While looking over the list of movies coming and going from Netflix at the turn of the month, I was shocked at just how few titles we’re actually losing this time around. Typically I could round out a list twice as big as this with plenty of great titles still failing to earn a shout out: running the gamut from well-worn classics to overlooked curiosities. More often than not, my end of the month viewing turns into a mad scramble to see everything I’ll soon find myself wishing that I had.
But not August, not this time at least. Yes, there are still a great number of great movies getting the boot in the month to come, but not so many as there usually are. It was actually a bit of a stretch to hit five this time around (but rest assured, Dear Readers, I managed to fill that roster), which is a pleasant change of pace for me, at least.
Whether it’s a change in the wind for Netflix’s movie retention (which historically loses far more than it gains from month to month) or just a happy accident, I’ll happily take what’s given and not ask twice about it. And while there will be a few last-minute rewatches for me to close out the month, it is thankfully nothing like the usual last-minute cramming that I’ve grown used to over recent years.
13 Assassins (2010)
Director Takashi Miike is a bit of an oddity in the west (and even, as it turns out, in his native Japan). This ultra-prolific director (who has somehow directed over one hundred films since making his directorial debut in 1991) is among the most fiercely original filmmakers working today, along with Western mainstays like Guillermo del Toro and Wes Anderson.
Although he’s best known in the west for his show-stoppingly violent Audition (1999), his career has included everything from Yakuza crime films (a trio of which are available on Shudder right now), the singularly bizarre Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) (which accurately advertises itself as “The Sound of Music meets Dawn of the Dead), a big-screen adaptation of the Phoenix Wright games and a live-action adaptation of the cult manga hit JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. 13 Assassins is an example of another one of his directorial mainstays: samurai films. A remake of the 1963 film of the same name, the film follows the titular cabal of killers as they try to prevent the leader of a rival clan before he can be appointed to the powerful Shogunate Counsel. It’s the kind of wonderfully hyper-violent spectacle that only Miike can provide: one that’s so jam-packed with action that the final battle sequence takes up nearly half of its two-hour runtime.
The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005)
I distinctly remember the first time that I saw this raunchy Judd Apatow comedy. My parents had sent me to the nearby Blockbuster (remember those?) to pick out a movie to watch with them after dinner. After perusing the aisles for a little while I settled on this movie and, knowing literally nothing other than “I’ve heard this was really funny” and “my parents like comedies,” I checked it out, came home and plugged it into our DVD player. We all laughed and cringed and cheered at the tv in equal measure and afterwards my parents turned to me and asked “Now, we liked it, but what made you choose that movie to watch with us?”
And, in all fairness, it was a really funny movie. Since this directorial debut, Apatow’s gone on to have a stellar career as a filmmaker (although never quite good enough to top this particular film). This was Seth Rogen’s breakout role (having only appeared in bit parts in Donnie Darko (2001) and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)). This came right on the heels of leading man Steve Carell’s breakout role in The Office and was imbued with that actor’s incredible sense of earnestness and likeability.
Take it from a laughless curmudgeon who, by his own admission, rarely likes comedies: this is a must-see for anybody with a comedic bone in their body. It’s just that good.
Finding Dory (2004)
It’s always a toss-up when you ask people what their favorite Pixar movie is. There are just so dang many of them out there at this point and with very little exception, they’re all unequivocally excellent. From their very first Toy Story (1995) to their very latest Incredibles 2 (2018), from Wall-E to Up (2009) to Coco (2017), they’ve tackled every new story with brazen creativity and remarkable skill.
And while I can’t say that it’s strictly my favorite of their movies — you can thank Inside Out (2015) for that — it was my first favorite of theirs: the first Pixar movie that made me stop, slack-jawed, and let out a breathless “woah…” Essentially Taken (2008) but with fish, single-dad Marlin’s desperate cross-oceanic quest to find his kidnapped son is a harrowing and emotional journey like few films ever truly are. With gorgeous animation, endearing characters and plenty of action to move things along between the narrative beats, filmmaking rarely comes any finer than this.
Sausage Party (2016)
On the exact opposite end of things, however, is a movie caught in the crosshairs between both of the last two movies. This R-rated deconstruction of modern animation (first and foremost targeting the family-friendly Pixar machine) takes down its omnipresent targets through one simple change to the money-printing formula that has been at play for the last twenty-odd years. Rather than giving voice to animals or toys or feelings, they do it with food.
Through this seemingly simple change — that the food we cook, eat and throw out every day is alive and cognizant of their surroundings — everything inherently wholesome about Disney-branded animated adventures turns horrific. We watch the film’s colorfully rendered characters get eaten alive, chopped into salads and endure the most Hellish existence imaginable all in the name of the film’s second target: organized religion. It’s a viciously smart, incendiary and, above all, fun satire that takes no prisoners along the way, and easily proves itself as one of its year’s best films.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
For as fun as big-budget blockbusters are when they come stomping their way through town, sometimes you just need a little break from Hollywood’s carnival game spectacle. Sometimes you just want a good movie: a modest-scale production that gets by on smart writing and workmanlike acting. And, every once in a great while, you want to watch the world end.
You get all of that in Seeking a Friends for the End of the World, a dramedy that somehow manages to find the lighter side of the apocalypse. Also starring Steve Carell, it follows a man whose midlife crisis comes in just under the wire of an asteroid wiping out all life on the planet. Helping him work through his last-minute issues is Keira Knightly’s character, who finds a but of fatalistic fun in the final days of mankind. Especially if you need a bit of a pallet-cleanser as the blockbuster season begins to slowly taper off, this may very well be the movie you’ve been looking for.