The 7 Best Movies to Watch on Netflix Before They Expire in March 2021
Netflix certainly has a robust library of movies to watch at any given time, but they’re not there forever. Sure Netflix originals like Enola Holmes or Set It Up are always available to rewatch over and over again, but their library titles depend on licensing details for their longevity. Some seem to stay on the streaming service forever, while others depart almost as soon as they arrive.
With this in mind, we’ve singled out the best movies due to leave Netflix in March for you to prioritize while you’re watching Netflix this month. Whether you’ve seen them before or this is your first time, we can guarantee each of these seven films is well worth checking out before it’s gone.
Silver Linings Playbook
Leaving on: March 16th
Writer/Director: David O. Russell
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, and Julia Stiles
If you haven’t seen Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar-winning performance in Silver Linings Playbook, time is running out. This romantic comedy scored eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture and stars Bradley Cooper as a man suffering from bipolar disorder who moves back in with his parents after being released from a psychiatric hospital. He meets a recently widowed young woman (Lawrence) who vows to help him get back with his ex-wife, but wouldn’t you know it, while training for a big dance competition Cooper and Lawrence accidentally fall in love. It’s charming and offbeat, owing to filmmaker David O. Russell’s unique sensibilities, and Cooper and Lawrence have tremendous chemistry.
Killing Them Softly
Leaving on: March 30th
Director/Writer: Andrew Dominik
Cast: Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, and Sam Shepard
Director Andrew Dominik and actor Brad Pitt made a masterpiece with The Assassination of Jesse James, but their second film together is something completely different. If you go into Killing Them Softly expecting a hit man movie or even a gangster film, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re open to taking in a story about the practice of capitalism and the myth of the American Dream, you may just love it. Pitt and James Gandolfini play two hitmen hired to track down the thieves who robbed a protected gambling operation, but the film is actually building towards a gut-punch of a finale that, uh, takes aim square at the American way of life. It’s a bit of a rough sit but it’s an incredibly ambitious swing, and one you can’t help but admire. The cinematography by Greig Fraser, too, is outstanding. If you like offbeat genre riffs like Drive or The Lobster, give this one a whirl.
Chappaquiddick
Leaving on: March 31st
Director: John Curran
Writers: Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan
Cast: Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Jim Gaffigan, Clancy Brown, Olivia Thirlby, and Bruce Dern
This one’s a bit of a hidden gem but is well worth watching. In July of 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy was driving his car late at night and got into an accident, which killed a woman named Mary Jo Kopechne. The incident nearly derailed Kennedy’s career, but thanks to the cunning and knowhow of the Kennedy family and his political friends, he escaped relatively unscathed. Chappaquiddick is an engrossing chronicle of that incident captured in a haunting and striking manner, covering the day of the incident and days after, with Jason Clarke delivering a towering performance as Kennedy. The film digs at the moral hypocrisy that shrouded the entire incident, and also aims to get inside Kennedy’s head to figure out how he was thinking/feeling at the time. While the truth remains shrouded in mystery, Chappaquiddick feels deeply honest (and fair) to the subject matter and people involved, and it’s a fascinating chronicle of not just the incident, but the power and influence of Kennedy patriarch Joe Kennedy.
Inception
Leaving on: March 31st
Director/Writer: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
After making one of the most critically acclaimed superhero movies in history, filmmaker Christopher Nolan set out to test whether Hollywood could still bet big on original ideas with his 2010 sci-fi actioner Inception. To the tune of $828.3 million at the box office and multiple Oscar nominations, audiences and critics alike responded enthusiastically, and thus a new classic was born. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a professional thief haunted by his past who takes on one last job. The catch? His heists take place inside people’s minds, as he’s tasked with either stealing or planting information in someone’s head. Inception is a visually stunning affair that also boasts one of the most exciting endings in recent memory.
Molly’s Game
Leaving on: March 31st
Director/Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O’Dowd, and Bill Camp
Aaron Sorkin may very well pick up a number of Oscar nominations this year for his Netflix drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, but if you like that movie you should check out his first directorial effort, which is a great poker film with a crackerjack script. Based on a true story, Molly’s Game stars Jessica Chastain as a woman who became the target of an FBI investigation after the underground poker empire that she runs for Hollywood celebrities is exposed. While the script isn’t quite as tight as some of Sorkin’s other stuff, this movie is incredibly entertaining and Chastain gives a hell of a performance. This is a perfect Friday night movie.
Taxi Driver
Leaving on: March 31st
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, and Albert Brooks
That Martin Scorsese knows a thing or two about cinema, and his masterful 1976 film Taxi Driver still stands as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. The neo-noir follows a lonely veteran and cab driver named Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) searching for purpose. Disgusted with the increasing filth on the streets of New York City—as he sees it—Travis decides to take matters into his own hands and clean up the streets himself. The film chronicles Travis’ descent into increasingly violent behavior, and how one’s worldview can be so warped that they see themselves as a hero, when instead they’re downright villainous. This is a complicated movie with no easy answers and no black-and-white, as Scorsese examines the morally grey world we live in. Through tremendous shot composition, an unforgettable score by Bernard Hermann, and one of the best performances of all time from De Niro, Taxi Driver remains one of the most intriguing and effective anti-hero movies ever made.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Leaving on: March 31st
Director/Writer: Stephen Chbosky
Cast: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Joan Cusack, and Paul Rudd
If you haven’t seen The Perks of Being a Wallflower, prioritize this one ASAP — it should be required consumption for every teen. Writer/director Stephen Chbosky adapts his own coming-of-age novel with this 2012 feature film about a teenager named Charlie (Logan Lerman) who struggles with depression and anxiety through his first year of high school, eventually finding companionship and support through a lovely group of new friends. I know this sounds like a million other “teen” movies out there, but trust me, this one is the goods. It doesn’t talk down to its characters, nor does it offer some adult’s version of what a “teen” is like. It feels absolutely true to life, and you’ll no doubt find plenty to connect to within. And maybe you’ll even find it cathartic too. Don’t sleep on this underrated gem.
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