April 2026’s Best Streaming Titles: Marty Supreme, Napoleon Dynamite, Malcolm in the Middle, Dorohedoro, Life Is Beautiful, Sesame Street

How’s this for a premise: An unemployed puppeteer takes a job on a hidden floor in an office building where he discovers a door that transports him into the mind of actor John Malkovich. Make no mistake, Being John Malkovich is a bizarre film, and often quite disturbing in its tale of mental control, usurped identities, and immortality. But being the feature film debut of director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman, it’s quite unlike any other film you’ll see.

Based on Cameron Crowe’s own undercover research at a San Diego high school, Fast Times at Ridgemont High is one of the classic high school coming-of-age movies of all time. Perhaps best known for Sean Penn’s portrayal of the stoner Spicoli — and sure, a certain pool scene — Fast Times at Ridgemont High follows a group of teens trying to navigate the various pitfalls of high school life. The movie also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Nicolas Cage, and a young Forest Whitaker in one of his very first roles.

When Fearless was released, it was touted as Jet Li’s final wushu (i.e., traditional martial arts) film. A loose re-telling of the life of Huo Yuanjia, a real-life martial arts master who helped defend China’s national honor in the early 20th century, Fearless easily ranks as one of Li’s best films (read my review). While it boasts some impressive combat sequences (choreographed by the legendary Yuen Woo-Ping), the film’s ultimate message of piece and forgiveness makes it more than just another martial arts epic.

Chuck Norris is J.J. McQuade, a former Marine and Texas Ranger who walks softly and carries a really big gun — which will come in handy when he has to square off against an arms dealer (David Carradine). One of Norris’ most iconic and successful films, especially for its “buried alive” scene, Lone Wolf Mcquade would eventually serve as the inspiration for Walker, Texas Ranger a decade later (read my review).

I still remember the first time I saw Spaceballs. I was in junior high at the time, and I had no idea what the movie was, but the moment I saw the “We brake for nobody” bumper sticker on Spaceball One, I knew my life would never be the same. One of the most quotable movies of all time — e.g., “I am your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.” — Spaceballs is a true comedy classic.

It all comes down to this, with Ethan Hunt and the rest of his IMF team racing around the globe to stop a rogue AI bent on destroying humanity with the help of a doomsday cult that’s led by one of Hunt’s former associates. As with all previous Mission: Impossible movies, The Final Reckoning is filled with incredible stunts, culminating in a harrowing submarine sequence, and also contains some delightful throwbacks to the franchise’s earliest films (read my review).

In the near future, nuclear war and disease has led to the collapse of civilization. Japan has become divided into three nations, each one of which is vying for dominance. A hundred after the collapse, one man sets out to unite all three nations and resurrect Japan. Nippon Sangoku is an adaptation of Ikka Matsuki’s acclaimed manga series.

Keanu Reeves stars as Reef Hawk, the world’s biggest movie star who has been out of the limelight for five years due to drug addiction. But just as he’s about to re-enter the world, an incriminating video surfaces, forcing him to re-evaluate his life and apologize to everyone who hates him. Which happens to be a very, very long list. Directed by Jonah Hill, Outcome also stars Cameron Diaz, Matt Bomer, David Spade, Susan Lucci, and Roy Wood Jr., with cameos from Martin Scorsese and Drew Barrymore.

Set after the events of Clone Wars, Shadow Lord finds the infamous Sith Lord trying to create a criminal empire. When he discovers a Jedi Padawan, he takes her on as his acolyte, and together, they plot the Empire’s downfall. The 10-episode series looks like it’ll explore the darker side of the Star Wars universe, with fan favorite Sam Witwer voicing Maul. Richard Ayoade and Dennis Haysbert also lend their voices to the series.

After the crew of a deep space vessel discovers the wreckage of an alien spaceship, they soon find themselves being hunted by a vicious, cold-blooded creature. Directed by Ridley Scott, with designs inspired by H.R. Giger’s nightmarish artwork, Alien is a sci-fi/horror classic (read my review). The movie Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and of course, Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, one of sci-fi cinema’s most iconic female characters.

Ridley Scott’s original Alien was as much a horror movie as it was a sci-fi flick. But with Aliens, director James Cameron decided to throw in lots of action, as well. Set nearly 60 years after the original film, Aliens finds Ellen Ripley returning to the moon where the xenomorphs were first encountered in order to investigate why the human colony there has gone silent. Joining her are a colorful bunch of Colonial Marines, and they’ll need all of the firepower they can muster to deal with what awaits them.

Starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, The Mummy is a delightful throwback to the classic action serials of the ’30s and ’40s. When an Egyptologist discovers a map to a hidden city, she enlists the aid of an American soldier of fortune to help her, not knowing that they’re about to face a slew of supernatural threats. Filled with cutting edge (for the time) special effects, and more importantly, a sense of fun and adventure, The Mummy is popcorn cinema par excellence.

Fresh from the success of 1994’s Speed, director Jan de Bont directed this disaster thriller about a team of storm chasers trying to study tornados in Oklahoma. It seems like an unlikely plot, but Twister was a massive hit upon its release in 1996, due in part to its award-winning visual effects, which brought tornados to life in terrifying detail. The film, which stars Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Cary Elwes as a rival storm chaser, was — fun fact — one of the first films released on DVD here in the States.

A24 is best known for horror films like Hereditary, Midsommar, and Talk to Me. But the studio has released plenty of unconventional fare, including this coming-of-age sports drama about a young man driven to become the world’s greatest table tennis player. Inspired by the true story of Marty Reisman, Marty Supreme stars Timothée Chalamet as the young player willing to sacrifice everything in his quest for greatness, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow, Abel Ferrara, and Fran Drescher. The film was directed by Josh Safdie, who previously directed the critically acclaimed Uncut Gems with his brother Benny.

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore star in this romantic comedy about a man who falls for a woman with amnesia, and strives to win her heart despite her memory issues. 50 First Dates also stars Rob Schneider, Dan Aykroyd, Maya Rudolph, and Sean Astin in a hilarious turn as a steroid-abusing bodybuilder. The film was a commercial success in 2004 and spawned remakes in India, Japan, Iran, and Mexico.

Duncan Jones’ Moon is proof that you don’t need big budget special effects to craft an appealing and enjoyable sci-fi film. The only worker on a remote lunar base (played by Sam Rockwell) is struggling with the psychological strain of his isolation when he stumbles across a darker secret. Rockwell gives a solid performance and Jones ably proves that less is more with the film’s stripped down, minimalist approach.

Napoleon Dynamite was one of those films that just seemed to capture the zeitgeist with its shambling, episodic tale of a high school misfit who loves ligers, tater tots, and tetherball, and knows some sweet dance moves. Even now, I still can’t quite explain how or why Napoleon Dynamite became such a cult hit but personally, I found it hilarious and strangely nostalgic.

In this revival of the classic TV series, Malcolm is forced to reunite with his dysfunctional family for the first time in nearly 20 years when his parents announce their 40th anniversary. Most of the series’ original cast is returning for the four-episode miniseries, including Frankie Muniz, Jane Kaczmarek, and Bryan Cranston.

Six years have passed since Netflix released the first season of this anime series based on Q Hayashida’s cult favorite manga. As such, I was starting to worry that we wouldn’t get any more of this bizarre series set in a hellish world where sorcerers experiment on humans living in slums. When one of those humans wakes up with a reptilian head and amnesia, he vows to recover his memories and kill the sorcerer responsible. Dorohedoro’s unique world is certainly grim, but also filled with outlandish black humor. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure, but if you’re in the right mood, it can be an awful lot of fun.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was writer/director Christopher McQuarrie’s first effort in the franchise, and it turns out that his work with lead star Tom Cruise was a match made in heaven. (The two had previously worked together on 2012’s Jack Reacher.) This time around, Ethan Hunt and his IMF cohorts square off against The Syndicate, an international terrorist group consisting of rogue government agents. As you might expect, Rogue Nation is filled with jawdropping stunts, starting with a scene of Cruise literally hanging onto the side of an airplane as it takes off (read my review).

Sometimes all you need to make a great movie is an iconic car, and it doesn’t get much more iconic than the Firebird Trans Am that Burt Reynolds drives in Smokey and the Bandit, as he tries to deliver a shipment of bootleg Coors beer without getting caught by the police. So in this movie, you’ve got a bitchin’ car, Burt Reynolds at his most Burt Reynolds-est, and Jackie Gleason as Sheriff Buford T. Justice (who delivers some of the greatest insults in cinema history). What else could you possibly want?

The first season this Korean series was enjoyable enough, as two amateur boxers join forces to take on Seoul’s underbelly by punching lots of bad guys in the face (read my review). Now that they’ve take care of all of those bad guys, the boxers are ready to move on with their lives — only for an even bigger and badder opponent to make his presence known. As with the first season, I expect the new Bloodhounds season to have both fisticuffs and bromance.

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur, this Netflix original movie features Charlize Theron squaring off against Taron Egerton. Theron plays a grieving woman who ventures into the Australian wilderness, where she’s subsequently targeted by a twisted psychopath (played by Egerton) who’s intent on hunting her down.

Emma Stone reunites with director Yorgos Lanthimos for this black sci-fi comedy about a powerful CEO who’s kidnapped by a pair of conspiracy-obsessed men who believe that she’s actually an alien planning to destroy the world. Bugonia is actually a remake of Jang Jun-Hwan’s 2003 cult hit Save the Green Planet.

One of the very best sci-fi films in recent years, Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival is a thought-provoking film unlike any alien invasion film you’ve seen. When strange alien ships appear around the globe, the military asks a linguist (Amy Adams) to help decipher the alien’s strange language. But as she begins to understand it, the language starts affecting her in mysterious ways. Arrival’s slow pace may frustrate some, but Villeneuve’s direction is masterful, the cinematography is gorgeous, the concepts are fascinating, and Jóhann Jóhannsson’s soundtrack is incredible (read my review).

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) returns in this 1994 thriller directed by Phillip Noyce. This time around, Ryan gets pulled into America’s war on the Colombia drug cartels after they kill a close friend of the President. Before too long, though, he’s caught in the middle of a conspiracy involving the highest levels of the American government. The movie also stars Willem Dafoe, James Earl Jones, and Anne Archer.

The premise — actors from a classic sci-fi TV series are kidnapped by aliens who believe the show to be real — makes it sound like Galaxy Quest does nothing but poke fun at all things Star Trek. Which it does, and brilliantly so, but all of its jokes come from a place of love. As a result, it’s the best kind of parody, one that recognizes the inherent silliness of Star Trek while also capturing what makes Star Trek so great in the first place. By Grabthar’s Hammer, indeed.

A comedy set during the Holocaust seems like very poor taste. But that’s precisely what Roberto Benigni set out to make with Life Is Beautiful, and the result is a deeply human — and yes, humorous — film about a father intent on protecting his young son from the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp. Upon its release in 1997, Life Is Beautiful became an instant critical and commercial success, winning multiple awards, including the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for “Best Foreign Language Film” and “Best Actor.” To this day, it remains one of the highest-grossing non-English films of all time.

After concluding his Dollars Trilogy with 1966’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Sergio Leone planned to retire from making Westerns. He was persuaded, however, by Paramount Pictures to return to the genre, with the result being 1968’s Once Upon a Time in the West. The iconic Western stars Henry Fonda (cast against type as the villain), Jason Robards, and Charles Bronson, and features another one of Ennio Morricone’s famous scores (read my review).

True story: When I was in high school, a friend let me borrow a copy of Terminator 2 that he’d recorded off HBO. Not only was the movie mind-blowing in terms of special effects and action, but it was one of my first brushes with fan obsession. I must’ve watched the movie ten times in a single week. (I’m surprised that VHS tape survived the ordeal.) Decades later, the movie still holds up as an action masterpiece, and the unstoppable liquid metal T-1000 — played excellently by Robert Patrick — remains one of movie sci-fi’s best and most cleverly devised antagonists.

Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lives in a lovely little town, he has a lovely wife, and his life seems perfect and idyllic in every way. But unbeknownst to Truman, he’s actually the star of the world’s most popular reality TV show, and has been ever since birth. But a series of events soon arouse Truman’s suspicions that his world isn’t all that he thought it was, and he begins rebelling against his existence even as the show’s producers try to rein him in (read my review).

What remains to be said about this, one of the greatest comedies of all time? Its near-endless supply of sight gags, absurdities, cameos, and slapstick humor is something for the ages. From Robert Stack’s battle with a bunch of Hare Krishnas to Lloyd Bridges’ glue-sniffing, from the epic disco battle to the jive translation, Airplane! has everything you could possibly want in a movie, and then some.

Guillermo del Toro directed the second film in the Blade series, which finds Wesley Snipes’ vampire hunter teaming up with vampire royalty to fight a menace that threatens both vampire and human society. Blade 2 is a vast improvement over the first Blade movie, thanks to del Toro’s direction and visuals, a hint of body horror, and Donnie Yen’s martial arts choreography. The film also stars Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, and Norman Reedus.

What happens when a brash, hotshot attorney crosses paths with a down-on-his-luck father trying to make ends meet? Chaos and suspense, in this modern morality tale by director Roger Michell. Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson star as the two men, each from vastly different backgrounds and levels of privilege, who find themselves resorting to increasingly desperate measures to outsmart and outmaneuver each other.

An American reporter travels to a remote corner of the Australian Outback to meet a nigh-legendary bushman (played by Paul Hogan, whose script was nominated for a “Best Original Screenplay” Oscar). Impressed by his survival skills, she brings him back to New York, where those same skills prove surprisingly useful when navigating the Big Apple. If you weren’t alive during the mid-to-late ’80s, then it might be a bit difficult to fully understand this comedy’s cultural impact. For a time, though, my friends and I were a bit obsessed with Australia, and “That’s not a knife” — delivered in a terrible Australian accent, of course — became our favorite inside joke.

With its absurd, humanist humor, Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a beloved cult classic that resists easy adaptation. But director Garth Jennings certainly gave it his best shot. His adaptation doesn’t fully work, but it’s still an enjoyably silly romp, hitting the novel’s major highlights with clever special effects. It doesn’t hurt that the movie boasts an awesome cast, including Martin Freeman as the hapless Arthur Dent, Sam Rockwell as galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox, and best of all, Alan Rickman as voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android.

I don’t mean this as an insult, but Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is worth watching for the visuals alone. Of course, it has an emotional storyline, as an astronaut is forced to leave his family in order to find a new home for humanity. And Hans Zimmer’s score has become increasingly iconic. But the film’s visuals are simply jaw-dropping. Fun fact: Nolan worked with theoretical physicist Kip Thorne to make the black hole effects as realistic as possible, which ultimately advanced the scientific understanding of black holes and led to the publishing of several scientific papers on the topic.

I was a college freshman when Pulp Fiction arrived in theaters, and it was everywhere. Tarantino’s twisty, twisted morality play about hitmen, gangsters, drug addicts, boxers, and a mysterious briefcase blew everyone away with its snappy dialog, retro aesthetic, and celebrated performances (including John Travolta in a career-resurrecting performance). The diner conversation between Jules and Vincent is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time (read my review).

Arguably the best Saturday Night Live-inspired film, Wayne’s World follows the adventures of Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) as they bring to their public access TV show to the big time. It’s basically an opportunity for Myers and Carvey to do their schtick, but what a schtick it is. Party on, Wayne. Party on, Garth. Sha-wing!

One of the all-time great romantic comedies, When Harry Met Sally follows its titular couple over the course of several years as they grow up, get careers, fall in and out of love, and make terrible mistakes. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan give classic performances as the two leads, a pair of unlikely friends in a “will they or won’t they” relationship. The film also stars Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby, and was written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner.

In this hilarious parody/homage to classic blaxploitation films, Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) is the baddest mofo in the hood. But in order to defeat The Man who killed his brother, the dealers pumping heroin into the streets, and the fiendish Dr. Wu’s kung fu treachery, Black Dynamite will have to unleash his full martial arts fury… and show the ladies some love, too.

Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic is based on the true story of Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta), a mob associate who eventually became an FBI informant. The film follows Hill’s introduction to the mob life, and his rise and fall in the gang through the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. The film was nominated for multiple Oscars, eventually winning “Best Supporting Actor” for Joe Pesci’s performance as the unhinged Tommy DeVito.

The third film in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly finds three gunslingers — Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach — racing against time and each other to find a hidden cache of Confederate gold in the midst of the Civil War. Leone’s film was notable for its striking cinematography and stylized violence, as well as Ennio Morricone’s iconic theme. Although critics initially dismissed it upon its release in 1966, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is now considered one of the greatest films of all time, and the definitive spaghetti Western (read my review).

Based on the ’60s-era TV show of the same name, The Fugitive follows a man (Harrison Ford) who is wrongly accused of killing his wife, and goes on the run to prove his innocence. The film was a critical and commercial success, thanks to strong performances by Ford and Tommy Lee Jones as the U.S. Marshal trying to bring him in, some impressive action sequences, and a suspenseful plot. Trivia: The Fugitive was the first American film screened in China in decades.

Lieutenant Frank Drebin is a goofball and clutz. But he’s also the best man to protect Queen Elizabeth II from an assassination attempt, which he’ll do with site gags, pratfalls, and visual puns aplenty. Based on the Police Squad! series from 1982, The Naked Gun is widely considered one of the greatest movie comedies of all time.

A troubled yet brilliant mathematician uses chaos theory and supercomputers to understand how the stock market works. In the process, he’s drawn into the world of Jewish mystics seeking after the true name of God. Darren Aronofsky’s Pi is compelling on multiple levels thanks to its intriguing plot and themes, surreal visuals (aided by the film’s black-and-white cinematography), and pulsing electronic soundtrack.

Sesame Street is one of the iconic and beloved TV series of all time. Tubi has announced that 250 classic episodes featuring Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and the rest of the neighborhood’s famous characters will be arriving on their platform, starting with the series premiere from 1969.

Written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan — of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Empire Strikes Back fame — Silverado is a rollicking western that takes some classic genre tropes and breathes new life into them. Namely, an unlikely group gunfighters and cowboys must join forces to prevent a wealthy cattle baron from taking over all of the surrounding land. Silverado stars Scott Glenn, Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, John Cleese, and Jeff Goldblum.

When Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer leads his elite military rescue team into the South American jungle, their mission quickly gets complicated when it becomes clear that something’s hunting them. Something that’s not from this world. Predator is one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s classic ’80s film roles, and it still totally holds up thanks to some charismatic performances, Stan Winston’s awesome creature effects, and John McTiernan’s taut direction.