With a name like Disney+, you might mistakenly think that the streamer only peddles in children’s movies.
But that is decidedly not the case, and as the company now owns 21st Century Fox and its associated subsidiaries like Searchlight Pictures and the FX networks, it has an even larger array of more mature fare to choose from that you can’t find anywhere else.
Watch With Us combed through the Disney+ catalogues and picked the five best movies for adults that you can stream right now. From horror comedies to character dramas and artist biopics, there’s a little something for everyone.
‘Ready or Not’ (2019)
Grace (Samara Weaving) has just gotten married to the love of her life, Alex (Mark O’Brien), whose family happens to be ridiculously loaded. On their wedding day, she meets his intimidating, deeply dysfunctional family, heirs to a vast fortune in the board game industry. A bizarre tradition sees Grace draw from a deck of playing cards and pick a game that must be played by the whole family. She chooses “Hide and Seek,” thinking it to be innocent, but in reality, she must fight for her life as her husband’s family hunts her for sport.
This rollicking mix of horror, comedy and action did gangbusters at the box office upon its release, and for good reason. The film manages to balance a perfect mix of dark humor, genre subversions and entertaining action and terror, producing an all-around crowd-pleasing picture. The film was a hit with critics, too, who praised the film for its expert skill at offering social critique of the wealthy elite while succeeding as a vivacious popcorn flick. It can be difficult for a film to toe the line between smart and fun, but Ready or Not does it with confidence and style.
‘Tron’ (1982)
Before you hit the theater to check out the upcoming Tron: Ares, you have to go back to where it all began with the original Tron from the 1980s. The first Tron stars Jeff Bridges as computer engineer Kevin Flynn, and was notable at the time for being one of the first films to make extensive use of computer-generated imagery (otherwise known as CGI). The film was only a modest box office success but spurred a cult following and a subsequent media franchise, including comic books, video games, a TV series and two feature film sequels.
When Kevin Flynn realizes that his work is being stolen by an executive at his company, he tries hacking into the system. But his attempt causes him only to be transported into the software world of his computer. There, he must fight a series of programs to escape, including the digitized version of executive Ed Dillinger (David Warner), called Sark, along with the Master Control Program. Along his journey, he is aided by programs named Yori (Cindy Morgan) and Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), based on two of Kevin’s coworkers.
‘A Complete Unknown’ (2024)
The rise to fame of iconic folk musician Bob Dylan is told in this riveting film from Walk the Line director James Mangold, starring Timothée Chalamet as the “Like a Rolling Stone” singer himself. A Complete Unknown is loosely based on the 2015 non-fiction book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald and features a supporting cast playing various folk music icons, such as Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash. The film received a number of Academy Award nominations — including Best Picture — and was praised by critics for its performances and solid direction.
A Complete Unknown begins with Dylan’s touchdown in New York City from his home in Minnesota, where he hitchhikes all the way to meet his ailing idol, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy). From there, the aspiring singer manages to change the course of the 1960s with his hypnotic talent that perfectly captures the zeitgeist and catapults him from small-town boy into a worldwide celebrity. But the folk icon finds himself restless in his own milieu, and he makes a stylistic decision that changes the course of his career — and music history — forever.
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006)
Editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), is a notoriously impossible boss to work for. When naive aspiring journalist Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is hired as Miranda’s personal assistant, she is flung headfirst into the cutthroat world of the fashion industry. As Andy struggles to adapt to this inhospitable work environment — egged on by Miranda’s senior assistant, the petulant Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) — she slowly learns to deal with Miranda’s demanding nature, and learns more about herself and what she wants from her life in the process.
The Devil Wears Prada has remained a staple of the pop culture collective consciousness for a reason, to the extent that a highly anticipated sequel film separated by two decades is set to be released next year. The film features several iconic performances, from the biting cruelty of Streep as Miranda to the kind honesty of Stanley Tucci as her art director, Nigel, and the breakout performance of Blunt. With its winking sense of humor, dynamite narrative and singular performances from a terrific cast, if you still haven’t seen The Devil Wears Prada, you still have plenty of time to right your wrongs before The Devil Wears Prada 2.
‘The Straight Story’ (1999)
Director David Lynch is most known for his surrealist dreams and nightmares as seen in films such as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, and his acclaimed TV series Twin Peaks. But perhaps lesser-known is the quiet character study he directed in 1999 called The Straight Story, an adaptation of a real-life incident in which an Iowa man, Alvin Straight, drove 240 miles to Wisconsin on a lawnmower to see his ailing brother in 1994. What is easily Lynch’s most narratively simplistic film, it is also no less profound. It particularly excels in its realistic dialogue and committed performances, in particular from lead actor Richard Farnsworth.
Straight (Farnsworth) is an aging, ornery man who lives with his disabled daughter, Rose (Sissy Spacek), and rebuffs lifestyle suggestions from his doctor to improve his precarious health. Yet he receives a wake-up call when he finds out his brother, Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton), has suffered a stroke. Despite the fact that they have been estranged from one another for a decade, Straight understands that he doesn’t have much time left with his brother. With no other means of transportation, he decides to make the journey to Lyle at five miles per hour atop his riding mower.