October’s departing titles from Netflix in the United States include bubbly rom-coms, action thrillers, killer comedies and plenty of thrills and chills — it is the spooky season, after all. (Dates indicate the final day a title is available.)
‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ (Oct. 2)
Like most of the output of Illumination Entertainment (the folks behind the Minions), this animated adaptation of the durable Nintendo video game is not exactly Pixar quality, in terms of family entertainment excellence. But kids will love it, especially the little gamers, and adults will find amusements here and there — primarily the rip-roaring gonzo vocal performance of Jack Black, clearly having a ball as the lovelorn supervillain Bowser.
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ (Oct. 5)
Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the best-selling novel by Kevin Kwan is a sleek, shimmering, fast-paced examination of the haves and have-nots (but mostly the haves). It follows the charming Queens-born N.Y.U. professor Rachel (Constance Wu) and her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) to a wedding in Singapore, where the conspicuous wealth of his family threatens to upend their seemingly bulletproof relationship. Chu juggles quotable dialogue, gorgeous cinematography and a sprawling cast — most notably Michelle Yeoh as Nick’s stern and judgmental mother, a woman who Rachel quickly finds is not to be trifled with.
‘It Follows’ (Oct. 10)
Maika Monroe, so haunted and compelling in the recent movie “Longlegs,” made her big-screen breakthrough in this 2015 horror hit from the writer and director David Robert Mitchell. She stars as Jay, a 19-year-old girl who is stalked by a mysterious force after she sleeps with her boyfriend — who informs her, after the fact, that the only way to rid oneself of this particular evil is to pass it on, via sex, to its next victim. Such a setup lends itself to the crassest of genre exploitation devices, but Mitchell is too much of a stylist for that; he lingers on dread and mood rather than skin or blood, and he creates one of the more unshakable indie thrillers in recent memory.
‘Bride of Chucky’ (Oct. 31)
The “Child’s Play” franchise, in which the talking Chucky doll is possessed by the spirit of a serial killer, had lain dormant for seven years (an eternity in the world of slasher movies) after the series low of “Child’s Play 3” when the screenwriter Don Mancini revitalized his series in 1998. He did so by infusing the mostly serious thrillers with a heavy dose of campy comedy, and with the invaluable addition of the Oscar nominee Jennifer Tilly as Chucky’s love interest, Tiffany Valentine. The Hong Kong genre master Ronny Yu directs with visual flair and good humor. (Netflix is also streaming several other films in the series, which will also depart after Halloween night.)
‘Dark Waters’ (Oct. 31)
On first glance, this 2019 corporate thriller seemed to signal that the indie legend Todd Haynes was trying to go mainstream. But a closer examination reveals a film very much consistent with his preoccupations, pairing his formal ingenuity with a story of environmental illness and creeping paranoia that pairs nicely with his 1995 breakout film, “Safe.” Based on a 2016 article by Nathaniel Rich (published in The New York Times Magazine), it stars Mark Ruffalo as Rob Bilott, a corporate lawyer who typically defends corporate clients. Here, though, he takes on the giant DuPont corporation with a yearslong investigation that tested his sanity, resolve and personal safety. Haynes orchestrates the events with a masterly hand while Ruffalo reminds us of the exceptional actor lurking under the Hulk persona.
‘Jack Reacher’ / ‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’ (Oct. 31)
Stream “Jack Reacher” here and “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” here.
While fans patiently await Season 3 of Amazons series adaptation of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child, they can perhaps tide themselves over with Tom Cruise’s attempts to bring Child’s character to the big screen. They’re certainly less successful than the show, for several reasons (not the least of which is the miscasting of the diminutive Mr. Cruise as the massive Mr. Reacher). But both are reasonably compelling and well-crafted — particularly the inaugural outing, which was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who would subsequently take over the “Mission: Impossible” franchise. And any filmmaker with the sense to cast the eccentric German auteur Werner Herzog as the villain in a studio action picture deserves respect.
‘Key & Peele’: Seasons 1-3 (Oct. 31)
Jordan Peele has so successfully rebranded himself as one of our sharpest genre filmmakers that it’s easy to forget that, before that, he was one-half of one of our sharpest TV comedy teams. “Key & Peele” featured Peele and his fellow “Mad TV” alumnus Keegan-Michael Key in a series of sometimes broad, sometimes satirical, and always wildly funny sketches; debuting on Comedy Central in January 2012, series captured the trickiness and fragility of race and class in the Obama era with wit, insight and a refusal to bend to sacred cows.
‘La La Land’ (Oct. 31)
The writer and director Damien Chazelle paid affectionate tribute to the musicals of Hollywood’s Golden Era with this 2016 hit, which won six Academy Awards, including best director and best actress. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as the picture’s focal couple, an actress and a musician who are attempting to find success (and retain their artistic scruples) in contemporary Los Angeles. Chazelle gracefully interprets and updates the fizzy visuals and catchy songs of classic movie musicals, without downplaying the cold, hard realities of the relationship at its center. It’s a tricky tonal achievement that flustered even Martin Scorsese, whose 1977 disappointment “New York, New York” was a clear influence, but Chazelle and his talented cast never miss a step.
‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ (Oct. 31)
One of the most influential (and quotable) of all film comedies, this 1975 favorite found the British television comedy troupe Monty Python creating its first original movie vehicle with a cheerfully vulgar, riotously funny sendup of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. It’s a tough film to discuss without merely listing its classic bits (including the never-say-die Black Knight, the Knights Who Say Ni and the Trojan Rabbit), but equal praise must be given to its delightfully subversive conclusion, which takes the rules of cinema and turns them inside out.
‘The Young Victoria’ (Oct. 31)
When this freewheeling dramatization of 18-year-old Victoria’s ascension to the British throne was released in 2009, Emily Blunt was not yet a tested leading lady, the director Jean-Marc Vallée had not yet directed “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Wild” or the first season of “Big Little Lies,” and “The Crown” was still seven years away. But this combination of gifted director and durable subject matter (we do love a monarchy soap, even here in the land of the free) is irresistible, capturing the queen — typically thought of as dour and earnest — in her earlier, happier days, capitalizing on Blunt’s considerable charisma and chemistry with Rupert Friend as Prince Albert.
Also leaving: “Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax,” “Eat Pray Love,” “Hellboy,” “Jumanji,” “Magic Mike,” “Magic Mike XXL,” “Save the Last Dance,” “World War Z” (Oct. 31).
The post Stream These 11 Titles Before They Leave Netflix in October appeared first on New York Times.
