2234 Best Movies to Watch In English (Page 95)

Staff & contributors

English is the language of Hollywood, and ocassionally even Nollywood and Bollywood. As far as the streaming landscape goes, English-language movies certainly outnumber the rest. To get started, here are the best English-language films to stream now.

Hassan Fazili and Nargis Fazili are two filmmakers who, faced with death threats, escape their home in Afghanistan and start a journey to Europe that millions of others have taken over the past few years. But unlike most others, the Fazilis filmed everything on their way.

The result is not only a portrayal of the dangers they go through but it's also about less obvious and possibly more common aspects of the refugee experience. It's about the wait in refugee centers (that can last many years), the anticipation and also what it means to do all of this with children. Because watch out for the little Fazilis, who travel with their parents, for they will steal your heart.

Genre: Documentary

Director: Hassan Fazili

Rating: Not Rated

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During wartime, war supersedes everything, including love. Wartime would have people ending relationships, forgoing potential dates, and seducing enemies to lead them to downfall, all in order to win, but sometimes, this rarely goes as planned. Lust, Caution is one such story, with the novella’s emotional repression making it a great match for director Ang Lee, main actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Japanese informant, and main actress Tang Wei, who made her breakthrough here. It’s not an easy watch. There are moments that falter and the film is a tad too long. But the smoldering stares shared by the two leads, with the lush production design and the beautiful direction, makes Lust, Caution a difficult contemplation of love and sexuality as Wang’s, and the nation’s, double-edged sword.

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Thriller

Actor: Akiko Takeshita, Anupam Kher, Cheng Yu-Lai, Chih-ying Chu, Chin Ka-lok, Chung Hua Tou, Hayato Fujiki, He Saifei, Jacqueline Zhu Zhi-Ying, Joan Chen, Johnson Yuen, Johnson Yuen Tak-Cheung, Kar Lok Chin, Ko Yu-Luen, Lawrence Ko, Lawrence Ko Yu-Luen, Lee Hom Wang, Leehom Wang, Lisa Lu, Liu Jie, Saifei He, Song Ruhui, Tang Wei, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Tou Chung-Hua, Tou Tsung-Hua, Ven Kao, Vince Kao, Wang Lin, Wei Tang, Yan Su, Ying-hsien Kao

Director: Ang Lee

Rating: NC-17

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The title says it all: this is a story of love and basketball, one where the two intertwine and excitedly inform one another. Two childhood friends with a passion for ball develop deep feelings for one another. They have ambitions to go pro, but as Monica discovers how uneven the playing field really is for female athletes, and as Quincy grapples with his own needs and career, they reconsider their relationship both to each other and to the game they so love. 

Love & Basketball is a beautiful and sensitive movie that breaks stereotypes about Black love, which exists here as soft and nuanced as any other expertly drawn pairings in movies, and about Black women; Monica gets angry, but also vulnerable, hardworking, and loving. The sports component of the movie is just as finely detailed, with the energy of the matches bouncing off the screen walls. Clearly ahead of its time, Love & Basketball gets at the core of the game without losing sight of its talented players. 

 

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Al Foster, Alfre Woodard, Boris Kodjoe, Chick Hearn, Chris Warren, Christine Dunford, Debbi Morgan, Dennis Haysbert, Erika Ringor, Gabrielle Union, Glenndon Chatman, Harry Lennix, Kyla Pratt, Monica Calhoun, Naykia Harris, Omar Epps, Regina Hall, Sanaa Lathan, Tyra Banks

Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood

Rating: PG-13

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Low-budget but imagination-rich, this singular sci-fi crosses a vintage found-footage aesthetic with an inspired time-travel concept. It’s 1938, and two brilliant sisters — Thomasina (Emma Appleton) and Martha (Stefanie Martini) — have invented a machine that can anticipate future radio and television broadcasts. The device (named Lola) allows them to support themselves with bullseye bets on upcoming horse races, as well as revel in the cultural output of the decades to come. When WW2 strikes, however, Lola takes on life-saving potential.

As with every time-travel story, there’s the domino effect to be considered. Lola ends the Blitz, but its timeline-meddling paves the way for a darker future — chillingly realized by the film’s clever manipulation of real archival footage — and an ideological schism between the sisters. The movie’s tight runtime doesn’t allow for full exploration of this emotional fallout, but the actors fill in the outlines enough to make this flaw less gaping than niggling.

Shot with vintage film cameras, the movie looks like a product of its setting, but it absorbs some of the modernism of the contraption's intercepted broadcasts — and it's this beguiling anachronism (plus its narrative ingenuity) that ultimately win out to make Lola a fascinating sci-fi, despite some tantalizingly unrealized potential. 

Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, War

Actor: Aaron Monaghan, Adolf Hitler, Ayvianna Snow, David Bowie, Emma Appleton, Eva O'Brien, Francesca Brabazon Legge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gerald Tyler, Hugh O'Conor, Ian Toner, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., Lorcan Cranitch, Neil Hannon, Nick Dunning, Oswald Mosley, Richard Elfyn, Rory Fleck Byrne, Stefanie Martini, Theodora Brabazon Legge, Winston Churchill

Director: Andrew Legge

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Almost more like an audiobook than a traditional movie, the first and unfortunately final film from Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson pairs soothing narration by Tilda Swinton with surreal images of alien structures on a desolate planet for a piece of sci-fi that may very well be un-categorizable. As a "story" ostensibly meant to carry some sort of urgency, Last and First Men isn't entirely convincing. But as an example of pure imagination that challenges how you think of biological life, it's totally fascinating. As Swinton details the continuous cycle of death and rebirth that humanity goes through over an impossible span of time, it's hard not to feel the hope and tragedy of it all—while also making you reconsider how things are in our present day.

Genre: Drama, Science Fiction

Actor: Tilda Swinton

Director: Jóhann Jóhannsson

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Before assassin protege Mathilda in Léon the Professional, humanoid Leeloo in The Fifth Element, and superpowered drug mule Lucy in her titular film, Luc Besson first discovered his love for the badass female assassin in La Femme Nikita. Scored by European synth and shot with cinematography that still looks fresh today, the action thriller delivers pure adrenaline– the guns, the kills, and the drama of the hidden life– but the stylish spy film transcends the genre through the Pygmalion-esque transformation of Nikita’s femininity, a faux identity forged and crafted in the service of the government machine, yet both attracts the idea of and clashes with the want for genuine freedom and a good, normal life. It’s because of these existential ideas that La Femme Nikita became one of the most iconic femme fatales of the 20th century.

Genre: Action, Thriller

Actor: Alexis Dupuy, Anne Parillaud, Bruno Randon, Christian Gazio, Edith Perret, Éric Prat, Gérard Touratier, Hubert Gillet, Iska Khan, Jacques Boudet, Jacques Disses, Jean Bouise, Jean Reno, Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Jean-Luc Caron, Jeanne Moreau, Jérôme Chalou, Marc Duret, Maurice Antoni, Mia Frye, Michèle Amiel, Murray Gronwall, Olivier Hémon, Patrick Buiquangda, Patrick Chauveau, Patrick Fontana, Patrick Pérez, Patrick Serrière, Pavel Slabý, Pétronille Moss, Philippe Dehesdin, Philippe du Janerand, Philippe Leroy, Pierre-Alain de Garrigues, Rénos Mandis, Roland Blanche, Stéphane Fey, Tchéky Karyo, Vincent Skimenti

Director: Luc Besson

Rating: R

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Kilo Two Bravo (Originally named Kajaki) is a must-watch for anyone who likes war dramas. It tells the true story of British soldiers in the Afghanistan war who find themselves trapped in a minefield during a mission, with their rescue team coming in a helicopter that might set off mines if it lands. It's a slow, dialogue driven film that is interested in taking you to the war zone more than it cares about entertaining you. Ultimately, it becomes an essay on the horrors of war, and an anti-war war film. Because of this and given the blood and gore, this movie is definitely not for those who would feel nauseated at sight of blood. Great setting, good cinematography, realistic acting and script all do justice to the true story. It's a film that will grip your senses and keep you at the edge of the seat throughout.

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Thriller, War

Actor: Ali Cook, Andy Gibbins, Benjamin O'Mahony, Bryan Parry, David Elliot, Grant Kilburn, Joe Corrigall, John Doughty, Jon-Paul Bell, Liam Ainsworth, Malachi Kirby, Mark Stanley, Paul Katis, Paul Luebke, Robert Mitchell, Scott Kyle, Thomas Davison

Director: Paul Katis

Rating: R

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A wonderful homage to the woman, actress, and mother based largely on her own archives and interviews with her four children. Bergman was an avid photographer, filmographer and letter writer. What emerges is a loving portrait of an adventurous, driven, complex, and loving woman. Not to be missed.

Genre: Documentary, History

Actor: Alan Marshal, Alberto Sordi, Aldo Fabrizi, Alfred Hitchcock, Alicia Vikander, Alma Reville, Anatole Litvak, Anna Magnani, Anthony Perkins, Cary Grant, Cecil Parker, Clark Gable, Ed Sullivan, Ernest Borgnine, Fiorella Mariani, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Ingmar Bergman, Ingrid Bergman, Isabella Rossellini, Isotta Rossellini, Jack Weston, Jean Renoir, Jeanine Basinger, Jennifer Jones, Liv Ullmann, Lyle Talbot, Mel Ferrer, Merv Griffin, Mervyn LeRoy, Pia Lindström, Roberto Rossellini, Sigourney Weaver, Spencer Tracy, Victor Fleming, Ward Bond, Yul Brynner

Director: Stig Björkman

Rating: Not Rated

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This movie is pretty much in every regard a Norwegian Kill Bill. It’s a dark gory comedy where, naturally, the substitute for Uma Thurman doing damage is an emotionless Stellan Skarsgård. After his son is killed by a drug gang, Skarsgård’s character, fresh off a win of a “citizen of the year” award, embarks on a ruthless journey to track and kill the murderers. This takes place in one of the most remote areas in Norway, where the main character works as a snowplow driver. You guessed it, some people will get snowplowed. Seems familiar? That’s because this year it was turned into a horribly sub-par American movie called Cold Pursuit, with, ugh, Liam Neeson.

Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Thriller

Actor: Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Arben Bala, Arthur Berning, Atle Antonsen, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Bjørn Moan, Bruno Ganz, David Sakurai, Espen Reboli Bjerke, Gard B. Eidsvold, Goran Navojec, Hildegun Riise, Jack Moland, Jakob Oftebro, Jan Gunnar Røise, Jon Øigarden, Jon Øigarden, Julia Bache-Wiig, Kåre Conradi, Kristofer Hivju, Leo Ajkic, Martin Furulund, Miodrag 'Miki' Krstović, Miodrag Krstović, Ola G. Furuseth, Pål Sverre Hagen, Peter Andersson, Sergej Trifunović, Stellan Skarsgård, Stig Henrik Hoff, Thomas Hildebrand, Tobias Santelmann

Director: Hans Petter Moland

Rating: R

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