Netflix Update: What's Leaving in March 2015

In which I report on the upcoming changes to Netflix.

With another month come and gone comes another turnover of Netflix programming.  By this point in time, the change seems to be pretty par for the course: a sizable (although not deal-breaking) chunk of quality programming is leaving while a mixed bag of quality is brought in to replace it (although more on this last part later).  For right now, these are some of the movies and tv shows that you can no longer expect to find through Netflix's streaming services:

March on Netflix is facing up to be a punch right in the childhood.  Their cache of Golden-Age Cartoon Network shows are all expiring this month: including Cow and Chicken, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Johnny Bravo.  Ben 10 - a show which always had far better creature design than writing - is also on the chopping block, as is Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Robot Chicken.

The biggest show leaving this month, however, is unquestionably Adventure Time.  Like My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Adventure Time has an oddly adult appeal to it.  The occasionally awesome, occasionally terrible, invariably weird animated series' departure is bound to upset its many die-hard fans who will have to take solace in its omnipresent syndication on cable television and recently announced film adaptation.

Neither this nor the previously mentioned shows, however, are scheduled to be removed until the end of the month, which gives fans plenty of time to revisit their favorite episodes and story arcs.  And who knows, maybe the same eleventh hour wheeling and dealing that saved Doctor Who can extend these shows' shelf lives as well.

Horror fans also have a lot to bemoan about with March, as a lot of classic and schlocky favorites are set to leave the streaming service throughout the month.  Se7en - a terse thriller starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey about a murderer who dispatches his victims according to the deadly sin that they most strongly identify with - is considered by many to be the best film that renowned director David Fincher ever produced.  Light-hearted creature features like Anaconda and Arachnophobia are perfect gateways into the genre for younger viewers, and their absence makes the horror increasingly off-putting and inaccessible to the general public.  Cultural landmark The Blair Witch Project - whose verisimilitude caused many viewers to believe that it was actually found footage snuff film about of a group of teenagers who got lost in the woods - is also set to depart at the beginning of the month.

Comedy doesn't seem to be faring any better.  Dumb and Dumber, which was brought on not too long ago, is set to leave by the end of the day, making it increasingly obvious that its inclusion to Netflix wasn't meant for genre fans, but as a marketing tool to promote its misfired sequel.  Cool Runnings - an inaccurate-if-fun recreation of the trials and tribulations of the first Jamaican bobsled team - is set to leave alongside, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, Flubber and a host of Muppet movies.

Fans of esteemed classics will likewise lose out on opportunities to see The Graduate - rightly seen as emblematic of the sexual revolution of the sixties.  The well-aged shocker House on Haunted Hill will likewise exit in March, as will the well-regarded original Fright Night.  The full list of exiting titles (alongside their date of departure) are listed below.

Leaving March 1
3 Ninjas: Kick Back (1994)
Air Bud (1997)
Anaconda (1997)
Arachnophobia (1990)
Brokedown Palace (1999)
Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams (1981)
Cool Runnings (1993)
Desperado (1995)
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
Emma (1996)
Evita (1996)
Fireproof (2008)
Freaky Friday (2003)
Fright Night (1985)
Girlfight (2000)
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
Jackass: Number Two (2006)
Lords of Dogtown (2005)
Old Yeller (1957)
Ordinary People (1980)
Out of Time (2003)
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
RoboCop 2 (1990)
RoboCop 3 (1993)
Saving Silverman (2001)
Se7en (1995)
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
The Baby Sitters Club (1995)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The Graduate (1967)
The Possession (2012)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
Troop Beverly Hills (1989)

Leaving March 2
Uptown Girls (2003)

Leaving March 3
The Preacher’s Wife (1996)

Leaving March 5
The Muppet Movie (1979)

Leaving March 11
Flubber (1997)

Leaving March 12
The Grey (2012)

Leaving March 15
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

Leaving March 16
The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

Leaving March 22
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)

Leaving March 30
Adventure Time: Season 1-*4
Ben 10: Season 1-*3
Childrens Hospital: Season 1*-2
Codename: Kids Next Door: Season 4-*6
Cow and Chicken: Season 2
Dexter’s Laboratory: Season 3-*4
Dude, What Would Happen?: Season 2
Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy: Season 3-*4
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: Season 2
Johnny Bravo: Season 2
Regular Show: Season 1-*4
Robot Chicken: Season 1*-2
Samurai Jack: Season 2
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Season 3*-4

Leaving March 31
Legends of the Fall (1994)

So which exiting shows and movies are you going to miss most?  What, if anything, should replace them?

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Netflix Update: What's New to Netflix in February 2015

In which I report on the upcoming changes to Netflix.

Well, Netflix, you win this round.  I can whole-heartedly say that there is absolutely nothing new coming to Netflix this month that I'm actually interested in seeing.  Oh, there are a few holdouts here and there that aren't bad by any means - or at least ones that will find an audience - but absolutely nothing that I personally will sit down for (at least willingly) in the month to come.

I know that a lot of people will rejoice in the fact that the first five seasons of M*A*S*H - based on the acclaimed film- will now be streamable through the service.  That unfortunately accounts for only half of the eleven season series, but I wouldn't be surprised if the remaining six become available by the time that most viewers reach the end of what is currently on Netflix.  Similarly, the third season of the acclaimed Netflix series House of Cards will become available, as well as the first season of another Netflix orginal series: Richie Rich.

Anime fans also have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks, with movies based on both the series Bleach and Naruto become available throughout the month.  That being said, no actual series appear to be in the works, meaning that fans of the genre will need to make due with what they already have.  But seeing as how that already includes Madoka and Full Metal Alchemis: Brotherhood, there might not be an immediate programming gap in need of filling.

As far as movies go, the most interesting is the sequel to Dead Snow: a horror film about Nazi Zombies that is somehow less awesome than that synopsis would suggest.  While I'm not especially looking forward to dredging up that one-joke premise a second time, Becky inevitably will want to see it.

King Arthur and Robocop are both well enough, I suppose, but neither is really a suitable replacement for Apocalypse Now, Wishmaster, Goldfinger or From Russia with Love.  None of the aforementioned series are really up to the task of replacing Black Adder and Red Dwarf (and for the children / children at heart among you: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic).  There's really just nothing all that exciting being added on to watch this month.

"Bleach the Movie: Hell Verse" (2010)

"The Brothers Bloom" (2008)

"Dark Ride" (2006)

"Departures" Seasons 1 and 2 Gimme Shelter (2013)

"Gucci: The Director"

"Hot Pursuit"

"Houseboat"

"Into the Blue 2: The Reef"

"Joe"

"King Arthur"

"Magic City" Seasons 1 and 2

"M*A*S*H" Seasons 1 through 5

"Naruto Shippuden: The Movie"

"Now: In the Wings on a World Stage"

"Proof"

"Spartacus: Complete Series"

"We Could Be King"

"We're No Angels"

"Zapped"

"The Little Rascals Save the Day" (2014)

"Ever After High: Spring Unsprung"

"Danger 5"

"Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead"

"Elsa & Fred"

"Blood Ties"

"Catch Hell"

"Dwight Howard: In the Moment"

"Mr. Peabody & Sherman"

"Young Ones"

"The Two Faces of January"

"Scary Movie 5"

"Mako Mermaids" Season 2

"Save the Date"

"The Overnighters"

"Earth to Echo"

"In Secret"

"The Fluffy Movie"

"White Bird in a Blizzard"

"Richie Rich" Season 1 (2015 Netflix original)

"RoboCop" (2014)

"Hawaii Five-0" Seasons 1 to 4

"1,000 Times Good Night"

"Open Windows"

"Russell Brand: Messiah Complex"

"Ralphie May: Unruly"

"House of Cards" Season 3

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Netflix Update: What's Leaving in February 2015

It's time to take stock of what's coming off of Netflix's streaming services at the end of January and what's going to stay.  I have to say, though, these last couple of week's have been some of the tensest in terms of what was going to get the axe, and the end results were just as surprising.

For those of you who were paying attention earlier in the month, Doctor Who - and other BBC favorites - were all set to leave Netflix on February 1st.  Fans of the BBC are likely to have mixed feelings when it comes to the pyrrhic victory they've received.  Doctor Who (both the older and the newer episodes), House of Cards, Luther, The Office and North & South are all staying (which is good).  Black Adder, MI-5, Red Dwarf and Fawlty Towers (remade in the US as 2 Broke Girls) are all leaving, howver (which is bad).

Red Dwarf's following, although not as omnipresent as Doctor Who's, is just as intensely passioned.  The classic science fiction show has an incredibly energized cult following that's likely to stagnate with the series' now lessened exposure in the US.  The other big exclusion is Black Adder: the classic era-spanning comedy which stars a pre-Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson and a pre-House Hugh Laurie.  It's as intelligent, fun and all-around hilarious tv series as I have ever found and, along with the long defunct Black Books, will join the ranks of the best television shows ever pulled from Netflix.

More British productions will follow their ranks.  A huge swath of Bond films will also be disappearing in February, including A View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only, Live and Let Die, Never Say Never Again, From Russia with Love and Goldfinger.  These easily rank among the best of the franchise's lengthy history.  Anybody who has not seen these six films - particularly Goldfinger and From Russia with Love - and can stomach spy films absolutely owes it to themselves to check these out before they disappear next week.

You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that Apocalypse Now and Apocalypse Now Redux were being pulled from Netflix next month, since they were scheduled to be terminated back at the end of October.  I guess that Doctor Who isn't the only thing to be saved by a last minute surge of fan outrage.  I will say now what I said back then: Apocalypse Now is easily one of my favorite movies and one that most people have (and will) enjoy - featuring great performances by Harrison Ford, Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando and a tightly-rendered script that marries Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness with the insanity of the Vietnam War.  It's one that you cannot go wrong with making time for between now and Sunday.

Horror fans would be remiss to pass up one last chance to check out Wes Craven's criminally underrated Wshmaster, while crime fans would be equally derelict in not taking advantage of the time remaining to David Fincher's Zodiac.  Bronies and Pegasisters also have just enough time to binge watch the first four seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  M*A*S*H, Mad Max, Airheads and three of the original four Batman movies are all set to disappear in February as well.

Netflix has a lot of ground to make up in February if it hopes to fill the gap left by these series and films.  Doctor Who and House of Cards sticking around is a good start, but only a start.  Whether or not they can finish the job remains to be seen.

Leaving Feb. 1st

• Blackadder: Seasons 1­-4
• A View to a Kill
• Airheads
• Apocalypse Now
• Apocalypse Now Redux
• Babes in Toyland
• Batman & Robin
• Batman Forever
• Batman Returns
• Cocoon: The Return
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
• Down Periscope
• Fawlty Towers: Seasons 1­-2
• For Your Eyes Only
• From Russia with Love
• Goldfinger
• Hotel Babylon: Seasons 1­-4
• Jane Eyre
• Live and Let Die
• Mad Max
• MASH
• MI­5: Seasons 1­-10
• Nacho Libre
• Never Say Never Again
• Red Dwarf: Seasons 1-­9
• Revenge
• School Daze
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
• The Juror
• Wishmaster
• Zodiac

Leaving Feb. 2nd

• Jem and the Holograms: S1­-3
• My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: S1-­4
• Pound Puppies: S1-­3
• Transformers Prime: S1-3
• Transformers: Rescue Bots

Leaving Feb. 5th

• Arbitrage

Leaving Feb. 23rd

• Dredd

Leaving Feb. 28th

• Ali
• Monkey Trouble
• Panic Room

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Netflix Update: What's Leaving Us in January 2015

In which I report on the upcoming changes to Netflix.

Along with a new year comes a new crop of movies on Netflix.  And while it is varyingly hard or easy to see some films go, this month's outgoing streaming options are a bit more of a mixed bag.  For every Batman, there's a Brady Bunch movie.  For every movie that I own on DVD (like 12 Angry Men), there's another that I don't (like The Grapes of Wrath).  When all is said and done, I'll survive this particular changing of the guard.

And although there is precious little time left to make good on watching these films, one that I am going to try to make time for is The Grapes of Wrath: the 1940 classic set in the Great Depression's iconic Dust Bowl.  Well regarded among the cinematic elite and well remembered by the well-viewed lay person, it's one that's perplexingly escaped me until now.  And what better way is there to ring in the new year than by taking in an exceptional film?

Beyond that, however, there are a few films (and shows) in particular that I will be sorry to see go.  Batman is an obvious choice, between its surreal set design and iconic pro and antagonists.  Despite its troublingly racist undertones, Big Trouble in Little China was as incredibly fun of a movie as Beverly Hills Cop and Gladiator, both of which are also getting the axe.  Braveheart was one that I would have loved to show to Becky (who, oddly enough, has never seen it), although we'll have to track down a copy elsewhere.  Those who have been around for a while will also remember how much fun I had watching Carrie.  Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stargate and all four seasons of Transformers - even Michael Bay's Bad Boys - will be sad things to see leave.

So which films will you be saddest to see leave at the end of the year?  What are you planning on sneaking in just under the wire?  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.  The full list of outgoing films are listed below.

12 Angry Men (1957)
A Mighty Heart (2007)
A River Runs Through It (1992)
Backdraft (1991)
Bad Boys (1995)
Batman (1989)
Beethoven (1992)
Beethoven's 2nd (1993)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Braveheart (1995)
Can't Buy Me Love (1987)
Carrie (1976)
D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996)
Duck Soup (1933)
Far and Away (1992)
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero; Seasons 1-2 (1983­ and 1986)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)
Gladiator (2000)
Good Burger (1997)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Hitch (2005)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Love Actually (2003)
Manhattan (1979)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
My Girl (1991)
My Girl 2 (1994)
Red Dawn (1984)
Rocky I­V (1985)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Saved! (2004)
Scary Movie 2 (2001)
Spaceballs (1987)
Stargate (1994)
Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless (2010)
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan! (1978)
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
The Company Men (2010)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Longest Yard (1974)
The Mighty Ducks (1992)
The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)
The Parent Trap (1998)
The Phantom of the Opera (1989)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Wedding Planner (2001)
Titanic (1997)
Tombstone (1993)
Transformers: Generation 1; Seasons 1­-4 (1984­-1987)
Turner and Hooch (1989)
You've Got Mail (1998)

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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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