The Best TV Shows And Movies Leaving Netflix In September 2024

Universal Pictures

Well, folks, summer is almost over. For some of you, this will be bad news — summer is a time of fun in the sun! Others will find solace in the fact that fall, arguably the best season, is on the way. But no matter how you feel, the simple fact of the matter is that change is inevitable. We can’t stop the seasons anymore than we can stop Netflix from saying goodbye to certain titles once the calendar rolls over. So as August gives way to September, it will be time to part ways with several movies and TV shows currently available on the streaming giant. As usual, we’re here to both list all the titles leaving the service and highlight a handful that you definitely want to check out before they’re gone. There’s always a chance these films and TV shows will return to Netflix one day, but for now, you’ll have to prepare yourself for their departure.

Dune

Universal Pictures

Denis Villeneuve’s two “Dune” movies may be the more acclaimed cinematic takes on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi tome, but I’ll always have a soft spot for David Lynch’s infamous 1984 movie. Lynch himself has said many times over the years that he’s unhappy with the results, and has even completely disowned an alternate cut of the film that was eventually released. And sure, Lynch’s movie was a notorious flop when it opened. But Lynch is such an inventive filmmaker that he’s able to create something big and weird and wonderful in the process. Some of the shortcuts the film takes in telling the lengthy story don’t quite work (for example: there’s a clumsy narration added that tries to spell things out), but I still maintain that Lynch’s movie is worth seeing. The story follows young Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) as he fights for revenge when his royal house is decimated by the evil Harkonnens. Full of incredible practical effects and bizzaro production and costume design, “Dune” is worth embracing, flaws and all.

The Conjuring

Warner Bros. Pictures

Ed and Lorraine Warren were real-life paranormal investigators, and while the real Warrens were problematic at best, my heart belongs to the highly fictionalized version of Warrens presented in “The Conjuring” movies. As played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, the movie Warrens are a loving couple who go above and beyond to help others plagued by the supernatural. They made their movie debut in James Wan’s “The Conjuring,” a spooky haunted house movie based on a true story. In the film, the Perron family moves into a farmhouse that turns out to be highly haunted. Unable to move due to financial reasons, the Perrons turn to the Warrens for help. Creepy, effective, and anchored by the great performances of Wilson and Farmiga, “The Conjuring” is a stellar modern horror flick, and the rest of the franchise ain’t too shabby, either.

Natural Born Killers

Warner Bros.

It’s almost impossible to imagine a major studio like Warner Bros. releasing a film as controversial as “Natural Born Killers” today. But in the 1990s, director Oliver Stone was riding high, and in ’94, his “Natural Born Killers” hit theaters — and ended up being a box office success. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, “Natural Born Killers” became a lightning-rod for controversy, with many criticizing the movie’s violent content and some claiming the film inspired real-life copycat crimes. Now, 30 years later, “Natural Born Killers” is a fascinating glimpse at an era where studios weren’t afraid to take serious risks. Stone breaks out a wide variety of filmic styles to tell the bloody, satirical story of Mickey and Mallory Knox, a pair of lovers who engage on a cross-country killing spree and become celebrities in the process. Based partially on a script by Quentin Tarantino, Stone’s film is a send-up of the ’90s as a whole, and feels almost prescient in the way it predicted our current social media-obsessed age.

Beverly Hills Cop

Paramount Pictures

In the 1980s, a young comedian named Eddie Murphy broke out in a big way. He rose to prominence first on “Saturday Night Live,” and then made his big-screen debut in “48 Hrs.” In 1983, his movie career continued with “Trading Places,” and by 1984, Murphy was officially a big movie star with “Beverly Hills Cop,” the first film that let him take the lead. Murphy was born to play trash-talking Detroit cop Axel Foley, a role he’s returned to again and again over the years (including this year’s Netflix film “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F”). The sequels have their defenders (except for part 3, which everyone seems to agree is bad), but the first “Beverly Hills Cop” remains the best entry in the series. Here, Axel heads to Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of his friend. Sure, as a Detroit cop he has no jurisdiction in California, but that’s not gonna stop him.

Back to the Future

Universal Pictures

The touching story of a boy who takes his mom to the prom, “Back to the Future” remains an all-time classic for a reason: it’s great. This sci-fi comedy from director Robert Zemeckis follows ’80s teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), who ends up traveling back in time to the 1950s and encountering younger versions of his parents, played by Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover. When Marty inadvertently gets in the way of his parents hooking up, he has to act fast and work with mad scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in order to both set things right, and get back … to the future. Pretty much everything in this movie works, from the top on down, thanks primarily to the cracking good script by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It’s a minor miracle that we haven’t been cursed with a lousy legacy sequel (or a reboot/remake) to this movie yet (knock on wood).