Star on Disney Plus: 15 movies and shows to binge watch

This is what you should be watching.

Star on Disney Plus: 15 movies and shows to binge watch
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Disney Plus has just gone through its biggest change yet. Included with the subscription is now Star, an entertainment platform that mixes movies and shows the likes of Disney Television Studios (20th Television and ABC Signature), FX Productions, 20th Century Studios and more.

This means that, thanks to Star on Disney Plus, hundreds of movies and show have been added to Disney Plus - that's a lot of things to watch!

UPDATE: The Golden Globe winning Nomadland is heading to Star on Disney Plus on 30 April for no extra charge. This will be the same time the movie comes out in cinemas in the UK. The film, directed by Chloé Zhao, is a docu-fictional look at nomads in the US who are homeless from the 2008 economic crash. It stars Frances McDormand as David Strathairn, as well as the real life nomads that feature in Jessica Bruder’s acclaimed book.

While we are sure that you will get through them all eventually, ShortList has hand-picked 15 of the best movies and shows to watch right now on Disney Plus.

A word of warning: these shows means that Disney Plus has added adult and restricted content to the platform, thanks to the Star launch. This means that you will be prompted to re-sign in and accept whether or not you want to be able to see the restricted shows. You can then pin-protect after that.

Actually, it's better if we let Stewie from Family Guy explain things.

Got it? Good. Now here is the Star on Disney Plus shows and movies we think you should be watching.

Oh, and with this guide we are assuming you've already watched the likes of Desperate Housewives, Lost, 24, Grey's Anatomy and the like. But if you haven't watched those, then they are available, too!

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Best Star on Disney Plus movies and shows

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
at Disney+Both of Matt Reeves’ takes on the Planet of the Apes mythos are breath-taking. Dawn is our favourite, though, proving that the fight between ape and man is a story that fizzes with politics as much as it does violence. We really can’t wait to see his take on Batman as he managed to take this well-worn franchise to new heights.
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Office Space
at Disney+While adding a movie about disgruntled office workers feel a bit moot given we are all in lockdown and counting down the days until we are back in the office, Office Space is a fantastic look at what happens when the bastards wear you down. It also features the best fight with a printer we have ever seen. Its creator Beavis and Butthead’s Mike Judge headed into similar territory with his superb show Silicon Valley.
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Starship Troopers
at Disney+On the face of it, Starship Troopers is about gung-ho soldiers fighting big bugs but this is a Paul Verhoeven movie so there’s some great subtext involving totalitarianism, far right behaviour and the draw this has over soap opera friendly faces who want to save America. And this was made 20 years before Trump’s ill-fated Presidential reign.
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Alias
at Disney+The best thing JJ Abrams has made that isn’t Lost, Alias is a superb family drama that also goes big on the action and has much more emotional heft than its ‘spy uses disguises to go on an adventure’ episodic plot. Jennifer Garner is fantastic as chameleon-like spy Sydney Bristow. And those twists! So many twists.
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Atlanta
at Disney+Atlanta is a superb look at what it takes to get into the music industry. Created by Donald Glover, whose talents are just immense, being both a celebrated dramatic actor, comedian and rapper, Atlanta is about the city - packed with poverty and creativity - and the people within, all trying to make something of themselves.
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The French Connection
at Disney+Popeye Doyle is the sort of detective who’s ten-a-penny on TV right now (angry, doesn’t play by the rules) but in The French Connection Gene Hackman’s weather-beaten cop was a breath of stale air at the time. It’s a bleak movie, packed with violence and one of the best car chases of all time.
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Sons Of Anarchy
at Disney+Shakespearean in its scope, Sons Of Anarchy is a show that is regularly fighting for the top spot of best shows, with the likes of Mad Men and Breaking Bad. And for good reason: this look at warring biker gangs is as epic as it gets.
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The Fly (1986)
at Disney+Jeff Goldblum might be all suave and sexy now, but watch him in The Fly snap a man’s bone while arm wrestling and puking acid vomit and, well, he’s still damn suave and sexy! That aside, this is a fantastic body horror film by David Cronenberg and Goldblum is brilliant as the man turning into the fly.
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White Men Can't Jump
at Disney+It’s the chemistry between Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson that makes this movie. The plot is slight: a white man pretends he can’t play basketball to hustle people out of money. But the quips between the two leads make this a film that’s so much fun to watch - and endlessly quotable, too. "It's hard work makin' you look so bad."
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Commando (1985)
at Disney+Yes, it’s an absolutely guilty pleasure but we have to admit that we jumped for joy seeing Commando on the Star list. Colonel John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is pissed - the former Marine’s unit have all been killed by terrorists and now his daughter is kidnapped. This means he has to don the camouflage once more to defeat the bad guys. Let off some steam, Bennett!
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Miller's Crossing
at Disney+Injected with the dark comedy that only the Coen Brothers can pull off, Miller’s Crossing is about gangsters. Not successful ones but those bumbling along. It’s filled with film noir callbacks and ‘30s gangster movie schtick. But at its heart are two directors who know all-too well how to upend convention and created a movie that’s essentially about a man chasing a hat.
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Night Watch (2006)
at Disney+One of Russia’s most successful movies is a confusing mess at times but, boy, does it have some fantastic set pieces and a story that’s extremely high concept. The Night Watch are vampire-like people who guard the night and they are all ready to do battle with their day counterparts. A Day Watch sequel was made and we’re still waiting for the final film in the trilogy which has been hugely delayed, thanks to Timur Bekmambetov heading to Hollywood to create the likes of Wanted and more.
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The Life Aquatic
at Disney+While it’s the most divisive Wes Anderson movie, we have a massive soft spot for The Life Aquatic. Maybe it’s the Bowie soundtrack, the elaborate water-based backdrop or just the actors having the time of their life charting the story of oceanographer Steve Zissou. It’s Anderson aiming high and slightly missing but we still love the scope of this film.
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The Thin Red Line (1999)
at Disney+There are more famous actors cut out of The Thin Red Line than there is in the movie, but that’s what makes this big-screen war epic so great. Terence Malik may be making a movie a year at the moment, but this was his big comeback and it came out in a similar time as Saving Private Ryan. The Thin Red Line is a very different movie, more an elegy about the futility of war with some of the most beautiful cinematography you will see.
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Jennifer's Body
at Disney+Ridiculously overlooked on original release (and massively mismarketed), Jennifer´s Body has finally found itself as the feminist classic it has every right to be. Written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama and starring Megan Fox as a teenage cheerleader who just so happens to also be a succubus.
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Marc Chacksfield
Marc Chacksfield
Content Director

As Content Director of Shortlist, Marc likes nothing more than to compile endless lists of an evening by candlelight. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.

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