The Best TV Shows & Movies Leaving Netflix In April 2018
As April arrives, several great movie and TV titles will flee Netflix. So here's your last chance to catch them on the streaming service (until they return). In April, say goodbye to one of Ron Howard's best movies, one of Christopher Nolan's best movies, one of the best Batman movies, and more! These are the TV shows and movies leaving Netflix in March 2018.
The Best TV Shows and Movies Leaving Netflix in April 2018
Apollo 13
Ron Howard is often accused of being a middle-of-the-road/workman director. But anyone saying that is overlooking the times Howard has delivered truly thrilling entertainment, like the 1995 drama Apollo 13. Howard tells the true story of the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission, which went very, very wrong. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and the late, great Bill Paxton are the astronauts stuck in space, and a stoic Ed Harris leads the team back at NASA trying to bring the astronauts home. With pulse-pounding urgency and a real sense of danger, Apollo 13 is one of Howard's best movies. Catch it before it's gone!
The Prestige
We can argue about what we consider Christopher Nolan's "best film" until the cow's come home, but for my money, Nolan's best is his 2006 dueling-magicians film The Prestige. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are two 19th-century magicians constantly trying to one-up each other, with alarming results. Nolan's film has a firm grasp on the madness inherent with obsession, and Bale and Jackman play off each other wonderfully. One of The Prestige's greatest achievements is the way it tricks its audience while pulling the rug out from under their feet, just like a good magician. Bonus: David Bowie shows up as Nikola Tesla.
Batman Returns
Speaking of Christopher Nolan, up until he arrived on the scene with his Dark Knight trilogy, the hands-down best Batman movie was Tim Burton's super-weird 1992 Batman Returns. Burton was always an odd choice for the Batman franchise, but his 1989 Batman had some semblance of the comic it was adapting. Batman Returns, in contrast, gave Burton a chance to go completely off the rails, crafting a psycho-sexual horror-show. Michael Keaton's Batman is an inert shut-in when he's not fighting crime; Danny DeVito's Penguin is a grotesque, nose-biting monster; and Michelle Pfeiffer's zombie Catwoman is equally sexy and scary. It's one hell of a movie, folks.
Starry Eyes
An unnerving, scary story about the price of fame, Starry Eyes is the story of Sarah (Alex Essoe), who wants to be a movie star. She'll do anything to get her big break in Hollywood. And I mean anything. Her path to fame results in getting involved with a cult, and things go from bad to worse very quickly. I'm being vague here because the less you know about Starry Eyes, the better. I will say this: I've seen a lot of horror movies in my life, and I've become mostly numb to them. Yet Starry Eyes got to me. Anytime a horror movie has the power to make a jaded fellow like myself feel unsettled, it must be doing something right. Next up for the Starry Eyes directors: a Pet Sematary remake.
Death Sentence
There's a good chance you already forgot the dreadful recent Death Wish remake directed by Eli Roth and starring Bruce Willis. That's fine. If you want to see a good film that uses the same premise, check out James Wan's overlooked 2007 thriller Death Sentence. Kevin Bacon is a happy family man who sets off on the path toward bloody revenge when a gang murders his son. Wan is a smart enough director to know that he shouldn't glorify the vigilante "justice" on display here, and instead presents Bacon's journey as dangerous and wrong-headed. At the same time, Death Sentence is a nasty little movie; a much more successful grindhouse-style throwback than all four hours of Grindhouse combined.
April 1
30 Days of Night
88 Minutes
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
American Pie
American Pie 2
Apollo 13
Batman
Batman & Robin
Batman Forever
Batman Returns
Caddyshack
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Cool Runnings
Death Sentence
Dolphin Tale
Eagle vs. Shark
John Mulaney: New in Town
Never Let Me Go
Set Up
Small Soldiers
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Men Who Stare at Goats
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Shawshank Redemption
The Whole Nine Yards
Wild Wild West
April 3
Starry Eyes
April 5
The Hallow
The Nightingale
April 12
The Emperor's New Clothes
April 15
Happy Tree Friends
Leap Year
April 16
Son of God
April 17
Z Storm
April 20
The Exorcism of Molly Hartley
April 21
The Prestige
April 22
Exit through the Gift Shop
April 26
Kung Fu Panda 3
April 27
Begin Again