Leaving in December

Dancing off into the new year...

Sadly, a lot of good flicks are leaving Amazon Prime this week (although not nearly as many as are leaving Netflix—yikes). Among these are some genuine classics, including The French Connection (1971), Gandhi (1982), It Happened One Night (1934), On the Waterfront (1954), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Modern classics include Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind (1994), Unforgiven (1992), When Harry Met Sally (1989), and Woody Allen's recent hit, Midnight in Paris (2011).

Speaking of the Woodman, two of his earlier comedies, Play It Again, Sam (1972) and Broadway Danny Rose (1984), are also departing, as are films by auteurs Robert Altman (3 Women), Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven), Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), and Sydney Pollack (The Way We Were).

Some of these losses will be offset in January by such newcomers as An Affair to Remember, Dazed and Confused, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Serpico, but those on again/off again EPIX titles don't make up for what may prove to be some long-term departures.

Here's the full list of what's been reported to be expiring before the new year:

New in September: Movie Overload

Up In the Air

I've been trying to finish this post since last week, but there have been so many new additions to Amazon Prime since then, it's taken me much longer than expected. While Netflix is busy shedding older catalog titles left and right in favor of exclusive content, Prime continues to bulk up its film library with an enormous assortment of new arrivals. A number of them (such as The Captains, The Blair Witch Project, and Up In the Air) also just showed up on Netflix, but unlike Netflix—who's letting its licensing agreement with Epix expire on September 30—Prime won't be losing those titles at the end of the month. Amazon also seems to have picked up a major chunk of the hundreds of 2nd- and 3rd-tier older titles Netflix began shedding without warning back in July.

Here for one month only

That doesn't mean Amazon is entirely off the hook, however. Once again Prime picked up a number of older films that already come with an expiration date. Those include notables like Street Smart, The Gambler, Racing with the Moon, and West Side Story. Why this behavior, which also occurred last month, is being repeated is a mystery (to those of us on the outside, anyway), but we can only hope it doesn't become the new normal. In the meantime, here are the new titles marked to expire on 9/29. If their status changes or you find any others, please let me know in the comments.

The Bellboy (1960)
The Gambler (1974)
Ghoulies (1984) / Ghoulies II (1988)
Invasion U.S.A. (1985)
Nobody's Fool (1995)
Racing with the Moon (1984)
Sliver (1993)
Some Kind of Hero (1982)
Street Smart (1987)
West Side Story (1961)

August Departures: The New and the (Very) Old

Fallen Angels

Strange goings-on at Prime this month. As mentioned in my August 6 post, a significant portion of this month's arrivals also number among this month's departures. Most of these are Paramount titles, some quite notable—not just for their quality but for their scarcity among the streaming ranks. So now is the time if you've been waiting to check out Ironweed (1987), Mel Gibson's Hamlet (1990), Jane Campion's Portrait of a Lady (1997), the classic Johnny Guitar (1954), or Leo and Kate in Sam Mendes' 1960s drama, Revolutionary Road (2009).

If all those are a bit too highbrow for you, then other one-month stays include the more low-rent (but possibly more pleasurable) 10 to Midnight (1983), Bolero (1984), Hannie Caulder (1972), A Show of Force (1990), and Walking Tall (1973). Meanwhile, your kids (or the one still inside you) will soon be without Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977), The Monster Squad (1987), and the evergreen Charlotte's Web (1973). All of these will be streaming through midnight on August 30 (full list below).

Recent Arrivals, Upcoming Departures

When HBO first announced its HBO Now standalone service, the concern among many Prime subscribers was whether this meant the end of HBO's presence on Prime Instant Video. Would the contract on the service's current shows simply be allowed to run out, with no new content made available? If the additions of the last few days are any indication, you can relax: it looks like you've still got time to catch up on The Wire and The Sopranos—not to mention some other great shows that are now available, including the first seasons of Girls, Veep, and the very unlucky Dustin Hoffman-starrer, Luck.

Arrivals (HBO series)

Banshee: Season 1 (2013) (Cinemax)
Girls: Season 1 (2012)
Hung: Seasons 1-3 (2009-11)
In Treatment: Seasons 2-3 (2009-10)
John From Cincinnati: Season 1 (2007)
Luck: Season 1 (2011)


Treme: Season 4 (2013)
True Blood: Season 4 (2011)
Veep: Season 1 (2012)

Also among the new HBO titles is 2012's Game Change, with Julianne Moore kicking butt as Sarah Palin and Ed Harris as John McCain. This joins a number of other quality HBO films on Prime, many of which can be found toward the bottom of the Only On Prime page.