Okay, the secret is out: Paramount+ has one of the best libraries of film out of all the many streaming services, making it easier than ever to have more options on what to watch.
No matter the circumstances or mood, you’re guaranteed to find something decent, maybe even a few masterpieces, because some of the best movies are on Paramount Plus. It boasts a catalog including Paramount films, A24 films, and more. So, here’s our selection of the best movies on Paramount Plus right now:
Last updated on August 27, 2024
1. Top Gun/Top Gun: Maverick
Year: 1986, 2022
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Miles Teller, Glenn Powell
Genre: Action
Rating: PG, PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes, 2 hours 11 minutes
Director: Joseph Kosinski, Tony Scott
Trailer: Watch here
It is not at all hyperbolic to say that Top Gun and (especially) its box office hit sequel Top Gun: Maverick are cinematic miracles. Even if you’re not into planes or military propaganda or both, both films — the sequel being the stronger of the two — are significant to their respective years’, and respective decades’ pop culture. The original film embodies the ’80s in its songs, costumes and overall cheese and broke new ground for what action movies could do and be. The film also cemented Tom Cruise, who reprised his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, as an action star who could take the leading role in any kind of movie with ease and unprecedented physical commitment. For Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise made sure it could not be done without the proper technology, training, and cast: the actors in the film playing pilots, even those in supporting roles, went through flight training to prepare. The film was a box office hit and it also marked the first truly significant theatrical release since the pandemic, bringing many people back to the cinemas for a good, fun time after a long, sad break.
2. There Will Be Blood
Year: 2007
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 158 minutes
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Trailer: Watch here
One can only imagine how difficult it was for notorious method actor Daniel Day-Lewis to take this character home every night. He portrays a hard-hustling miner, Daniel Plainview, who falls into great fortune during the oil boom and then into great villain mode in the aftermath. Paul Dano portrays identical twins, and as with many Paul Dano roles, you’ll likely want to punch him before the movie is over. Yet there are profound truths to be found while watching Plainview lose his humanity and push harder and faster for power before he eventually drinks that milkshake up. It’s a quirky prestige movie in a sense, but it was an instant classic.
3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Year: 1991
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton
Genre: Action
Rating: R
Runtime: 137 minutes
Director: James Cameron
Trailer: Watch here
Better than the original film? That’s like comparing Alien and Aliens — very different beasts that hit the same high mark. In this sequel, sadly, Kyle Reese has already bit the dust, but Sarah Connor’s guns save the day, and Arnold’s cyborg is a nice, self-sacrificing robot. This followup also includes the moment when the biggest mind behind Skynet realizes what he has wrought, and that sight packs a bigger punch than every subsequent movie combined.
4. A Quiet Place
Year: 2018
Starring: John Krasinski, Emily Blunt
Genre: Horror
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
Director: John Krasinski
Trailer: Watch here
Who could have possibly predicted that Jim Halpert from The Office would direct and launch a modern horror franchise? John Krasinski stars in and directed A Quiet Place, co-starring his wife, Emily Blunt. Creatures who are blind but have incredibly sharp hearing have taken over Earth, leaving few survivors. The film follows a family living in upstate New York, who have survived by speaking in American sign language. When they accidentally make noise that draws the creatures to them, things go awry. A sequel came out in 2020, and Lupita Nyong’o will star in a spin-off film, A Quiet Place: Day One.
5. Pearl
Year: 2022
Starring: Mia Goth, David Corenswet
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Runtime: 103 minutes
Director: Ti West
Trailer: Watch here
The second installment in Ti West’s horror trilogy, this thriller gives us a villain origin story for the ages. Mia Goth plays Pearl, a psychotic young woman longing to escape her family’s farm as her husband fights in the war. She dreams of being an actress and takes drastic steps to make that happen. But as her body count grows and her prospects dry up, Pearl experiences a world-shattering epiphany that sets future film events into motion.
6. Titanic
Year: 1997
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 194 minutes
Director: James Cameron
Trailer: Watch here
In this cinema classic that turned Leonardo DiCaprio into a heartthrob for the ages, Titanic delivers an epic disaster film that cemented director James Cameron as one of the masters of visual effects a full decade before he took audiences to the world of Pandora in Avatar. In this mammoth movie with a runtime that’s almost as big as the ship of the same name, DiCaprio stars as Jack, a young stowaway who finds love with Kate Winslet’s Rose aboard the ill-fated vessel. (Spoiler Alert: The boat sinks.) Merging blockbuster action and one of the most beloved romances ever put to film, Titanic is a modern masterpiece. Just make sure your schedule is free. Maybe clear the whole day.
7. Saving Private Ryan
Year: 1998
Starring: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 169 minutes
Director: Steven Spielberg
Trailer: Watch here
Steven Spielberg directs this gripping World War II drama that follows a platoon of soldiers led by Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) as they storm Omaha Beach in one of the most visceral and realistic depictions of D-Day ever set to film. After surviving the historic invasion, the men are tasked with an equally daunting mission: Bring home Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) after all three of his brothers were killed in battle in the same week. The journey will lead the rag-tag platoon into the path of German forces and eventually lock them into a deadly skirmish that will test their resolve as not just soldiers, but men.
8. The Crow
Year: 1994
Starring: Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott, Ernie Hudson
Genre: Drama, Action
Rating: R
Runtime: 101 minutes
Director: Alex Proyas
Trailer: Watch here
In this classic film that infamously led to the death of its star Brandon Lee, The Crow delivers a brooding take on the graphic novel of the same name as Lee delivers an iconic performance as Eric Draven, a musician who comes back to life to avenge his own death as well as his fiancée. Filled with gothic imagery and an unforgettable soundtrack, The Crow is a slice of pure ’90s grunge and a sterling example that comic book adaptations don’t need to be CGI extravaganzas to blow audience’s minds.
9. Gladiator
Year: 2000
Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix
Genre: Action, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 2 hours, 35 minutes
Director: Ridley Scott
Trailer: Watch here
Russel Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix star in this Ridley Scott epic that nabbed quite a few Oscars in its day. Crowe plays Maximus, a former Roman General who is betrayed by his Emperor (Phoenix) and forced into slavery. He returns years later, seeking revenge for the death of his family while fighting as a gladiator, gaining the public’s love and putting his plan to take down the Empire into motion.
10. Interstellar
Year: 2014
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain
Genre: Sci-fi, Drama
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours 49 minutes
Director: Christopher Nolan
Trailer: Watch here
Christopher Nolan’s space epic has an epic runtime and might not make any sense, but it looks good. In the near future, Earth is becoming increasingly inhabitable, with a global crop blight and a second Dust Bowl. A team of researchers is sent to space to enter a wormhole and explore three different planets in a different galaxy to discover which one is habitable. Matthew McConaughey delivers the most intimate performance of his career as a NASA pilot turned farmer who goes on the mission. The movie will leave you confused and wondering how time works, but that was probably Nolan’s intention.
11. School of Rock
Year: 2003
Starring: Jack Black, Joan Cusack
Genre: Comedy
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes
Director: Richard Linklater
Trailer: Watch here
Jack Black has always harbored leading man potential and he proves it in this comedy that’s on so many “best of” lists for a reason. School of Rock feels like one of those movies you won’t turn off or flip the channel from were it to pop up on network TV, which really is the highest of compliments. It’s the kind of film that, despite years of not watching it, you feel compelled to sit down and take it all in again when the opportunity strikes. Most of that is because of Black, whose undeniable charisma is wielded in full force when he catfishes an educational institution, posing as a substitute teacher and turning his class of pre-teen misfits into the greatest rock band he’s ever performed with. It’s over-the-top and ridiculous, but Black never lets the comedy take away from the heartwarming story at its center.
12. Scream (2022)
Year: 2022
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Jack Quaid
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Runtime: 114 minutes
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Trailer: Watch here
In this fifth installment of the classic Scream franchise, Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox return as Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers. The two are haunted by the events of the original film as a new Ghostface killer emerges once again in Woodsboro and leaves another trail of teenage bodies in their wake. But what seems like random murders, soon becomes a twisted journey into the deadly past of the sleepy town where it all began. Who’s wielding the knife this time and will Sidney and Gale’s luck finally run out as they’re pulled into another bloodbath?
13. Past Lives
Year: 2023
Starring: Greta Lee, Te Yoo, John Magaro
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director: Celine Song
Trailer: Watch here
A story about love, time, and geographical barriers, Celine Song’s bittersweet drama focuses on two childhood friends, separated by circumstance, who reunite years later only to realize this life is not theirs to share. Greta Lee gives a star-making performance as Nora, a married New Yorker who connects with her South Korean friend, Hae Sung, and begins to question her life choices. If you’re in need of a good cry, turn this one on.
14. Mission: Impossible — Fallout
Year: 2018
Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg
Genre: Action, Thriller
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours, 28 minutes
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Trailer: Watch here
Tom Cruise returns as the at this point superhuman Ethan Hunt for yet another impossible mission (the sixth film in the Mission: Impossible series). Cruise performs even more impressive life-threatening stunts in Mission: Impossible Fallout, including but certainly not limited to a helicopter chase. It’s long, but every minute is truly more thrilling than the next. Henry Cavill assimilated as well into a villain role — the role that required him to have the infamous mustache that was questionably edited out of his scenes in Justice League.
15. Selma
Year: 2014
Starring: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey
Genre: Drama, Biopic
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
Director: Ava DuVernay
Trailer: Watch here
Director Ava DuVernay does justice to the incredible story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s campaign to secure equal voting rights for African Americans in the South with this emotionally charged drama and focuses on a specific time in the civil rights leader’s life. Oyelowow transforms himself into the gifted public speaker here, doling out rousing sermons and fiery rants against injustice in equal measure, but DuVernay has him share the spotlight with the Black women who helped foster his greatness — showing the toll on his personal life and adding weight to the mythology of the man.
16. Adventureland
Year: 2009
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Margarita Levieva
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 106 minutes
Director: Greg Mottola
Trailer: Watch here
How did Margarita Levieva not become a bigger star after this movie? That’s the question that people haven’t asked about this movie that revolves around a Jesse Eisenberg role that he could do in his sleep. Kristen Stewart also stars in what is essentially a coming-of-age story (from Superbad director Greg Mottola) that is set at a summer job where the future seems to loom so big, and yet, the present feels like it could never end.
17. Cloverfield
Year: 2008
Starring: Lizzy Caplan, T.J. Miller, Jessica Lucas, Mike Vogel, Ben Feldman, Michael Stahl-David
Genre: Horror
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 84 minutes
Director: Matt Reeves
Trailer: Watch here
This film pulled off an impressive viral marketing campaign for what was essentially a Godzilla-like creature wreaking havoc on New York and unleashing monster spiders to make matters even worse. The found-footage aspect of the movie was trendy at the time but now stands as one of the more believable examples of that shooting style. Also, Lizzy Caplan appears here in a small role that no viewer could ever forget.
18. Bumblebee
Year: 2018
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Dylan O’Brien, John Cena
Genre: Action
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 113 minutes
Director: Travis Knight
Trailer: Watch here
In Bumblebee, a soft reboot of the Transformers franchise set in the 1980s, Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) finds the damaged Autobot hiding out in a junkyard in her sleepy beach town. The two form a touching friendship that’s threatened by the dogged pursuit of the U.S. military led by Agent Burns (John Cena) and the encroaching Decepticon forces. Following the Bay films, Transformers fans immediately took to Bumblebee thanks to the movie sticking more closely to the robots original designs that made them a staple of childhoods everywhere. Plus, Steinfeld is just a joy to watch, and she gives Bumblebee a surprising amount of heart.
19. Jackass Forever
Year: 2022
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Dave England, Wee Man
Genre: Reality, Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Trailer: Watch here
The original cast of Jackass unites for the first time in over a decade (with newcomer Rachel Wolfson joining) in another entry into the most important franchise of the 21st century. Although the Jackass cast is grappling with aging (they can’t exactly perform the same ridiculous stunts they could 20 years ago), there are still plenty of gross, unbelievable things, most of which have to do with their penises.
20. Beavis And Butt-Head Do The Universe
Year: 2022
Starring: Mike Judge, Andrea Savage, Jimmy O. Yang
Genre: Comedy, Animation
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 hour, 26 minutes
Director: John Rice and Albert Calleros
Trailer: Watch here
Beavis and Butt-Head are back and possibly dumber than ever. In Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe, the friends who want nothing more than to lose their virginity inadvertently become astronauts which leads them to time travel from 1998 to 2022, where they meet intelligent versions of themselves.
21. Mean Girls
Year: 2004
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lizzie Caplan
Genre: Comedy
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
Director: Mark Waters
Trailer: Watch here
Few teen comedies do justice to the nightmarish journey of navigating high school as a teenage girl but this Tina Fey-scripted coming-of-age story is in a league of its own. Lindsay Lohan plays Cady, the new girl at school who learns the lay of the land quickly, embedding herself in a clique of popular girls called The Plastics led by a vicious Queen Bee named Regina George (an excellent Rachel McAdams). As Cady tries to take down The Plastics from the inside, she slowly morphs into one of them, assuming control of the group and losing her sense of self — and her few real friends — along the way. Come for the cliched high school tropes done right, stay for Amy Poehler playing a “cool mom.”
22. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Year: 2023
Starring: Nicolas Cantu, Micah Abbey, Brady Noon, Shamon Brown Jr., Ayo Edebiri, Jackie Chan, Ice T
Genre: Action, Comedy
Rating: PG
Runtime: 100 minutes
Director: Jeff Rowe
Trailer: Watch here
It’s impossible to avoid this comparison, so here goes: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem gives the heroes in a half-shell the Spider-Verse treatment in this animated film packed with super cool comic book-inspired visuals and a whole lot of teenage heart. Produced by Seth Rogen, Mutant Mayhem set out to capture what made the Ninja Turtles concept so great and nailed it. Look for a killers row of voice talent with Jackie Chan, Ice T, and Paul Rudd as notable standouts.
23. Smile
Year: 2022
Starring: Sosie Bacon, Caitlin Stasey, Robin Weigert, Kal Penn, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Runtime: 115 minutes
Director: Parker Finn
Trailer: Watch here
If you see the smile, you’ll die? Sort of (somebody will die), and of course, this film will bring to mind The Ring franchise but without a mysterious videotape and with unsettling grins that happen prior to death. This film scored at the box office due to an incredible viral marketing run, and a sequel will be incoming.
24. Red Eye
Year: 2005
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy
Genre: Thriller
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 85 minutes
Director: Wes Craven
Trailer: Watch here
What begins as a rom-com, complete with a meet-cute that feels designed by fate, quickly morphs into an agonizing hostage situation in which Cillian Murphy terrorizes poor Rachel McAdams within an inch of her sanity. Equal parts charm and menace, Murphy’s Jackson Rippner (subtle this film is not) has murderous designs that hinge on the help of McAdams’ hotel manager, Lisa. The two try to outsmart each other at every turn in a heart-pumping cat-and-mouse game filled with just enough chemistry to cause you to question whether you can have Stockholm Syndrome for a fictional character.
25. Jack Reacher
Year: 2012
Starring: Tom Cruise, David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike
Genre: Action
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 130 min
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Trailer: Watch here
Alright, so Tom Cruise didn’t entirely work as Jack Reacher, something that has been further illustrated by Alan Ritchson’s version on Prime Video/Amazon, but oddly enough, Reachermania is prompting people to revisit this movie, which does carry its own charm. It’s fun from a completist’s point of view, at least.
26. Martha Marcy May Marlene
Year: 2011
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy
Genre: Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: Sean Durkin
Trailer: Watch here
This film feels even more haunting on a rewatch to pick up clues that further inform the open-ended conclusion, and this was when Elizabeth Olsen’s career hit the breakthrough point, before the Marvel machine took over. John Hawkes, as well, delivered a haunting performance as a cult leader, who gets under his followers’ skin in the same way that this film will do to those who watch.
27. Fear
Year: 1996
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Wahlberg
Genre: Suspense
Rating: R
Runtime: 96 minutes
Director: 1996
Trailer: Watch here
A series of horrible decisions by a family leads to Marky Mark terrorizing them as a 23-year-old stalker who refuses to stay away from a 16-year-old protagonist portrayed by Reese Witherspoon. The musical beats hit memorably and disturbingly, and you’ll never look out of a peephole the same way again after watching this flick.
28. Sasquatch Sunset
Year: 2024
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 98 minutes
Director: Nathan Zellner, David Zellner
Trailer: Watch here
Jesse Eisenberg as a feral (as if there is any other kind) Bigfoot? Why not. This Sundance-premiering movie reportedly had viewers torn between walking out and not being able to stop watching of the most absurd cinematic displays by a former Oscar winner in history. Riley Keough joined Jesse in the territory-marking behavior, which includes pooping, of course. How could you resist this year in the life?
29. World War Z
Year: 2013
Starring: Brad Pitt
Genre: Horror/post-apocalyptic/action
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 116 minutes
Director: Marc Forster
Trailer: Watch here
This film runs about 20 minutes too long with about 200 too many zombie screeches in the third-act lab setting, but the road to get there was full of adrenaline, including a heart-pounding airplane scene. The visions of the outbreak unfolding are also appropriately terrifying, as are the traffic-snarled moments when the family of Gerry (Brad Pitt) was desperately hoping to escape the unfolding mayhem. Overall, it’s a solid addition to Pitt’s collection of actioners that works well on a Saturday afternoon while cleaning house.
30. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Year: 1986
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, Alan Ruck
Genre: Comedy
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: John Hughes
Trailer: Watch here
In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Matthew Broderick stars in this classic John Hughes comedy about a teen ne’er-do-well who decides to skip school for one epic day off. With his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and Cameron (Alan Ruck) along the ride, the trio “borrow” a very expensive sports car and head out to nearby Chicago for a wild day of baseball and singing in the streets before getting home in time to thwart the vengeful Principal Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) in this iconic ’80s staple.
