There is a lot of great stuff coming to Netflix in March 2016, including Groundhog Day, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and the second season of Daredevil… but with the arrival of the new sadly also comes the removal of some of the old.
There is a great pack of movies that are going to be leaving Netflix in the month of March, and with the 1st coming up in less than a week, we recommend you start watching these titles as soon as you possibly can!
American Pie
Teenagers and twenty-somethings in the 1980s had Porky’s as the sex comedy of choice, but it’s Paul and Chris Weitz’s American Pie that is the title of choice in that arena for the youth in the following decade. There’s certainly a whole lot of stupid, but it also has quite a good deal of funny, as well as some shockingly iconic moments. Seriously: a dude fucking a pie is a chapter in pop culture history.
Night Catches Us (March 2nd)
A few months after The Hurt Locker was celebrating Oscar glory, Anthony Mackie was starring in another fantastic drama – though it didn’t quite get the same kind of attention as Kathryn Bigelow’s movie. Tanya Hamilton's Night Catches Us is a period film set in the 1970s that centers around the Black Panther movement and sins of the past when a young man returns home after the death of his father. This isn’t a movie that you’ll likely see in a lot of places, so take advantage of the opportunity to watch it while you can!
Wings
It seems like shockingly perfect timing that William A. Wellman’s Wings will be leaving Netflix on March 1st. After all, that’s the Tuesday after the 88th annual Academy Awards are held, and Wings just so happens to be the first film ever to win the Oscar for Best Picture (as well as Best Effects, Engineering Effects). It’s also pretty cool if you’re a Gary Cooper fan, as the movie basically helped launch his career.
The Monster Squad
In a few months, writer/director Shane Black will be back in full force with his 1970s-set dark comedy noir The Nice Guys, but while you wait you can enjoy his hilarious wit and impressive ability to write children characters by watching Fred Dekker’s Monster Squad. A Goonies-esque adventure movie that also includes all kinds of classic monsters, the film is both a great deal of fun and a nice whiff of nostalgia.
Side Effects (March 18th)
If you like your mystery stories with a good bit of pulp mixed into it, you should definitely give Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects a look. Admittedly the film starts off as one thing, and winds up another, but it’s a weird, twisty story with a good amount of surprises and a cool murder mystery. Like a lot of Soderbergh titles, the cast is absolutely stacked, featuring Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law, and Catherine Zeta-Jones at the center. It’s not only worth checking out for the first time, but a cool rewatch knowing how all the pieces fit together.
Cosmopolis (March 18th)
Writer/director David Cronenberg has a unique and recognizable vision unmatched in cinema history, and while Cosmopolis doesn’t exactly rank alongside Videodrome and Scanners, it’s still a fascinating and psychological bit of dark drama. The story of a young billionaire as he rides across New York to get a haircut, it’s a strange narrative, but a high-thinking and intelligent one.
Any time is a good time to sit down for one of Robin Williams’ great films, so the fact that Joe Johnston’s Jumanji will soon be leaving Netflix should just been seen as extra incentive for a scheduled screening. Admittedly not all of the effects have aged tremendously well, but it’s still a really fun and funny adventure film that makes for great family entertainment. That being said, the giant spiders are still seriously freaky.
Down and Out in Beverly Hills
If you're a fan of dark comedy, you should appreciate a film that starts with a drunk, suicidal homeless man who tries to drown himself in a pool and gets rescued by a pair of yuppies who take him under their wing. Paul Mazursky's Down and Out In Beverly Hills is led by three fantastic performances from Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, and Richard Dreyfus – and has cinematic historical significance as the first R-rated movie ever released by Walt Disney Pictures.
Not Another Teen Movie
This is actually a first for this monthly column: we not only have one great movie, but we have another great movie that in many ways functions as its direct parody. Joel Gallen's Not Another Teen Movie (not to be lumped in with the similarly-titled garbage from Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg) is most certainly dumb, but also honestly functions as a funny send up of '90s teen flicks. If anything, at this point it may at least tickle your nostalgia button.
Masters Of The Universe
Gary Goddard’s Masters Of The Universe admittedly doesn’t fit into too many categories of "great" – but that’s mostly because it’s only from certain angles that it’s greatness can be perceived. Rule Number One: Don’t take any part of it even remotely seriously. From there, you’re pretty much all good. This is a bizzaro fantasy trip full of Dolph Lundgren awesomeness and ridiculous fantasy. If you haven’t taken a vacation to Eternia in a bit, or have never been, now is the time to act.
