The end of the year brings the end of many licensing agreements for streaming services, and this month is no exception. We’ll see the departure of a mix of Oscar winners, comedy franchises, indie dramas and action extravaganzas from Netflix in the U.S. So load up your queues now, lest you miss your last chance at these gems. (Dates indicate the final day a title is available.)
The ubiquity and (especially as of late) mediocrity of the mainstream superhero movie is particularly galling when reflecting on the commercial indifference with which Julia Hart’s superhero story was received in 2018. Then again, Hart’s wise and wonderful screenplay (co-written with her husband, Jordan Horowitz, who also produces) doesn’t simply deploy the familiar beats and conflicts; this is a character-driven indie drama that just so happens to concern characters with superhuman powers, and that grapples with the real-world implications of their abilities. Lorraine Toussaint is mighty as the patriarch of the family at the story’s center; Gugu Mbatha-Raw is quietly excellent as her troubled daughter.
Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the novel by David Ebershoff was unsurprisingly controversial upon its 2015 release, dealing, as it does, with the true story of the Danish painter Lili Elbe, one of the first people known to have undergone sexual reassignment surgery. But Hooper’s adaptation was criticized for its historical inaccuracies and approach to the material, as well as for centering the narrative on Gerda Wegener, Elbe’s cisgender partner. Those claims are valid, but the film is still worth seeing, primarily for the achievements of its actors. Eddie Redmayne resists the urge to overplay as Elbe, while Alicia Vikander is extraordinary as Wegener; she won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for the role and deserved it.
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When the director Alfonso Cuarón landed the high-profile assignment of taking over the “Harry Potter” film franchise for its third entry, “The Prisoner of Azkaban, ” eyebrows raised across Hollywood — after all, at that point he was best known for helming the NC-17 erotic road trip drama “Y Tu Mamá También.” But the “Potter” gig made complete sense to those who’d seen his 1995 adaptation of this classic children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Taking understandable liberties with the source material, he weaves a tapestry of magic and pathos out of the story of Sara Crewe, who finds her life of privilege turned upside down when her father sends her to a girls’ boarding school.
Quick quiz: Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for the Oscar for best actor for “The Departed” (2006), right? Wrong. He was nominated that year, but it was for a different film: Edward Zwick’s sharp-edged action-drama, set during the Sierra Leone Civil War, starring DiCaprio as a smuggler and mercenary whose initial interest in the conflict is purely monetary. That changes, however, as he joins forces with a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou, also nominated for an Oscar) whose discovery of a giant diamond has put him in the sights of a local warlord. The narrative is predictable, sure. But DiCaprio, Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly, another co-star, are acting up a storm, and Zwick shows his usual adeptness at staging big action sequences.
It would be easy to dismiss this 2001 crime drama as “Goodfellas” Lite — it’s based on the true story of a cocaine kingpin, telling the thrilling story of his rise and fall in a jittery, hyperkinetic style, and features a stellar ensemble cast. But as Scorsese cosplay goes, it’s lively and entertaining. The director, the late Ted Demme (“The Ref”), knows when to turn up the heat and when to let it simmer; the screenplay (by the veteran scribes David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes) is detail-oriented and fascinating; and Johnny Depp turns in one of his best performances as George Jung, who made a fortune running drugs for Pablo Escobar. Ray Liotta even turns up as George’s father, an explicit “Goodfellas” shout-out that plays like a blessing on the project.
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Woody Allen’s last great movie, this 2013 comedy-drama won Cate Blanchett an Oscar for best actress, and Andrew Dice Clay the best reviews of his career as a bitter and estranged family member. Blanchett stars as Jasmine, once a rich socialite in New York City, whose husband (Alec Baldwin) fell from grace in a Bernie Madoff-style scandal; she finds herself living in San Francisco with her sister (the wonderful Sally Hawkins) and her working-class boyfriend (Bobby Cannavale, borderline feral). The echoes of “A Streetcar Named Desire” are unmistakable, and undoubtedly intentional; as he did with his Ingmar Bergman riffs, Allen is not just quoting an iconic work but putting his story and characters in conversation with it, and the results are both thoughtful and thrilling.
True to form, Stanley Kubrick’s final film — unveiled four months after his death in 1999 — confounded audiences and critics upon its release, only to grow in reputation and estimation in the ensuing years. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, then still real-life spouses, star as a wealthy Manhattan couple who find their seemingly idyllic marriage rocked by her confessions of desire for a passing stranger. Blind with jealousy, he journeys into the New York night, searching for an illicit affair but stumbling upon something far more insidious. Moody, odd and darkly funny, it boasts one of the greatest closing lines in all of cinema.
Barry Sonnenfeld’s original 1997 “Men in Black” remains one of the great popcorn movies — a witty, briskly-paced treat that manages to both send up big-budget, effects-heavy extravaganzas, and simultaneously work as one. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are a pitch-perfect matchup of wisecracking cool and stone-faced professionalism, an oddball buddy movie pairing for the books. Their 2002 follow-up can’t match the laughs or energy of the original, but it’s still a hoot, with Rosario Dawson a welcome addition to the cast. And the final installment, released a decade later, draws on a time-travel plot that primarily serves as a showcase for Josh Brolin’s flawless impression of his “No Country For Old Men” co-star Jones. But it’s such a delicious piece of mimicry, you don’t really mind.
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Chevy Chase was floundering badly in the movies — his early films, after leaving “Saturday Night Live” only one year into its run, included such undistinguished efforts as “Modern Problems, ” “Under the Rainbow” and “Oh! Heavenly Dog” — when he finally landed his ideal film role. Working from a screenplay by the up-and-coming screenwriter John Hughes (with uncredited contributions by Chase and the director Harold Ramis), the actor was terrific as Clark Griswold, a Chicago suburb-dweller who only wants the perfect cross-country vacation for himself and his family. The film was so successful that Chase (and co-star Beverly D’Angelo) came back three years later to escort his brood across Europe, with similarly silly results.
Kathryn Bigelow was still an all-but-unknown genre filmmaker, and Keanu Reeves was still best known for playing Ted in the “Bill & Ted” movies, when they teamed up with Patrick Swayze — then hot off his starring role in the surprise hit “Ghost” — for this tense action drama. The screenplay by W. Peter Iliff (with uncredited rewrites by Bigelow and her then-husband, James Cameron) wasn’t the freshest of stuff, even in 1991: an FBI agent (Reeves) goes undercover in a group of surfer bank robbers and finds himself in too deep with the group’s charismatic leader (Swayze). But Bigelow’s energetic direction keeps things moving at such a hearty clip, the familiarity barely matters; her action beats are furiously paced, her female gaze gives welcome dimension to the testosterone-heavy proceedings and the central dynamic is wonderfully thorny.Netflix has delivered the summer's first official sleeper hit with its romantic comedy starring Glenn Powell (on the fast track to becoming the next great Internet boyfriend) and Zoey Deutch (our generation's Meg Ryan) as two assistants whose exhaustion and desperation for social lives lead them to set up their high-powered and demanding bosses, played with glee by Taye Diggs and Lucy Liu.
Is one of the best rom-coms to be made in the last decade, equal parts love letter to and send-up of the often-overlooked and underrated genre. Soon after hitting play on the movie, it's clear two women were responsible for its relatable, realistic and hilarious relationships and characters: Writer Katie Silberman and director Claire Scanlon.
Review: Netflix's The Harder They Fall, With Idris Elba
, among others, hopped on the phone with E! News to discuss the movie's major casting changes in its move from MGM to Netflix, as well as break down some of
The initial idea for the premise—two assistants attempting to set up their bosses—actually came from the film's producer Juliet Berman's real-life attempt to Parent Trap her boss for her own romantic gain.
She had a crush on a fellow assistant, and I do not think it was reciprocated, but just for fun they were like, 'Hey, why don't we try to set up our bosses?' Scanlon explained. They got them to the same restaurant twice, nothing happened. She then told Silberman about the experience, and the rest is modern rom-com history.
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The movie was originally set to be made by MGM, with the Mother of Dragons as
Chevy Chase was floundering badly in the movies — his early films, after leaving “Saturday Night Live” only one year into its run, included such undistinguished efforts as “Modern Problems, ” “Under the Rainbow” and “Oh! Heavenly Dog” — when he finally landed his ideal film role. Working from a screenplay by the up-and-coming screenwriter John Hughes (with uncredited contributions by Chase and the director Harold Ramis), the actor was terrific as Clark Griswold, a Chicago suburb-dweller who only wants the perfect cross-country vacation for himself and his family. The film was so successful that Chase (and co-star Beverly D’Angelo) came back three years later to escort his brood across Europe, with similarly silly results.
Kathryn Bigelow was still an all-but-unknown genre filmmaker, and Keanu Reeves was still best known for playing Ted in the “Bill & Ted” movies, when they teamed up with Patrick Swayze — then hot off his starring role in the surprise hit “Ghost” — for this tense action drama. The screenplay by W. Peter Iliff (with uncredited rewrites by Bigelow and her then-husband, James Cameron) wasn’t the freshest of stuff, even in 1991: an FBI agent (Reeves) goes undercover in a group of surfer bank robbers and finds himself in too deep with the group’s charismatic leader (Swayze). But Bigelow’s energetic direction keeps things moving at such a hearty clip, the familiarity barely matters; her action beats are furiously paced, her female gaze gives welcome dimension to the testosterone-heavy proceedings and the central dynamic is wonderfully thorny.Netflix has delivered the summer's first official sleeper hit with its romantic comedy starring Glenn Powell (on the fast track to becoming the next great Internet boyfriend) and Zoey Deutch (our generation's Meg Ryan) as two assistants whose exhaustion and desperation for social lives lead them to set up their high-powered and demanding bosses, played with glee by Taye Diggs and Lucy Liu.
Is one of the best rom-coms to be made in the last decade, equal parts love letter to and send-up of the often-overlooked and underrated genre. Soon after hitting play on the movie, it's clear two women were responsible for its relatable, realistic and hilarious relationships and characters: Writer Katie Silberman and director Claire Scanlon.
Review: Netflix's The Harder They Fall, With Idris Elba
, among others, hopped on the phone with E! News to discuss the movie's major casting changes in its move from MGM to Netflix, as well as break down some of
The initial idea for the premise—two assistants attempting to set up their bosses—actually came from the film's producer Juliet Berman's real-life attempt to Parent Trap her boss for her own romantic gain.
She had a crush on a fellow assistant, and I do not think it was reciprocated, but just for fun they were like, 'Hey, why don't we try to set up our bosses?' Scanlon explained. They got them to the same restaurant twice, nothing happened. She then told Silberman about the experience, and the rest is modern rom-com history.
Israel Slams Netflix Movie Scene Of 1948 Palestinian Family Murder
The movie was originally set to be made by MGM, with the Mother of Dragons as
