These Films Are Leaving Netflix This Month

[Pink Freud]

Catch them while you can, courtesy New York Times:

‘The Woman King’ (Aug. 12)
Viola Davis is fierce and unforgettable as Nanisca, the 19th-century general of an all-woman warrior army in the African kingdom of Dahomey, while John Boyega is terrific as the monarch (at least in name) who supports her. The screenplay, penned by Dana Stevens (with story assistance from the actor Maria Bello) is based on a true story.

‘Paddington’ (Aug. 13)
In this 2014 adaptation by the director Paul King (“Wonka”) of the children’s book series, Nicole Kidman appears as an evil museum taxidermist who wants nothing more than to stuff the gentle cartoon bear of the title. It’s a delightfully wild performance, with just the right mixture of menace and camp — and there’s more to love besides, from the warmth of the family dynamic (led by Sally Hawkins and Hugh Bonneville, both charming) to the sweetness of the convincingly integrated animated Paddington (whimsically voiced by Ben Whishaw) to the winking tone, which will entertain children and parents alike.

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (Aug. 22) The winner of the Best Picture Oscar for 2022. A madcap hybrid of action movie, slapstick comedy, family drama and brainy science fiction. Michelle Yeoh won the best actress prize for her role as a meek laundromat owner whose trip into the metaverse unlocks the hero within; Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis picked up supporting actor trophies for their rich and funny turns as her husband and a harried I.R.S. agent.

‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’ (Aug. 23)
What began as a simple stop-motion animation short on YouTube in 2010 became a viral sensation and then, in 2022, this charming feature film. In it, the director Dean Fleischer Camp reprises his role as the human interviewer of Marcel, an inch-long hermit crab shell, assisting him on a journey to find his family. Isabella Rossellini (pitch perfect) joins the cast as his grandmother.

‘Burn After Reading’ (Aug. 31)
A wild, uproariously funny slapstick comedy by the Coen Brothers. John Malkovich stars as Osborne Cox, a recently unemployed C.I.A. analyst, whose attempt to skewer his bosses with a tell-all backfires broadly, pulling in a philandering lawman (George Clooney), Cox’s fed-up wife (Tilda Swinton), and two utterly brainless gym employees (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt).

‘Liar Liar’ (Aug. 31)
Jim Carrey is Fletcher Reede, a fast-talking divorce lawyer whose son grows so weary of his father’s constant lies that he wishes on his birthday candles that his dad must spend an entire day telling only the truth. The touchy-feely ending is a little much, but there are plenty of laughs, up to and including the especially funny end-credits outtakes.

‘Miami Vice’ (Aug. 31)
Michael Mann played a big part in defining ’80s cool (and redefining ’80s television) with the hit cop series “Miami Vice,” for which he was an executive producer and made many of the key decisions about its look and feel. He never wrote or directed any of its episodes, though he does both for this 2006 film adaptation. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx smolder as Miami cops Crockett and Tubbs; Gong Li adds considerable heat as Crockett’s romantic interest.

‘The Nutty Professor’ / ‘The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps’ (Aug. 31)
In playing both the kindhearted Professor Sherman Klump and Buddy Love, his smooth-talking but obnoxious alter ego who emerges when Klump swallows an experimental weight-loss potion, Eddie Murphy was able to fill in more shades of his comic persona. He also showed his considerable versatility in playing five additional characters, including most of Sherman’s family.

‘Spider-Man’ / ‘Spider-Man 2’ / ‘Spider-Man 3’ (Aug. 31)
The first film is firmly in origin-story territory, detailing how Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) was bit by a radioactive spider and turned into a stealth crime fighter. “Spider-Man 2,” released two years later, is even better, with the deliciously dark addition of the villain Doc Ock (Alfred Molina). “Spider-Man 3” (2007), though the weakest of the bunch, lets director Sam Raimi fully off the leash; he clearly had a breezy blast closing out his influential trilogy.

ALSO LEAVING: “The Accountant” (Aug. 26); “American Hustle,” “The Blind Side,” “The Edge of Seventeen,” “The Gift,” “Pineapple Express” (Aug. 31).

--- New York Times