April is almost here and spring has sprung, which means it’s time to sift through the best movies leaving streaming services at the end of this month and plan accordingly.
This month’s line-up features an eclectic range of classics, crowd pleasers and cerebral gems. Jonathan Glazer’s 2000 debut, Sexy beast starring Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley, is a top priority; you must check that out if you haven’t already. Other choices include the science fiction horror film Underwater, starring Love lies bleeding‘s Kristen Stewart, Kathryn Bigelow’s elusive cyberpunk thriller Strange daysa classic martial arts action film starring the inimitable Sonny Chiba, and more.
Whatever you’re looking for, there are options for you, with the added urgency of “you can’t watch this here next month.”
Here are the best movies you need to watch before they start streaming in March.
Editor’s choice
Sexy beast
Image: FilmFour/Fox Searchlight Photos
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Form: Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane
Exit criterion channel: March 31st
Earlier this month, Jonathan Glazer took home the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The zone of interest, his first Oscar win in his more than thirty-year career. Glazer has directed only four feature films in that time, each more cerebral and astonishing than the last. His first film, Sexy beastis perhaps his most ‘commercial’ effort yet – and even that qualification feels like a challenge: it’s a black comedy crime drama that plays out with the nail-biting tension of a horror thriller.
The film centers on Gary “Gal” Dove (Ray Winstone), a career criminal who happily spends his retirement on the Costa del Sol with his wife and friends. Gal is suddenly plagued by a visit from Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), a former associate who comes to recruit him for an upcoming heist. Don is a foul-mouthed, emotionally manipulative sociopath who delights in incessantly berating those around him and bending people to his whims. When Gal rejects his offer, Don makes it his mission to make Gal’s life a living hell until the job is done.
Glazer’s great direction and Ivan Bird’s dreamy cinematography set the scene Sexy beast apart from other crime films of the time. That includes Kingsley’s scene-stealing performance as an evil agent of chaos, who sweeps in like a bad omen and wreaks emotional and physical havoc on anyone and everyone unfortunate enough to be close to him. Not to mention the score, which features contributions from British trip-hop group Unkle, with whom Glazer previously collaborated on the music video for their 1998 single “Rabbit in Your Headlights.” Sexy beast is an exciting, thorny and terrifying case study in emotional manipulation Also It just happens to be a great heist movie, and you should definitely make it your priority to see it if you haven’t already. —Toussaint Egan
Movies to watch on Netflix
The Street Fighter
Image: Toei Company/New Line Home video
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa
Form: Sonny Chiba, Yutaka Nakajima, Goichi Yamada
Leave Netflix: March 31st
One of the most influential action films ever made, The Street Fighter is a gloriously violent display of Sonny Chiba’s unique star power as he blasts his way through a pack of gangsters and lowlifes. Decades later, Chiba’s son Mackenyu (A piece) carries on that legacy…albeit in a slightly less violent fashion.
The first film to receive an X rating in the US for violence, The Street Fighter not only inspired the title of the fighting game series, but also introduced the idea of X-ray deaths, which directly influenced Deadly battle. If you are a fan of fighting games and you have never seen it The Street Fighter, this is your chance to fix that. —Piet Volk
Movies to watch on Hulu
Underwater
Photo: Alan Markfield/20th Century Fox
Director: Willem Eubank
Form: Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Mamoudou Athie
Leaving Hulu: March 31st
Underwater is a lean genre project with B-movie flair and solid execution. Sometimes that’s all you need.
Kristen Stewart stars as a mechanical engineer at a research and drilling facility at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. When disaster strikes and part of the facility is destroyed, she joins the remaining survivors in their attempt to make it out alive. With a strong cast (with the exception of TJ Miller, who is gracefully killed very early in the film), solid direction by William Eubank (who just directed the solid action thriller Land of Bad), and a tight script by Brian Duffield (No one will save you), Underwater is a fun sci-fi thriller with popcorn. And with Love lies bleeding Now in theaters, why not check out an underrated Kristen Stewart project? —PV
Movies to watch on Max
Strange days
Image: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Form: Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis
Maximum exit: March 31st
Strange days is a cult classic whose reputation is largely determined by how difficult it was to watch on streaming. Max added the film to his platform in January 2023, but not all the good things last.
It is set in futuristic Los Angeles, just two days before the end of the 20th century. Strange days follows Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), a black market broker who deals in an illegal technology that allows the user to record their own memories and physical sensations and experience them afterwards. When Lenny comes across a recording that threatens to implicate the LAPD in a high-profile murder, he is forced to turn to his old friend Lornette “Mace” Mason (Angela Bassett) to uncover the origins behind the recording while staying one step ahead . of a mysterious killer who wants him dead.
Created by producer James Cameron and inspired by the 1992 LA riots that broke out in the aftermath of the infamous Rodney King trial. Strange days is a pitch-black sci-fi thriller that touches on institutional racism, voyeurism, societal collapse and sexual violence, the latter of which is mainly aimed at women and black people. It’s a tough film, but worth it nonetheless, rewarding audiences with a trio of great performances and a strikingly original vision of a bygone alternate future. -AT
Movies to watch on Prime Video
The swordsman
Image: Well Go USA Entertainment
Director: Jae Hoon Choi
Form: Jang Hyuk, Kim Hyeon-so
Prime exit: March 31st
There is no shortage of great Korean action films. If you’re specifically looking for a stylish, emotional historical drama with fast and crazy sword fighting, I would highly recommend The swordsman. Set in the aftermath of the Joseon Dynasty, the film follows the story of Tae-yul, the former bodyguard of King Gwanghaegun, who lives in seclusion with his daughter Tae-ok.
Taey-yul suffers from a condition that threatens to rob him of his sight, and to cure it he needs special herbs offered only to the most well-connected families. Desperate to help her father, Tae-ok accepts an offer to serve a wealthy family in exchange for the medicine, but when she is accidentally kidnapped as part of a larger conflict, Tae-yul is forced out of hiding to come to her. to rescue.
Joe Taslim from The robbery And Warrior fame stars as Gurutai, a mocking slave trader and Qing emissary who serves as the film’s main antagonist. The action itself is great, but what really elevates it The swordsman As a whole, Tae-yul struggles with his rapidly declining eyesight and the unfolding tragedy of his backstory, conveyed through flashbacks. At an hour and a half, it is a perfect action movie to watch over the weekend. -AT