The best movies leaving Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and Max in January 2024

Greetings, Polygon readers!

It feels just like the yr solely simply began, and January is almost behind us. We’ve already seen some spectacular motion pictures to this point, with shock hits like Mayhem! and David Ayer’s The Beekeeper, and there are much more thrilling new releases slated to come back out in February. Earlier than we get there, although, we’ve rounded up our picks of one of the best motion pictures to look at earlier than they go away streaming platforms on the finish of the month. We’ve acquired Janicza Bravo’s hilarious and weird black-comedy crime film Zola, Edgar Wright’s 2010 cult basic Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, an explosive early-aughts kaiju basic, and way more.

Listed here are one of the best motion pictures you need to watch earlier than they go away streaming this January.

Editor’s decide

The Exorcist III

Picture: Shout Manufacturing unit

Director: William Peter Blatty
Solid: George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller
Leaving Criterion Channel: Jan. 31

This previous October, I included The Exorcist novelist William Peter Blatty’s 1990 threequel to William Friedkin’s masterful adaptation of that e book as the ultimate entry in our annual Halloween Countdown record of horror suggestions. The explanation why is easy: For a franchise made up virtually totally of regrettable entries that repeatedly try (and fail) to emulate the enduring terror of the unique movie, The Exorcist III is the only sequel that got here the closest to attaining that feat, by its willingness to exit on a limb and inform its personal equally terrifying story.

Based mostly on Blatty’s 1983 novel Legion, the movie follows William Kinderman (George C. Scott), a Georgetown police lieutenant assigned to research a collection of murders presumably linked to an notorious killer believed to have handed years prior. His investigation leads him to the psych ward of an area hospital, the place a mysterious amnesiac resembling Kinderman’s deceased pal Father Karras is being handled. Although infamously stricken by a number of pre- and post-production issues, The Exorcist III is a genuinely fascinating and totally terrifying film that probes the identical territory as the unique however from its personal distinctive perspective. If for nothing else, it’s acquired simply one of many scariest bounce scares ever dedicated to movie, however I’m not telling you when it occurs. I wouldn’t wish to spoil the shock. —Toussaint Egan

Motion pictures to look at on Netflix

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Picture: Common Photos

Director: Edgar Wright
Solid: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin
Leaving Netflix: Feb. 1

Edgar Wright’s romantic motion comedy is the textbook definition of a “zeitgeist” movie, embodying each the meteoric reputation of the comedian that impressed it and the generational verve and aesthetic of the 2010s. Based mostly on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel collection, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was a box-office bomb when it was initially launched, however the movie has steadily grown a cult following within the decade-plus since, culminating in final yr’s Netflix anime adaptation, which noticed the return of all the authentic solid to reprise their roles. With the brand new context of that collection, it’s a good time to return to the unique adaptation. —TE

Motion pictures to look at on Hulu

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Large Monsters All-Out Assault

Picture: Sony Photos Dwelling Leisure

Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Solid: Chiharu Niiyama, Ryudo Uzaki, Masahiro Kobayashi
Leaving Hulu: Jan. 31

There’s one breathtaking second in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Large Monsters All-Out Assault the place the digicam zooms out from a person in a rest room to Godzilla crushing the home he’s in along with his foot, transferring from a full-size set to miniatures with out breaking the shot. The film does this a number of occasions, transitioning to miniatures with intelligent masking strategies for optimum influence and jaw-dropping scale, and the enjoyment within the film’s formal method energizes it.

GMK is a pleasant throwback to the early period of Godzilla motion pictures, particularly in its use of miniatures and rejection of a CG Godzilla for the basic “man in a swimsuit” method. Like lots of the greatest motion pictures within the franchise, it additionally balances tones very nicely. It’s humorous — within the first 90 seconds, it references each the unique film and Roland Emmerich’s 1998 entry, humorously dismissing the latter’s potential standing as canonical — but in addition very tense within the destruction sequences.

There are few assured good occasions on the market like a top quality Godzilla film, and GMK definitely matches that invoice. A be aware: Hulu solely carries the dubbed model, as a result of Toho had the film dubbed for worldwide launch. The dub may be very stable, although, with the voice actors leaning into the honest (and at occasions foolish) tone of the venture. —Pete Volk

Motion pictures to look at on Max

The Thomas Crown Affair

Picture: Warner Bros. Dwelling Leisure

Director: John McTiernan
Solid: Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis Leary
Leaving Max: Jan. 31

They don’t make heist motion pictures hotter than this. John McTiernan’s remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway basic is a steamy romp, with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo at their sexiest.

Brosnan performs Thomas Crown, an conceited playboy billionaire who can be the world’s best artwork thief in his spare time (in some ways, that is Brosnan’s Batman film). Russo is Catherine Banning, an insurance coverage investigator tasked with fixing and recovering Crown’s most up-to-date daring theft. The 2 fall for one another over the course of a scrumptious cat-and-mouse sport, culminating in an unforgettable, intricately choreographed sequence set to Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman.” —PV

Motion pictures to look at on Prime Video

Zola

Photograph: Anna Kooris/Sundance Institute

Director: Janicza Bravo
Solid: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun
Leaving Prime Video: Jan. 31

Few movies have totally embodied the raucous surrealism of our technologically mediated trendy life fairly like Janicza Bravo’s black-comedy crime movie starring Taylour Paige (Ma Rainey’s Black Backside) and Riley Keough (Below the Silver Lake). Based mostly on David Kushner’s 2015 Rolling Stone story and the viral Twitter thread that impressed it, the film follows the story of Aziah “Zola” King (Paige), a part-time stripper residing in Detroit who’s satisfied by her new pal Stefani (Keough) to go on a highway journey to Tampa to earn cash. Nonetheless, what begins as a lighthearted weekend jaunt rapidly morphs into an extended and suspenseful odyssey rife with absurdity, crime, violence, and colourful solid of characters. 4 years because it first premiered, there’s nonetheless nothing fairly like Zola. —TE