Netflix: 40 of the best films to watch this week

What you should watch: Friday release The Ice Road, a Liam Neeson thriller about a driver who must cross a frozen ocean to save the lives of trapped miners.

Of the new releases last week, you could watch Russian period epic Silver Skates, the Jennifer Lawrence-starring Silver Linings Playbook, Japanese mobster flick about the Yakuza A Family and true story inspired drama Fatherhood, starring Kevin Hart.

Inside a coffin-like medical cryo unit, Laurent’s Elizabeth Hansen wakes up to find that she’s trapped, running out of oxygen and can’t remember why she’s there.

With only a handful of main characters played as the most normal of people, this is grounded space fare focused on a moral dilemma: When ship captain Marina , a life or death decision must be made.

We follow a young girl named Daughter, who lives in a post-apocalyptic bunker with her robot, named Mother, whose purpose is to aid the repopulation of Earth.

Its high-concept story centers on a tower that delivers food to people on each of its many levels via a platform.

Based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, Annihilation follows Natalie Portman’s biology professor Lena as she wades through the grief of losing her husband by taking on a job at a mysterious army facility on the outskirts of a meteor landing site.

While it overstays its welcome a little, I’m Thinking of Ending Things always keeps you on your toes, with atmospheric cinematography and strong performances from Toni Collette and David Thewlis as Jake’s fairly odd parents.

Twists right up to the final moment, plus a wild cat-and-mouse chase that alters the past and present make this a must-watch.

Scraping in Martin Scorsese-style ’70s crime grit, the Safdie Brothers take you on a frenetic, anxious dash through New York as Sandler’s Howard Ratner must retrieve a precious opal to pay off his debts.

I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore spots the idiosyncrasies of everyday life, before escalating its story into dark places with even darker humor.

Set in the New York borough of the Bronx, it follows young Miguel Martinez, a big-hearted kid helping to raise money for his struggling local bodega before it’s forced to sell.

Revealing its supernatural evils through a harrowing human story, it follows Bol and Rial, a refugee couple from Sudan, who struggle to adapt to their new life in an English town.

Largely sticking to a bedroom setting, we see the couple’s troubles go from bad to worse, with Jessie ending up in the impossible situation of being handcuffed to the bed with no one to help her escape.

This fine British drama excavates a whole lot of buried treasure with a distinguished cast in Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James and Johnny Flynn.

Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried are among the exceptional cast of this biographical drama filled with the lightness and darkness of its hero’s life.

Falling into the movies that make you cry category, Pieces of a Woman is an emotional well that’ll steep you in melancholy.

An Aaron Sorkin drama based on a true story? The Trial of the Chicago 7 lives up to its pedigree, following the real-life trial of a group of anti-Vietnam War protestors charged with conspiracy to incite riots.

Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver give two of the best performances of their careers as Nicole and Charlie, a couple who embark on the emotionally and logistically complicated legal processes involved in prying a partnership apart.

Set primarily in Vatican City, this biographical drama follows Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the aftermath of the Vatican leaks scandal.

Mudbound gives you a historical look at class struggle through the lens of a black veteran and a white veteran who both still have one foot stuck in World War II.

Struggling to let go of his dying friend, Andy joins Michael’s road trip in search of medication to end things before they get too painful.

Eddie Murphy returned from his acting break with a glorious performance as Rudy Ray Moore, a comedian who played a character called Dolemite in stand-up routines and blaxploitation films from the ’70s.

The titular stories concern dysfunctional adult siblings, played by Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller, trying to live in the shadow of their father.

A straight-A yet friendless student who has a side-hustle writing papers for her classmates, Ellie helps footballer Paul Munsky write a love letter to Aster Flores.

A rom-com with a Keanu Reeves cameo and a deep love of food, Always Be My Maybe might just have everything you could wish for.

Playing off a charming concept, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before sees Lara Jean Covey , a half-Korean, half-white girl growing up in Portland, Oregon, write letters to all the boys she has crushes on.

The Incredible Jessica James introduces a delightfully self-possessed main character played by an equally delightful Jessica Williams. The confident and independent Jessica James goes on a blind date where she ends up talking about nothing but her ex.

From some of the same people who made Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comes this adventure to save the world involving Mom, Dad, the kids and their slobbery, bug-eyed dog.

In a fictional 19th-century island town to the Far North, we follow a postman who befriends a reclusive toymaker named Klaus.

This award-winning French film begins with a severed hand escaping a refrigerator in a laboratory and embarking on a Paris-wide search for the rest of its body.

Enjoy Hanks going full Mandalorian single dad mode as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a Civil War veteran who discovers a young girl years after she was captured by Native Americans as a baby.

The Coen Brothers kick up the western dust with an anthology film that gives you six vignettes all set on the American frontier.

With an English supporting cast including the likes of Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, Okja sucks you in with its sweetness before showing you a distressing close-up of the meat industry.

Spike Lee’s fierce war drama follows a group of ageing Vietnam War veterans who return to the country in search of the remains of their squad leader — as well as buried treasure.

Always clever and entertaining, with Martin Scorsese favorites Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci commanding the screen, The Irishman creeps up on you, offering a haunting look at ageing mobsters and the havoc they wreak.

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga gives you a sobering look at the life of a boy who becomes a child soldier in a West African country embroiled in civil war.

It follows the investigative journalists from The Indianapolis Star who broke the story of doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse of young female gymnasts in the US.

Even if you’re not into politics, this behind-the-scenes look at what it took for a young woman to represent her community and make a difference is overwhelmingly inspiring.

It sees Fogel plan to enter a cycling race after taking banned substances in a way that will avoid detection, all to highlight the insufficiencies in sports drug testing.

Ava DuVernay’s documentary on the US justice system meticulously covers America’s racial history from the abolition of slavery to the present prison structure.

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