The mix of titles leaving Netflix in the US this month includes two coming-of-age comedy-drama, a quirky thriller throwback, a gripping Holocaust documentary, and two heart-rending comedies (one smuggled into a family animated film). Give them a stream before they’re gone. (The data refers to the last day a title is available.)
“Side Effects” (May 16)
Director Steven Soderbergh is always a little ahead of the curve, and that’s in 2013, years before current fashion from nostalgia For the erotic thrillers of the ’80s and ’90s, he put together this steamy, twisty tale of sexual deception and fake insidiousness. (It was the early 2010s, so there’s a healthy dose of villains for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries too.) The final film before that his brief retirementIn the episode, Soderbergh reunited with several of his former stars, including Jude Law (“Contagion”), Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Traffic”) and Channing Tatum (“Magic Mike”), who are joined by Rooney Mara in a femme fatale twist , which is alternately sensual and scary.
“The Last Days” (May 18)
The first film to be released by the Shoah Foundation and executive produced by none other than a big name as Steven Spielberg, The Last Days won the 1998 Academy Award for Best Documentary. It tells the story of a darker and lesser-known chapter of the Holocaust: how German troops invaded Hungary in March 1944, long after it was clear that World War II was lost and were already murdering hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews. Told by director James Moll as a tale of survival and resilience, this chronicle of pure evil focuses on five Holocaust survivors and the inspiring ways they lived out their spared lives.
“Edge of Seventeen” (May 31)
One of several gay-themed coming-of-age comedy-drama of the late 1990s, this serious and truthful tale from director David Moreton and screenwriter Todd Stephens has become something of a classic in the queer canon, and for good reason . Set in Stephens’ hometown of Sandusky, Ohio, circa 1984, the film beautifully captures a moment when both explicit and coded gay content became part of the mainstream and sensitive teenage protagonist Eric (Chris Stafford) found that he was romantic His ideals were not quite reflected in his reality in the Midwest in the mid-’80s. Moreton’s direction deftly approaches the conventions of romantic comedy with an unusual openness.
Galaxy Quest (May 31)
This ironic and funny cult comedy from director Dean Parisot combines two wonderful comic ideas in a successful way. It’s primarily a tongue-in-cheek satire not just of Star Trek, but of the entire (and comparatively young at the time of 1999 release) fan-catering “geek” culture centered on a short-lived “Star Trek.” . Trek-style television show that has become an obsession with a generation of superfans. And it’s also a swashbuckling comic-book adventure in its own right, playfully borrowing from the Three Amigos model of confusing fictional characters with real-life heroes, as the sci-fi show’s cast is designed to match a real one prevent alien invasion. Sigourney Weaver has a blast, Tim Allen conjures his Shatner-esque star’s inflated ego with ease, and Alan Rickman steals the show as the classically trained Shakespearean thespian who fills the series’ Spock role.
“My Girl” (May 31)
Each generation has their own story about the film that unexpectedly turned them into a crying mess. And if their parents were blown to pieces by “Old Yeller,” most ’90s kids can tell their own sobbing tales about going to the movies to see something like Macaulay Culkin’s charming sequel to “Kevin — Home Alone” and there…well, not that. Suffice it to say that the future, fast-talking and foul-mouthed “Veep” co-star Anna Chlumsky (the film’s actual leading lady; Culkins played a supporting role) is charismatic and personable as a young woman living through one of those summers in the everything changes as Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis provide both warmth and comic relief as the adults in their lives.
“Rango” (May 31)
The Disney juggernaut (and, to a lesser extent, the invasion of Illumination Entertainment) is so pervasive in family entertainment that it’s easy to overlook kid-friendly entertainment that appears without this imprimatur. But this 2011 adventure from Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures is a treat because it offers as much entertainment for parents as it does for kids – or maybe even more since the screenplay is “Gladiator” writer John Logan and his clearest inspiration which are clearly mature films. 70’s classic “Chinatown”. Gore Verbinski directs his Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp in the title role of a lost chameleon who becomes the sheriff of a small desert animal town; The adult-friendly supporting cast includes Ned Beatty, Isla Fisher, Timothy Olyphant, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton and Ray Winstone.