The best movies on Netflix (October 2019): great Netflix films - including El Camino

There’s never a bad time to rewatch Martin Scorsese’s hugely influential gangster epic, which is an adaptation of a true story recounted by Nicholas Pileggi. Ray Liotta plays Henry Hill, who went from tough mob enforcer to FBI informant over the space of 25 chaotic years. Goodfellas became famous for a whole bunch of reasons, not least of which is a memorable turn from Joe Pesci as the psychotic mobster Tommy DeVito.

This movie is also available to buy now on Amazon.

The film that put Quentin Tarantino’s name on the map, then proceeded to blow a hole through said map with a shotgun. Reservoir Dogs remains a visceral treat with one of the tensest denouements in cinematic history, as a crew of violent criminals pick through the bloody aftermath of a bungled jewellery store heist. The question of who is to be trusted soon becomes secondary to who will get to keep all their body parts.

This movie is also available to buy now on Amazon.

Spider-Man may have gone through far too many reboots, but this movie is Spider-Man done right. Tom Holland is the perfect age to play the teenage web slinger, while Michael Keaton's bad guy is flawed and ferocious in equal measure. Who knows where the Marvel Universe is set to go now End Game has come and gone, but with superheroes like this one sticking around, it's in good hands

This movie is also available to buy now on Amazon.

The 1993 classic Jurassic Park never gets old. For those who haven't seen it about 20+ times already like most of us here at Shortlist, it's a movie about a multi-millionaire who decides to tamper with some very old DNA and open a theme park full of real-life dinosaurs. As you'd expect, nothing goes to plan and when the dinos get loose, some early visitors, played by Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum) have to try and make it one in one piece.

This mind-bending sci-fi masterpiece from Christopher Nolan is a perfect mix of fantasy, future shock and drama. It's about a group who delve into the depths of dreams in order to plant and shape someone's beliefs. This might sound abstract, but works very well on screen. Everyone is plugged into the 'dream machine' and then gets to work influencing their surroundings, whether that's a ski slope, hotel or Parisian streets.

FBI trainee Clarice Starling (played by Jodie Foster) is tasked with talking to Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins) about a recent spate of murders. The thing is, the talks take place within a maximum-security asylum because Lecter is a psychiatrist-turned-cannibal who knows a thing or two of his own about murdering people. It's a fantastic thriller filled with psychological twists and turns as well as a fair amount of gore and suspense.

Written and directed by the fantastic James Garland (of The Beach and Annihilation fame), Ex Machina follows the story of Caleb (played by Domhnall Gleeson), who wins a contest at work to meet the founder of the company he works for, the reclusive Nathan (played by Oscar Isaac). But all isn't as it seems in Nathan's super fancy and futuristic home in the middle of nowhere. He claims he wants Caleb to test one of his AI creations, but really his motives are much more nefarious. This is a nail-biting sci-fi movie that not only looks fantastic and harks to classic gothic fiction, but poses some interesting philosophical questions about artificial intelligence, consciousness and what it means to be human.

An interesting accompaniment to last year’s Neil Armstrong biopic First Man, Apollo 13 tells the story of the aborted 1970 moon mission that so nearly ended in tragedy. Tom Hanks does his Tom Hanks thing as the decent and likeable astronaut Jim Lovell, who must lead his shell-shocked crew on a desperate recovery mission. It’s heart-in-mouth stuff from director Ron Howard, ably aided by a cast that includes Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris.

This movie is also available to buy now on Amazon.

Shot on location in some of Rio de Janeiro's poorest neighbourhoods, City of God is set in the 1970s and follows the story of two men who are destined for different paths. Rocket (played by Alexandre Rodrigues) is a photographer who documents drug-related violence in the city. Whereas José "Zé" Pequeno (played by Leandro Firmino da Hora), is a drug dealer who uses Rocket's photos to increase his fame.

The classic 1960 horror film Psycho is now showing on Netflix and it's truly one of the most eerie and suspenseful movies ever made – famously without any actual violence shown on screen. It's directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and it's about a secretary (played by Janet Leigh) and her stay at a motel, run by Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins) where things are not as they seem.

Jake Gyllenhaal shines in the lead role of Nightcrawler as Louis Bloom, a man who records violent scenes and car crashes late at night around Los Angeles before selling the footage to a local TV station. It's a hard-hitting thriller that raises important questions about journalism and the public's desire to be the first to see horrific scenes on their TV. It received widespread critical acclaim when it was released in 2014 and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Rob Reiner’s adventure comedy, which is based on a novel from the late William Goldman, has barely aged in 30 years. That’s probably because it was way ahead of its time, deftly skewering the po-faced fantasy genre with post-modern relish and no little heart. The story of star-crossed lovers Wesley and Princess Buttercup is recounted by a gravelly voiced Peter Falk to his young grandson, played by Fred Savage of The Wonder Years.

This movie is also available to buy now on Amazon.

This romantic drama from director Luca Guadagnino won a number of awards when it was first released in 2017. It's about 17-year-old Elio (played by Timothée Chalamet) and 24-year-old Oliver (played by Armie Hammer) and their sexual relationship over one summer. It was so well received that it's even been confirmed there'll be a sequel.

Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman star in this classic 1969 drama about an unlikely friendship between prostitute Joe Buck (played by Voight) and conman Ratzo Rizzo (played by Hoffman). Based on a 1965 novel of the same name, it scooped three Academy Awards when it was first released and is considered one of the best American films ever made.