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Tom's Guide
5 best Netflix movies to watch right now before they leave this month
By Rory Mellon,
14 hours ago
Netflix adds plenty of excellent new movies every single month, and the slate for August 2024 has been an impressive one. However, these fresh additions come at the cost of some old favorites, and sadly that means we’re about to wave goodbye to a couple dozen movies.
The collection of movies leaving Netflix in just a matter of days is especially brutal this time as the popular streaming service is losing a modern-classic coming-of-age comedy, a superhero adventure that pathed the way for the genre's cinematic dominance and a well-crafted mystery thriller with a seriously shocking ending. All of these movies deserved to be on the list of the best Netflix movies , but very soon they’ll be moving on entirely.
Fortunately, you’ve still got a little time left to enjoy them, so here are the five Netflix movies you need to watch right now before they are removed from the streaming service.
‘The Edge of Seventeen’ (2016)
Considering I was a twentysomething when “The Edge of Seventeen” was released in 2016, it’s perhaps a little surprising a flick about high schoolers resonated so strongly with me. Then again, an awkward and cringe-filled adolescent is a fairly universal experience, and this coming-of-age comedy will strike a chord with you too if you ever made a fool of yourself growing up (and trust me, making a fool out of myself was my special skill at school).
Hailee Steinfeld leads as a very socially inept 17-year-old junior named Nadine. Her only goal in life is to get through high school unscaled and avoid the dazzling light emitted by her uber-popular brother, Darian (Blake Jenner). But when Darian begins dating Nadine’s best friend (Haley Lu Richardson), her high school experience goes from bad to nightmarish. Watch out for a great supporting turn from Woody Harrelson as a sarcastic teacher with some very funny lines.
If you were rating a movie purely based on the collective star power of its core cast then “American Hustle” would earn top marks. This David O. Russell crime drama stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jermy Renner. Of course, just throwing a bunch of well-known actors onto a set together does not guarantee a good movie, so it’s fortunate that “American Hustle” has the sharp screenplay to match its acting talent.
Based on a string of FBI sting operations from the 1970s and 1980s, “American Hustle” tells a darkly comedic tale about two con artists, Irving Rosenfield (Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Adams), who are forced by a cocky FBI agent Richie DiMasso (Cooper) to join an undercover scheme to bring down the mayor of New Jersey, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner). The plan is sketchy enough without Irving’s erratic wife (Jennifer Lawrence) also threatening to bring the entire house of cards down herself out of jealousy.
The Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) have one of the most impressive filmographies in Hollywood history. While their best movie is probably a three-way contest between “Fargo”, “The Big Lebowski” and “No County for Old Men”, if we’re talking about the most overlooked Coen brothers flick, then I would pick “Burn After Reading” every single time. This satirical comedy movie packs a star-studded cast and with a wonderfully sharp sense of humor.
The movie hinges on a farcical misunderstanding when a pair of dimwitted gym employees (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt) discover a CD (remember those?) containing the memoirs of a former CIA analyst (John Malkovich). The pair think they’ve just stumbled upon a dossier of highly classified government information and attempt to use these details to get-rich-quick via blackmail. Also featuring George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and J.K. Simmons, “Burn After Reading” is a zippy comedy that packs just enough punch to keep you engaged till the end.
Director Sam Riami’s entire “Spider-Man” trilogy is being removed from Netflix this month (as are the two fun-but-flawed “Amazing Spider-Man” movies), but to avoid this list being dominated by the webhead I’ve limited myself to just a single Spidey pick. Naturally, 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” was my immediate choice. Not only does this high-flying superhero movie celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, but it remains one of the best efforts in the entire genre even compared to the latest and greatest.
This middle chapter of the trilogy sees Tobey Maguire once again playing Peter Parker, and this time the friendly-neighbour hero is facing his toughest foes yet, Dr. Otto Ocatvius (Alfred Molina). This scientist has been warped into the villainous Dr. Octopus after an experiment goes wrong. It’s now up to the wallcrawler to save the day, while also trying to balance his civilian life and deal with his love interest, MJ Watson (Kirsten Dunst), getting engaged to another man.
Joel Edgerton writes, directs and stars in this seriously compelling psychological thriller. “The Gift” isn’t just remarkable because of its shocking final act, but also because of the seriously foreboding sense of dread that it slowly builds up pretty much right from the start. Even during scenes that shouldn’t feel unnerving, there’s always the sense that something isn’t quite right, and when you do get to the big twist right at the very end, you’ll feel your whole stomach drop.
A cautionary tale that reminds viewers that your past will always catch up with you, Simon (Jason Bateman) looks to have everything figured out in life. He’s got a beautiful wife, Robyn (Rebecca Hall), has just moved into a swanky home in an affluent Los Angeles suburb and is on track for a big promotion at work. However, when an old acquaintance from school, Gordo (Edgerton), reappears in Simon’s life, everything changes and long-burried secrets come to light.
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