The best movies leaving Netflix, Hulu, Max, and Prime at the end of May 2024

By James On May 25, 2024

Summer is just around the corner – or maybe it’s already here, depending on the weather wherever you are. Either way, May is almost over, and that means movies are leaving streaming services at the end of the month.

This month we have two very different thrillers – one about corporate crime, one about an evil box – an underrated video game adaptation and a very silly comedy with a great cast. We also emphasize The crowwith the new version starring Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs just a few months away.

Here are the best movies you need to watch before they start streaming in May.

Editor’s Choice: The Insider

Image: Touchstone Photos

Director: Michael Mann
Form: Al Pacino, Russel Crowe, Christopher Plummer
Exit criterion channel: May 31

In 1996, 60 minutes featured a searing episode in which the tobacco industry was exposed for deliberately adding dangerous chemicals to cigarettes and lying to the public. The episode was based on the testimony of whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, the former vice president of research and development at a major tobacco company. And the story behind how that episode came to be (and how it almost never aired) is fascinating, as documented in Michael Mann’s excellent thriller. The initiate.

A powerful film about the difficulties of working ethically within a large company and what true heroism actually looks like. The initiate is one of Mann’s very best films – and that’s an extremely high bar. Al Pacino and Russell Crowe star as CBS producer Lowell Bergman and whistleblower Wigand respectively, and the excellent supporting cast includes Christopher Plummer (as legendary 60 minutes correspondent Mike Wallace), Philip Baker Hall, Gina Gershon and Rip Torn. It’s also a beautiful film to take in, with sharp cinematography from Dante Spinotti earning him one of the film’s seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and the first of three consecutive Best Actor nominations for Crowe. —Piet Volk

Movies to watch when you leave Netflix

Silent Hill

Director: Christophe Gans
Form: Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden
Leave Netflix: May 31

This film doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Not only is it one of the best video game movies ever made, it’s also a very creepy (and gory) horror film that does a great job of capturing the game’s increasing existential dread. You already know the premise: a girl gets lost in Silent Hill and someone else has to rescue her, only to find all kinds of unprecedented horrors in the abandoned city. While there are bits and pieces of CGI that don’t quite hold up, the rest of this film features some truly terrifying creatures and sequences, and an absolutely devastating ending that few horror films can match. —Austen Goslin

Movies to watch when you leave Prime

The crow

Director: Alex Proyas
Form: Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott
To leave Prime Video: May 31

There is a new adaptation of it The crow is coming around the corner this summer, so why not check out the original this month? Although best known for the tragic death of star Brandon Lee, who was fatally shot in an accident during production, The crow It is not without reason that it is an enduring neo-(goth) noir classic. With an ominous atmosphere through director Alex Proyas (Dark city) and the (very) dark source material, The crow inspired a whole generation of goths.

And if you love Brandon Lee in this, check out some other films in his all-too-short filmography. His previous two films — Confrontation in Little Tokyo And Rapid fire – are both great. Like his father, he was a great movie star whose life and career were all too short. —PV

Movies to watch while leaving Max

The box

Director: Richard Kelly
Form: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella
Maximum exit: May 31

I have a vivid memory of it The box is marketed as a horror movie, but it really isn’t. After falling head over heels for him Southland Stories (and with Donnie Darko under my belt long before that), I wanted to complete my experience with the Richard Kelly filmography with his most recent feature, which was widely dismissed by critics and audiences alike, but is a fascinating film nonetheless. And I was rewarded for that decision, albeit with some difficulty.

You know the premise. It’s deadly serious: a family is given a button that will give them a million dollars if they press it, but someone they don’t know will die. But that premise belies a much richer film, a tense domestic drama that culminates in a conspiracy thriller turned (edited for spoilers). Like Kelly’s other films, The box is full of interesting images and ripe for all kinds of metaphorical readings, even if it is less successful than his two previous features. I was quite frustrated by the ending, especially in its relationship to disability, but it is nevertheless a fascinating and endlessly discussable thriller. —PV

Movies to Watch When Leaving Hulu

Blockers

Director: Kaj cannon
Form: Kathryn Newton, John Cena, Leslie Mann
Leaving Hulu: May 31

A hybrid sex comedy/comedy with a generation gap of 30 Rock alum Kay Cannon, Blockers follows three parents trying to prevent their daughters from losing their virginity at prom… and also the three daughters trying to lose their virginity at prom. It’s not nearly as conservative about young women having sex as the premise suggests, as the ridiculous overprotectiveness of the parents is often the butt of the joke, but its real strength is the cast: rising stars Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan and Gideon Adlon excels as the three main girls, while Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz are all great as the overbearing parents.

Often juvenile and not always funny, Blockers isn’t a great breakout moment in American comedy, but it’s a fun time with a very game cast. The separation between the parents and the children and their various issues and problems is almost like an American version of it Derry girls. While Blockers lacks the emotional resonance of that Netflix show, it’s still an underrated Hollywood comedy in an era when very few of them are worth talking about. —PV