Greetings, Polygon readers!
It feels like the year has just begun and January is almost behind us. We’ve seen some impressive films so far, with surprise hits like Chaos! and David Ayers The beekeeper, and more exciting new releases are set to release in February. Before we get there, though, we’ve put together our picks for the best movies you should watch before they leave streaming platforms at the end of the month. We have Janicza Bravo’s hilarious and bizarre black crime comedy ZolaEdgar Wright’s 2010 cult classic Scott pilgrim against the worldan explosive early childhood kaiju classic and much more.
Here are the best movies to watch before they hit streaming in January.
Editor’s Choice
The Exorcist III
Director: William Peter Blatty
Pour: George C Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller
Exit criteria channel: 31 January
Last October I included The Exorcist Writer William Peter Blatty’s 1990 threequel to William Friedkin’s masterful adaptation of this book is the final entry in our annual Halloween countdown list of horror recommendations. The reason for this is simple: for a franchise that consists almost entirely of unfortunate entries that continually try (and fail) to replicate the original film’s iconic terror, The Exorcist III is the only sequel that came closest to achieving this feat, as it was willing to go out on a limb and tell its own equally horrifying story.
Based on Blatty’s 1983 novel legionThe film follows William Kinderman (George C. Scott), a Georgetown police lieutenant who has been assigned to investigate a series of murders that may be linked to a notorious murderer believed to have been committed years earlier. His investigation leads him to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital, where a mysterious amnesiac who resembles Kinderman’s deceased friend Father Karras is being treated. Although it is known to suffer from several pre- and post-production issues, The Exorcist III is a truly fascinating and thoroughly terrifying film that explores the same territory as the original, but from its own unique perspective. Last but not least, it’s one of the scariest jump scares ever put to film, but I won’t tell you when it happens. I don’t want to spoil the surprise. –Toussaint Egan
Movies to watch on Netflix
Scott pilgrim against the world
Director: Edgar Wright
Pour: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin
Leaving Netflix: February 1st
Edgar Wright’s romantic action comedy is the textbook definition of a “zeitgeist” film, embodying both the meteoric popularity of the comic that inspired it and the generational momentum and aesthetic of the 2010s. Based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was It was a box office hit when it first hit theaters, but over the decade-plus the film has steadily developed a cult following, culminating in last year’s Netflix anime adaptation starring the entire original cast returned to reprise their roles. Given the new context of this series, it’s a good time to return to the original adaptation. -THE
Movies to watch on Hulu
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Major Attack of the Giant Monsters
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Pour: Chiharu Niiyama, Ryudo Uzaki, Masahiro Kobayashi
Leaving Hulu: 31 January
There is a breathtaking moment Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Major Attack of the Giant Monsters Here the camera zooms in from a man in a bathroom to Godzilla crushing the house he’s in with his foot, switching from a full-size set to miniatures without pausing the shot. The film does this several times, moving into miniatures using clever masking techniques maximum effect and staggering scale, and the joy of the film’s formal approach gives it energy.
GMK is a delightful throwback to the early era of Godzilla films, particularly through its use of miniatures and rejection of a CG Godzilla for the classic “man in a suit” approach. As with many of the best films in the series, the tone is very well balanced. It’s funny – the first 90 seconds reference both the original film and Roland Emmerich’s 1998 entry, humorously dismissing the latter’s potential status as canon – but also very tense in the destruction sequences.
There are few guaranteed good moments like a quality Godzilla film, and GMK definitely fits this bill. A note: Hulu only carries the dubbed version, as Toho had the film dubbed for international release. However, the dubbing is very solid, and the voice actors align with the sincere (and sometimes silly) tone of the project. —Pete Volk
Movies to watch on Max
The Thomas Crown Affair
Director: John McTiernan
Pour: Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis Leary
Max leaves: 31 January
There are no hotter heist movies than this. John McTiernan’s remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway classic is a scorching delight with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo at their best.
Brosnan plays Thomas Crown, an arrogant playboy billionaire who is also the world’s biggest art thief in his spare time (in many ways, this is Brosnan’s Batman movie). Russo is Catherine Banning, an insurance investigator tasked with solving and recovering Crown’s latest daring theft. The two fall in love over the course of a delicious game of cat and mouse, culminating in an unforgettable, intricately choreographed sequence to Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman.” —PV
Movies to watch on Prime Video
Zola
Director: Janicza Bravo
Pour: Taylor Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun
Leaving Prime Video: 31 January
Few films have so fully embodied the raw surrealism of our technologically mediated modern lives as Janicza Bravo’s dark crime comedy starring Taylour Paige (Ma Rainey’s black ass) and Riley Keough (Under the Silver Lake). Based on David Kushner’s Rolling Stone story 2015 and the viral Twitter thread that inspired it, the film tells the story of Aziah “Zola” King (Paige), a part-time stripper living in Detroit who is convinced by her new friend Stefani (Keough) to take a road trip there to do in Tampa to make money. But what begins as a carefree weekend getaway quickly turns into a long and exciting odyssey full of absurdity, crime, violence and a colorful cast of characters. Four years after it first aired, there is still nothing like it Zola. -THE
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