The best movies streaming at the end of April

May is quickly approaching and with it comes a new batch of exciting movies and TV to watch. As we spend the last days of April, let’s take stock of the best movies on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and more that are leaving the services this month.

This month’s top movies leaving streaming are a collection of classic and contemporary favorites. The 1946 fantasy romance by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger A matter of life and death, Our Editor’s Pick for April stars David Niven in a career-best performance as a British aviator who miraculously cheats death and finds love at the same time. Brilliant psychological drama by Damien Chazelle Whiplash Starring JK Simmons and Miles Teller is also on the list this month, as is Robert Altman’s 1973 classic The long goodbye.

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

Editor’s choice

A matter of life and death

Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Form: David Niven, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey
Exit criterion channel: 30th of April

Even if you’ve never seen Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1946 fantasy before, you’ve undoubtedly come across a cartoon, TV series, or movie inspired by it. By Tom & Jerry and the Looney Tunes on Pixar’s Soul and more, A matter of life and death is known for introducing a visual trope that remains popular to this day: an escalator stretching into the clouds of the afterlife. The image, taken from the film’s climactic finale, is a pure distillation of the film’s sense of fantastic humor and thematic seriousness.

Set in the waning days of World War II, the film stars David Niven as Peter Carter, a Royal Air Force pilot whose plane is just minutes away from crashing into the English Channel. Anticipating his death, Peter greets June, an American radio operator, with whom he promptly falls in love. Despite all odds, he manages to survive the crash and meets June again, hoping to woo her. Unfortunately, his survival defies the laws of the afterlife, resulting in a visit from an angel who orders Peter to accept his death and leave Earth behind. A matter of life and death is a brilliantly rendered drama of a man who braves his own death in a bid for love, a plea for humanity in the face of an emotionless bureaucracy, and a visually beautiful film to boot. —Toussaint Egan

Movies to watch on Netflix

Whiplash

Image: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Director: Damien Chazelle
Form: Miles Teller, JK Simmons, Paul Reiser
Leave Netflix: 30th of April

Whiplash is a deceptively simple film about a college conservatory drummer and his abusive mentor, but there’s so much more going on beneath the surface. It’s about the vast gulf between being good at something and being good at something, about the costs of obsession, and whether or not excellence means sacrificing everything else in your life. All wrapped up in a tight drama with great performances by Miles Teller and JK Simmons, who won an Oscar for his role. —Austen Goslin

Movies to watch on Hulu

Pacific Rim

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Form: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi
Leaving Hulu: 30th of April

There are few films that can be this much fun Pacific Rim. If Guillermo del Toro’s sci-fi blockbuster wanted to stop having giant mechs fight giant monsters, it would still be an instant-classic addition to the kaiju genre, but instead the Pan’s Labyrinth director goes all in on the silliness with a script full of lines about canceling the apocalypse and “Are you kidding me, son?” It’s over-the-top and compelling in just the right mix. If there was any justice in the world, del Toro would make a new addition to the Pacific Rim franchise every five years, but some ideas are way better than this world deserves, so we’re stuck with a lackluster sequel and a Netflix anime. . —AG

Movies to watch on Prime Video

The long goodbye

Photo: MGM Home Entertainment

Director: Robert Altman
Form: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden
Leave Netflix: 30th of April

The long goodbye is a slack, loose, hilarious neo-noir that is as much about atmosphere as it is about mystery. It’s also one of the most entertaining films ever made. The story follows Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled private detective with a talent for sarcasm, solving cases and sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. But when he is drawn into tracking down a famous author who has recently disappeared, he stumbles into a web of lies that is almost too thick to cut. Aside from Elliott Gould giving one of the best performances of the ’70s as Marlowe, The long goodbye also features perhaps the most inventive music of John Williams’ legendary career, consisting of a dozen variations on the only song he wrote for the film. —AG