski

It’s the movie that saved movies last year! The truth is that Paramount wanted to drop this long-awaited sequel on a streamer during the pandemic, but Tom Cruise knew it was the kind of thing that should be appreciated in a theater. He bet on himself and the result is arguably the biggest hit of his career, a movie that made a fortune and seems primed to win Oscars in a couple months.

Trainspotting

Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 34m
Director: Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle really broke through with his second film, this beloved adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel about addiction. Ewan McGregor plays Mark Renton, the most charismatic member of a group of friends who became instantly iconic, including Spud (Ewan Bremner), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Tommy (Kevin McKidd), and the sociopathic Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Propelled by one of the best soundtracks of the ‘90s, this movie has more energy than nearly anything else on Paramount+.

The Untouchables

Year: 1987
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Brian De Palma

Brian De Palma directed one of the best movies of his notable career in this action epic that won Sean Connery an overdue Oscar. Connery co-stars with Kevin Costner as Elliot Ness and Robert De Niro as Al Capone in this story of how Ness took down one of the most famous criminals of all time. Tense and riveting, it’s a great action movie that’s anchored by phenomenal performances and De Palma’s unique eye.

*When Harry Met Sally

Year: 1989
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Rob Reiner

Any list of the best romantic comedies of all time that doesn’t include this 1989 Rob Reiner classic is simply incomplete. Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal give their most charming film performances as the title characters, a pair who decide to test the theory that men and women can’t be friends without romance getting in the way. The real star here is Nora Ephron’s sharp and ultimately moving screenplay, one of the best in the history of the rom-com.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Year: 2013
Runtime: 3h
Director: Martin Scorsese

Leonardo DiCaprio should have won the Oscar for his amazing performance as Jordan Belfort, the financial criminal that rocked Wall Street and shocked audiences in one of Scorsese’s best late films. Arguments over whether or not this film glorifies a “bad guy” have become prominent—and could only really be made by people who haven’t actually watched it. Most of all, it’s a shockingly robust film, filmed with more energy in a few minutes than most flicks have in their entire runtime.

Related

• The 30 Best TV Shows on Paramount+