The start of a new month means a fresh collection of new to Netflix movies hitting the world’s most popular streaming service, and the line-up for March 2024 doesn’t disappoint.
Netflix is going big on original movies this month with flagship additions including Spaceman with Adam Sandler and Millie Bobby Brown’s Damsel, but alongside these are some excellent (slightly older) movies that scored very high on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. All five movies on this list achieved a score of 90% or higher, which is a testament to their quality.
If you’re looking for the best Netflix movies to watch this month, you really can’t go wrong with any of these picks. And if you need even more viewing advice, be sure to check our roundup of everything new on Netflix this month including must-watch TV shows and original movies.
'Devil in a Blue Dress' (1995)
A tense mystery-thriller with a compelling “who-done-it” at its core, “Devil in a Blue Dress” sees Denzel Washington play Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, a World War II veteran in need of work. Introduced to a private investigator (Tom Sizemore) at a bar, Easy is roped into assisting in the search for a missing woman, who just so happens to be the fiancée of a mayoralty candidate who is the current favorite to win the election.
Dripping in classic film noir tropes, “Devil in a Blue Dress” plays by the genre handbook, but finds success due to its likable characters — Washington is dependably excellent — and slick sense of style. The core mystery also has enough reveals and clues to keep you hooked through until the very end when all is revealed. A special mention should also go to Don Cheadle, who shines as Mouse, a figure from Easy’s past that arrives on the scene and leaves a lasting impression.
Genre: Thriller
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Stream it on Netflix
'The Disaster Artist' (2017)
Based on actor Greg Sestero’s memoir of the same name, “The Disaster Artist” chronicles the production of “The Room”, an infamous 2003 movie that is often cited as one of the worst movies ever made. While “The Room” is truly awful, it’s also a quintessential example of a movie that is “so bad, it’s good” thanks to its illogical direction, hilarious performances and a screenplay jampacked with bizarrely quotable lines. And “The Disaster Artist” celebrates “The Room” with an earnest look at the friendship between its stars and how this trainwreck of a movie was made.
Dave Franco plays Greg, an aspiring actor who moves to L.A. in the late 90s in the hopes of making it big. In acting class, he meets the oddball Tommy Wiseau (portrayed by Dave’s brother James Franco, who also directs). Intrigued by Tommy’s quirky personality, the two become friends and decide to make a movie of their own. What they ultimately produce has been called “the ‘Citizen Kane’ of bad movies” and yet it’s unquestionably entertaining, and this comedic look at its creation is similarly enjoyable.
Genre: Comedy
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Stream it on Netflix
'The Gift' (2015)
A twisting thriller that serves as a cautionary tale to anybody who thinks they can escape their past, “The Gift” stars Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton (who also wrote and directed this movie). It starts as many good thrillers do with a seemingly perfect couple, Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall), but when an acquaintance from Simon’s youth appears out of the blue, their lives are thrown into turmoil and buried secrets are revealed.
“The Gift” is fantastic for several reasons. For starters, the three central performances are excellent. Bateman plays against type as a smarmy city-slicker with cutthroat ambitions of climbing the career ladder, while Edgerton plays Gordo, Simon’s former high school peer, who appears friendly at first, but may not have resurfaced with good intentions. “The Gift” is especially gripping thanks to its constantly shifting narrative. You never quite know what’s going to happen next, or which character you’re supposed to be rooting for, and it all builds to a shocking finale that ties a very neat bow on the entire movie. It’s a must-watch thriller.
Genre: Thriller
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Stream it on Netflix
'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' (2013)
All four of the original “Hunger Games” movies are landing on Netflix this month, and as a superfan of the franchise, I implore you to watch them all, but the pick of the bunch is the second installment, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. However, this is a direct sequel to “The Hunger Games” and most definitely not a great starting point for newcomers, so don’t read on below if you’ve never watched the first movie.
Picking up when its predecessor left off, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” sees Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) return home to District 12 after winning the 74th Hunger Games, but they’ve not entirely escaped the watchful eye of The Capitol. And the forthcoming Victory Tour puts the duo in danger once more. With an uprising spreading through Panem, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) has a sinister plan to contain the spark of rebellion once and for all.
Genre: Action
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
Stream it on Netflix from March 31
'Bonnie and Clyde' (1967)
One of the most celebrated crime films of all time, based on America’s most notorious criminal couple, “Bonnie and Clyde” is a landmark picture that won multiple Oscars and is still influencing filmmakers to this day. This '60s movie stars Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker respectively, a pair of bank robbers whose crime spree became the stuff of legend as they carved a destructive path through the American south.
Before the infamous duo met, Bonnie was a waitress, dissatisfied with her lot in life, but after meeting an ex-con named Clyde, her outlook changes. The two quickly fall in love and begin pulling off a series of armed robberies as they hold up everything from small local stores to heavily guarded banks. Naturally, they quickly earn the attention of the law, and a cross-country game of cat and mouse follows. While the historical accuracy of this movie version of Bonnie and Clyde’s story is disputed, its high quality is certainly not in question.
Genre: Crime
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
Stream it on Netflix
