Credit: Paramount Pictures

Looks like you are fancying something old this week? Lucky for you, Netflix has added some amazing classics to its catalogue on August 1st, and several are still worth your time. Not because they are “classics” in the dusty, homework sense. They are simply very, very good movies.

Some were big hits when they came out. Others found their audience later and kept growing in reputation. That is usually a decent sign, isn’t it? A film lasts because people keep recommending it and coming back to it years later.

This latest batch of classic movies covers several decades and a massive bit of ground. We have everything from comedy to crime. More importantly, the movies still feel watchable now.

So here are five titles that stand out from the August additions. So, take a look and see which one deserves your evening. Chances are, there is a blockbuster waiting in there.

Five classic movies to stream on Netflix this week

Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)

Clueless has aged far better than a lot of teen movies from the same period. Amy Heckerling loosely based it on Jane Austen’s Emma; only here the matchmaking happens in Beverly Hills, with Alicia Silverstone’s Cher convinced she knows exactly what is best for everyone around her. Sounds harmless enough, doesn’t it? Of course, Cher’s matchmaking starts going sideways, and her judgement proves rather less impeccable than she assumes.

Heckerling spent time around real teenagers while developing the script, which helped give the dialogue its own voice rather than the usual adult version of teenage slang. Silverstone was 18 when the film came out and quickly became its defining face, while Brittany Murphy’s Tai gave the story another gear entirely. It was a big hit as well, making around $88 million worldwide on a much smaller budget. And then there were the clothes, which ended up having a life of their own.

Speed (Jan de Bont, 1994)

If Clueless is all social misfires, Speed is what happens when absolutely nobody is allowed to rest. Keanu Reeves plays LAPD officer Jack Traven, who boards a city bus rigged to explode if it drops below 50mph. Ridiculous premise, to be honest, but does it work? Brilliantly. Sandra Bullock’s Annie ends up behind the wheel, and from there the film turns Los Angeles into one long exercise.

Jan de Bont was making his directorial debut here, although you would hardly know it from how confidently the action is handled. The idea itself came from screenwriter Graham Yost, who developed the premise after misremembering details from another film. Strange route to a hit, but there you are. Speed also did a great deal for Sandra Bullock, who was not yet the major star she would soon become. The film went on to win two Academy Awards for sound, which makes perfect sense once you notice how much of the suspense depends on the constant sense that something is about to go wrong.

The Fast and the Furious (Rob Cohen, 2001)

It is almost odd going back to the first Fast and Furious now. Before the massive sets and bonkers stunts, it was a much smaller film about illegal street racing in Los Angeles. Paul Walker’s Brian O’Conner is an undercover cop trying to find out whether Dominic Toretto and his crew are behind a run of lorry hijackings. Then Brian starts getting close to them. That rather complicates matters, as you can imagine.

The film partly grew out of “Racer X”, a 1998 ‘Vibe’ article about New York’s street-racing scene. Even the title has history: Universal licensed it from producer Roger Corman, who had released a completely unrelated film called The Fast and the Furious back in 1954. Vin Diesel was not initially keen on taking the role of Dom, either. Hard to picture now, isn’t it? The film went on to make more than $200 million worldwide and, well, we all know what happened after that.

Something’s Gotta Give (Nancy Meyers, 2003)

By this point, a change of pace is probably welcome, and Something’s Gotta Give gives you one. Jack Nicholson plays Harry Sanborn, a wealthy bachelor with a very fixed preference for younger women. Then he has a heart attack at the beach house of Erica Barry (Diane Keaton), and he finds himself recovering under the roof of a woman he would normally never consider. You can probably see the trouble brewing already, can’t you?

The film did rather well come awards season, too. Diane Keaton received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Nancy Meyers wrote and directed the film, while the production used real locations in the Hamptons and Paris, including Le Grand Colbert near the Palais-Royal. Erica’s beach house also became influential in interiors circles after release. Not bad going for a romantic comedy released in 2003.

Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, 2014)

Now, Nightcrawler is not an old classic in the same way as the others on this list. It only arrived in 2014, so calling it vintage would be pushing it a bit. Still, you would be hard-pressed to argue with the reputation it has built since. Dan Gilroy’s film follows Lou Bloom, a drifter who discovers there is money in filming violent incidents and selling the footage to local television news stations. Once he realises what the broadcasters want, things go off the rails.

There is a bit of interesting history behind the film as well. Gilroy took some inspiration from crime photographers such as Weegee, who became known for capturing such scenes around New York. Gyllenhaal also lost a noticeable amount of weight for the role, which helped give Lou his iconic appearance. The film picked up serious awards attention, too. Gilroy was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, while Gyllenhaal received a Golden Globe nomination. Not bad going for a film from 2014, eh?