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The Case for Apple TV+ Films
Apple TV+ has the smallest catalogue of any major streaming service — and some of the highest average quality. Apple doesn't do volume. Since launching in 2019, the service has focused on acquiring or producing a small number of ambitious films, often with major directors and significant budgets. The result is a catalogue where almost everything is worth considering, but discovery is still a challenge because there's little editorial context to help you choose.
The roulette approach works particularly well for Apple TV+ precisely because the catalogue is small enough that randomness is almost always productive. You're not gambling on quality — you're choosing between things that are genuinely, verifiably good.
What Apple TV+ films are like
Apple targets a specific type of prestige cinema: original stories, A-list talent, cinematic production values, and subject matter that wouldn't typically get greenlit at a traditional studio. Films like CODA (2021 Best Picture winner), Killers of the Flower Moon, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Wolfwalkers, and Greyhound represent the range — from awards-facing drama to action to animation.
Getting the most from Apple TV+
- Original films only: Unlike Netflix or Max, almost everything on Apple TV+ is an original — there's no licensed back-catalogue, so every film was made specifically for this service
- Awards-track cinema: Apple actively pursues Best Picture contenders — CODA won in 2022, and the service regularly earns nominations across major awards
- Documentary: Apple TV+ has a strong and underappreciated documentary slate — the roulette with Documentary selected surfaces these
- Animation: Wolfwalkers and the Cartoon Saloon films represent some of the finest hand-drawn animation of the past decade
Because Apple TV+'s catalogue is original-only, it doesn't rotate or change the way licensed catalogues do. Once a film is on Apple TV+, it tends to stay. This makes the quality floor unusually consistent — Apple doesn't keep low-rated filler the way larger platforms do.
What Apple TV+ gets right that volume-first platforms miss
Apple TV+ launched in 2019 with a catalogue that could be counted in dozens of titles. That was deliberate. Apple chose not to license a back-catalogue and instead build from original productions only. The bet was that quality would beat quantity if the quality was genuinely high. Four years later, the evidence is compelling: Apple TV+ films have won multiple Academy Awards (CODA won Best Picture in 2022), earned consistent critical recognition, and been reviewed more favourably on average than the originals from any other major streaming service.
The drawback is also clear: if you want to browse a broad catalogue of licensed classics, Apple TV+ isn't the right platform. If you want to watch a small number of films that have been selected specifically because they were worth making, it's hard to find a better ratio. For films, Apple has released works by Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), Sofia Coppola (On the Rocks), David Gordon Green, and Werner Herzog, among others.
The Apple TV+ philosophy and what it means for your watch list
Apple evaluates projects on creative merit first, commercial calculation second — or at least, that's the consistent claim from creative partners who've worked with the service. The resulting catalogue skews toward prestige drama, challenging narrative, and filmmakers given genuine creative control. This makes it excellent for people who are tired of safe, algorithmic content but challenging to browse if you're in the mood for something lightweight or genre-conventional. The roulette is particularly useful here: there are only so many Apple TV+ films, and spinning through them is genuinely productive rather than overwhelming.
How to use Movie Roulette for Apple TV+
Select Apple TV+ in Power Filters. Given the catalogue's size, genre filters matter less here than on larger platforms — Drama and Thriller return the strongest results, but there's limited breadth in Action or Comedy. The No Bad Movies filter is less necessary on Apple TV+ because the baseline quality is higher than average — you're unlikely to spin a critically panned result. Instead, try spinning without rating filters and sampling a broader range. The runtime filter is useful: Apple TV+ has produced a number of short-runtime prestige films (under 100 minutes) that are excellent for weeknight watching.