Netflix has such a huge catalog of movies and TV shows that it's often tough to figure out what you should watch next. And even though Netflix knows exactly what you want to watch, its recommendations section isn't always helpful, is it?
If you're not finding something you'd like, hit the web and rely on algorithms, experts, or other movie watchers like you to get a fantastic recommendation that you are bound to enjoy. Unfortunately, some old faithful sites that did just this, like A Better Queue and Flixed.io, have shut down now.
So we scoured the Internet to find the best apps and sites to quickly find what to watch next on the worldwide streaming service.
A Good Movie to Watch (Web): Expert-Curated Recommendations
If TV shows aren't your thing and you prefer a movie, then this is the site to head to. A Good Movie to Watch (AGMTW) will almost always find something you'll end up liking because, as the name suggests, its only agenda is to unearth films worth your time.
Click "Netflix" in the toolbar and filter it by your region, so you know you're getting recommendations based on what's available in your country. Of course, you can still watch everything on Netflix no matter where you live, but that involves a little know-how of VPNs these days.
AGMTW updates every Friday with a new movie, so you can currently browse the previous recommendations to find something you like. Click "mood" to select the kind of mood you're in and AGMTW will smartly filter the movies accordingly. Since all the movies are recommended by humans and not algorithms, you are more likely to find a great match here.
Decider (Web): A Blog Dedicated to Streaming Movies and TV
Decider is a unique blog, entirely focussed on what you can watch right now with on-demand content. Of course, this means the main focus is on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and other such services. Being the largest streaming platform, Netflix naturally gets more attention.
Like several other websites, Decider tracks what's new on Netflix every week, and has daily updates to keep you entertained. But two of its sections will almost always solve your "What to watch next?" problem.
Every week, the Decider Streamline offers one or more awesome items to stream on Netflix, so it's worth subscribing to that. And then there's the What To Watch Tonight section, which has a recommendation along with a brief synopsis of why you should watch it, just to make your choice easier. The staff does a good job of picking these, and you'll quickly find favorite authors whose tastes match yours.
FlickSurfer (Web): The Ultimate Filter-Based Search for Netflix
Let's take a hypothetical scenario. Say you want to watch a comedy movie that released after 1990, has been nominated for an Oscar or won it, and scores above 80% on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes (RT), two of the best websites on the Internet, with at least 25 critics having rated it on RT. Oh, and of course, it needs to be available on Netflix in your region.
At FlickSurfer, you can set all those parameters as filters and it will spit out your movie watching options in an instant. It's absolutely fantastic, and the best way to find specific stuff to view on Netflix.
What's more, FlickSurfer also works with TV shows and accepts Golden Globes award winners and nominations, and lets you further narrow down your search by director or actor! And you know the best part? A little "Shuffle" button to rejig the order of your filtered results. Try it, I guarantee you'll love it.
What Is On Netflix? (Web, Android, iOS): Top Ranked Movies, Nothing Else
I love the simplicity of What Is On Netflix, or "WioFlix" as it's popularly known. It has one purpose and it sticks to it: to find the top ranked movies on IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic, which are available on Netflix.
Each service has its own button, along with two other buttons to find new releases on Netflix or a random pick. Click a button and you'll see a list of movies ranked from highest to lowest. You can sort this list by genre or year, or simply search a title.
The services also have tabs to further filter their lists. For example, in the Rotten Tomatoes list, you can sort it based on the famed critics' "Tomatometer" rating or by the audience rating alone. You'll never need add-ons to get RT ratings on Netflix again.
I prefer the web app, but you can also download the mobile apps which work the same. No wonder this made it to our list of key tools to get the most out of Netflix.
Download: WioFlix for Android (Free) or for iOS (Free)
r/BestOfNetflix (Web): Recommendations From a Community of Netflix Fans
If you're looking for a community of movie fans who love to talk about what's good on Netflix, Reddit has the answer. The r/BestOfNetflix forum is purely about recommendations, while Netflix-related news and other discussions happen on r/Netflix.
The post title will usually tell you what you need to know about the recommendation, and clicking the title will take you straight to the movie in your browser or Netflix app. If you want to discuss it or learn what others apart from the uploader have to say about it, I'd suggest clicking Comments. It's all part of using Reddit like a pro, even if you're new to it.
Most of the recommendations are for Netflix USA, but some posts will have a different country's flag appended at the end of it to denote the region or a blue "World" flag to indicate it's available in all countries. And as always, read the sidebar first.
Have You Found a Hidden Gem on Netflix?
Netflix is worth every penny and you're hopefully subscribed to it, after which you should be able to find something to watch at any time with one of the tools listed here. But as you can see, I have more trust in real people's recommendations than algorithms.
So folks, have you found a hidden gem on Netflix that you'd like to share with the world? Tell us your Netflix recommends in the comments below, and it could be anything from a movie or a TV series to a documentary or a stand-up comedy show.