The best movies you can stream on Apple TV in Australia

Apple TV (Plus) is more renowned for its TV series than its movies. And that's fair enough; it is in the title, and the popular streaming service is trying to follow in the gilded footsteps of HBO. While there aren't exactly hundreds of original Apple movies to choose from, there are some quality contenders worth checking out. Scroll on for our list of the best movies on Apple TV in Australia.

	Plan	Price	Details
Apple TV	Apple TV Apple TV Free 7 Day Trial Apple TV Free 7 Day Trial Up to 4K streaming · 6 devices at once Ad-free From $15.99/mth View Plan	From $15.99/mth	View Plan
Apple One Individual Plan	Apple One Individual Plan Apple One Individual 30-Day Free Trial Apple One Individual Plan 30-Day Free Trial Up to 4K streaming · 6 devices at once Ad-free Deal: Bundle Apple TV, Music, Arcade and iCloud Storage - Save $15/mth From $24.95/mth View Plan	From $24.95/mth	View Plan

Terms and Conditions: The Apple One free trial includes only services that you are not currently using through a free trial or a subscription. Plan automatically renews after trial until cancelled. Restrictions and other terms apply.

Tetris

Nathan's notes: A very entertaining look at the birth of Tetris: the greatest block-based game ever made (sorry, Minecraft)

Nathan's rating:

Games-to-movie (or TV) adaptations may be all the rage, but Tetris isn't an adaptation as much as it is a tale based on how the iconic block-based game came to the masses. After all, who wants to watch an adaptation of a game about lining up blocks? (Please don't take that as a challenge, Hollywood.) Think of the Tetris movie as a cinematic equivalent to The King of Kong. There are heroes and villains, and a very competitive old-school game at the heart of both tales. But while the latter is a documentary, Tetris is an embellished retelling of how the beloved block-based game made its way from Soviet Russia to the rest of the world. Henk Rogers (Taron Edgerton) spots the potential of the Tetris game immediately, and his silver-tongue sales skills help him get Nintendo on board with bundling the game with the soon-to-be-launched Game Boy handheld console. What follows is a heartwarming and humorous tale of how Henk pulls off what may be gaming's greatest real-world heist.

Greyhound

Nathan's notes: A tense game of cat and mouse on the high seas against mechanical terrors beneath the waves

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It feels like every generation has its own seminal World War II submarine film. In the '80s, it was Das Boot. Twenty years later, it was U-571 (stream on Stan). And in 2020, Apple launched Greyhound. In fairness, Greyhound is told from the perspective of those avoiding the threats beneath the waves rather than the ships above. But what that does is immediately make it an intense thriller for almost every scene, as an Allied convoy is stalked by a Nazi U-boat wolf pack.

To complicate matters further, Captain Krause (Tom Hanks) is out of his depth in charge of a high-stakes life-or-death situation. With a tighty-ninety-minute running time, Greyhound doesn't leave a lot of room to catch your breath, so you'll welcome those rare scenes off the seas. But, for the most part, strap in for edge-of-your-seat tension whose relief often comes in the most explosive ways for those battling the mechanical monstrosities below.

The Gorge

Nathan's notes: Guarding the world's best kept secrets comes with plenty of crowd-pleasing risks

Nathan's rating:

Despite what the title says, The Gorge isn't a love story about particularly gorgeous people. Ahem. That said, there is a bit of romance at play, but that's somewhat secondary to the mysterious realities of an intriguing conceit. Two military snipers from opposite sides of the world – US Marine Levi Kane (Miles Teller) and mysterious markswoman Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) – are recruited to perform what seems like the world's most boring guard duties. 

Their respective towers sit on either side of a misty gorge where not a lot happens most days. Most days. But on those other days, terrors from the deep surge up the gorge walls and try to escape. Part thriller, part action flick, and part romance, The Gorge aims wide with its appeal and mostly hits. You can enjoy it for any one of the sum of its parts, with decent chemistry between the leads. But the real thrills are when the scary stuff hits the fan and the duo fights back, guns blazing.

Wolfs

Nathan's notes: Lacking in full-jawed bite, there's no getting past the always-enjoyable chemistry of George Clooney and Brad Pitt

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Hang on, hang on. The plural of "wolf" is "wolves". Well, in a Pursuit of Happyness-like approach (streaming on Netflix and Stan), you don't have to watch all of Wolfs for the misspelling to make sense. While it ultimately has a few too many scenes that are left to run too long, Wolfs opens with an arresting setup. 

District Attorney Margaret (Amy Ryan) is at a loss for what to do when her one-night rendezvous dies. Panicked about the potential consequences, she recruits the help of a lone-wolf fixer (George Clooney). But not long after her fixer arrives, the hotel sends a second lone-wolf fixer (Brad Pitt) to deal with the same dead-body problem. As you might imagine, the two self-identified lone wolves (uh, "wolfs") don't play nice together. It's a compelling conflict setup that carries the entire movie, thanks in huge part to the constant games of one-upmanship – in banter and in fixer actions – between Clooney and Pitt.

Finch

Nathan's notes: A beautiful sci-fi tale about the lengths we go to protect our fur babies

Nathan's rating:

Any fan of the beautiful-but-heartbreaking Castaway (streaming on Binge) may feel that Finch has a familiar basic setup. Both flicks offer an isolated Tom Hanks who befriends an artificial lifeform to help his sanity, but mostly to help it from being a silent film. The difference in Finch, though, is it's in a sci-fi setting. And instead of a volleyball called Wilson, Hanks is mostly chatting to his robo creation, Jeff (Caleb Landry Jones). 

Finch (Hanks) wasn't exactly all alone in the post-apocalypse, either, accompanied by his very-good-boy dog, Goodyear (Caleb). And as Finch is quick to tell Jeff, he hasn't constructed this ro-bro for companionship but to take care of Goodyear in the event that something happens to him. If you're a Tom Hanks fan, you're in for a treat, as this is another example of how little he needs to work with to put in yet another captivating performance. Despite the smaller stakes, Finch still has some scares and bigger set pieces that make for fascinating viewing from start to end credits.

Sharper

Nathan's notes: A twisting tale that keeps turning every time you think you have it figured out

Nathan's rating:

The best thing you can do with Sharper is go in as blind as you can. Don't watch the trailer. Don't read too long a synopsis. Don't even read this. Okay, so maybe read this because I'm not going to spoil anything for you. Sharper is a constantly turning tale that starts out as a love story but then twists in surprising but enthralling ways. 

The writing is tight, the pacing is superb, and the collective talent is firing on all cylinders. Sharper isn't a 'twist' movie in the vein of M. Night Shyamalan. Instead, you get something that's regularly redefining itself with earned revelations, which help make the two-hour running time fly by. If you're anything like me, your character loyalties will change with each revelation. And by the end, you may even have a tricky time separating the heroes from the villains.

The Family Plan

Nathan's notes: A kind of family-friendly John Wick that can be enjoyed by the whole family with plenty of action and laughs

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In recent years, Mark Wahlberg has taken on a range of roles for different audiences. But among the more adult-centric fare, Wahlberg has been building a stable of family-friendly action flicks: think those couple of Transformers movies (catch them on Disney Plus or Paramount Plus) and Uncharted (stream it on Binge or Stan). Now you can add The Family Plan movies to that list. 

The first one is the better of the Apple TV originals, with a familiar setup that still manages to play out in some unique ways. Dan Morgan (Wahlberg) is a habitual husband and father who lives a mundane existence until his deadly past catches up with him. Morgan hasn't exactly been forthcoming with his family about his shady yesteryear, so he takes them on an impromptu road trip to Las Vegas to hide the fact that they're being hunted. As you'd hope from that kind of setup, some solid comedy and decent action set pieces ensue.

The Banker

Nathan's notes: An incredible true story of two black men overcoming incredible adversity with a unique spin

Nathan's rating:

The Banker is the true tale of two black entrepreneurs who inadvertently shake up the racist policies of 1960s America. Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie) is a reserved maths aficionado who plans to make his fortune by buying property and leasing it out. After an untimely initial setback, Garrett reluctantly recruits the help of big-personality club owner Joe Morris (Samuel L. Jackson) to continue the operation. The big challenge, though, is the racist views of the time hamstring their larger purchases, which is why the duo recruits the help of Matt Steiner (Nicholas Hoult). Steiner's job: be the faux face of their organisation. 

Despite the potential for The Banker to be incredibly depressing material, the chemistry between Jackson, Mackie, and Hoult help inject plenty of humour and heart into this sprawling tale. Best of all, The Banker saves some of its most impressive moments for the end. But up until that point, you're in for one hell of an engrossing yarn.

The Greatest Beer Run Ever

Nathan's notes: A stranger-than-fiction tale with lots of laughs and plenty of heart amid an increasingly darker tale

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Chickie Donohue (Zac Efron) is an all-talk, no-follow-through guy who spends his days either sleeping in late or drinking up a storm at the local New York bar. But as hard as Donohue tries to dodge the accountabilities of adult life, it gets harder to do when the realities of the Vietnam War keep hitting close to home. After all, his childhood mates are going off to fight, and some of them aren't coming home. 

While boozing and shooting off his mouth one night, Donohue hatches a unique plan to support the Vietnam War effort: take his neighbour buddies in the Vietnam War hot zone a not-so-cold beer. Determined to prove his naysayers wrong, Donohue embarks on a seriously undercooked plan to give his friends a taste of home. This bizarre but true story is an excellent foundation for a cinematic story that has plenty of levity but also, appropriately, doesn't flinch away from exploring the impact of war on young soldiers.

The Lost Bus

Nathan's notes: A tense disaster movie that moves at a cracking pace and absolutely brings the heat

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Given the abundance of Apple TV movies that start with "The", it's impossible to tell whether Apple has a quota on movie titles that start with a definite article. But one thing's for sure: The Lost Bus is definitely worth your time. Set during the devastating 2018 Camp Fire – the deadliest in California's history – the tale is primarily focused on Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey). 

McKay is having a rough run of it. His estranged dad died recently, he's butting heads with his son, and he may be about to lose his new job as a bus driver. But a potentially fireable mistake puts McKay in the perfect position to drive 22 children and their teacher Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera) to safety. The big, burning catch, though, is that communication lines are down, and a wildfire is quickly approaching. Despite a few scenes that make that infamously dim 'The Long Dark' episode of Game of Thrones look bright, there's very little to distract from a tense and well-executed story that hits even harder because it's true.

Nathan Lawrence

Freelance Contributor

Nathan Lawrence is a freelance writer with over 11 years of experience. He has contributed to publications including WhistleOut Australia, Review.org/au, IGN, STACK, Fandom, Red Bull, and AusGamers. Nathan specialises in researching, writing, and editing content around technology, telecommunications, and gaming.

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