Netflix Update: What's Leaving Us in December 2014

In which I report on the upcoming changes to Netflix.

November's changes to Netflix was like having a crisis of faith.  So many fantastic movies were leaving, precious few of interest were being added.  One disgruntled subscriber that I spoke to declared it as the final straw, pulling the plug on Netflix for increasingly diminishing returns.  Several others, although they continued to pay for the monthly streaming services, expressed a growing concern that it was more and more frequently just not worth what they were paying into it. 

Although December is not a complete reversal of this trend of diminishing returns, it does go a long way to solve the issue.  There are a few noteworthy titles leaving at the end of the month, but they are generally ones that I can live without: either because I already own them or because, while I appreciate and enjoy them immensely, I'm not especially drawn to watch it all that frequently.  A few, admittedly, I haven't seen, but nothing that is so critically important that I feel compelled to have a frantic, last-minute marathon to catch them during the holidays.

Among the few that I intend to watch before it's no longer streamable is Imagining Argentina: a historical drama set in the last days of Argentina's brutal dictatorship that lasted from 1976 to 1983.  It details the brutal tactics that the state utilized against its own people - including torture, rape and the silent abduction over over 30,000 men, women and children.  It's one that Becky nominated for a Date Night installment, which is why I am sure that it will make it in under the wire.

The only other film that I am compulsively drawn toward is Chaplin, a biopic of silent filmmaker Charlie Chaplin starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role.  I saw most of it when I was in high school - and really enjoyed it - although I never quite got around to finishing it.  In fact, before looking up what films were leaving Netflix, I didn't even realize that it was streamable!  It details the early days of film - when the medium was still struggling for critical acceptance - with historical accuracy and critical insight.

The Untouchables, Brian DePalma's 1987 crime drama, famously took a number of visual cues from Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potempkin.  That, plus just looking like an incredibly good film on its face, is more than enough reason for me to shoehorn it into my viewing schedule.

Oh, and Robocop 2, because why not?

Another notable departure in December is The King's Speech, a historical drama chronicling King George VI's struggle with public speaking that won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Picture.  The Stuff is equal parts social satire and legitimate horror, working despite the ridiculousness of its premise.  Event Horizon is a terrible, terrible sci-fi horror film that I only watched because of Jim Sterling's Movie Defense Force, yet one with a fairly interesting premise that might appeal to the more macabre Netflix subscribers.  First Knight is a solidly entertaining take on the King Arthur mythos starring Sean Connery and Richard Gear that certainly warrants a look if you haven't seen it already.

Mission: Impossible III - in which Tom Cruise squares off against the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman - is easily the best of its series and one of the more viscerally exciting action films to come out in recent years that doesn't involve superheroes.  Mr. Mom is an infinitely rewatchable comedy starring a recently unemployed Michael Keaton who is forced to be a stay at home dad while his wife's new advertising career takes off.  And School Ties is a drama in which Brendan Fraiser is discriminated against while attending a private prep school because he is Jewish (this was back when it looked like he was going to be a "respectable" actor).

The full list of titles that are leaving us is posted below.  What are you especially sad to see leaving us in the next couple of days?  What, if anything, are you planning on watching?  Share your thoughts in the comment section at the bottom.

November 26
The King's Speech

November 30
Black Moon Rising
The Boys Next Door
C.H.U.D.
Helvetica
House
House II
The Philadelphia Experiment
Transylvania 6-5000
The Stuff

December 1
1941
The Apostle
Audrey Rose
The Believers
Better than Chocolate
Blood & Chocolate
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Chaplin
The Choirboys
The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County
Coffee and Cigarettes
The Cold Light of Day
The Constant Gardener
Count Yorga, Vampire
Cry-Baby
Dirty Dancing
Double Indemnity
En la Cama
Event Horizon
Eye for an Eye
Fairy Tale: A True Story
First Knight
Five Easy Pieces
Foreign Student
Free Men
Funny Lady
The Ghost and Mrs Muir
The Girl from Petrovka
Going Berserk
The Great Waldo Pepper
House of Voices
How to Frame a Figg
I'm Not Rappaport
Imagining Argentina
Invaders from Mars
Ishtar
Joe Gould's Secret
Joe Kidd
Johnny Mnemonic
Killer at Large
King of the Hill
Lonely Hearts
Magic Trip
Magicians
Mission Impossible III
Minnie and Moskowitz
Monkey Shines
Mr. Mom
'night Mother
Night of the Creeps
An Officer and a Gentleman
Opal Dream
The Other Side of the Mountain
The Other Side of the Mountain, Part 2
Our City Dreams
The Paper Chase
Paradise Alley
The Parole Officer
The Pirates of Penzance
Prairie Love
The Presidio
The Promise
The Proposition
Reds
The Return of Count Yorga
RoboCop 2
School Ties
The Sci-Fi Boys
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Spice World
Star Trek: Generations
Swashbuckler
The Talented Mr. Ripley
They Might Be Giants
The Untouchables
The Vampire Lovers
Walker
Year of the Horse: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Live
Young Sherlock Holmes

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