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

Greetings, Polygon readers!

It feels just like the 12 months solely simply began, and January is sort of behind us. We’ve already seen some spectacular films up to now, with shock hits like Mayhem! and David Ayer’s The Beekeeper, and there are much more thrilling new releases slated to return out in February. Earlier than we get there, although, we’ve rounded up our choices of one of the best films to observe earlier than they go away streaming platforms on the finish of the month. We’ve obtained Janicza Bravo’s hilarious and weird black-comedy crime film Zola, Edgar Wright’s 2010 cult traditional Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, an explosive early-aughts kaiju traditional, and far more.

Listed below are one of the best films you must watch earlier than they go away streaming this January.

Editor’s choose

The Exorcist III

Director: William Peter BlattyCast: George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason MillerLeaving 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 ebook as the ultimate entry in our annual Halloween Countdown checklist of horror suggestions. The rationale why is straightforward: For a franchise made up nearly totally of regrettable entries that repeatedly try (and fail) to emulate the long-lasting 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.

Primarily based on Blatty’s 1983 novel Legion, the movie follows William Kinderman (George C. Scott), a Georgetown police lieutenant assigned to research a sequence of murders probably 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 good friend 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 completely terrifying film that probes the identical territory as the unique however from its personal distinctive perspective. If for nothing else, it’s obtained simply one of many scariest leap scares ever dedicated to movie, however I’m not telling you when it occurs. I wouldn’t wish to spoil the shock. —Toussaint Egan

Films to observe on Netflix

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Director: Edgar WrightCast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran CulkinLeaving 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. Primarily based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel sequence, 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 12 months’s Netflix anime adaptation, which noticed the return of your complete unique solid to reprise their roles. With the brand new context of that sequence, it’s a good time to return to the unique adaptation. —TE

Films to observe on Hulu

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

Director: Shusuke KanekoCast: Chiharu Niiyama, Ryudo Uzaki, Masahiro KobayashiLeaving Hulu: Jan. 31

There’s one breathtaking second in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Large Monsters All-Out Assault the place the digital camera zooms out from a person in a rest room to Godzilla crushing the home he’s in together with his foot, transferring from a full-size set to miniatures with out breaking the shot. The film does this a number of instances, transitioning to miniatures with intelligent masking strategies for max 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 films, particularly in its use of miniatures and rejection of a CG Godzilla for the traditional “man in a go well with” method. Like lots of the finest films within the franchise, it additionally balances tones very effectively. 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 instances on the market like a high quality Godzilla film, and GMK actually suits that invoice. A observe: Hulu solely carries the dubbed model, as a result of Toho had the film dubbed for worldwide launch. The dub could be very strong, although, with the voice actors leaning into the honest (and at instances foolish) tone of the challenge. —Pete Volk

Films to observe on Max

The Thomas Crown Affair

Director: John McTiernanCast: Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis LearyLeaving Max: Jan. 31

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

Brosnan performs Thomas Crown, an smug playboy billionaire who can also 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 recreation, culminating in an unforgettable, intricately choreographed sequence set to Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman.” —PV

Films to observe on Prime Video

Zola

Director: Janicza BravoCast: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas BraunLeaving Prime Video: Jan. 31

Few movies have totally embodied the raucous surrealism of our technologically mediated fashionable 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). Primarily based 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 good friend Stefani (Keough) to go on a highway journey to Tampa to earn cash. Nonetheless, what begins as a lighthearted weekend jaunt rapidly morphs into a protracted 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