Netflix’s Western American History Hit Quietly Dominates Streaming

3 weeks ago 16

Corey Castellano /© Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

Published Jan 31, 2026, 10:00 AM EST

Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

Bang in the middle of awards season and on the heels of four Academy Award nominations, Netflix's Train Dreams remains one of the most popular movies on streaming. The film recently competed at the Golden Globes, where lead actor Joel Edgerton was nominated for his performance. It won a Critics' Choice Award in the Best Cinematography category, where Adolpho Veloso beat out the likes of Sinners' Autumn Durald Arkapaw, F1's Claudio Miranda, and Frankenstein's Dan Laustsen. Based on a novella by Denis Johnson, Train Dreams follows eight decades in the life of a man named Robert Grainier, the kind of person on whose back America was built, but also the kind of person that America likes to ignore.

Directed by Clint Bentley, who co-wrote the movie with Greg Kwedar — they previously worked together on the acclaimed prison drama Sing Sing — the movie premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival. It was given a token Oscar-qualifying theatrical run by Netflix, where it debuted in November. Train Dreams earned critical acclaim and is now sitting at a "certified fresh" 95% critics' score and a 90% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, "A gorgeous meditation on America, ably shouldered by one of Joel Edgerton's very best performances, Train Dreams takes on mythic proportions while maintaining an intimate emotional delicacy." In his review, Collider's Ross Bonaime described it as "one of the most gorgeously powerful films of the year."

Which Oscars Is 'Train Dreams' Nominated For?

It's the ninth-most popular film on JustWatch currently, having peaked at number two and spent 71 days in the top 100. Train Dreams also features Felicity Jones and Kerry Condon, along with William H. Macy and Nathaniel Arcand in supporting roles. The movie was named among 2025's top 10 releases by both the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. With several nominations and wins under his belt already during this awards season, the film has also secured Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, and Best Sound.

You can watch the movie on Netflix, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.