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The 10 best movies on Showtime to watch right now

From "A Ghost Story" to "Everything Everywhere All at Once," these are the best movies you can stream on Showtime

Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Yang in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once.'
Variety A24 Films

When you subscribe to a service like Showtime for a certain show, you often don’t recognize the incredible library of movies that is also available through the service. For Showtime, that library includes many fairly recent movie releases that were critically acclaimed when they first came out. Showtime’s movie catalog is at least as good as a competitor like Netflix, and maybe even deeper than some others.

Showtime has a great selection of recent films from all-star directors, and plenty of its films come with A-list casts as well. These are just 10 of the best movies on Showtime that are available to stream right now.

The Florida Project (2017)

The Florida Project
112m
Genre Drama
Stars Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe, Bria Vinaite
Directed by Sean Baker
Telling the story of a young girl and her mother as they try to survive in the shadow of Disney World, The Florida Project is a thoughtful, grounded meditation on what it means to live in severe poverty. The film features a pair of genuinely revelatory performances from a pair of non-actors who play the mother and daughter, as well as a truly stellar supporting turn from Willem Defoe. Few movies better grapple with what it means to be poor in America, or reckon with the way that poverty and America’s obsession with things like Disney World are inherently linked.
The Florida Project | Official Trailer HD | A24

X (2022)

X
106m
Genre Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Stars Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow
Directed by Ti West
The movie that cemented Mia Goth’s status as a generationally great scream queen, X feels like a Texas Chainsaw Massacre ripoff in the best possible way. The film follows a group of film students who rent a cabin on a farm in order to film a horror movie, only to be slowly picked off by the owners of that farm. Goth is doing double duty here as the young target of the couple’s attacks and the elderly woman taking them down, and she’s outstanding in both roles. X is not a particularly subtle film, but it’s incredibly effective because of its great ensemble and a few genuinely great movie moments from director Ti West.
X | Official Trailer HD | A24

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Everything Everywhere All at Once
140m
Genre Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
Stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu
Directed by Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan

This unlikely Oscars juggernaut has more than earned its reputation as one of the best movies of the 2020s. In addition to feeling like a pretty definitive take on the multiverse, the film’s sprawling ambitions are equaled by its constant focus on the story of a single family. Following an overworked Chinese immigrant who is starting to regret every decision that got her to where she is now, the movie is really a reflection on the nature of regret and the constant need for kindness, especially in a world that can be lovely, scary, and bewildering, all at the same time.

Everything Everywhere All At Once | Official Trailer HD | A24

Uncut Gems (2019)

Uncut Gems
136m
Genre Drama, Thriller, Crime
Stars Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox
Directed by Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie

One of Adam Sandler’s best dramatic performances comes in Uncut Gems, in which he plays a gambler who can’t stop himself from placing his next big bet. Few movies in the history of cinema are more stress-inducing than Uncut Gems, in part because Sandler’s Howie is constantly working himself both into and out of binds. Through two features, the Safdie brothers have proven themselves to be masters of this kind of cinematic distress, and Sandler proves himself more than up to delivering in a movie in which he rarely spends more than a second offscreen.

Uncut Gems | Official Trailer HD | A24

The Fabelmans (2022)

The Fabelmans
151m
Genre Drama
Stars Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Letting Steven Spielberg make a movie about his own childhood may seem like putting a hat on a hat, but one of the shocking things about The Fabelmans is how unsentimental it proves to be. The movie follows a young Sammy Fabelman as he falls in love with making movies and simultaneously watches his parents’ marriage crumble around him. The theme of divorce is everywhere in Spielberg’s filmography, and The Fabelmans retroactively reads like something of a codex for his entire filmography. On top of everything else that makes it great, though, The Fabelmans is a moving story about the way movie-making can isolate you from everyone around you.
The Fabelmans | Official Trailer [HD]

Red Rocket (2021)

Red Rocket
130m
Genre Comedy, Drama
Stars Simon Rex, Suzanna Son, Bree Elrod
Directed by Sean Baker
The second Sean Baker movie to grace this list, Red Rocket is another story of life on the edges of America. The film follows a former porn star who returns to his hometown after falling on hard times. Simon Rex is terrific in the lead role, even as the character he’s playing proves himself over and over again to be truly deplorable. Red Rocket is not about a good guy, but its story of the people that America has totally left behind resonates nonetheless.
Red Rocket | Official Trailer HD | A24

The Watermelon Woman (1996)

The Watermelon Woman
85m
Genre Drama, Comedy, Romance
Stars Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker
Directed by Cheryl Dunye
A seminal indie film that has only grown in stature in the years since its release, The Watermelon Woman tells the story of a Black, lesbian filmmaker who begins researching an actress from a 1940s film who is credited only as “The Watermelon Woman.” After she decides to start making a documentary about the woman, we see the way the story of this mysterious woman mixes and mingles with that of the protagonist, and how the legacy of Black representation on screen still shapes the experience of Black people, particularly Black women, to this day.
MQFF 2017 - The Watermelon Woman - Trailer

Annihilation (2018)

Annihilation
115m
Genre Science Fiction, Horror
Stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez
Directed by Alex Garland
Alex Garland’s second directorial effort may be his best, in part because it’s so willing to be indulgently strange. Annihilation tells the story of a woman who joins a team of explorers tasked with investigating a singular ecological phenomenon known as “The Shimmer.” Once the crew enters this region, which has been utterly transformed, they discover that their understanding of reality has to change. Where the movie goes from there is almost impossible to explain, but Annihilation is mind-bending in the best way. It’s also a thoughtful rumination on guilt and love, and the way those two are sometimes inextricably linked.
Annihilation (2018) - Official Trailer - Paramount Pictures

Bacurau (2019)

Bacurau
131m
Genre Mystery, Western, Thriller
Stars Bárbara Colen, Thomás Aquino, Silvero Pereira
Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles

The kind of twisted story that has to be seen to be believed, Bacurau is one of the greatest thrillers made in recent years. This Brazilian film follows the residents of a small rural village as bizarre things begin to happen to the town’s residents. The reveal of what exactly is happening is too good to spoil, but Bacurau will more than satisfy anyone who is willing to read subtitles in exchange for a great cinematic ride.

Bacurau – Official U.S. Trailer

A Ghost Story (2017)

A Ghost Story
93m
Genre Drama, Fantasy
Stars Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Will Oldham
Directed by David Lowery
A story of grief and death that is both mournful and hopeful, A Ghost Story is metaphysical in the best possible way. The film follows a couple in the aftermath of the sudden death of the husband. Following his death, the husband spends the rest of the movie under a sheet, a ghost who is largely unable to interact with his surroundings. As he watches life flash through the house that was once his, we see a genuinely magnificent cross-section of what humanity is and what it can be. A Ghost Story is a tough film to literalize, but David Lowery’s fierce direction makes it a totally riveting experience from beginning to end.
A Ghost Story | Official Trailer HD | A24

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Joe Allen
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Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…
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