retro television

Another month gone and with it a whole bunch of movies that you will obviously never ever be able to watch again for as long as you live. Okay, so that’s a lie – in fact, many of the really big films that get taken off of Netflix any month appear back on the service again at some point. But if you’re keen to know what you should watch from May’s new batch of instant titles, then keep reading.

Leaving: Election (Leaving 05/01/2016) | Arriving: Bring It On (Arriving 05/01/2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg0UYb8U2Dg

From one wickedly-funny take on high school life to another. Alexander Payne’s Election starring Reese Witherspoon as a gung-ho student body president candidate gets the fair share of the critical praise, but the energetic and colorful cheerleading comedy Bring It On deserves it just as much. It’s funny and full of great performances from the likes of Kirsten Dunst, Gabrielle Union, and Eliza Dushku, as well as some iconic dance sequences – they’re sexy, they’re cute, they’re popular to boot! Bring It On is easily one of the best sports movies ever made. Yes, no joke.

Leaving: Clerks (Leaving 05/31/2016) | Arriving: She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (Arriving 05/02/2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6zT4mVVuc

Kevin Smith is a terrible filmmaker who lucked into a craze that catered towards his lazy writing skills. Intermittently amusing but obvious in its creator’s lack of interest in women, don’t shed a tear for Clerks leaving Netflix. Instead, take your time to watch Mary Dore’s superb documentary She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry and learn about the rise of the women’s movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. It’s a more worthwhile experience, certainly.

Leaving: Ida (Leaving 05/22/2016) | Arriving: Pleasantville (Arriving 05/01/2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ6QzkIwQu0

The excellent Oscar-winning Polish drama Ida about a nun on the verge of confirmation discovering that she is of Jewish descent and setting out to discover hidden family secrets from WWII is sadly leaving Netflix. But if you’re in the mood for something a little more lighthearted, but which also looks at family in an interesting way – and also in black and white, no less – then revisit Pleasantville. It holds its own remarkably well and is both sweet and truthful about the American experience post-WWII. The film is one of two Joan Allen movies making fresh appearances on Netflix, with the family drama Off the Map also streaming.

Leaving: Black Hawk Down (Leaving 05/25/2016) | Arriving: The Keeping Room (05/04/2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LCgZ9AzwaM

Much smaller than Black Hawk Down, Ridley Scott’s big-budget Africa-set war action film, is The Keeping Room. It follows three women who find their house besieged by two rogue soldiers in the dying days of the Civil War. So, yes, obviously of a much smaller scale, but with a unique power all of its own. It’s a story with a group of characters that audiences likely haven’t seen before, which is already enough to warrant a viewing. Stars Brit Marling and Muna Otaru are particularly good.

Leaving: Anna Karenina (Leaving 05/01/2016) | Arriving: Eisenstein in Guanajuato (Arriving 05/10/2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb364B6u1XE

Joe Wright’s visually-audacious adaptation of Anna Karenina is a feast for the eyes. It’s appropriate then that, as it leaves Netflix, it is replaced by Eisenstein in Guanajuato. Director Peter Greenaway is known for his extravagant productions — and this one is no different. Detailing the visit by famed wild-haired Russian silent film director Sergei Eisenstein to Mexico in the 1920s, Greenaway uses strange camera and editing techniques (there is one tracking shot that plays with audience perception in such a wonderfully tricky way) and sexual explicitness as the Russian discovers his homosexuality in, shall we say, very frank ways, to tell the story of a man caught at a crossroads of identity and creativity.

Leaving: Escape from Tomorrow (Leaving 05/27/2016) | Arriving: They Look Like People (Arriving: 05/10/2016) and We Are Still Here (05/15/2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrsUOmKlAzI

Two of the best horror films from last year are finally on Netflix, and if you’re a fan of being slowly freaked out, then you should definitely seek them out. Escape from Tomorrow, the psychological thriller of sorts that was infamously filmed undercover and incognito inside Disney World, sort of wastes its great gimmick. No such luck with They Look Like People, which slowly but surely sets about making the skin crawl. We Are Still Here, too, has a solid number of jump-scares amid its ghostly mystery.

Here’s the entire list of movies leaving Netflix in April:

Leaving May 1

  • The Animatrix (2003)
  • Anna Karenina (1948)
  • Author! Author! (1982)
  • Beware of Mr. Baker (2012)
  • Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
  • Broadway Idiot (2013)
  • Bus Stop (1956)
  • Election (1999)
  • The Good Life (2012)
  • Holiday Engagement (2011)
  • Kiss of Death (1995)
  • Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)
  • Mona Lisa Is Missing (2012)
  • Ralphie May: Austin-tatious (2008)
  • Terms And Conditions May Apply (2013)
  • That’s What I Am (2011)
  • Thérèse (2012)
  • Truth or Die (2012)
  • Young & Handsome: An Evening with Jeff Garlin (2008)

Leaving May 2

  • Slightly Single in L.A. (2012)

Leaving May 3

  • JFK: The Smoking Gun (2013)

Leaving May 4

  • Stealing Harvard (2002)

Leaving May 6

  • Finding Normal (2013)

Leaving May 7

  • JFK: A President Betrayed (2013)

Leaving May 9

  • Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (2012)
  • Tears of the Sun (2003)

Leaving May 10

  • The Score (2001)

Leaving May 12

  • The Ladykillers (2004)

Leaving May 13

  • Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? (2013)

Leaving May 14

  • The Master of Disguise (2002)
  • Offender (2012)

Leaving May 15

  • A Pope For Everyone (2013)
  • Bratz: BFF: Best Friends Forever (2007)
  • The Greatest Places: IMAX (1999)
  • In Her Skin (2009)
  • Inhale (2010)
  • The Quest: Season 1 (2014)
  • Search for the Great Sharks: IMAX (1995)
  • Tiger Eyes (2012)

Leaving May 16

  • Blade Runner: Theatrical Cut (1982)
  • The Last Tycoon (2012)

Leaving May 19

  • Peep World (2010)

Leaving May 21

  • Struck by Lightning (2012)

Leaving May 22

  • Ida (2013)
  • Stand Off (2012)

Leaving May 23

  • Black Hawk Down (2001)

Leaving May 27

  • Escape from Tomorrow (2013)
  • Run & Jump (2013)
  • Vanishing of the Bees (2009)

Leaving May 28

  • Barfi! (2012)

Leaving May 29

  • These Birds Walk (2013)

Leaving May 31

  • Clerks (1994)

Here’s the entire list of movies Arriving on Netflix this May.

Arriving May 1

  • A Study in Sherlock (2016)
  • Admiral (2015)
  • Ava’s Possessions (2015)
  • Bring It On (2000)
  • Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)
  • Easy Living: Seasons 1-3
  • El Crítico (2013)
  • FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue (1998)
  • Finger of God (2007)
  • Gary Gulman: It’s About Time (2016)
  • Great Expectations (1998)
  • I Am Road Comic (2014)
  • Jesus Town, USA (2014)
  • Just Friends (2005)
  • Kevin Hart Presents Keith Robinson: Back of The Bus Funny (2015)
  • Kevin Hart Presents Lil Rel: RELevent (2015)
  • Kevin Hart Presents: Plastic Cup Boyz (2015)
  • LoliRock: Season 1 (2014)
  • My Last Day Without You (2011)
  • The Nutty Professor (1996)
  • Off the Map (2013)
  • Palm Trees in the Snow (2015)
  • Pleasantville (1998)
  • Shark Lake (2015)
  • She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (2014)
  • Sixteen Candles (1984)
  • Sugar Coated (2015)
  • Terra (2015)
  • Things We Lost in the Fire (2007)
  • To Catch a Thief (1955)
  • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin’ Down a Dream (2007)
  • Who’s Driving Doug (2016)

Arriving May 2

  • The Replacements (2000)

Arriving May 3

  • Submerged (2015)

Arriving May 4

  • The Keeping Room (2015)
  • Shanghai Knights (2003)

Arriving May 5

  • Fourth Man Out (2015)
  • Marseille

Arriving May 6

  • Ali Wong: Baby Cobra
  • Baby Daddy, season 5
  • Grace and Frankie, season 2
  • Young & Hungry, season 3

Arriving May 8

  • The Chosen Ones (2015)

Arriving May 9

  • A Stand Up Guy (2015)

Arriving May 10

  • Eisenstein in Guanajuato (2015)

Arriving May 11

  • Chelsea
  • Goosebumps (2015)
  • They Look Like People (2015)

Arriving May 12

  • Bleeding Heart (2015)

Arriving May 15

  • We Are Still Here (2015)
  • Yo Soy la Salsa (2014)

Arriving May 17

  • American Dad: Season 10
  • Kindergarten Cop 2 (2016)
  • Slasher, season 1 (2016)

Arriving May 18

  • A Girl Like Her (2015)

Arriving May 19

  • Benders, season 1 (2015)

Arriving May 20

  • Lady Dynamite, season 1

Arriving May 22

  • David and Goliath (2015)
  • The Letters (2014)
  • The Ouija Experiment 2: Theatre of Death (2015)

Arriving May 23

  • Electricity (2014)

Arriving May 26

  • Graceland, season 3
  • The Last Man on the Moon (2016)

Arriving May 27

  • Bloodline, season 2
  • Chef’s Table, season 2, Part 1
  • The Do-Over (2016)
  • Mako Mermaids, season 4
  • Hell on Wheels, season 5
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