Dunkirk, Kingsman, Lego Ninjago are great streaming

YOU don’t have to actually go to the cinema to see a good movie this summer. There are some awesome films you can stream instead.

holiday films

This is how it goes: you’re stuffed full of left-over Christmas cake and have run out of things to say. How about a family movie? Great idea.

But then the quest for that perfectly entertaining crowd-pleaser starts. First, you scroll through thrillers, then critically-acclaimed dramas, then the Christmas pop-up channel. So many options. How wonderful. You select one, read the synopsis, but it’s quickly rejected for being too intense. How about comedy then? Trying to find that perfect movie quickly becomes the toughest decision of your life. You scroll through the titles at a slightly crazed paced, eyes barely registering each title. The general consensus of the room finally approves something. The IMDB rating is pretty good. Hang on — better check Rotten Tomatoes, your snobby uncle says. Only rated “fresh”. Better go back to square one.

We’ve all been there. There's just too much to select from these days. To help you beat the tyranny of choice these summer holidays, we’ve listed the best movies for whatever situation you're in.

ACTION BLOCKBUSTERS

DUNKIRK (M)

Heralded as 2017’s great war movie, Dunkirk is Christopher Nolan’s sweeping story of suffering and survival. Shot on a large-format film, the movie is epic in every way: a visual masterpiece paired with Hans Zimmer’s devastating score. It boasts the elaborate and impressive effects you expect from a blockbuster, but with melancholic, hauntingly beautiful scenes reminiscent of an independent film.

KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE (MA15+)

While not as fresh as its predecessor, The Golden Circle is nonetheless as goofy, over-the-top and silly as you’d expect. Don’t expect the basic rules of physics to apply within this movie. Taron Egerton returns as Eggsy, as the newest recruit of the James Bond-esque secret spy agency Kingsman. With the help of his mentor, Galahad (Colin Firth), Eggsy is on a quest to thwart evil madwoman/ drug dealer/ villain called Poppy, played by the talented Julianne Moore. For people who like a good action movie, director Matthew Vaughn delivers a number of dizzily choreographed fight scenes. It’s a fun movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

AMERICAN MADE (MA15+)

Winning you over with genuinely funny moments, this swaggering, stranger-than-fiction dark comedy celebrates the story of a pilot who wound up embroiled in a drug smuggling operation for the Medellín cartel, and later an informant for the FBI. Tom Cruise shines in his role as the lovable rogue and makes soaring around in planes loaded with contraband seem like a lot of fun. American Made maintains the feverish energy of other true account films like War Dogs and The Big Short.

BEST FOR KEEPING THE KIDS QUIET...

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE (G)

Very rarely are kids movies genuinely likeable and entertaining. Based on the unashamedly lowbrow popular books, Captain Underpants tracks the friendship of George (voiced by Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch) who connect over their passion for their comic book and their hatred for school principal Mr Krupp (Ed Helms) and science teacher Mr Poopypants (Nick Kroll). It’s a silly adventure with enough fart jokes to reduce an eight-year-old boy to tears.

THE EMOJI MOVIE (G)

This movie was mercifully slaughtered by reviewers and universally panned by critics. It’s a terrible movie. But sometimes the most idiotic stories are the ones kids love. The Emoji Movie makes this list, joining films such as Grown Ups and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul. While you cringe at the goofy lines and blatant product placement, kids will lap up every poo joke and nauseatingly technicolour animation.

THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE (PG)

Capitalising on the hugely popular line of Ninjago Lego, this Asian-flavoured instalment of the Lego series sees a team of animated lego “ninjas” on a quest to defend Ninjago City from the evil Lord Garmadon. Even though it's the third edition of the Lego film franchise, the kids won’t find the formula wearing thin, just yet. It’s very silly and a lot of fun.

WHAT TO WATCH WITH MUM…

VICTORIA & ABDUL (PG)

“I am cantankerous, greedy, but I am anything but insane!” Judi Dench shines as she plays a particularly cranky Queen Victoria. The plot revolves around the scandal of her relationship with her handsome, young Indian manservant Abdul Karim. Reminiscent of watching the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, Victoria & Abdul explores the prejudice, cultural tension, power, and religious ideology that went hand in hand with this fussy class system. It’s period-porn at its best.

THE GLASS CASTLE (M)

Sometimes we just want to watch a movie as an excuse to have a good cry. The Glass Castle is based on a 2005 memoir by Jeannette Walls, an American gossip columnist whose childhood was marked by episodes of trauma at the hands of an alcoholic, bipolar dad. The film is heavy with sentimentality as it charts the family’s nomadic life across picturesque swaths of America as they keep one step ahead of the debt collectors. Keep your tissues handy.

CREEPY MOVIES TO GIVE YOU NIGHTMARES

IT (MA15+)

This enthusiastically ghoulish adaptation to Stephen King’s novel sees a gang of ordinary kids hunt down Pennywise, a shape-shifting killer clown. There are plenty of jumpscares thrown your way to keep you on your toes, although perhaps not super scary for die-hard horror fans.

47 METRES DOWN (M)

Mandy Moore resurfaces to the screen in this Jaws-esque thriller, when two sisters find themselves stuck in a cage in the middle of the shark-infested ocean. For a B-movie, the rapid pace keeps the drama tense and the CGI-rendered sharks are surprisingly convincing. A good summer movie to watch before heading to the beach.