The 7 Best New Movies Streaming on Netflix Right Now

Netflix‘s April film acquisitions include masterpieces from some of the most revered Hollywood directors of the past 50 years, including Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann. Whether you are in the mood for Nolan’s best superhero film or Mann’s greatest crime thriller, Netflix has whatever its subscribers may be looking for in April. That is to say nothing, either, of the pair of timeless sports dramas that the streaming service also added to its platform this month.

Here are TheWrap’s picks for the seven best movies that have started streaming on Netflix in April.

“The Dark Knight” (2008)

Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” is still considered by many to be the peak of the superhero genre, and for good reason. Nolan’s 2008 sequel to 2005’s “Batman Begins” is a propulsive, gripping crime thriller that doubles as a battle of wills between its eponymous comic book hero, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), and his crazed anarchist archnemesis, The Joker (Heath Ledger). Much has been written and said about Ledger’s career-defining performance as The Joker, which nabbed him a posthumous Oscar win after his death, and yet no piece of criticism or praise has ever come close to truly encapsulating what makes Ledger’s tour de force, transformative performance so terrifying and electrifying.

Ledger’s Joker remains the greatest of all superhero movie villains, and “The Dark Knight” becomes a nerve-jangling, breathtakingly cinematic experience with him as its anchor. 17 years after it came out, it still moves better than just about any other superhero movie — speeding along at such a breakneck pace that you can’t help but get swept up in the adrenaline-pumping stakes of its story and the operatic scale of Nolan’s direction.

“The Place Beyond the Pines” (2013)

An unfairly forgotten entry in both Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper’s filmographies, “The Place Beyond the Pines” is a moving, frequently thrilling low-level crime drama. Directed by “Blue Valentine” filmmaker Derek Cianfrance, the film follows a motorcycle stunt driver (Gosling) who decides to start robbing banks in order to support a former girlfriend (Eva Mendes) and their young son.

Not only does “Place Beyond the Pines” depict this chapter of its characters’ lives, but it also charts how the decisions made by Gosling’s Luke ripple across generations and extend to Cooper’s Avery, an unsuspecting cop who finds himself caught up in Luke’s story. Featuring a scene-stealing supporting turn from Ben Mendelsohn and some of the boldest, most heartfelt imagery of Cianfrance’s career, “The Place Beyond the Pines” is a surprising, admirably ambitious and often heart-wrenching film.

“Rudy” (1993)

A sports drama that is destined to make you cry and cheer, “Rudy” is a modest, deeply felt film that does just about everything right. Directed by “Hoosiers” filmmaker David Anspaugh and based on the real life of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, the film follows its eponymous subject (“Lord of the Rings” star Sean Astin) as he strives to overcome his financial and physical obstacles to achieve his dream of playing football for Notre Dame. Along the way, Rudy must not only weather the storm of multiple setbacks, but also the unhidden doubts of his loved ones.

Anchored by Astin’s understated, endearing performance and featuring some memorable supporting turns from the likes of Jon Favreau and Ned Beatty, “Rudy” is an American drama that feels as specific and lived-in as it does universal. It is a sports film for everyone, and it has become so beloved in the 32 years since its release that it is seen by many now as the quintessential Hollywood underdog drama. That should tell you just about everything you need to know about the emotional and dramatic power of “Rudy.”

“Field of Dreams” (1989)

Speaking of sports dramas that are just as rousing as they are deeply affecting, “Field of Dreams” is a timeless American classic. Based on a 1982 novel by W. P. Kinsella, this Phil Alden Robinson-directed masterpiece is set in the endless cornfields of Iowa. It stars Kevin Costner as a midwest farmer who, after receiving instructions from a ghostly, unseen voice, decides to cut down a significant portion of his family’s crops in order to build a baseball field. When he does, he discovers that he has created a portal for ghosts both widely known and not to return to the physical world and participate again in America’s favorite pastime.

Featuring the final film appearance by Burt Lancaster, “Field of Dreams” finds the perfect balance of kitschy sentimentality and hard-won emotion. Its final 10 minutes are guaranteed to take most viewers’ breath away, as “Field of Dreams” ultimately reminds you of how even trivial things like sports can become sources of healing and renewed hope.

“The Age of Innocence” (1993)

Martin Scorsese may be best known for gangster movies like “Goodfellas,” “The Departed” and “Casino,” but he has proven in more than a few films that his interests and abilities extend far beyond mobsters and crime. The best example of this may still be “The Age of Innocence.” An adaptation of the 1920 Edith Wharton novel of the same name, “The Age of Innocence” follows a young, wealthy New York attorney (Daniel Day-Lewis) who finds himself falling in love with a countess (Michelle Pfeiffer) whose tumultuous marriage to a Polish aristocrat has become the cause of much scandal and made her a social outcast.

Day-Lewis’ Newland, consequently, finds himself torn between his attraction to Pfeiffer’s Ellen, the suffocating standards of his family and friends and his obligation to his fiancée (Winona Ryder). Filled with aching sensuality and hypnotic imagery, “The Age of Innocence” is a romance of yearning and unspoken emotions. It is a drama that — much like how its two star-crossed lovers find themselves falling in love with each other — sinks its hooks into you without you even noticing.

“Heat” (1995)

Throughout his career, writer-director Michael Mann has created some of the most popular and enduring American crime thrillers of the past 40 years. “Heat” is the most well-known and best of these films. A sweeping, Los Angeles-set saga, the film follows a career bank-robber (Robert De Niro) who ends up caught in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with a determined, unrelenting police detective (Al Pacino).

As the two men become increasingly invested in outwitting the other, Mann explores how their shortcomings and strengths not only affect their respective professional lives but also their personal ones. “Heat” is, in other words, simultaneously a superficially exhilarating cops-and-robbers thriller and an exploration of masculinity that is romantic, clear-eyed and unforgiving. In any other director’s hands, “Heat” would be nothing more than a star-studded Hollywood blockbuster. In Mann’s, it becomes so much more: a crime drama that is truly epic in both its narrative and emotional scope.

“Psycho” (1960)

One of the most important and influential films in Hollywood history, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” is a slasher movie that has stood the test of time for a reason. It follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a real estate secretary who decides to steal thousands of dollars from her boss in order to finally secure a future with her boyfriend. After she goes on the run to escape the law, she ends up checking into a motel where not everything is as it seems.

Shot in gorgeous black and white and trimmed down with razor-sharp precision to its barest parts, “Psycho” is quite simply one of the most masterfully directed films that you will ever see. Hitchcock is always in full control of not just “Psycho” but also its viewers, and the result is a film that is uniquely manipulative, haunting and mesmerizing. There is real beauty in “Psycho,” particularly in how it is lit, shot and edited, and that only makes its horrors all the more unsettling.

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