5 Netflix movies to keep you sane during your next long-haul flight

Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek Published Jul 16, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT Derek Malcolm has been covering the worlds of tech and entertainment for more than two decades. Before coming to How-To Geek in 2025, Derek was a contributing editor and writer for the A/V and Home Theater section at Digital Trends, where he wrangled and wrote everything from what to watch on Netflix to reviews, explainers, and guides on the latest Bluetooth speakers, turntables, projectors, and other A/V gear. Based in Toronto, Derek graduated from Humber College's Journalism program in 1999, after which he started covering the worlds of music, movies, TV, and celebrity for publications such as TV Guide, Hello! magazine, and Inside Entertainment. He then got the bug for covering tech and gadgets in 2006, when he served as editor-in-chief of Canadian tech magazine Connected for more than a decade. An avid skier, when all the snow's gone Derek can be found at home spinning vinyl with his daughter or cheering on his favorite F1 team, McLaren. Sign in to your How-To Geek account Long-haul flights are where sanity goes to die. Six to twelve hours can feel like an eternity, especially when the in-flight entertainment (if there is any) promises 400 titles, but somehow has nothing good. On my last transatlantic haul, my mental health survived on one thing–the movies I'd downloaded from before takeoff. My criteria were simple. Engrossing enough to make the hours disappear, but nothing that would leave me sobbing next to a stranger, too spicy for shoulder-surfing seatmates, and available to U.S. Netflix subscribers as of press time. And absolutely no plane crash movies. It’s also a fantastic time to take in all the niche stuff my family refuses to watch with me. Landing gear up. The Hunger Games movies Five movies of Suzanne Collins’ addictive dystopia The entire Hunger Games saga is now streaming on Netflix—from the first time we ever saw J-Law volunteer as tribute as Katniss Everdeen to Rachel Zegler singing her way through the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. That's five movies (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay – Part 1 & Part 2, and Songbirds & Snakes) and more than 11 hours of dystopian comfort food—enough to cover the flight out and a decent chunk of the return home. These are beautifully made blockbusters you've probably seen before, which is exactly what you want in the air. You can doze off for whole chunks of these movies, and not miss a beat when you wake up. The Capitol's quirky costumes still look great on a tablet, the arena battles are reliably tense and creative, and the stories are politically complex and dripping in social commentary that they’re good for adults, too. The Hunger Games Release Date March 23, 2012 Cast Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman, Amandla Stenberg, Willow Shields, Sandra Ellis Lafferty, Paula Malcomson, Rhoda Griffis, Sandino Moya-Smith, Raiko Bowman, Dwayne Boyd, Anthony Reynolds, Judd Lormand, Kimiko Gelman, Nelson Ascencio, Brooke Bundy Runtime 142 minutes Director Gary Ross Writers Billy Ray, Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins Producers Jon Kilik, Nina Jacobson Prequel(s) The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Sequel(s) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping Franchise(s) The Hunger Games Main Genre Action Budget $75 Million Studio(s) Lionsgate, Color Force Distributor(s) Lionsgate Where To Stream Hulu Executive Producer(s) Robin Bissell, Louise Rosner-Meyer, Suzanne Collins Spider-Man: Homecoming Take in this Tom Holland’s Spidey before Brand New Day Added July 1 and already parked in Netflix's top three, Tom Holland's first solo outing as Peter Parker is peak repeat viewing. But if you haven’t seen Spider-Man: Homecoming, it’s your first layover (see what I did there?) on route to Brand New Day, which hits theaters July 31. Michael Keaton's Vulture remains one of Marvel's best villains, the ferry battle sequence holds up on a small screen, and the twist ending lands even when you know it's coming. Holland is excellent in the film as the friendly neighborhood webslinger, it's funny, light, and perfect for that mid-flight stretch when your brain wants something familiar. Spider-Man: Homecoming Release Date July 7, 2017 Cast Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daly, Abraham Attah, Hannibal Buress, Kenneth Choi, Selenis Leyva, Angourie Rice, Martin Starr, Garcelle Beauvais, Michael Chernus, Michael Mando, Logan Marshall-Green, Jennifer Connelly, Gary Weeks Runtime 133 minutes Director Jon Watts Writers Chris McKenna, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Christopher Ford, Erik Sommers, Jon Watts Producers Avi Arad, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Matt Tolmach, Patricia Whitcher, Stan Lee, Victoria Alonso, Amy Pascal Sequel(s) Spider-Man: Far from Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home Franchise(s) Spider-Man Main Genre Superhero Budget $175 Million Studio(s) Marvel Distributor(s) Columbia Pictures Enola Holmes (1 to 3) A three-movie mystery marathon you and your teen can watch together Netflix's feisty franchise is now a trilogy, and the timing couldn't be better. Enola Holmes 3 recently hit the service and shot straight to No. 1 in the U.S., which means all three adventures of Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) outsmarting her famous big brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and flirting with Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) are there to download. Of course, the quick-witted young detective must get to the bottom of several twisting mysteries in each instalment, and there may even be a wedding on the itinerary. The Victorian-era capers are witty, fast-moving, and completely seatmate-safe—no need to angle the screen away from anyone. Watched back to back, the trilogy runs roughly six hours, which is most of an Atlantic crossing’s worth. And when your teen starts whining that there's nothing good on the seat back in front, you can hand over your tablet and buy yourself some peace. Enola Holmes Release Date September 23, 2020 Cast Millie Bobby Brown, Helena Bonham Carter, Sam Claflin, Fiona Shaw, Henry Cavill, Louis Partridge, Burn Gorman, Adeel Akhtar, Susie Wokoma Runtime 123 minutes Director Harry Bradbeer Writers Jack Thorne, Nancy Springer, Arthur Conan Doyle Sequel(s) Enola Holmes 2 Franchise(s) Sherlock Holmes Main Genre Adventure Budget 50 million Studio(s) Netflix Distributor(s) Netflix Memento A tattoo-riddled puzzle box to wake up your brain Christopher Nolan's breakout thriller Memento landed on Netflix on July 5, and it remains one of the director's best mind-bending puzzlers—I’ve seen it half a dozen times, and I’m still finding new things to chew on. Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce in a breakout role) can't form new memories from the time of his wife's traumatic murder, so he hunts her killer armed with sticky notes, Polaroids, tattoos, and a sordid story told in reverse, trying to find answers. Quiz 8 Questions · Test Your KnowledgeName that Christopher Nolan movieTrivia challenge From Gotham to the stars — can you match these iconic scenes, characters, and quotes to the right Nolan film? CharactersPlotQuotesDirectorsSci-Fi Begin Which Christopher Nolan film follows a man with short-term memory loss who uses Polaroid photos and tattoos to hunt for his wife's killer? AThe PrestigeBInsomniaCMementoDTenet Correct! Memento (2000) tells the story of Leonard Shelby, played by Guy Pearce, who suffers from anterograde amnesia. The film is famously told in reverse chronological order, mirroring Leonard's fragmented perception of reality. Not quite — the answer is Memento. Released in 2000, it stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a man who cannot form new memories. Nolan's bold choice to tell the story in reverse made it one of the most distinctive thrillers of its era. Continue In Batman Begins, which villain uses a fear-inducing toxin and wears a burlap mask throughout the film? AThe JokerBBaneCRa's al GhulDScarecrow Correct! Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka the Scarecrow, is played by Cillian Murphy in Batman Begins. His fear toxin, derived from a rare blue flower, is central to the League of Shadows' plot to destroy Gotham City. Not quite — the answer is Scarecrow. Cillian Murphy plays Dr. Jonathan Crane, a psychiatrist who weaponizes fear itself. While Ra's al Ghul is the film's true mastermind, the Scarecrow is the more visible mask-wearing villain on the streets of Gotham. Continue In The Dark Knight, the Joker says 'Why so serious?' — but which actor's portrayal of the Joker earned a posthumous Academy Award? AJoaquin PhoenixBHeath LedgerCJack NicholsonDJared Leto Correct! Heath Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), tragically awarded posthumously after his death in January 2008. His performance is widely considered one of the greatest villain portrayals in cinema history. Not quite — the answer is Heath Ledger. He delivered a haunting, transformative performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight and was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor posthumously. Joaquin Phoenix later won for a different Joker film in 2019, but Ledger's remains iconic. Continue In Inception, what is the name of the spinning top that Dom Cobb uses as his 'totem' to tell if he is in a dream? AThe GyroBThe DieCThe Poker ChipDThe Top Correct! Cobb's totem is a spinning top — in reality it falls over, but in a dream it spins indefinitely. The film's famously ambiguous final shot of the wobbling top has been debated by fans for years, leaving Cobb's true reality an open question. Not quite — Cobb's totem is simply called the top, or spinning top. Each character in the film has a unique totem to detect whether they're dreaming. The final shot of the film deliberately cuts before the top falls or keeps spinning, leaving audiences in beautiful uncertainty. Continue In Interstellar, which planet do the crew visit first, where one hour on its surface equals seven years on Earth due to time dilation? AEdmunds' planetBMiller's planetCMann's planetDSaturn's moon Titan Correct! Miller's planet orbits so close to the black hole Gargantua that extreme gravitational time dilation makes one hour there equal seven years back on Earth. The crew pays a devastating price for the brief time they spend on its wave-battered surface. Not quite — the answer is Miller's planet. Its proximity to the supermassive black hole Gargantua causes extreme time dilation. By the time Cooper and the crew return to the Endurance after just a few hours, decades have passed for those waiting aboard the ship. Continue Dunkirk depicts the real World War II evacuation of Allied soldiers in 1940. Approximately how many soldiers were rescued during the actual Operation Dynamo? A100,000B550,000C338,000D210,000 Correct! Operation Dynamo, carried out between May 26 and June 4, 1940, successfully evacuated approximately 338,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk. Nolan's film portrays the chaos and heroism of the rescue using a non-linear three-timeline structure. Not quite — around 338,000 soldiers were evacuated during Operation Dynamo. What made it remarkable was the involvement of hundreds of civilian 'little ships' that crossed the English Channel to help. Nolan's film captures that desperate, fragmented experience across land, sea, and air timelines. Continue In Tenet, the protagonist learns to manipulate objects moving backward in time through a process called what? AReversalBInversionCRetrogradeDEntropy shift Correct! In Tenet, 'inversion' is the process by which objects — and people — have their entropy reversed, causing them to move backward through time relative to everyone else. The concept underpins the entire plot and leads to some of the film's most mind-bending action sequences. Not quite — the process is called inversion. In Tenet, inverted objects and people experience time in reverse relative to the world around them. Nolan drew on real physics concepts like entropy and the second law of thermodynamics to craft the film's complex, looping narrative. Continue In Oppenheimer, which actor plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who led the Manhattan Project? AMatt DamonBCillian MurphyCTom HardyDJosh Hartnett Correct! Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 2023 biographical epic. His performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the film itself won Best Picture. Murphy had previously appeared in smaller roles in several earlier Nolan films. Not quite — Cillian Murphy plays Oppenheimer. It was a career-defining role for Murphy, earning him the Oscar for Best Actor at the 2024 Academy Awards. Matt Damon also appears in the film as General Leslie Groves, the military leader who oversaw the Manhattan Project. See My Score Challenge CompleteYour Score / 8 Thanks for playing! Try Again The Matrix co-stars Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano support, too, and you’re never quite sure if they’re allies of Leonard’s or enemies. Memento demands your full attention—which, conveniently, is the one thing you have in abundance for a long-haul. The 113-minute runtime is deceptive, and you'll spend an hour afterwards mentally reassembling the movie—and possibly just restarting it immediately. Memento Release Date October 11, 2000 Cast Carrie-Anne Moss, Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior, Russ Fega, Jorja Fox, Stephen Tobolowsky, Harriet Sansom Harris, Thomas Lennon, Callum Keith Rennie, Kimberly Campbell, Marianne Muellerleile, Larry Holden Runtime 113 minutes Director Christopher Nolan Writers Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan Producers Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd Budget $9 million Studio(s) Newmarket Films Distributor(s) Newmarket Films Executive Producer(s) Aaron Ryder Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack The kaiju classic you can watch guilt-free Here's the real long-haul secret—a flight is guilt-free alone time for the movies your family has collectively vetoed, amirite? Netflix just added a batch of Toho classics, including the incredible Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, but the crown jewel is Shusuke Kaneko's 2001 kaiju masterpiece, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. This dark standalone entry reimagines Godzilla not as a protector, but as a truly evil and angry monster possessed by the restless souls of Japan's dead war heroes. It also flips the script on stalwart bad guys Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Baragon (not mentioned in the title for length, apparently), turning them into the guardians. It's gorgeous, brilliantly cheesy in the best ways, but genuinely eerie, and features some of the best monster action in the franchise's 70-year history. Nobody in my house will watch it with me. Somewhere over the Atlantic, nobody has to. Cast Chiharu Niiyama, Ryudo Uzaki, Masahiro Kobayashi, Shirō Sano, Takashi Nishina, Kaho Minami, Shin'ya Ohwada, Kunio Murai, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Shingo Katsurayama, Toshikazu Fukawa, Ryo Kase, Koichi Ueda, Masahiko Tsugawa, Hideyo Amamoto, Ai Maeda, Aki Maeda, Koichi Yamadera, Mizuho Yoshida, Akira Ohashi, Rie Ôta, Toshinori Sasaki, Koichi Kawakita, Masaaki Tezuka, Hinako Saeki Runtime 105 minutes Director Shusuke Kaneko Writers Keiichi Hasegawa, Masahiro Yokotani, Shusuke Kaneko Producers Hideyuki Honma Main Genre Action Executive Producer(s) Shogo Tomiyama Is your seatbelt securely fastened? Five picks, 10 movies, one sane arrival at your destination. Just remember to download these before you're off the Wi-Fi, and check that the movies are there—licensing means not every title offers it. For more on what's worth watching, check out How-To Geek's streaming section. Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four Live TV No Price Starting at $8/month