February is the shortest month of the year, which means you’ll have less time than usual to catch great movies before they air. From Oscar nominees and winners to audience favorites, there’s plenty to fit into your streaming schedule!
What is leaving Netflix
Shutter Island
Martin Scorsese has mastered the genre gamut throughout his career, from the quintessential gangster movie to dramatic historical epics, but Shutter Island stands out as a remarkable swing by the director. This psychological thriller stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a US marshal who goes to investigate a mental institution on the titular island after a patient goes missing. It’s a movie that thrives on the doubt it creates in both its character and its audience, creating an eerie atmosphere and a disturbing story. Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams and Ben Kingsley also star. Shutter Island streams until the end of the month.
What is leaving Hulu
The hate you give
While many young adult novels have been successful enough to be adapted for the screen, few of these adaptations have seen actual success—at least critically. The hate you give is a rare and forcefully made exception. The film takes the all-too-real, all-too-common event of racist police brutality and explores its aftermath. Amandla Stenberg plays Starr, a sixteen-year-old girl who witnesses the violence and is pulled between her life in the black family community and her life at her mostly white private school. It’s a compelling central tension, one that reaches a stunning boiling point. The hate you give streams until February 14e.
Still Alice
The extraordinarily talented and cinematically iconic Julianne Moore won an Oscar for her work in the moving, emotional film, Still Alice. Moore stars as Alice, a professor whose grip on her life and self-esteem is upended by a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. While only minor details elude her at first, the illness worsens almost too quickly for her – or her family – to treat. Kristen Stewart adds depth to the film as Alice’s loveable daughter, but Moore undoubtedly steals the show with a truly devastating performance. Still Alice is available to stream until the end of the month.
What leaves HBO Max
American psychopath
American psychopathThe film’s return to the cultural zeitgeist certainly says something about the film’s lasting impact, as does its perfectly executed satire of everything from financial bros to how insensitive people are to extreme violence. Those things rang true in the source material’s setting in the 1980s and during the film’s 2000 release date, but the film’s genius doesn’t arrive until two decades later. Christian Bale stars as investment banker-slash-serial killer Patrick Bateman, a man who is as concerned about his business card as he is about his next murder. The ensemble cast is a mind-boggling array of talent, including Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe, and Chloë Sevigny. American psychopath streams until the end of the month.
Crazy rich Asians
Michelle Yeoh is breaking barriers by becoming the first Asian woman to ever be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, but that’s been a constant throughout her storied career. Example, the 2018 blockbuster and audience favorite, Crazy rich Asians. Between the dresses and the glamor of this rom-com lies a clever tale of culture clash; though Henry Golding plays a heady romantic lead, the real meat of the story lies in the tension between Yeoh’s matriarch and Constance Wu’s fish from
Penance
Did you know that Saoirse Ronan was only thirteen when she was nominated for her first Oscar? Penance saw the start of the Irish star’s unstoppable rise, aided in no small part by an extraordinary piece by Joe Wright. This decade-long film begins in 1935, when a young girl with a vivid imagination implicates the man her sister loves in a gruesome crime. Mistaken identities, misinterpreted intentions and a lifetime of regret characterize the ongoing drama. Aside from Ronan, Keira Knightley and James McAvoy turn in two very gripping performances, helping to anchor the movie and its whirlwind timeline. Penance streams until the end of the month.
What to watch is a regular endorsement of movies and TV worth your streaming time.
