The best movies to watch on Paramount+ this week
The best movies to watch on Paramount+ this week
This list has Liam Neeson comedy, Brad Pitt zombie panic, Barbra Streisand road-trip warmth, and one all-time adventure classic.
I love poking around the Paramount+ movie library just to see what random new thing has shown up. Sometimes it’s a big movie I somehow missed in theaters. Sometimes it’s an old favorite that immediately makes me go, “Okay, yeah, I’m watching this again.” And honestly, that’s kind of the fun of Paramount+ right now. You’ve got big action, goofy comedy, zombie chaos, road-trip comfort food, and one of the greatest adventure movies ever made, all sitting in the same place. So here are my picks for the top seven movies streaming on Paramount+ right now.
Top 7 movies streaming on Paramount+ right now:
No. 7: ‘The Naked Gun’ (2025) | Parody comedy
I saw “The Naked Gun” in theaters the weekend it dropped, and I swear, this gave me the most laughs per minute I’ve had at a movie in years. A reboot like this only has one real job: be funny. That’s it. And for me, it absolutely was. Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the legendary detective played by Leslie Nielsen in the original “The Naked Gun” movies, and the joke is basically watching Neeson bring full serious-actor intensity to the dumbest nonsense possible.
Frank Jr. and Capt. Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser) get pulled into a suspicious death tied to something called a “P.L.O.T. Device,” which should tell you everything you need to know about the level of stupidity we’re dealing with here. Pamela Anderson is also really fun as Beth Davenport, and the movie does a nice job walking that tricky line between honoring the old movies and just doing its own big, ridiculous thing. It’s dumb in the way you want it to be dumb and just really fun.
The Naked Gun
Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world: Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. Following in his father’s footsteps, he must solve a murder case to prevent Police Squad from closure.
No. 6: ‘Primate’ (2026) | Horror survival
“Primate” is exactly the kind of horror movie where the title basically tells you what you’re signing up for, and honestly, I respect that. This is a killer chimp survival movie, and it does not overcomplicate the assignment. The story follows Ben, a chimp who’s been adopted into a family and learns to communicate with Adam, a deaf writer and father. Then Ben gets bitten by a rabid mongoose, and suddenly the family pet becomes a full-on nightmare. Adam’s daughters and their friends end up trapped in a cliffside Hawaiian mansion, trying to stay alive while Ben tears through the place.
It’s lean, nasty, and very much built around the simple question of, “How do you survive when the thing hunting you is stronger, faster, and already inside the house?” Johnny Sequoyah and Gia Hunter give the movie some emotional weight, Troy Kotsur brings real feeling as the father, and the brisk runtime means it doesn’t take forever to get to the good stuff. Sometimes you don’t need a complicated horror setup — sometimes you just need a rabid chimp in a mansion.
Primate
College student Lucy and her friends spend their vacation at her family’s home in Hawaii, which includes her pet chimpanzee, Ben. However, when Ben contracts rabies after being bitten by a rabid animal, the group must fight for their lives in order to avoid the now-violent chimp.
No. 5: ‘World War Z’ (2013) | Zombie thriller
“World War Z” is one of those blockbusters that I think people kind of underrate now because the production drama got so much attention at the time. But when you actually watch it? This thing moves. Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former U.N. investigator who gets pulled back into the field when a virus starts turning people into fast, swarming zombies. And I mean fast.
The opening Philadelphia sequence is still so good because it goes from normal family-in-traffic stress to complete civilization-collapse panic in about two seconds. From there, the movie becomes this big global zombie mystery, with Gerry traveling from Korea to Israel to Wales, trying to figure out what the infection is and how humanity might survive it. Mireille Enos gives the home-front scenes some heart as Gerry’s wife, Karin, and the movie works because it plays less like a traditional zombie splatterfest and more like a disaster thriller with undead people pouring over walls like ants. It’s tense, huge, and way more rewatchable than people give it credit for.
World War Z
Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls.
No. 4: ‘The Guilt Trip’ (2012) | Road-trip comedy
Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand? What’s not to love? “The Guilt Trip” is the kind of movie you put on when you want something easy, warm, and low-pressure, preferably while sitting on the couch with your mom or eating leftovers after a holiday dinner. Seth Rogen plays Andy Brewster, an inventor trying to sell his cleaning product around the country, and Barbra Streisand plays Joyce, his very involved mother, who ends up joining him on the trip after he learns she once had this whole other life and old romance before him.
So yes, there’s bickering. There are motel stops. There are many mom comments that only sons will understand. But what makes the movie work is that it softens as it goes. Joyce starts out feeling like a lot, but then you realize she’s lonely, loving, and still figuring out what she wants her own life to be. Rogen and Streisand are really sweet together, and even though the movie isn’t reinventing the road-trip comedy, it’ll make you feel good, which we all need a bit more of.
The Guilt Trip
An inventor and his mom hit the road together so he can sell his latest invention.
No. 3: ‘The Contractor’ (2021) | Action-thriller
“The Contractor” is a stripped-down action thriller with Chris Pine doing the quiet, clenched-jaw, everything-is-falling-apart thing very well. He plays James Harper, a decorated Special Forces sergeant who gets pushed out of the military after painkillers show up in his system. Now he’s got bills, a family to support, and no obvious way forward, so when his best friend Mike brings him into a private contracting job, he takes it. Bad idea, obviously. The mission sends him to Berlin to surveil a scientist who may be tied to a bioweapon threat, but things go sideways fast, and Harper realizes he may not be working for the good guys at all.
What I like about this one is that it’s not just “Chris Pine shoots his way through Europe,” although yes, there is plenty of that. It’s also about how easily desperate people can get pulled into shady systems when they’re out of options. The movie is grim, violent, and pretty bleak, but Pine gives it a real sadness that makes the whole thing hit harder than your average disposable action thriller.
The Contractor
After being involuntarily discharged from the U.S. Special Forces, James Harper decides to support his family by joining a private contracting organization alongside his best friend and under the command of a fellow veteran. Overseas on a covert mission, Harper must evade those trying to kill him while making his way back home.
No. 2: ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (2021) | Action-drama
I know it feels like we’ve all talked about “Top Gun: Maverick” to death, but sorry, this movie still rips. It could’ve been a lazy nostalgia sequel. It absolutely is not. Tom Cruise returns as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, still allergic to promotion and still most comfortable doing wildly dangerous things in very expensive aircraft. This time, he gets called back to train a group of younger pilots for a mission that is basically impossible: fly insanely low through enemy territory, hit a heavily defended target, and somehow make it home.
The flying sequences are ridiculous in the best way because so much of it feels physical and real. You feel the pressure in your chest. But the reason the movie really works is Rooster, played by Miles Teller, who’s still carrying all that grief and resentment over Goose’s death. That relationship gives the movie a real emotional engine underneath all the jets and shirtless beach football. Jennifer Connelly is great as Penny, the Val Kilmer scene still hurts in the best way, and Cruise does what Cruise does: makes the biggest movie-star version of a movie possible. This is blockbuster filmmaking with the volume all the way up.
Top Gun: Maverick
After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.
This crowd-pleasing action flick dominated the box office for most of 2022. The cast includes Val Kilmer, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, and Glen Powell.
No. 1: ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981) | Adventure classic
I just rewatched “Raiders of the Lost Ark” a week ago because I wanted a great adventure movie and did not want to be disappointed. And yep — still perfect. This thing is as good as it was the day it came out. Harrison Ford plays Indiana Jones, an archaeologist who gets pulled into a race against the Nazis to find the Ark of the Covenant before they can use it for evil. That’s the plot, but the joy is in the movement. The movie just goes. Jungles, temples, snakes, bar fights, deserts, truck chases, ancient traps, creepy villains, great banter, all of it.
Ford is so good because Indy isn’t some invincible superhero. He gets punched, dragged, scared, annoyed, exhausted, and somehow keeps going. Karen Allen is fantastic as Marion, who feels like she’s lived an entire movie before Indy even walks back into her life. And Steven Spielberg directs the action with such clean, playful energy that the movie still makes most modern adventure movies look overcomplicated and frankly, boring. The truck chase alone is worth the rewatch. Honestly, the whole thing is — I dare you to put it on and not enjoy yourself. It’s cinema at its finest.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
When Dr. Indiana Jones – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.
This Steven Spielberg-George Lucas collaboration rewrote the rule book for action films. Harrison Ford leads the way as the wise-cracking, hard-charging lead, and Karen Allen provides fireworks as his ex-lover. With incredible stunts, a soaring John Williams score, and an ending that shocked audiences, this must-see adventure is an all-time classic.
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won for Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects.