The Best Movies Leaving Every Major Streaming Platform by August 2024

NETFLIX: ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ (dir. Oliver Stone, 1989)

At a time when America’s national political conventions are sure to be on everyone’s mind, remembering the story of Ron Kovic — his journey from red, white, and blue-loving young man to disillusioned soldier and eventually outspoken anti-war veteran and activist — seems like a worthwhile investment in perspective. Tom Cruise’s performance as Kovic is one of the most dynamic and intense of his career, garnering him one of three Academy Award nominations for acting, and requiring him to spend half the production in either a hospital bed or a wheelchair. Oliver Stone’s script, based on Kovic’s autobiography of the same name and co-written with him, is one of his richest explorations of how war can destroy the body, maybe even the soul, but it can’t  take a person’s heart. In truth, if we lead with it more often, we may start realizing that the fight isn’t worth the fallout and our country shouldn’t be defined by violence. 

Other highlights:

– ‘American Graffiti’

– ‘Fresh’ 

– ‘Moneyball’

– ‘Traffic’

PRIME VIDEO: ‘Horse Feathers’ (dir. Norman Z. McLeod, 1932)

There’s an argument to be made that the genre of the college comedy, which features staples such as ‘Animal House’ and ‘Everybody Wants Some!!,’ began with the ridiculous Marx Brothers romp, ‘Horse Feathers.’ Many of the gags in the film were taken from the Marx Brothers original stage show ‘Fun in Hi Skule,’ but the comedic family also heightened their shtick to match the limitless boundaries of cinema, with one scene around a big football game seeing Harpo win the match by driving a horse-drawn carriage across the field like a chariot. The film was so popular, the brothers made the cover of Time Magazine the year it came out, all riding within the carriage. 

Other highlights:

– ‘On the Waterfront’

– ‘Written on the Wind’

– ‘Knock on Any Door’

– ‘In a Lonely Place’

MAX: ‘Ex Machina’ (dir. Alex Garland, 2014)

Whether ‘Civil War’ didn’t meet your expectations or whether it blew you away (pun intended), Alex Garland’s small-scale vision of our AI technological future offers an undoubtedly more nuanced character drama than its successor. Focusing on a Willy Wonka-like plot that sees a programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) chosen to travel to the secluded home of a megalomaniacal tech-lord (Oscar Isaac) to Turing test his new humanoid robot that operates with AI (Alicia Vikander), ‘Ex Machina’ operates on an almost-theatrical level, with many extended scenes taking place between very few characters and even featuring quite the memorable dance sequence. 

Other highlights:

-‘Bonnie & Clyde’

-‘A Most Violent Year’

-‘The Hunted’

-‘Spaceballs’

HULU: ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ (dir. Sergio Leone, 1984)

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Sergio Leone’s epic gangster drama is a masterwork. The last film Leone would ever direct and the first he’d directed in 13 years, ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ suffered many cruelties on the way to becoming as highly regarded as it is today. Premiering at Cannes with a four and a half hour version that would later be cut to three hours and 49 minutes for European release, the film’s American distributors butchered it down to a little over two hours, shifting sequences without Leone’s permission and rendering it incomprehensible. Eventually, the European version, which follows the non-linear narrative of a group of Jewish hoodlums who grow into violent gangsters and lose sight of their friendship, became popularized in America, but a full restoration of the 269-minute version still has yet to be realized. For now, this 229-minute cut on Hulu will have to do. 

Other highlights:

– ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’

– ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’

– ‘The Joy Luck Club’

– ‘Walk the Line’

THE CRITERION CHANNEL: ‘The Straight Story’ (dir. David Lynch, 1999)

Premiering in competition at Cannes 25 years ago, many may have been puzzled by traditionally abstract filmmaker David Lynch’s road movie collaboration with Disney, but at the root of ‘The Straight Story’ and a great deal of Lynch’s other work is the oddness and beauty of Americana. Inspired by the true story of an aging WWII veteran who drives 240 miles by lawn mower to visit a sick brother he hasn’t spoken to in years, Richard Farnsworth earned an Academy-Award nomination for his performance as Alvin Straight and carries on his shoulders a film that studies humanity hidden in all corners. 

Other highlights:

– ‘Bringing Out the Dead’

– ‘Gambit’

– ‘Death in Venice’

– ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’

– ‘Targets’

TUBI: ‘Love & Basketball’ (dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2000)

Before bracing the action-adventure of ‘The Old Guard’ or the rich, epic world of ‘The Woman King,’ Gina Prince-Bythewood broke onto the scene with her decades-spanning sports romance ‘Love & Basketball.’ Produced by Spike Lee, this semi-autobiographical drama is one of the few films to explore the nuanced world of women’s sports and how it’s not often given the same support or attention as its male counterpart. Told in four quarters, each one set in a different section of friendship and romance between basketball players Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps), ‘Love & Basketball’ takes on a ‘When Harry Met Sally’ approach to drawing its narrative, but Prince-Bythewood creates a wholly original piece by incorporating the real-world stakes of a sport that doesn’t always leave space for feelings.

Other highlights:

– ‘The Magnificent Seven’

– ‘The Cotton Club Encore’

– ‘It’ (1990)

– ‘The Fugitive’

– ‘Dead Reckoning’

– ‘Practical Magic’

KANOPY: ‘Separate Tables’ (dir. Delbert Mann, 1958)

At a time when the studio system in Hollywood was falling apart, international screen legends Burt Lancaster, David Niven, Deborah Kerr, and Rita Hayworth took a risk on a film adaptation of two one-act plays by Terence Rattigan that saw all four actors upend their individual conceived presences. The melodrama is set at a hotel on the south coast on England where a Major (Niven) faces sexual harassment claims that threaten his status amongst the well-to-do guests and a formerly married couple (Lancaster and Hayworth) reassess their attraction to one another, despite the toxicity in brings out in the both of them. ‘Separate Tables’ was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, with Niven winning for Best Actor.

Other highlights:

– ‘Jacob’s Ladder’

– ‘Chaplin’

– ‘Primal Fear’