15 Best Apple TV+ Exclusive Movies
Despite being relatively new to the Hollywood scene (with its first original film released in 2019), Apple has deep enough pockets to ensure that the Apple TV+ streaming service’s slate of original films includes more than just charming indie flicks. but also award-winning, prestigious paintings. CODA was just a couple of years ago best picture at the Oscars (the streaming service’s first film to be up for the award), and the streamer’s films have earned it 13 nominations this year , even though Killers of the Flower Moon didn’t. Neither Napoleon ever took anything home. .
Given the difficulty of film financing today, you could be forgiven for thinking that many of these films were typical theatrical releases rather than Apple originals, but strictly speaking, these are all Apple TV+ originals. Sometimes they’re only available through the app, but sometimes they have small (or major) theatrical releases built into their distribution model, if only to ensure they’re eligible for major awards like the Oscars.
Here are the 15 best movies you can watch on Apple TV+ right now.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
While it didn’t bring home Oscar gold (let’s please include Lily Gladstone in more films), Martin Scorsese’s latest film more than proved that the octogenarian director hasn’t taken a step back. This is a story of growing fear and existential terror in the American West. It chronicles the injustices that followed the discovery of oil on Osage lands in the 1920s. A good thing quickly turns sour when white political leaders plan a series of assassinations to keep the wealth from staying where it belongs. The film may have gone deeper into presenting the true story from its natural Indigenous perspective, but the finished product is still an important and heartbreaking story well told.
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Joel Coen’s only (so far) solo directorial effort is a bold choice: a beautiful, strikingly minimalist adaptation of the Scottish play – lean and spare in production and influence. Only a director Cohen trusted could stage such a production without feeling the need to reinvent the wheel, letting Shakespeare’s dialogue and the performances of Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand do the heavy lifting. It received far more nominations than wins during the 2021-22 awards season, but remains one of the best cinematic takes on Macbeth since Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood .
Come From Away (2021)
A full cinematic adaptation of the musical about the events that unfolded at a rural airport on 9/11 was in development before the pandemic put an end to it. Thus, a special production was staged featuring members of the original cast, filmed in front of an audience consisting of 9/11 survivors and frontline workers. While it’s impossible to know what that other version might have been like, this one is probably better. The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 2017, is set in the Newfoundland town of Gander after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Gander was once a major refueling hub, but that changed over time, leaving the town with a huge airport and relatively little traffic… until planes were diverted there after terrorist attacks. The stranded plane passengers briefly more than doubled the city’s population, and Gander’s leaders and residents did their best to care for the unexpected visitors. Based on a true story, the show has a smart sense of humor and, while it’s not cynical, it never succumbs to sentimentality.
Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)
You may have missed Cooper Reiff’s 2020 indie film Shithouse , which received great reviews on a $15,000 budget but failed to top its unfortunate title. Its follow-up, Cha Cha Real Smooth , received a little more attention. Andrew is a bat mitzvah party planner who falls in love with Domino, a mom 10 years older than him (Dakota Johnson). It gets tiresome at times, but Reiff’s complex script and variety of characters make the director’s film a charming one to watch.
Still: Michael J. Fox film (2023)
The Simplest Way is a poignant portrait of an inspiring American figure: a former Hollywood golden boy bravely faces life with a debilitating illness. There’s some of that in this documentary, but whenever that mood takes over the film, it feels earned. Director Davis Guggenheim documents Foxx’s life through a thematic narrative (the actor, who has never been able to remain still in body or mind, now struggles to do just that), even as he refuses to shy away from the bumps and bruises that accompany any life with Parkinson’s disease. nor because of Fox’s complex personality. The film works best when it deals with the coincidences and disconnects between Fox as an individual and Fox as the public face of Parkinson’s disease.
CODA (2021)
I’m not sure it was the most deserving Best Picture Oscar winner, which doesn’t take away from CODA as a charming and generally likeable film about Ruby (Emilia Jones), a young musician who is the only hearing member of her family. She struggles with the demands of the family fishing business even as she discovers a passion for singing and a new boyfriend. The plot plays on the tired and stupid stereotype of deaf people not understanding music, but it also portrays the characters as capable and complex social leaders with real sex lives. Emilia Jones is great in the title role, as are Marlee Matlin and Oscar winner Troy Katsur as her parents.
Finch (2021)
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a dying engineer named Finch (Tom Hanks) is working to create a robotic companion—not to serve as his companion, but to take care of his dog when he dies. This is 1000% relevant and more or less fits the scope of the plot. As far as end times movies go, this one is surprisingly charming and suitable for the whole family: Tom Hanks is a genius companion at the end of the world, and you won’t be surprised by the story of a man who goes on an adventure only to find out that his dog If you have a friend, this will definitely make you cry.
Napoleon (2023)
Sandwiched between 2021’s excellent The Last Duel and the upcoming Gladiator 2 , Ridley Scott’s somewhat spot-on 2023 biopic of the former Emperor of France proves that he’s the only name in town when it comes to historical epics, once one of Hollywood’s most beloved genres. It’s a bit of a messy affair, featuring a sly, subtly comedic lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix, as well as a number of massive, more traditional set pieces (Scott smartly doesn’t ask us to admire the man himself too much). . When it works, it offers the old-fashioned thrills of a superbly crafted period drama, with the kind of grandiose fight scenes we don’t get in a world where every fight in the movie involves superheroes and spaceships. And who knows, maybe the rumored four-hour version will be better.
Pigeon Tunnel (2023)
The great Errol Morris ( Heaven’s Gate , The Thin Blue Line , The Fog of War ) turns his camera on author David Cornwell, better known as John le Carré, former spy and eminent spy novelist. The title is taken from the author’s recollection of his youth: he visited his father, who was involved in a pigeon shooting concession: pigeons were bred in captivity and then driven through a tunnel to stand in line for rich people to shoot. them, just at the moment when they thought they were free. The metaphor of an escape that is actually a trap has become powerful in the author’s life and work, and Morris tackles this lifelong theme with his typical depth and style.
Wolfwalkers (2020)
Robin Goodfellow is apprenticed to his father as a hunter, and the two travel to Ireland to exterminate the last wolves in the land. Setting out alone, she meets a free-spirited girl who needs Robin’s help to find her mother; There are rumors that the girl’s tribe has the ability to turn into wolves, and Robin’s alliance with her new friends threatens her relationship with her father. This stunning hand-drawn animated film received a well-deserved Oscar nomination and continues the thematic trilogy that began with the same directors’ films The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014). Plot-wise, they’re all independent of each other, but if you like this one, you’ll undoubtedly like all three.
Hala (2019)
Most audiences seemed to miss out on Apple’s first original narrative film when it was released back in 2019, and that’s too bad. Written and directed by Minhal Baig, a native of Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, the film has a special sense of place, especially for those who grew up in that area of Chicago. But its main strength is its smart and sensitive coming-of-age story. Geraldine Viswanathan plays Hala Masood, a teenager from a strict Muslim family who falls in love with a non-Muslim boy at school, creating conflict that also reveals several family secrets.
Queen of the Elephants (2018)
Chiwetel Ejiofor narrates this nature documentary from directors Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble, which follows 50-year-old elephant Athena as she leads her family from their bucolic home to more dangerous terrain after a drought threatens their survival. The team followed a family on the African savannah for four years, noting the animals’ intelligence and family bonds, as well as the harsh choices forced upon them by their natural environment.
Swan Song (2021)
Writer-director Benjamin Cleary presents a poignant existential dilemma in this low-key sci-fi drama starring Mahershala Ali as Cameron Turner, a husband and father suffering from a terminal illness. To spare his wife (Naomie Harris) and children the trauma and pain of imminent death, he considers a new procedure proposed by Dr. Scott (Glenn Close): he will continue to hide his illness from his family and will be replaced. a clone with all his memories. He will spend his final months alone, but knows his family won’t have to deal with his loss. In the best sci-fi tradition, the film explores the questions of identity, meaning and loss that such hypothetical technology raises, without feeling like a drawn-out episode of Black Mirror.
Velvet Bunny (2023)
It’s only about 40 minutes long, so this mix of live-action and animation is more of a short than a feature, but its length and refusal to make its own point are strengths, not weaknesses. Seven-year-old William (Phoenix Laroche) moves with his family to a new home, where he finds it difficult to settle down and make friends. A Christmas gift of a bunny frees William’s imagination, and the boy’s love gives the bunny a life of its own along with the other toys in the playroom. When William falls ill, the Velveteen Rabbit has to make a difficult choice, and if you know the story, it’s around this point that the tears begin to well up in your eyes. The animation sequences feature a variety of great animation styles that truly showcase the complexity and diversity of William’s imagination.
Sydney (2022)
Reginald Hudlin ( House Party , Marshall ) directs this simple but nonetheless important portrait of actor, director, and diplomat Sidney Poitier. One of the most significant and influential figures in cinema and American culture of the 20th century, the film not only captures the scope of Poitier’s life, but also has the poignant dignity of being his last screen appearance before his death at age 94.