This article is updated frequently as movies leave and enter Peacock . New titles are indicated with an asterisk. Who’s ready for another streaming service? NBCUniversal jumped into the crowded pool in 2020 with the launch of Peacock , a destination for everything from classic monster movies to episodes of 30 Rock to original programming. But as with all of these services, it can all be a little overwhelming. The truth is that Peacock’s film catalogue is a little thin and a little strange (there’s an amazing number of B-movies like Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus ), but it does have some of the weight of the Universal brand and all its history, including classic franchises and recent hits (and the service will likely have more when licensing deals expire with other streaming platforms). But until the selection expands, you can’t go wrong with any of the following films. Year: 2016 Runtime: 1h 56m Director: Denis Villeneuve The French-Canadian director guided Amy Adams to one of her best performances in this sharp sci-fi film about an alien invasion that says more about the people on Earth than the interstellar visitors. Based on a short story called “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, Arrival asks how we would communicate with an alien species, led by a linguist played by Adams. A time-twisting narrative made this a smash hit, along with Villeneuve’s undeniable craftsmanship. Year: 2013 Runtime: 2h 39m Director: Joshua Oppenheimer You’ve never seen a documentary quite like The Act of Killing . One of the best films of the 2010s, Joshua Oppenheimer’s film unpacks the Indonesian genocides of the 1960s and how the men who perpetrated them have never faced consequences. These men act out their crimes in reenactments, leading to what’s almost an exorcism for both the killer and the survivors. It’s breathtaking. Year: 2006 Runtime: 2h 17m Director: Mel Gibson Mel Gibson, king of the brutal historical blockbuster, took an honest risk when he helmed this story of the Yucatan in
Mexico around 1502. Told entirely in the Mayan language, Apocalypto is the story of Jaguar Paw, a young hunter whose tribe is invaded by outsiders. The film made an absolute fortune at the
box office and has a loyal following. Year: 2009 Runtime: 2h 2m Director: Werner Herzog Director Werner Herzog was an unexpected choice for an unexpected sequel to Abel Ferrara’s 1992 film Bad Lieutenant , but this isn’t your normal sequel. In fact, it has nothing really to do with that first film other than it also centering a corrupt cop. Nicolas Cage gives one of his most unhinged and impressive performances here, and that’s really saying something. Year: 2011 Runtime: 1h 44m Director: Richard Linklater Richard Linklater directed this black
comedy based on the true story of Bernie Tiede ( Jack Black ), a man who befriended an elderly
Texas woman named Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine) and ended up murdering her. It’s a quirky little movie with one of Black’s best performances and a great supporting turn by Matthew McConaughey. Year: 1981 Runtime: 1h 27m Director: Lucio Fulci Dario Argento gets the most attention from Giallo fans, but you should take the time to fall under the spell of Lucio Fulci too. The Beyond is one of his most beloved films, a 1981 supernatural horror story of a woman who inherits a motel in Louisiana only to learn the hard way that it might just be a portal to Hell. Don’t you hate when that happens? Year: 2018 Runtime: 2h 28m Director: Lee Chang-dong The best foreign language film of 2018 has finally landed on Peacock and should definitely be seen by anyone who fell in love with Steven Yeun’s Oscar-nominated work in Minari or his stellar acting on Netflix’s Beef . Lee Chang-dong adopts a novella by Haruki Murakami into a riveting dissection of class and gender in modern Korea. Yeun is mesmerizing as the mysterious Ben, someone who our protagonist starts to think might be a killer. Don’t miss this one. Year: 2003 Runtime: 1h 42m Director: Wayne Kramer William H. Macy gives one of his best film performances as Bernie Lootz, a guy who is so unlucky that the Shangri-La casino has him on the payroll as a “cooler,” such a consistent loser that just being near other gamblers can cool their hot streaks. Alec Baldwin received his first Oscar nomination for his excellent work here, and Maria Bello is phenomenal too. Year: 2004 Runtime: 2h 13m Director: Richard Kelly It’s a mad world in Richard Kelly’s sci-fi hit starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, and Jena Malone. Darko made almost nothing in theaters but developed a loyal following on the home market, becoming one of the more acclaimed sci-fi films of the ‘00s. Join in the conversation that seems to constantly surround this film (and maybe Kelly will be encouraged to make another one soon — he hasn’t directed in over a decade). Note that the version on Peacock is the slightly inferior director’s cut, but still worth a look. Year: 2004 Runtime: 1h 47m Director: Michel Gondry Michel Gondry directed Charlie Kaufman’s script into one of the best films of the ‘00s, a story of romance and regret. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are breathtaking as an estranged couple who have decided to erase the memory of their relationship from their minds. Would you remove a formative part of your life because the heartbreak was too painful? This is a straight-up masterpiece. Year: 1982 Runtime: 2h 37m Director: Werner Herzog The production of this film (chronicled in the great doc Burden of Dreams ) is almost more interesting than the movie as director Werner Herzog actually had a crew haul a 320-ton steamship up a hill and fought on the regular with the maniacal star Klaus Kinski. The cool thing about the movie is you can see the chaotic production right there on the screen, as Herzog captures the insanity of his subject matter in a way that required a little instability. Year: 1992 Runtime: 1h 40m Director: James Foley David Mamet wrote the adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play and pulled off the rare trick of a nearly perfect version of a stage hit. It helps a great deal to have a cast of legends, and this one includes Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alex Baldwin, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin,
Kevin Spacey, and Jonathan Pryce — every single one of them perfect in their part. Year: Various Runtime: Various Director: Various J.K. Rowling is horrible now, but the books and films that emerged from her work continue to maintain and even build an incredibly loyal audience. They have a habit of rolling on and off streaming sites, and they’re back on Peacock for now, waiting for the entire family to have a marathon of the story of the Boy Who Lived. Like any massive franchise, they’re a rollercoaster of quality, but Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of
fire rule. Year: 2023 Runtime: 2h 13m Director: Alexander Payne Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph have already won
Golden Globes on their way to what feels like likely Oscar wins for this phenomenal comedy, exclusive to Peacock while it’s still playing in some theaters. The ‘70s-set story of a boarding school over holiday break already feels like a comedy classic, a movie that people will be watching, especially around the end of the year, for generations to come. Year: 2017 Runtime: 1h 33m Director: Raoul Peck The George Floyd case and other police-involved shootings brought viewers back to this stunning documentary that works from an unfinished manuscript by the brilliant James Baldwin. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, it’s an exploration of racial issues in America that digs back through the civil rights leaders through Baldwin’s personal experiences and beyond. It’s a must-watch. Year: 2001 Runtime: 2h 9m Director: Takashi Miike Despite being one of Takashi Miike’s breakthrough films internationally, his action flick is still banned in several countries around the world. You may think you know what you’re in for, but Ichi is its own special category of crazy, as anyone who’s seen it can attest. When it was released, it was the kind of film that one had to special order from online companies, and now it can be streamed directly to your phone while you’re on the bus. Isn’t technology wonderful? Year: 2008 Runtime: 1h 54m Director: Tomas Alfredson One of the best horror films of the new era is this Swedish horror film based on the 2004 novel of the same name. It’s the tale of a 12-year-old in a suburb of Stockholm dealing with being bullied who befriends a neighbor girl who turns out to be, well, different. A vampire tale that produced a (good) remake and a (not-so-good) Showtime series, this is arguably one of the most influential horror flicks of the 2010s. Year: 1995 Runtime: 1h 34m Director: Woody Allen Peacock added an array of Woody Allen movies recently, and this is the best of the bunch, a film that won Mira Sorvino an Oscar for Best Supporting
Actress. She plays a prostitute in this loose adaptation of Pygmalion that also won Sorvino a Golden Globe and a gaggle of critics awards. She’s wonderful here and reason alone to watch it. Year: 2020 Runtime: 1h 41m Director: Eliza Hittman Released at the start of the pandemic, this drama deserves to find a bigger audience, especially given the recent attacks on women’s rights across the country. Sidney Flanigan stars as an average 17-year-old who tries to get an
abortion, forcing her to travel the country with her cousin (Talia Ryder) to do so. Sharp, timely, and incredibly moving, this is one of 2020’s best films. Year: 1968 Runtime: 1h 37m Director: Clive Barker It’s really hard to overstate the impact that George A. Romero’s classic black-and-white masterpiece had on not just the zombie genre but DIY microbudget horror filmmaking. So many people have been chasing that game-changing impact of Night of the Living Dead in the half-century since it came out, but it’s the original that’s passed the test of time. Year: 1990 Runtime: 1h 42m Director: Clive Barker Clive Barker wrote and directed an adaptation of his Cabal and released it to a much more muted response than greeted his hit Hellraiser . Over the years, Nightbreed has developed a loyal following, in part due to the various versions of it now available. The one on
Amazon is the theatrical, in which Craig Sheffer plays a man who becomes convinced his therapist is a serial killer, and his own investigation leads him to a tribe of monsters. Good times. Year: 1979 Runtime: 2h 4m Director: Werner Herzog In 1979, Werner Herzog released his daring vision of the classic F.W. Murnau film Nosferatu . Klaus Kinski plays Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani is Lucy Harker, and Bruno Ganz is Jonathan Harker in this unforgettable mood piece, a movie that’s so unsettling that one wonders if Kinski might actually be a bloodsucker. It remains one of Herzog’s most popular films for a reason. Year: 2023 Runtime: 3h Director: Christopher Nolan Oppenheimer is a proud biopic: a dense, big-swing condensation of a 600-page biography about one of the most important men of the 20th century and about (in the movie’s own words) “the most important fucking thing to ever happen in the history of the world.” But Oppenheimer is also the opposite of a standard-issue Great Man movie: The achievement here is monstrous, and the psychic dissolution of the main character before our very eyes is heartbreaking. —Bilge Ebiri Year: 1992 Runtime: 2h 15m Director: John Sayles The brilliant writer/director John Sayles delivered one of his most beloved films in the 1992 drama about a soap opera star (Mary McDonnell) who has been paralyzed after being hit by a cab. She returns to her family home, where she crosses paths with a nurse (Alfre Woodard) who refuses to give up on her. It’s moving in a way that feels genuine, never manipulative. Year: 1991 Runtime: 2h 2m Director: Kathryn Bigelow Whether one considers it a guilty pleasure or a legitimately great action movie, everyone kind of likes Point Break . It’s a really hard movie to hate, in no small part due to the charisma of stars Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves, who plays an undercover
FBI agent trying to break up a ring of surfing bank robbers. Kathryn Bigelow is one of our best action directors even if this one is a bit cheesier than her best work. Year: 2005 Runtime: 1h 44m Director: John Hillcoat There aren’t a lot of great Westerns on any streaming service, but this more modern one is worth your time. John Hillcoat directs a gritty, vicious script by Nick Cave (of The Bad Seeds fame) and draws excellent performances from a cast that includes Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, and a movie-stealing Danny Huston. With riveting cinematography by Benoit Delhomme, The Proposition is a Western that looks phenomenal, unfolding like a visualization of one of Cave’s albums. Year: 2013 Runtime: 1h 36m Director: Destin Daniel Cretton Long before she would be
Captain Marvel, Brie Larson played a worker at a group home for troubled teenagers in this powerful drama . Based on his own experience, Destin Daniel Cretton wrote and directed this critical darling that now looks like a launchpad for a generation of stars including Larson, Lakeith Stanfield, Rami Malek, Stephanie Beatriz, John Gallagher Jr., and Kaitlyn Dever. Year: 1987 Runtime: 1h 25m Director: Prince One of the best concert films of all time is sitting on Peacock waiting for you to jam to it. Largely produced as a tie-in to the 1987 album of the same name, which wasn’t selling like they hoped, this film captures Prince at his most electric, and has really stood the test of time. Year: 1982 Runtime: 2h 30m Director: Alan Pakula
Meryl Streep gives one of the best performances of all time in this story of a writer (Peter MacNicol) living in Brooklyn who befriends an Auschwitz survivor (Streep) and her beau (Kevin Kline) shortly after the
Holocaust. Through flashbacks, we see Sophie’s harrowing journey, including what the title heartbreakingly refers to — a phrase that has been co-opted in the four decades since to refer to any difficult decision. Year: 1974 Runtime: 1h 23m Director: Tobe Hooper What’s so stunning about this horror masterpiece is what it doesn’t show. So many people remember this flick as a gore-filled nightmare, but Hooper actually lets your mind do most of the work, rarely showing as much as the film’s reputation. It’s still an unforgettable film, one that changed the indie horror landscape forever. Year: 2016 Runtime: 1h 58m Director: Yeon Sang-ho A legitimate phenomenon that has grossed almost $100 million worldwide, this 2016 South Korean movie is one of the best zombie flicks of its era. It’s simple — zombies on a train — but that’s one of the reasons it works so well. It has a propulsive, non-stop energy and it feels like its legacy is just getting started. Year: 2010 Runtime: 1h 44m Director: David Schwimmer
Friends fans may be surprised to learn that star David Schwimmer is also a hell of a director, as evidenced by this empathetic, searing 2010 drama. Liana Liberato stars as a 14-year-old girl who befriends a man on the internet who turns out to be a predator. Liberato is excellent, as are Catherine Keener and Clive Own as her parents. If you subscribe to a service through our links, Vulture may earn an affiliate commission.