We’re only a short way from June, and with it the start of summer! Fun in the sun and windy weather are just around the corner, but that’s not all: a new lineup of movies to watch is about to hit streaming. Before we dive into what’s new about streaming in June, though, here are just a few of the very best movies to watch before they leave streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, and Max (formerly HBO Max) at the end of the month.
We’ve got a solid selection of outgoing movies to choose from this month, from the 1982 action epic Sword and Sorcery Conan the Barbarian starring the inimitable Arnold Schwarzenegger and the hyper-violent action classic First blood with Sylvester Stallone in the classic crime comedy My cousin Vinny and more.
With choices like that, you don’t have to look far to find something great to watch. Let’s get into it.
Movies to watch on Netflix
Conan the barbarian
Image: Universal Pictures
Year: 1982
Genre: Epic fantasy
Duration: 2h 1m
Director: John Milius
Form: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Sandahl Bergman
What’s the best in life? To crush your enemies, see them float before you, and hear the lamentation of their wives? Maybe, but looking at Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Robert E. Howard’s pulp hero ranks pretty high up there too.
After his family is murdered by a ruthless warlord (James Earl Jones), a young Conan spends his struggle freeing himself from slavery, training in the ways of the sword, and taking revenge on behalf of his people. Schwarzenegger embodies the role of Cona and ultimately everything about it Conan the Barbarian is epic; from Mako’s ominous narration of the trials and tribulations of Conan’s rise to power, the brutal action sequences and battles between Conan and snake cultists, to Jones’ inimitable performance as the scheming Thulsa Doom. Hell, it even opens with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche! If that doesn’t scream badass, then I don’t know what will. —Toussaint Egan
Conan the Barbarian leaves Netflix on March 31.
The fast and the dead
Photo: TriStar Pictures/Everett Collection
Year: 1995
Genre: Western
Duration: 1h 48m
Director: Sam Rami
Form: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe
In between his work on the masterful Evil Dead and Spider-Man trilogies, Sam Raimi delivered one of the best and most enjoyable modern westerns.
Structured in many ways like a sports film, The fast and the dead follows the colorful contestants of a quick-draw tournament in a lawless town run by a tyrant (Gene Hackman). That tyrant is the many-time defending champion of this deadly tournament, and the crowded field of participants includes a woman seeking revenge (Sharon Stone), his son seeking to prove himself (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former outlaw-turned-pastor forced to against his will (Russell Crowe), a well-known gunman (Lance Henriksen) and a mercenary (Keith David).
The film is full of Raimi’s visual flair, with bizarre zooms and angles, especially in the dueling sequences, and close-ups against a pitch-black background to emphasize what the character is thinking. The visual excess doesn’t distract from the incredible actors, but rather enhances them, as Raimi focuses on the faces of his talented cast and lets them do what they do best. The fast and the dead is a good hint of what would come in his Spider-Man movies if he fully embraced that comic book aesthetic, and I loved watching this movie so much I immediately re-installed it Red Dead Redemption 2. —Pete Volk
The fast and the dead leaves Netflix on May 31.
Movies to watch on Hulu
Unstoppable
Image: Twentieth Century Fox
Year: 2010
Genre: Worker’s thriller
Duration: 1h 38m
Director: Tony Scott
Form: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson
Tony Scott’s latest film may be his best, a down-to-earth blue-collar drama ripped from the headlines and dramatized. just now enough to make for a thrilling cinematic event.
Unstoppable tells the story of the CSX 8888 incident, when a runaway hazardous materials train was stopped by a crew on a second train. In the movie version, Denzel Washington is veteran engineer Frank Barnes, while a young Chris Pine is novice train conductor Will Colson. Unstoppable quickly creates tension between the two characters – Frank and his friends see Will as an example of young new hires getting higher positions so as not to pay the veterans higher wages.
The relationship between Frank and Will, and the depth that Washington and Pine bring to these characters, is a big part of why the movie works. You get to watch these two men sort each other out in real time, especially when they’re in crisis mode. The train sequences are thrilling too – Scott borrowed trains from three different railroads for the film, and the tension is palpable and gripping. —PV
Unstoppable to leaf through Hulu August 31th.
Movies to watch on Max
First blood
Image: Orion Photos
Year: 1982
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 1h 33m
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Form: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna
You might think that the first Rambo movie is a jingoistic, ultra-violent action fantasy, just like the sequels that followed it. Not the case: First blood is a thoughtful anti-war masterpiece with one of the greatest leading performances of its time, and you need to watch it before it leaves Max.
In First blood, John Rambo is a decorated Vietnam War veteran who visits the made-up town of Hope, Washington, to see his unit’s last surviving teammate. The police see him as a vulnerable figure to exploit, they arrest him and treat him as subhuman while harassing and beating him at the police station. They are mistaken, as the highly skilled soldier beats them up and breaks out and launches a full-scale manhunt to get him.
From then on, Rambo hides in the forest and chases his prey one by one. It often feels like a slasher movie where you’re looking for the killer instead of the victims, but in reality not that many people die in it First blood: Rambo doesn’t want to hurt them, he just wants to be left alone. Stallone’s vulnerable and touching performance brings it all together – it’s movie star stuff. First blood is simply one of the best American films ever made, and a must-see for anyone interested in the history of this country’s anti-war cinema. —PV
First blood to leaf through max May 31.
Movies to watch on Prime Video
My cousin Vinny
Image: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Year: 1992
Genre: Crime comedy
Duration: 1h 59m
Director: Jonathan Lynn
Form: Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei
When two New Yorkers (including the Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio) are wrongly arrested for murder in Alabama, one of them calls his cousin (Joe Pesci), who has finally passed the bar exam after many, many attempts. That cousin, Vinny, and his fiancé Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) travel to the Deep South to try and win a lawsuit with the odds stacked against them.
A comedy about a clash of cultures, crossed with a legal drama, My cousin Vinny works so well because of the central performances. Pesci is wonderful as Vinny, sometimes overconfident, sometimes completely lacking in confidence, but always deeply concerned for his loved ones. But, of course, the real star of the show is Tomei, who won an Oscar for this incredibly rich role, with a sharp and hilarious performance. —PV
My cousin Vinny leaves Prime Video on May 31.
Movies to watch on Criterion Channel
Metropolis
Image: Kino Lorber
Year: 1927
Genre: Sci fi
Duration: 2h 33m
Director: Fritz Lang
Form: Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich
Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent film opus is a towering achievement, a masterpiece of German Expressionism, and a quintessential work in the canon of science fiction cinema. It is simply unthinkable to imagine a world where movies like Blade Runner, Stars Wars and other classics of the genre exist without the precedent of Metropolis.
Set in a dystopian city sharply divided between an affluent upper class living in towering citadels of technological luxury and a battered lower class toiling in the depths below to keep the city going. Metropolis revolves around the intersecting stories of three people: the rebellious son of the founder of Metropolis, a young woman living in the undercity and a mad scientist who has plans to usurp the ruling class and claim power for himself.
Brilliantly told for two hours and thirty minutes, Metropolis is both a time capsule of a bygone vision of the future and a testament to the enduring power and vitality of the medium of film. -AT
Metropolis leaves Criterion Channel on May 31.