A great movie should either keep you on the edge of your seat, give you all the feels, or make you think. Most importantly, it should entertain you and help you wind down after a long day of work. Netflix‘s massive range of movies offers plenty of choices for movies capable of ticking one or all of those criteria off, but the problem is finding and choosing the right one.

For this fine April week, I’ve scrounged up the king of all classic monster movies, a socially poignant true-life drama, and a slithering thrill-ride reboot with a fun new twist.

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Anaconda (2025)

A meta remake of a ’90s killer snake classic

Whether you were a fan of the widely panned original 1997 slithering horror film Anaconda, starring J.Lo, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz, and John Voight, is neither here nor there. It was so bad (40% on Rotten Tomatoes) that it became a cult hit that you should definitely see anyway. So why remake such a flop then? When you can get such a good cast that includes Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Thandie Newton, and Steve Zahn together, the answer is usually why not?

But even I admit that the premise for this 2025 reboot is actually pretty fun. Director and writer Tom Gormican came up with a clever meta approach to this Anaconda. It follows a group of high school best friends—Doug, Griff, Claire, and Kenny—who’d always dreamed of making movies together. They reunite later in life, and with Doug and Griff (Black and Rudd) in full mid-life crisis mode, they convince the others to rekindle their love of moviemaking (specifically the 1997 original Anaconda) and venture into the Amazon to make their own version, on the cheap.

What makes Anaconda so fun is that it knows how silly it is (the acting and dialogue seem intentionally bad), and the self-referential humor is made even more funny as a real-life killer snake starts hunting them. Critics didn’t love Anaconda, but the movie has been in Netflix’s Top 10 since it was added to the service.

Anaconda

Release Date

December 24, 2025

Runtime

100 minutes

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  Jack Black

  Doug McCallister

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  Paul Rudd

  Ronald Griffen ‘Griff’ Jr.

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  Daniela Melchior

  Ana Almeida

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  Thandiwe Newton

  Claire Simons

2

Bombshell

Fearless women take on a powerful media mogul’s empire

This Oscar-winning biographical drama is still as poignant now as it was when it was released in 2019, and it features some of the strongest performances of its stars’ careers. Bombshell tells the real-life account of the takedown of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (played by John Lithgow) and the sexual harassment lawsuit and sexual misconduct allegations brought against him in 2016 by several female employees.

Chief among them were Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), and Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie), the latter being a fictionalized composite character based on several real women involved in the scandal. Bombshell tracks the true events, from the time Carlson files her explosive sexual harassment suit, through the chaos it created at the powerful network, and how Ailes’ minions scrambled to his side or abandoned ship. Kelly, who is initially reluctant to step forward with her own experiences of abuse from Ailes, eventually joins Carlson’s cause, working from within to find others who’d been affected, including the young Pospisil, to try to change the network’s misogynistic culture.

All three leads are spectacular in Bombshell, with Theron and Robbie both earning Oscar nominations for their performances. The movie acted as a mainstream dramatization of the #MeToo movement, shedding a much-needed light on workplace harassment issues.

Bombshell

Release Date

December 20, 2019

Runtime

109 minutes

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  Charlize Theron

  Megyn Kelly

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  Margot Robbie

  Kayla Pospisil

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  Nicole Kidman

  Gretchen Carlson

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1

Jaws

Catch this definitive summer blockbuster before it leaves

I grew up being terrified of bathtubs, swimming pools, and even freshwater lakes because of one movie: Jaws. The iconic blockbuster shark movie is leaving Netflix at the end of April, so if you want to refresh your summer seaside terror, now’s the time.

You know the premise—it all kicks off with an innocent nighttime swim in the lovely waters off the coast of the small New England town of Amity Island, when a nice young woman is dragged under and seemingly chomped on by what we learn is a Great White with a taste for humans. Soon, other people start getting eaten up, and while the town’s chief of police, Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), wants to shut down the beach before people start flocking there for the 4th of July weekend, the greedy mayor doesn’t want to lose the revenue and keeps it open. The hungry predator takes full advantage, and tragedy inevitably ensues.

When his son is almost taken by the shark, Brody enlists the help of shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and mysterious sea-worn boat captain Quint (Robert Shaw). The three set sail on Quint’s not-big-enough boat to hunt down the killer shark and return Amity Island to the safe haven it once was. Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jaws is the benchmark for summer thriller blockbusters, and it still hold up even after 50 years. Watch it before it’s gone from Netflix on April 30.

Hopefully, these Netflix picks help you navigate the endless movie scroll this week. If you’re also looking for some helpful tips on how to get the most out of Netflix, we create loads of content around that too.

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