Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
One thing we like Netflix is that it produces some of the most creative and original films we’ve seen in recent years. Oscar nominees such as Train Dreams and Demon hunters in kpop They exceeded our expectations and proved to be truly innovative, and romance novels like People We Meet on Vacation and Champagne Problems provided comfort when we needed it. But sometimes, no matter how big a movie is or how famous the star is, Netflix originals can simply fall off the face of the Earth after their premiere.
Since this year’s Oscar nominations were announced, big names, including Timothée Chalamet, Ethan Hawke, and Benicio del Toro, have been everywhere. While the films they currently star in — Marty Supreme, Blue Moon, and One Battle After Another, respectively — have been critically acclaimed and received plenty of press, they each appear in Netflix originals that seem to have been lost to the algorithm.
Despite Chalamet being one of the biggest stars these days, how many people have seen The King, the 2019 medieval drama co-starring Joel Edgerton? (Some might argue that Edgerton, who starred in Train Dreams, was snubbed at this year’s Oscars. He also appears in several other Netflix originals you may not have seen.)
Is it the algorithm? Were some of these movies not great to begin with? Or are there just too many new releases hitting streaming these days? Let’s take a look at a few Netflix movies starring Oscar nominees and winners that have fallen under the radar.
Directed by David Michaud and co-written by Michaud and Joel Edgerton, the film stars Timothée Chalamet as Hal, a prince and reluctant heir to the English throne who has rejected his noble life and prefers to live among the people. After his father’s death, Hal is crowned King Henry V and is forced to embrace the life he previously tried to escape.
Edgerton plays John Falstaff, Hal’s best friend, and the film also stars Sean Harris, Ben Mendelsohn, Robert Pattinson, and Lily-Rose Depp. The story is based on Shakespeare’s Henriad, his collection of historical plays that includes Richard II, Henry IV, Part I, Henry IV, Part II and Henry V.
Director Grant Singer began his career in music videos, and the police thriller Reptile is his first film. 2026 Oscar nominee Benicio del Toro plays a detective investigating the death of a woman whose body is found by her suspicious boyfriend (Justin Timberlake), but Timberlake is just one of many hackers who may be suspects in her murder. The film is gorgeous and stylish with an impressive supporting cast that also includes Alicia Silverstone, Frances Fisher, Michael Pitt and Eric Bogosian, but Reptile sneaked up on viewers when it first appeared.
The Guilty stars Jake Gyllenhaal, and features only the voice of a disembodied Ethan Hawke. They both received Oscar nods, with Hawke getting one this year for Blue Moon, and I think it’s strange that more people aren’t talking about this thriller.
Comet is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who previously collaborated with Hawke on Training Day, and is set entirely in a 911 call center in Los Angeles. Gyllenhaal’s character is under stress while taking calls and trying to track down a woman who called to report her kidnapping. Also appearing in the film (in audio only) are Paul Dano, Riley Keough, Bill Burr, and Academy Award winner D’Avin Joy Randolph.
We wouldn’t blame anyone for overlooking the Netflix original film called The Stranger, which was released two years after the Netflix series of the same name. But the film only shares its title with the show.
The film stars Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris, with Edgerton playing an undercover police officer who gets close to the prime suspect (Harris) in a child kidnapping case. The psychological thriller is loosely based on the real-life case of the disappearance and murder of an Australian boy named Daniel Morcombe.
Cillian Murphy won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Oppenheimer, a film that was inescapable when it came out, thanks in part to the media frenzy surrounding Oppenheimer. But to follow up this blockbuster, he chose Steve, a quiet film that arrived in 2025 and barely registered with viewers. The film is based on the novel “Shy” by Max Porter, and the film’s events revolve around the principal of a school – Steve – for troubled youth that is about to close, leaving these boys nowhere else to go. Although the film was released last October, it never got the exposure you’d expect for a film starring one of the biggest actors of the decade.