10 Movies To Watch Before They Leave Netflix At The End Of September

Movies such as "Frances Ha" and "Jurassic Park" will exit the service on Sept. 30.
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Netflix loses over two dozen movies on Sept. 30.

Movies leaving the service include Academy Award winners, Blockbuster juggernauts and beloved critical darlings.

I’m particularly sad to see the Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig film “Frances Ha” leave Netflix. And departures of classics such as the “Jurassic Park” trilogy will certainly disappoint a wide range of fans, too.

A scene from "Frances Ha," which is on Netflix until the end of September.
IFC Films/"Frances Ha"
A scene from "Frances Ha," which is on Netflix until the end of September.

Netflix has a habit of repeatedly dropping and then re-adding movies, so this may not be your last chance to watch the films as a subscriber. But why take that chance?

Below is a list of 10 recommendations to check out before the end of the month.

And if you want to stay informed on everything joining Netflix on a weekly basis, subscribe to the Streamline newsletter.

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Premise: This medieval adventure comedy is set in 14th century Europe and features a man of low status (Heath Ledger) who wishes to become a knight. He befriends a young Geoffrey Chaucer (who would go on to write “The Canterbury Tales”) and hatches a plan to trick his way into nobility. The path to potential glory highlights the goals of meritocracy in a world of inequality.

Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes

Premise: This comedic drama is set in 2010s New York City and features a young woman (Greta Gerwig) on the precipice of adulthood. She holds onto old friends, habits and dreams while hitting the barriers of a broke lifestyle in one of the most expensive places on earth. Her transition to a next phase of life calls into question millennial values and the limitations of artistic ambition in capitalism.

Noah Baumbach directed the movie and co-wrote the screenplay with Gerwig.

Runtime: 1 hour, 26 minutes

Premise: In this heist thriller set in 2000s New York City, a detective (Denzel Washington), a bank robber (Clive Owen) and a mysterious fixer (Jodie Foster) combat for supremacy in a tense hostage situation. The detective doesn’t know whom to trust, especially as the roles of institutions blur when he discovers that the bank is hiding Nazi secrets. As the detective uncovers unexpected evil forces that go beyond what initially seemed like a simple heist, the roles of good and evil become hazy.

Spike Lee directed.

Runtime: 2 hours, 9 minutes

Premise: In this sci-fi adventure drama set on a mysterious island, a team of experts (Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill) get to tour a park that features the recreation of dinosaurs from the prehistoric DNA. The park is supposed to be safe, but the dinosaurs get loose, and the visitors need to go on the run. The hubris of the wealthy founder of the park to bring an untested technology into the world serves as a cautionary tale for giving tech (and the rich) the benefit of the doubt.

The movie earned three Academy Awards for effects and sound.

Steven Spielberg directed.

Runtime: 2 hours, 7 minutes

Premise: This boxing drama set in Los Angeles features a down-on-her-luck woman (Hilary Swank) who convinces a boxing coach (Clint Eastwood) and his assistant (Morgan Freeman) to train her toward a career. The boxer trains relentlessly and defies expectations given her late start to the field. In a boxing accident, the woman develops quadriplegia, calling into question the will to survive and the value of a life well-lived.

The movie earned seven Academy Award nominations. It won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor.

Clint Eastwood directed.

Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes

Premise: This historical drama set in occupied Poland during World War II focuses on events surrounding Nazi concentration camps. The story centers around a businessman (Liam Neeson) who pledges to the Nazi party and staffs his factory with Jewish workers for high profits but ultimately realizes that he should try to use his factory to save as many Jewish lives as possible. The movie reckons with the extreme horrors of Nazi Germany that occurred less than a century ago.

Steven Spielberg directed.

The movie earned 12 Academy Award nominations. It won seven Oscars: Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Production Design.

Runtime: 3 hours, 15 minutes

Premise: This sports drama, loosely based on the 1930s American history surrounding the racehorse Seabiscuit, follows a team of men (Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper and Tobey Maguire) who work together as a horse racing team. The Great Depression and other personal struggles have left all three in desperate need of a change in fortunes. The competition element poses an alternative to those who don’t get what they need from the American economy.

The movie earned seven Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture.

Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes

Premise: This sci-fi action satire set in the 23rd century focuses on a military team fighting giant aliens. The team both believes the aliens are an existential threat to earth and that the team is so elite that they’ll win the war with ease. The extreme and misplaced hubris of the human fighting forces calls into question the fascist tendencies of the military industrial complex of contemporary times.

Paul Verhoeven directed.

The movie earned one Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.

Runtime: 2 hours, 9 minutes

Premise: This biographical drama set in the mid-2000s at Harvard University focuses on the rise of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) as he creates Facebook with classmates. Facebook brings Zuckerberg much-craved status and forces users to stress about their own place in the world. Zuckerberg’s pursuit of power shows the limitations of technological ideals and the probable need to regulate societal-changing inventions.

The movie earned eight Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture. It won three Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Music Score and Best Film Editing.

David Fincher directed the movie, and Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay.

Runtime: 2 hours

Premise: This comedy set in a Pittsburgh suburb features two near life-long friends (Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen) going through an existential crisis as they attend their 10-year high school reunion. The friends desperately need money and see no path to getting it through traditional work paths, so they decide to make and sell a porno starring themselves. While heavy on sexual humor, the forced pivot to pornography highlights the need for a far more robust safety net and a more inclusive pathway to a successful life in contemporary America.

Kevin Smith wrote and directed.

Runtime: 1 hour, 41 minutes

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