So here's the good news: though Netflix seems hellbent on putting more and more of their budget into original programming and scaling back the careful curating of a vast, multifaceted film and television catalog, August 2016 isn't going to see many big titles leaving. And as I pointed out in my article on what's coming to Netflix in August, there's a handful of major title - The Verdict, No Country for Old Men, etc. - that are getting added to the Netflix library, alongside promising original series The Get Down, from Baz Luhrmann, and The Little Prince, which the streaming service picked up after the gorgeous animated feature was dumped by its previous distributor.

addams-family-values
Image via Paramount Pictures

This is not to say that there aren't more than a few titles that you should make a point of watching before their expiration dates. Number one with a bullet on that list would be Spike Lee's Inside Man, a masterwork of the hostage situation sub-genre and arguably Lee's most accessible and stylistically lithe film ever. It's a sensationally witty and tense screenplay and features one of my favorite Denzel Washington performances, as well as expert supporting work from Clive Owen and Chiwetel Ejiofor. That's the only out-and-out great movie out of the lot, but there are a couple that would nearly qualify, such as The Sandlot, Frank Oz's Bowfinger, the animated Death Note adaptation, and the deliriously entertaining Addams Family Values. Beyond that, most of these are negligible at best, though my love for Rowan Atkinson makes me incapable of deriding Johnny English. Check out the rest of the list right below.


August 1st

Addams Family Values

The Best Man

rowan-atkinson-johnny-english-reborn-image-1

Bowfinger

The Gabby Douglas Story

Jennifer 8

Johnny English

The Nutty Professor

The Replacements

Roseanne Collection: Collection 2

Rugrats Go Wild

The Sandlot

Suspect Zero

Teen Witch

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

Vampire in Brooklyn

Where the Red Fern Grows

The Wild Thornberrys Movie

August 11th

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

August 14th

Clifford the Big Red Dog: Seasons 1­ & 2

Clifford’s Puppy Days: Seasons 1 & ­2

August 15th

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Image via Columbia Pictures

Charlie’s Angels

Wish Upon a Star

August 16th

Inside Man

August 20th

Harry the Bunny

August 23rd

Blitz

August 27th

The Pursuit of Happyness

August 30th

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

August 31st

Death Note

Naruto Shippûden the Movie: Bonds

Naruto Shippuden: The Movie

Zathura


death note
Image via Viz Media
bowfinger
Image via Universal
a-nightmare-on-elm-street-robert-englund
Image via New Line