Heat.
Photo: Warner Bros.
This post will be updated frequently as movies enter and leave the service. *New titles are indicated with an asterisk.
In 2021, CBS All Access rebranded with the name Paramount+, reflecting the history of the legendary film and TV company with that nifty little mathematical sign that all the streaming companies seem to love these days. The name Paramount brings a deep catalogue of feature films, and the streaming service also includes titles from the Miramax and MGM libraries. They have also added a more robust original selection than at launch to complement the service’s classics like Gladiator and the Mission: Impossible series. Paramount+ can’t compare to the depth of a catalogue like HBO Max’s or the award-winning originals at other streamers, but it still maintains a solid library with at least 30 films you should see.
Year: 1995
Runtime: 2h 50m
Director: Michael Mann
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino star in one of the best movies of the ‘90s, a stunning cat-and-mouse game between a career criminal and a workaholic cop. The book release of Heat 2 in 2022 brought a lot of people back to this movie, one that has held up remarkably well over the nearly three decades since it was released. It’s a masterpiece.
Year: 1980
Runtime: 1h 27m
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Movies just don’t get much funnier than this classic from David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams. Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, and Leslie Nielsen star in a parody of the disaster flicks of the ‘70s but this film has far transcended its roots to become one of the most quotable and beloved comedies of all time.
Year: 2000
Runtime: 2h 3m
Director: Cameron Crowe
Cameron Crowe wrote and directed this masterpiece about a young man (Patrick Fugit) who ends up on tour with a rock band known as Stillwater. With incredible supporting performances from Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this is one of the richest and most timeless films of its era, a rare movie that gets better every time you see it.
Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Alex Garland
Paramount notoriously had no idea what to do with Alex Garland’s film and barely promoted it in American theaters, dropping it on Netflix in the rest of the world, which is where it now returns five years later. And it’s amazing. One of the best films of 2018 stars Natalie Portman as a woman who enters an alien occurrence to find out what happened to her husband there. Although that barely scratches the surface of this complex, already-beloved film.
Year: 2004
Runtime: 2h 50m
Director: Martin Scorsese
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese’s incredibly detailed and lavish period piece about one of the most infamous eccentric millionaires of all time. It feels like every other month produces a bit of social outrage about Scorsese’s place in movie history or his comments on Marvel movies. Ignore that noise and just watch one of his works that doesn’t get nearly enough praise, anchored by one of DiCaprio’s best performances and some of the most impressive aerial cinematography of all time.
Year: 1997
Runtime: 2h 35m
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson is widely recognized as one of the best living American filmmakers now, but that wasn’t the case before the release of this masterpiece about life in the Los Angeles porn scene. Mark Wahlberg has never been better than he is here, anchoring an ensemble that includes equally great work from Julianne Moore and Burt Reynolds.
Year: 1974
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Roman Polanski
Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown. One of the best movies of the ‘70s, this Best Picture nominee (and Best Screenplay winner) tells the story of Jake Gittes, played unforgettably by Jack Nicholson, as he investigates an adulterer and finds something much more insidious under the surface of Los Angeles. It’s a must-see, as important as almost any film from its era.
Year: 2004
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Michael Mann
Tom Cruise gives one of his most fascinating performances as Vincent, the passenger to Jamie Foxx’s L.A. cab driver on a very fateful night. It turns out that Vincent is hitman and he needs Foxx’s character to drive him on a killing spree in this tense, gorgeously-shot thriller from the masterful craftsman Michael Mann.
Year: 1975
Runtime: 2h 4m
Director: Sidney Lumet
Any list of the best performances of all time that doesn’t include Al Pacino’s work in this masterpiece is simply incorrect. Pacino plays Sonny Wortzik, a New Yorker who tries to rob a bank with his buddy Sal (John Cazale). Sidney Lumet directs a film that’s alternately as tense as any thriller and as illuminating as any character study.
Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Jiayan “Jenny” Shi
Jiayan Shi directed and produced this heartbreaking documentary about the disappearance and death of Yingying Zhang in 2017. Shi has unique access to the story in that she knew Yingying, and so her film has an incredible you-are-there quality as Shi captures the investigation and grief that would emerge from this horrific crime. Paramount+ deserves credit for bringing smaller projects like this to their subscribers, ones that other major streamers might ignore.
Year: 2002
Runtime: 2h 46m
Director: Martin Scorsese
Gangs of New York is one of Martin Scorsese’s more underrated modern movies, especially surprising given it’s also one of his biggest hits at the box office. Over the years people have dismissed the period action-drama, often blaming some of the casting, but it features a stunning performance from Daniel Day-Lewis and incredible design detail.
Year: 2000
Runtime: 2h 34m
Director: Ridley Scott
One of the most popular films of its era, this action epic stars Russell Crowe as the legendary Maximus, a warrior whose family is murdered by the vicious Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Forced into slavery, Maximus has to rise the gladiator arenas to get his vengeance. The film made a fortune on its way to winning the Oscar for Best Picture.
Year: 1972
Runtime: 2h 55m
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Maybe you’ve heard of it? In all seriousness, there’s a very cool opportunity right now to watch the entire Godfather trilogy on Paramount+, including the superior recent cut of the third film. These films have a weird habit of bouncing on and off Paramount+. Take an offer you can’t refuse! Marathon!
Year: 2007
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director: Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck’s adaptation of a great Dennis Lehane thriller stars the actor/director’s brother as a Boston detective investigating the disappearance of a little girl. Affleck’s greatest gift as a filmmaker is with ensemble and this is arguably his best with Casey, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Michelle Monaghan and the Oscar-nominated Amy Ryan filling out an amazing cast in a riveting thriller.
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 52m
Director: Aaron Nee, Adam Nee
With echoes of beloved rom-coms like African Queen and Romancing the Stone, this film truly felt like an anomaly in 2022, and yet it turned into a pretty big hit at the theater. It’s already on streaming services, and it’s a great choice if you’re looking for some escapism tonight. Travel to the middle of nowhere with a romance novel writer (Sandra Bullock) and the cover model (Channing Tatum) who tries to save the day.
Year: 2002
Runtime: 2h 25m
Director: Steven Spielberg
One of Steven Spielberg’s best modern movies is this adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story about a future in which crime can be predicted before it happens. Tom Cruise stars as a man who is convicted of a crime he has no intent of committing in a fantastic vision of a future in which the systems designed to stop crime have been corrupted. It’s timely and probably always will be.
Year: Various
Runtime: Various
Director: Various
There is only one place to watch the entire saga of Ethan Hunt from the first Brian De Palma movie through Dead Reckoning as you prepare to watch the last (maybe) Tom Cruise flick in the saga, May 2025’s Final Reckoning. Honestly, this is arguably the most consistent action franchise of its era. Watch them and try to say we’re wrong.
Year: 2025
Runtime: 1h 25m
Director: Akiva Schaffer
One of the funniest movies of 2025 is this reboot of the ‘80s and ‘90s comedy series starring Leslie Nielsen (which is also now on Paramount+ for a full 4-movie marathon). Just a couple months after its theatrical release, you can check out Liam Neeson’s phenomenal comedy work in this very funny take an old-fashioned style of movie comedy that went out of fashion years ago. It’s nice to have it back.
Year: 2007
Runtime: 2h 2m
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Joel and Ethan Coen’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s crime novel is one of their best movies, a flickt that won them three Oscars – Directing, Writing, and Best Picture of arguably the best year of the ‘00s. If you haven’t seen it since 2007, you may be surprised at how well it’s held up. The exact same film could be released today and it would have the same cultural impact. It feels like that will be the case for decades to come.
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Celine Song
A Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nominee, this phenomenal film isn’t on any of the other streamers. It stars the excellent Greta Lee and Teo Yoo as a couple who were close as children but reunite years later after she immigrated to the United States. It’s as much a story of what people leave behind when they change their entire lives as it is a traditional story of unrequited love. It’s beautiful and unforgettable.
Year: 1991
Runtime: 2h 1m
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 not to like, 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: 1994
Runtime: 2h 34m
Director: Quentin Tarantino
There are certain tentpoles of American film history that changed the form forever, and this film is undeniably one. Heck, we’re still getting Tarantino riffs almost thirty years later, as everyone wants to make a movie as effortlessly cool as his masterpiece. What more could possibly be written about Pulp Fiction? You know you love this and want to see it again.
Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: John Krasinski
Who could have possibly guessed that Jim from The Office would be behind one of the most successful horror films of the ‘10s? You’ve probably already seen this story of a world in which silence is the only way to survive, but it’s worth another look to marvel at its tight, taut filmmaking and a stellar performance from Emily Blunt. Plus, Paramount+ recently added the sequel, so: double feature time!
Year: 2003
Runtime: 1h 49m
Director: Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater directed Jack Black to the best comedy of his career in this movie about a guitarist who became a substitute teacher at a prep school and teaches the stuck-up kids there how to rock. It’s a smart, funny family comedy with a huge heart and one of Black’s most truly wonderful performances.
Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: Wes Craven
The Ghostface killer came back in January 2022 with the release of Scream, the fifth film in this franchise and the first since the death of Wes Craven, and the fun continued with another sequel in 2023 (although the troubles around the production of the seventh film have been, well, notable). Paramount+ is the best place for a marathon with the original trilogy and the fifth and sixth films (but, bizarrely, not Scream 4.) The first movie is still a flat-out genre masterpiece.
Year: 2008
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director: Adam McKay
The pinnacle of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s comedy career remains this modern classic, a movie that’s as rewatchable as anything you could possibly find on any streaming service. One of the reasons for that is the fearless joy with which Ferrell and John C. Reilly literally throw themselves into the roles of stepbrothers who start as enemies and end as family.
Year: 1991
Runtime: 2h 17m
Director: James Cameron
Any list of the best sequels ever made that doesn’t include Terminator 2 is flatly wrong. James Cameron took the ideas of his 1984 sci-fi breakthrough and expanded on them in this action masterpiece that reverses roles and made movie history. Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor, the woman who knows that her son is the key to the future. She’s great but the movie belongs to Ah-nuld and, even more, Cameron, who flexes his action directing muscle here in unforgettable ways.
Year: 1997
Runtime: 3h 14m
Director: James Cameron
More than just a blockbuster, this Best Picture winner was a legitimate cultural phenomenon, staying at the top of the box office charts for months. There was a point when it felt like not only had everyone seen the story of Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet), but most people had seen it twice. History has kind of reduced this epic to its quotable scenes and earworm theme song, but it’s a better movie than you remember, a great example of James Cameron’s truly robust filmmaking style.
Year: 2022
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Joseph Kosinski
It’s the movie that saved movies last year! The truth is that Paramount wanted to drop this long-awaited sequel on a streamer during the pandemic, but Tom Cruise knew it was the kind of thing that should be appreciated in a theater. He bet on himself and the result is arguably the biggest hit of his career, a movie that made a fortune and seems primed to win Oscars in a couple months.
Year: 1998
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Peter Weir
Peter Weir directed Jim Carrey to one of the best performances of his career in this 1998 dramedy that now seems far ahead of its time in the way it foretold people living lives online. Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a man who has grown up on a TV show but has no idea that his entire life has been watched by millions. Ed Harris and Laura Linney are also just phenomenal in this modern classic.
Year: 2007
Runtime: 2h 37m
Director: David Fincher
David Fincher’s masterpiece is more about the impact of crime than crime itself. The fact that he made a sprawling epic about an unsolved murder is daring enough, but what’s most remarkable is how much this movie becomes less and less about figuring out the identity of the Zodiac Killer and more about the impact of obsession. It’s one of the best films of the ‘00s.
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