Apple TV is truly making its mark among the already large — and rapidly growing — number of streaming services. CODA, for instance, took home top prize at the Oscars, winning Best Picture, and shows like Severance have gotten rave reviews and attracted top talent like Ben Stiller, Adam Scott, and Patricia Arquette. While Apple TV’s library isn’t quite as extensive as other platforms, there are still some excellent gems. Read on to discover your next movie night pick — and perhaps even your new favorite new film.
Don’t see what you’re looking for? Browse our lists of the best flicks on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, HBO, or Disney+.
Disclaimer: These titles are available on US Apple TV+.
Editor’s note: This article was updated September 2024 to include Wolfs.
‘Wolfs’ (2024)
Rotten Tomatoes: 67% | IMDb: 6.4/10
Take two of Hollywood’s biggest icons — Brad Pitt and George Clooney — throw a big budget their way, and stick them in a suave, sophisticated crime thriller, and you have a recipe for success. Jon Watts’ Wolfs follows the two as a pair of professional fixers, ready to turn up to any crime scene and “clean up” the mess. However, these two usually work alone, so when they are both hired to the same scene on one unexpected night, their swift rivalry gets them into an evening of chaotic trouble. Pitt and Clooney have the ability to make almost anything enjoyable, with the pair on top form throughout Wolfs. Bouncing off each other with witty dialogue and smart action set pieces, the duo carry this immersive flick from minute one right through to the end with the poise and style only legends can pull off. – Jake Hodges
‘Fancy Dance’ (2023)
Rotten Tomatoes: 96% | IMDb: 6.7/10
Co-written and directed by Eric Tremblay, Fancy Dance follows rising star Lily Gladstone as Jax, a woman who has had to care for her niece ever since her sister’s disappearance. Whilst trying to maintain a healthy household and pursue the truth surrounding her sister, Jax realizes that a custody battle is on the horizon against her father, Frank (Shea Whigham). This leads her and her niece on a journey to track down her mother before it’s too late. Gladstone is mesmerizing in this captivating movie about love, loss, and family. Both insightful and unsettling, each scene feels pivotal and poignant, making for an experience that stays unmissable. Fancy Dance is most certainly one of the more underrated additions to Apple TV. – Jake Hodges
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (2023)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% | IMDb: 7.6/10
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is one of 2023’s most acclaimed films. Scorsese produced and directed the movie and co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth. Based on David Grann’s eponymous 2017 non-fiction book, Killers of the Flower Moon focuses on a series of murders of Osage members in 1920s Oklahoma and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone. The film explores relations in the Osage Nation after the discovery of oil on tribal land, leading to conflict with a corrupt political boss. A critical darling, Killers of the Flower Moon has been praised for its direction, writing, production value, cinematography, and, of course, its brilliant performances. The movie received 10 Oscar nominations, and though it ultimately didn’t win any Academy Awards, it took home many others, including the Best Actress Golden Globe and SAG Award for Lily Gladstone. Killers of the Flower Moon is a mammoth production and one of the most important and necessary films created in recent times, exploring a dark chapter of history that is sadly still largely overlooked.
‘CODA’ (2021)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% | IMDb: 8.0/10
CODA stands for children of deaf adults and that’s exactly what Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is, daughter to Jackie (Marlee Matlin) and Frank (Troy Kotsur) and sister to Leo (Daniel Durant), Ruby is the only hearing member of her culturally deaf family. On top of just trying to get through school, she works for her family’s fishing boat, joining her brother and father out on their boat and helping to translate for her dad when he has to do business. With the surmounting level of pressure of being the voice for her family to the hearing world, she finds an outlet through singing. A passion that she pursues with the potential of going to university in Boston at Berklee. CODA is immensely emotional and heartfelt and is lead by deaf actors. Ruby’s coming-of-age story is sure to tug at the heartstrings of anyone who relates to the surmounting pressure of family obligation battling against personal dreams and desires. — Therese Lacson
‘Flora and Son’ (2023)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% | IMDb: 7.0/10
A family at war, a mother and son named Flora (Eve Hewson) and Max (Orén Kinlan) can’t stop fighting. With Flora desperate to find her son a hobby as a way out of his frustrations, she stumbles across a guitar in a dumpster. Heartwarming and tearjerking, Flora and Son plays all the right emotional chords as it transports the viewer into the nuanced and relatable relationship of this mother and son. The narrative’s in-world musical numbers match the atmosphere created by director John Carney perfectly, with Flora and Son a life-affirming feature worthy of potentially changing the attitude of anyone who may view it. – Jake Hodges
‘Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie’ (2023)
Rotten Tomatoes: 99% | IMDb: 8.1/10
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a wonderfully inspiring documentary directed by Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) about the life and struggles of unflappable actor and advocate Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future). Fox gives fans a new level of access to his life, crafting his story with his own hands through interviews and segments he wrote himself. Guggenheim then takes the narrative to a whole new level by seamlessly weaving archival footage with staged bits that come together perfectly to craft an insanely entertaining film that will leave viewers pumping their fists at Fox’s incredibly optimistic and uplifting drive to be a great man.
‘Causeway’ (2022)
Rotten Tomatoes: 85% | IMDb: 6.6/10
Causeway is a thought-provoking drama starring Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games) as Lynsey, a soldier returning from fighting in Afghanistan. Causeway explores the struggle of many military personnel who must learn to adjust to civilian life. In Causeway, Lynsey’s story is even more complicated, as a traumatic brain injury complicates her ability to adapt. Co-written by Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebel, and Elizabeth Sanders, Causeway also has a tremendous supporting cast, including Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta) and Linda Emond. Through her keen eye and lingering silent moments, director Lila Neugebauer provides a compelling investigation into the side effects of war. – Yael Tygiel
‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ (2022)
Rotten Tomatoes: 85% | IMDb: 7.3/10
Touching, hilarious, and bold, Cha Cha Real Smooth is a refreshing story about that awkward part of life right after college graduation. The film centers around Andrew (Cooper Raiff), a 22-year-old who becomes a party starter for bat mitzvahs. It’s there he meets Domino (Dakota Johnson), a young, single mom to her autistic daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt). Andrew and Domino quickly develop a relationship that dances the line between friendship and romance as he also begins babysitting Lola from time to time. Cha Cha Real Smooth is an earnest watch that wears its heart on its sleeve. If you’re looking for something that will give you some laughs and maybe even a few tears, make it your next movie night pick. – Taylor Gates
‘Swan Song’ (2021)
Rotten Tomatoes: 79% | IMDb: 6.8/10
Swan Song is not the high-concept science fiction thriller that you might expect. Set in the not-so-distant future, the film takes place in a world where cloning technology has been developed. Cameron Turner (Mahershela Ali) learns that he is dying from a terminal illness and has only a few months to live. He is presented with a difficult decision: Should he allow an identical clone to take his place, thus ensuring his family’s happiness? Impressively, Swan Song doesn’t turn the premise into a thriller. It remains squarely focused on the moral and emotional questions that Cameron is forced to answer. – Liam Gaughan
‘Wolfwalkers’ (2020)
Rotten Tomatoes: 99% | IMDb: 8.0/10
Set in 1650s Ireland, Wolfwalkers tells a magical and exciting story about two girls. One, Robyn, is young hunter, and the other is Mebh, a wolfwalker. As a wolfwalker, Mebh’s spirit leaves her body and shapeshifts into the form of a wolf and her own mother’s wolf has been missing, so she guards her mother’s sleeping body while searching for the wolf. When the two girls encounter one another, Robyn is bitten by Mebh who is caught in a trap. But when Robyn frees Mebh the two become fast friends, and since Robyn was bitten, she soon discovers that she’s become a wolfwalker as well. Created by the directors behind The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers is both an inspiring piece of storytelling about a girl finding her voice and also a fantastic work of animation. It is impossible not to be enchanted by the wolfwalker world and wish that when you fall asleep, your spirit will also come alive and turn into a wolf. — Therese Lacson
‘Come From Away’ (2021)
Rotten Tomatoes: 98% | IMDb: 8.5/10
In the aftermath of the attacks on 9/11, 38 planes incoming from Europe were diverted to a small island off the coast of Canada. The small town of Gander was suddenly faced with the challenge of housing, clothing, and feeding 7000 people (and 19 animals) while the world waited to see what would happen next. Based on a true story, the musical premiered on Broadway in 2017. The movie is a filmed performance from March 2020 with an invited audience with members of the original cast of the Broadway Show. It is a moving story with powerful music that shows what can happen when everyone comes together even when they come from far away. — Jennifer McHugh
‘Boys State’ (2020)
Rotten Tomatoes: 95% | IMDb: 7.6/10
Boys State
- Run Time
- 1 hr 49 min
- Director
- Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine
- Release Date
- August 14, 2020
A documentary film directed and produced by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, Boys State follows a thousand teenage boys attending Boys State in Austin, Texas. The film shows how these boys are brought together to build a representative government with the ultimate goal of competing for the office of Governor of Texas. Over the course of the documentary, we see how this small microcosm of the American political system grows and develops, enveloping several varied views on the good of the nation. Boys State premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it received critical acclaim and won the U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize. The documentary has gone on to win even more accolades and was included in the National Board of Review’s list of the Top Five Documentaries of the year. It’s a fascinating look at American politics, and if you believe the children are our future, then consider Boys State a preview of what that future might look like.
‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ (2021)
Rotten Tomatoes: 92% | IMDb: 7.1/10
There are only so many ways you can adapt one of William Shakespeare’s beloved plays, but Joel Coen—in his first solo outing as a director—still manages to surprise viewers with his 2021 retelling of the Scottish Play. The Tragedy of Macbeth is at once cinematic and grounded in its theatrical origins. Shot in stark black and white, Coen uses techniques and staging that will fool you into believing the film is actually a play. There are some directorial choices that will blow your mind; and others that will leave you scratching your head. Well, this is a Coen special, so that’s to be expected. The commanding cast all play their parts well, but none quite have the commanding presence of Denzel Washington. He is so natural as the titular Thane of the film, despite the unnatural dialogue and setting. But the real star is Kathryn Hunter, who has absolutely no right to be as creepy and attention-grabbing as she is. – Monita Mohan
‘The Velvet Underground’ (2021)
Rotten Tomatoes: 98% | IMDb: 7.3/10
Producer Brian Eno once said, “The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.” While The Velvet Underground only released a handful of albums in the few years the band existed, the impact of the groundbreaking group is incalculable. Yet in his similarly idiosyncratic documentary, simply titled, The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes takes a stab at trying to show just how integral this band was to the music world. Haynes mostly focuses on the band’s two biggest personalities – Lou Reed and John Cale – The Velvet Underground shows a band that redefined what rock music — and music in general — could be. The Velvet Underground might not have never received the success they deserved when they were around, but Haynes’ The Velvet Underground shows how important and integral the band remains to this day through a unique and unusual documentary fitting of the music. — Ross Bonaime
‘Hala’ (2019)
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% | IMDb: 6.3/10
Coming-of-age stories are an integral part of Hollywood, but for far too long these narratives have centered on the same — or similar — protagonists. With Hala, the focus shifts to Hala Masood (Geraldine Viswanathan) a teenaged Muslim-American girl who tries to balance her immigrant parent’s ideals with her own ambitions and desires. This is a quiet film that exists simply to tell a story. Hala isn’t, and doesn’t try to be, about every South-Asian experience, and yet there is a universality to the intergenerational and domestic crises that the lead character is facing. The supporting cast of characters fill out Hala’s world, helping her along her journey. While the latter half of the film is a mixed bag, the overall story by Minhal Baig will linger on long after the credits roll. – Monita Mohan
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