Another month, another glut of Netflix titles being sent out to pasture and replaced by newer, shinier Netflix titles. And while I am sure you are going to dearly miss Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman – all jokes aside, is anybody else actually quite curious about that one? – there are some great movies worth the effort to seek out.
Leaving: Le Week-End (Leaving 3/6/2016) | Arriving: Hateship Loveship (Arriving 3/10/2016)
This British drama about an older married couple’s rapidly-deteriorating relationship, which takes place over a weekend sojourn to Paris, is a real gem and features great performances by Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan (she was the sour theatre critic in Birdman). While not as good as that one, Hateship Loveship is a gentle drama about a quiet, insular woman played by Kristen Wiig (one of the many arthouse detours she has made of late in her career) who comes to believe her employer is infatuated with her.
Leaving: Hitch (Leaving 3/1/2016) | Arriving: Groundhog Day (3/1/2016)
Ditch the Hitch! The far superior Groundhog Day is replacing the romantically and comedically challenged Hitch on the instant watch system, and we should all be thankful. That 2005 rom-com was a big hit thanks to Will Smith and (inexplicably) Kevin James’ star-power, but flatlined due to its datedness and improbability – like most Kevin James properties. Honestly, no woman as attractive as Amber Valetta would be with somebody as idiotic and as shlubby as a Kevin James character, unless they were as rich as Kevin James in real life. Groundhog Day, however, remains a wonderful film that is both funny and romantic and features a great performance by Bill Murray at its core. You’ve no doubt already seen it, but repetition is a theme, after all.
Leaving: Down and Out in Beverly Hills (Leaving 3/1/2016) | Arriving: Pee-wee’s Big Holiday (Arriving 3/18/2016)
March the 18th is a big day on Netflix, what with the premieres of both Daredevil Season 2 and the arguably-even-more-exciting Pee-wee’s Big Holiday. This sequel to the previous films starring Paul Reubens’ Pee-wee Herman character looks to be a much-needed slice of weird, irreverent comedy, somewhat alleviating the disappointment of losing the extremely funny Down and Out in Beverly Hills with Richard Dreyfus, Bette Midler, and Nick Nolte in the process.
Leaving: Waste Land (Leaving 3/15/2016) | Arriving: Finders Keepers (Arriving 3/15/2016)
The expression “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” gets a whole new meaning in the Oscar-nominated Waste Land and then subverted once more in the absurdly-ridiculous Finders Keepers. Lucy Walker’s Waste Land documents the efforts of artist Vik Muniz to turn the landfills of Rio de Janeiro – and the struggles of the locals who populate it, searching for items that can be sold for much-needed cash – into large-scale art. In its place will be Finders Keepers, a documentary about a man who purchased a barbecue grill at the auction of a storage facility whose owner hadn’t kept up with his payments, only to discover a human foot inside. Naturally, he turned it into a tourist attraction and enjoyed tons of success and fame. That is until the foot’s original, er, owner decides to get it back. It’s as bizarre as it sounds.
Leaving: Keep the Lights On (Leaving 3/23/2016) | Arriving: Heaven Knows What (Arriving 3/1/2016)
Drug addiction is a bitch, and in the movies it usually comes together with tragic romance. In Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On, a burgeoning relationship is tested by the well-kept secret of one half’s addiction. Compared to the Safdie Brothers’ Heaven Knows What, Keep the Lights On is a sunny walk in the park. Almost unbearably soul-crushing, this 2015 film is a technically-flawless look at the spiraling disaster that is a love affair between two heroin addicts, Harley and Ilya. A grim experience for sure, it finds added weight thanks to the central performance of Arielle Holmes, whom the directors asked to write a book about her experiences, which was then adapted into the final product. She stars as herself and is terrific. This arthouse indie is worth the effort if you can get past the sadness and the suffering and ignore that the lead actor looks an awful lot like Tommy Wiseau from The Room.
Leaving: Masters of the Universe (3/1/2016) | Arriving: Scarface (Arriving 3/1/2016)
Because why not trade off one bro classic for another? Besides, it’s never too late to remember how great Michelle Pfeiffer is.
Here’s the entire list of movies leaving Netflix in February:
Leaving 03/01/16
“Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman” (2000)
“American Pie” (1999)
“American Wedding” (2003)
“Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (2001)
“The Babysitters” (2007)
“The Chosen One” (2010)
“Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (1986)
“Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights” (1992)
“Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000)
“Hackers” (1995)
“Hamlet” (1990)
“Hannie Caulder” (1971)
“Hardball” (2001)
“Hart’s War” (2002)
“Hitch” (2005)
“Indecent Proposal” (1993)
“Johnny Dangerously” (1984)
“Jumanji” (1995)
“Masters of the Universe” (1987)
“Men in Black II” (2002)
“The Monster Squad” (1987)
“Not Another Teen Movie” (2001)
“Paycheck” (2003)
“Switchmas” (2013)
“The United States of Leland” (2003)
“Wings” (1927)
Leaving 03/02/16
“Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams” (2013)
Leaving 03/03/16
“Night Catches Us” (2010)
Leaving 03/04/16
“Getting Go: The Go Doc Project” (2013)
“Private Romeo” (2011)
Leaving 03/05/16
“I Am Divine” (2013)
Leaving 03/06/16
“Le Week-End” (2013)
“Refuge” (2012)
Leaving 03/07/16
“Deadfall” (2012)
Leaving 03/08/16
“Holidaze” (2013)
Leaving 03/09/16
“Arn: The Knight Templar” (2007)
“The Mistle-tones!” (2012)
Leaving 03/11/16
“Geography Club” (2013)
Leaving 03/15/16
“I Killed My Mother” (2009)
“Lola & Virginia”: Season 1
TED Talks: Season 1
“Waste Land” (2010)
Leaving 03/17/16
“Elegy” (2008)
Leaving 03/18/16
“Cosmopolis” (2012)
“Music For Mandela” (2013)
“Out in the Dark” (2012)
“Side Effects” (2013)
Leaving 03/23/16
“Keep the Lights On” (2012)
Leaving 03/26/16
“The Comedy” (2012)
Leaving 03/28/16
“Gayby” (2012)
Leaving 03/31/16
“Dr. Dolittle 3” (2006)
“Garfield’s Pet Force” (2009)
“The Sandlot 2” (2005)
“Twelve Mile Road” (2003)
“Women Who Kill” (2012)
“The Writers’ Room”: Season 1
Here’s the entire list of movies arriving on Netflix in March:
Available 03/01/16
“Adult Beginners” (2015)
“Ahora o Nunca” (2015)
“Aldnoah.Zero: Season 2
“American Pie Presents: Beta House” (2007)
“American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile” (2006)
“Before We Go” (2015)
“Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland” (2016)
“El Desconocido” (2015)
“Fresh Meat: Series 2 “Frog Kingdom” (2013)
“Good Burger” (1997)
“Groundhog Day” (1993)
“Heaven Knows What” (2015)
“Hot Sugar’s Cold World” (2015)
“Midsomer Murders: Series 17
“Narcopolis” (2015)
“Road Trip: Beer Pong” (2009)
“Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991)
“Scarface” (1983)
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979)
“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982)
“The Young Kieslowski” (2014)
Available 03/02/16
“For Grace” (2015)
Available 03/04/16
“House of Cards”: Season 4 (2016) – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Lab Rats”: Season 4
“Lego Friends: The Power of Friendship” (2016) – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Lego: Bionicle: The Journey to One”: Season 1 (2016) – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Louie”: Season 5
Available 03/07/16
“Cuckoo”: Seasons 1-2 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Halo: The Fall of Reach “Sin Filtro” (2016)
Available 03/08/16
“Digimon Fusion: Season 2
Available 03/09/16
“The Returned”: Season 1
Available 03/10/16
“Comedy Bang! Bang!”: Season 4, part 3
“Hateship Loveship” (2013)
Available 03/11/16
“Dinotrux”: Season 2 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Flaked”: Season 1 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Netflix Presents: The Characters”: Season 1
“Popples”: Season 2 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Available 03/12/16
“Shelter” (2015)
Available 03/15/16
“10,000 Saints” (2015)
“4GOT10” (2015)
“The Falling” (2015)
“Final Girl” (2015)
“Finders Keepers” (2015)
“Power Rangers Dino Charge: Season 1, part 2
“War Pigs” (2015)
Available 03/16/16
“Are You Here” (2014)
“Charlie St. Cloud” (2010)
“Gridiron Gang” (2006)
“Happy Valley”: Season 2 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Larry Crowne” (2011)
“Promised Land” (2012)
Available 03/18/16
“He Never Died” (2015)
“Jimmy Carr: Funny Business” (2016) – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Marvel’s Daredevil”: Season 2 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show”: Season 2 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“My Beautiful Broken Brain” (2016) – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Pee-wee’s Big Holiday” (2016) – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Available 03/22/16
“The Art of Organized Noize” (2016)
“The Ouija Experiment 2: Theatre of Death” (2015)
Available 03/24/16
“The Forbidden Kingdom” (2008)
“A Promise” (2013)
Available 03/25/16
“Trailer Park Boys”: Season 10 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
“Veggietales in the House”: Season 3 – NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Available 03/31/16
“Bachelor Party 2: The Last Temptation” (2007)
“Fright Night 2” (2013)
“Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders” (2015)
“Sunshine Superman” (2015)
“Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time” (2011)
“Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal”: Seasons 1-2
