20 Movies with A-List Actors on Netflix UK

20 Movies with A-List Actors on Netflix UK

January 3, 2025

Share:

twitter
facebook
reddit
pinterest
link

The downside of actors becoming huge movie stars is that, sometimes, they get boxed into their most recognizable roles and struggle to find opportunities to show off their range or the real depth of their talents. Here at agoodmovietowatch, our goal is to guide you towards relatively lesser-known, high-quality films that show off what these big names and familiar faces are really capable of. And for the UK, a country known for having a high pedigree of classically trained actors, as well as talented character actors, many of these hidden gems can be viewed easily through Netflix’s expansive library.

11. Nyad (2023)

7.7

Genres

Drama, History

Director

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Female director

Actors

Anna Harriette Pittman, Anne Marie Kempf, Annette Bening, Belle Darling

Moods

A-list actors, Character-driven, Dramatic

After winning Oscars for their documentary work, filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin make their narrative feature debut with Nyad. The move to narrative fiction isn’t a monumental jump for the director duo, whose cinematic documentaries (among them Free Solo and The Rescue) play like nerve-shredding action thrillers and intense human dramas. Nor does Nyad’s subject — another extreme feat of human daring and endurance — make this feel a million miles away from their most famous works.

The most obvious departures from the directors’ documentary strengths — Nyad’s flashbacks and hallucination scenes, for example — do sometimes highlight their newness to narrative filmmaking, however. These scenes feel shallow and therefore disconnected from the movie’s otherwise deeper treatment of its subject, just as the performances dip into outsized cliches at times. Mostly, though, Nyad manages to float above the trap of trying too hard to be an inspirational sports drama thanks to its confrontation of Diana’s prickly personality. This flips the film’s perspective onto that of Diana’s team (including her coach and former girlfriend, played by Jodie Foster), who ultimately suffer the consequences of her stubbornness. That refusal to submit to hagiographic impulses gives the film a documentary-like edge of truth, making the rousing moments here feel genuinely earned.

12. Fatal Attraction (1987)

7.7

Genres

Drama, Romance, Thriller

Director

Adrian Lyne

Actors

Anna Thomson, Anne Archer, Barbara Harris, Carol Schneider

Moods

A-list actors, Dramatic, Gripping

British director Adrian Lyne (9 1/2 Weeks) is famous for his uncompromising treatment of seedy eroticism and charged stories. Fatal Attraction is a staple of the erotic thriller genre and with good reason, it’s steamy and very 1980s in the best possible way. Like a good vintage, it has the whiff of old times, but with the pleasure of a spectacle that belongs to the past. That’s the lens through which you can view the story of a deranged mistress who won’t stop at anything to ruin your life and marriage, and still savour some sanity in the 21st century. Seen from a slightly removed perspective, the film becomes a stylized variation on conservative AIDS panic and a provocation to conservative heteronormativity. It has to be said that not all of the film has aged well, especially the gender politics at play. But if you can soothe yourself with a revisionist reading, it pairs well with Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct: the things Michael Douglas’s characters do for (extramarital) thrills…

13. Sly (2023)

7.6

Genres

Documentary

Director

Thom Zimny

Actors

Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brian Dennehy

Moods

A-list actors, Easy, Inspiring

The mythology surrounding Sylvester Stallone: the action hero is so big and successful that many people, including myself, often forget about Sylvester Stallone: the prolific writer. He failed to bag roles as a young actor in the 1970s, so he whipped out a script (in a span of three days!) that became the iconic film Rocky. Later on, after witnessing the power of elderly entertainers, Stallone rewrote a screenplay that would become the ongoing franchise The Expendables. He’s a hunk in many people’s eyes, nothing more and nothing less, but Sly successfully steers you away from that one-dimensional reputation and reintroduces you to the dramatist and artist Stallone has been all along. The film begins as an immigrant story (Stallone hails from Italy), then turns into a rags-to-riches story (he grew up in a tough New York neighborhood without formal education) before finally transforming into an honest and earnest meditation on superstardom and artistry. Going in, I was wary that this would be just another puff piece on a Hollywood has-been. And while it does have its fair share of schmaltz, I now believe it’s a well-deserved and long overdue ode to Stallone’s unwavering commitment to the power of movies. 

14. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023)

7.5

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Director

Female director, Kelly Fremon Craig

Actors

Abby Ryder Fortson, Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Benny Safdie, Echo Kellum

Moods

A-list actors, Character-driven, Discussion-sparking

That this film, an adaptation of a beloved classic and girlhood staple for 50 years and counting, is able to retain the same power, charm, and wisdom as the source material by Judy Blume is impressive in and of itself.

Director Kelly Fremon Craig (Edge of Seventeen) turns the must-read novel into a must-see film, as urgent and relevant as ever in its frank portrayal of feminine woes and joys. Buying your first bra, getting your first period, losing a friend, doubting your faith, seeing—really seeing—your family for the first time, and knowing in your heart what you stand for…these are some of the thorny requisites of womanhood, and Craig navigates them with a bittersweet ease that never feels pandering nor patronizing. Like the book, the film honors this young person’s big feelings by centering them in a sprawling story that involves other characters, who are just as fleshed-out as the lead. Rachel McAdams deserves special mention for turning in a sweetly nuanced performance as Margaret’s mother Barbara, an artist attempting to balance her domestic role with her career goals.

The film may be 50 years in the making, but it tells a timeless tale that will continue to hold the hands of teenage girls for generations to come.

15. Emilia Pérez (2024)

7.5

Genres

Drama, Thriller

Director

Jacques Audiard

Actors

Adriana Paz, Anabel Lopez, Edgar Ramírez, Karla Sofía Gascón

Moods

A-list actors, Action-packed, Dramatic

The journey of transitioning can be tough, but it’s not likely to be as wild as the journey undertaken by the titular rich mob boss of the crime thriller romance musical Emilia Pérez. It’s pretty surprising, with the incredibly stylish and totally unpredictable ways the plot unfolds, all made possible by the ridiculous all-or-nothing methods and means of a Mexican mob, and it’s a delight to see Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez feel at home in their respective Spanish-speaking roles. There are certain moments where the film bites off more than it can chew, but the visuals are stunning, the story is daring, and there’s really nothing like Emilia Pérez right now.

16. They Cloned Tyrone (2023)

7.3

Genres

Action, Comedy, Mystery

Director

Juel Taylor

Actors

Adam Cronan, Al-Teron, Austin Freeman, Big Boy

Moods

A-list actors, Action-packed, Funny

They Cloned Tyrone is a genre-bending gem. It combines Deep State conspiracy theories with sci-fi and social commentary, all while looking like a futuristic 1970s Blaxploitation film. It’s outrageous good fun and pleasing to look at (here is a film that knows how to properly light Black actors), but there are times when it feels too far fetched. The science can get wonky and its commentary on gentrification lacking, but all is forgiven when you have such a strong trio of leads. One of the smartest things They Cloned Tyrone does is pair Boyega with Teyonah Parris, who plays the call girl Yo-yo, and Jamie Foxx, who plays the pimp Slick Charles. They have a fun-loving no-nonsense chemistry about them that makes them easy to attach to and root for. They’re also just very funny, which might be expected of Foxx but it comes as a pleasant surprise for Parris, whose popular turns in Mad Men and WandaVision prove that she’s been severely underutilized as a comic.

17. Fan Girl (2020)

7.3

Genres

Drama, Thriller

Director

Antoinette Jadaone, Female director

Actors

Bea Alonzo, Camille Penaverde, Charlie Dizon, Gie Onida

Moods

A-list actors, Challenging, Dark

In the years since Fan Girl’s original release in the Philippines, its ultimate message and execution has become polarizing: is it enough that the film shows the corruption of a parasocial relationship into an abusive one, without offering much hope? Is its vision of justice actually constructive or disappointingly limited? No matter where you fall, it’s exciting that a movie can stir up these kinds of questions through a bizarre dynamic between characters, in a place that’s clearly set somewhere between reality and delusion. The narrative is circular and frustrating for a reason—a constant push and pull as the titular fan girl keeps getting drawn back into the celebrity’s orbit—and the film only grows more disturbing with each repetition.

18. Sr. (2022)

7.1

Genres

Documentary, Drama

Director

Chris Smith

Actors

Alan Arkin, Chris Smith, Lawrence Wolf, Norman Lear

Moods

A-list actors, Dramatic, Heart-warming

Robert Downey Sr. was a great asset to American filmmaking. An experimental creative in New York, he made countless movies with his wife and family and didn’t care (as everyone does now) whether it made money or not—only that it made him and the people around him laugh and think and scratch their heads in equal measure.

Sr. is a documentary about this prolific man, as told by his son Robert Downey Jr.

In Sr., we get an intimate look at father and son—their home life, their sometimes-testy relationship, and their different artistic philosophies. It could have delved more into that conflict for some genuinely compelling scenes, but as it is, Sr. stands as an emotionally earnest ode to one of America’s most visionary filmmakers. The love is palpable, and at least as a tribute, that’s really all that matters.

19. Reptile (2023)

7.0

Genres

Crime, Drama, Mystery

Director

Grant Singer

Actors

Africa Miranda, Alex Parkinson, Alicia Silverstone, Allison Smith

Moods

A-list actors, Dark, Dramatic

You could take away a lot of parts in Reptile, and it would still make sense. It’s the kind of film that leans on sound and style to justify overlong takes and teeth-grittingly predictable scenes. But all is forgiven when del Toro, who also co-writes and co-produces the film, appears on screen. He has a simmering, captivating presence that demands you keep your eyes on him even when little, if anything at all, happens. Silverstone, Eric Bogosian, and Ato Essandoh are likewise enthralling, but Justin Timberlake unfortunately does not hold the same staying power. The film is at its weakest when it tries to convince us that he plays a complex, layered man when, in fact, Timberlake relays nothing but surface-level thrills. But Reptile is at its strongest when it gives us del Toro in all his forceful glory. 

20. Jawan (2023)

6.9

Genres

Action, Adventure, Crime

Director

Atlee

Actors

Aaliyah Qureishi, Ashlesha Thakur, Atlee, Bharat Raj

Moods

A-list actors, Action-packed, Discussion-sparking

Through this action-packed, absolutely crazy ride of a movie, writer-director Atlee and Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan team up in Jawan to question the country’s corruption in multiple fields, including, but not limited to the agricultural sector, the healthcare industry, and the electoral system. They do so through an amped-up, explosion-filled spectacle led by a high-tech Robin Hood and his merry women inmates, who use terrorism in order to pay out loans for poor farmers and other promises that politicians give to their voters. It’s also intertwined with a romance plot that sees the vigilante and the single-parent counterterrorist chief in an unknowing enemies-to-lovers, mistaken identity marriage. It’s a strange film that tries to tackle as many political messages as possible, but it’s also downright entertaining with every plot twist it takes.

50% off your first month of Live TV with Sling

  • ESPN, Disney and more for just $20/month
  • No contract, cancel anytime

1

2

Comments

Add a comment
Your name
Your comment

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw

© 2025 A Good Movie to Watch. Altona Studio, LLC, all rights reserved.