The best movies leaving Netflix, Prime, and Max at the end of June 2023

June is almost behind us, and you know what that means: A new slew of movies landing on streaming is just over the horizon. Before we get there though, it’s worth taking stock of the best films the streaming platforms have to offer this month before they shuffle off their respective platforms.

We’ve got a solid selection of outgoing movies to choose from this month, from a triple-feature of crime dramas starring Denzel Washington, the outstanding romantic comedy High Fidelity starring John Cusack, Martin Scorsese’ Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and so many more.

With choices like that, you won’t have to look far to find something awesome to watch. Let’s get into it.

Movies to watch on Netflix

American Gangster/Inside Man/Taking of Pelham 123

Image: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Year: 2007; 2006; 2009
Genre: Biographical crime drama; Heist thriller; Heist thriller
Run time: 2h 56m; 2h 9m; 1h 46m
Director: Ridley Scott; Spike Lee; Tony Scott
Cast: Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Why not end the month with a Denzel triple-header, celebrating one of the greatest Black action stars to ever grace our screens?

There are no bad eras of Denzel films, but this one was a particularly good one. His collaborations with Tony Scott were in full swing, and this trio sees him working with three master directors all at the top of their games, all while playing memorable (and extremely different) leads.

You could watch them in chronological order (starting with Inside Man and ending with Pelham 123), but starting with the period piece American Gangster and ending with back-to-back heis thrillers just feels right. And then you’ve got a Spike Lee movie bookended by movies from the Scott brothers, all starring Denzel, which just sounds like a terrific way to spend a Saturday night. —Pete Volk

American Gangster, Inside Man, and The Taking of Pelham 123 leave Netflix July 1.

Last Action Hero

Image: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Year: 1993
Genre: Action comedy
Run time: 2h 10m
Director: John McTiernan
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney

To have an effective parody of a genre, you have to be able to realistically mimic the things that draw people to it. It’s the reason why Wes Craven’s Scream movies work so well, and the same could be said about Last Action Hero.

A young movie-obsessed child (Austin O’Brien) is thrown into the world of his favorite action franchise, while the movie’s villain (a deliciously over-the-top Charles Dance) is sent to the real world. The child and the movie’s hero (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Netflix’s newly-minted Chief Action Officer) have to get back to the real world to stop the villain.

Directed by John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard), Last Action Hero benefits greatly by having that kind of skill behind the camera, and by having a bona fide action star in a leading role. But my favorite part is Dance, and the many different prop glass eyeballs his character uses in the movie. —PV

The Last Action Hero leaves Netflix July 1.

Movies to watch on Hulu

Dredd

Image: Lionsgate

Year: 2012
Genre: Sci-fi action
Run time: 1h 35m
Director: Pete Travis
Cast: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Wood Harris

If you love Gareth Evans’ 2011 Indonesian action-thriller The Raid and somehow haven’t seen 2012’s Dredd … holy shit, are you in for a great time.

Starring Karl Urban (The Boys) as the gravel-voiced authoritarian super-cop, the film follows Dredd and his apprentice partner, Judge Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), as they are forced to bring law and order to a 200-story high-rise block ensnared in the vice grip of resident drug lord, Ma-Ma (Lena Headey).

Penned by screenwriter-turned-cerebral-sci-fi-director Alex Garland (and who, according to Urban, might have had more of a hand in the film’s production previously known), Dredd is an explosive action experience packed with dazzling slo-mo action sequences and charged with a biting satirical undercurrent of dark humor. —Toussaint Egan

Dredd leaves Hulu June 30.

High Fidelity

Image: Touchstone Home Entertainment

Year: 2000
Genre: Romantic comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 53m
Director: Stephen Frears
Cast: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Jack Black

If someone were to ask you what your top five breakups were, do you know who would make it onto your list? Rob Gordon (John Cusack), the protagonist of Stephen Frears’ 2000 romantic comedy-drama, certainly would. Fresh off of a breakup with his long-term girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle), Rob finds himself compelled to reconnect with his past exes in order to reach a deeper understanding of his own romantic shortcomings.

Apart from being a deeply funny, occasionally uncomfortable, and ultimately rewarding drama, High Fidelity is a cinematic time capsule of a bygone era of Chicagoan counter culture; a halcyonic time where bohemian misfits and aspiring musicians could find camaraderie at their local neighborhood record store, debating the latest and greatest in music and movies and passing that sense of love and discerning taste onto customers and coworkers alike. It’s a great movie about an emotionally immature man facing up to his foibles and recognizing what it takes to make love work. —Toussaint Egan

High Fidelity leaves Hulu June 30.

Movies to watch on Prime

The Aviator

Image: Warner Bros. Video

Year: 2004
Genre: Biographical drama
Run time: 2h 50m
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale

Coming off of the massive creative undertaking of his dream project Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsese teamed up with Leonardo DiCaprio once again for a biopic chronicling the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of Howard Hughes, the charismatic aviation tycoon behind Trans World Airlines who pivoted to filmmaking with projects like 1930’s Hell’s Angels and 1932’s Scarface.

Scorsese’s film is a monument to the excess and latent corruption of the Roaring ’20s, encapsulated through the story of a man whose glamorous playboy lifestyle and incorrigible ego were dwarfed only by the subsequent tragedies of his later life, irreparably scarred by a horrific plane crash and wracked by the mental strain of a lifelong private battle with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The Aviator, much like Hughes’ own career, is a dazzling spectacle of dizzying heights and precipitous lows rendered beautifully by Robert Richardson’s extravagant cinematography and the deft editing of longtime Scorsese collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker. At nearly three hours, the film’s run time may appear daunting at first, but The Aviator makes expert use of every minute, bobbing and weaving gracefully from one scene and set piece to the next before landing on a final note whose intimacy, desperation, and unwavering perseverance in the face of adversity is at once disquietingly tragic and profoundly moving. —TE

The Aviator leaves Prime Video June 30.

Hard Eight

Image: Paramount Pictures

Year: 1996
Genre: Crime drama
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow

Paul Thomas Anderson’s feature directorial debut Hard Eight isn’t just essential viewing for PTA fans, it’s also a movie tailor-made for fans of early Coen brothers crime movies or Paul Schrader’s films.

Philip Baker Hall gives a terrific performance as a professional gambler who takes on John C. Reilly as a protege, for reasons that seem altruistic and generous but really aren’t. The resulting twists involve Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson in surprising roles, but while everybody here is doing excellent work, the real star of this movie is the texture Anderson brings to it, and the distinctively melancholy and emotionally complicated layers he puts on what starts as a character study and turns into a psychological crime story.

The scale here is small, claustrophobic, and intense, and everyone involved puts their all into it. It’s a real hidden gem for neo-noir fans. —Tasha Robinson

Hard Eight leaves Prime Video June 30.

Movies to watch on Max

Ocean’s Eleven

Image: Warner Home Video

Year: 2001
Genre: Heist comedy
Run time: 1h 56m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García

One of the funniest heist movies out there, Ocean’s Eleven weaves an intricate caper with witty character banter.

Master thief Danny Ocean (George Clooney) reunites with his partner-in-crime Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) to pull off their most complex job yet: robbing three Las Vegas Casinos in one night. It takes an eccentric crew of specialists, grifts within grifts within grifts, and a personal vendetta to make it all happen. It’s thrilling and hilarious, with some super satisfying reveals about the grand master plan.

Ocean’s Eleven spawned off two sequels, as well as a female-led spinoff, and while they’re all decent, the first one has a level of fun and charm that is unparalleled. —Petrana Radulovic

Ocean’s Eleven leaves Max July 1.

The Town

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Year: 2010
Genre: Crime Thriller
Run time: 2h 4m
Director: Ben Affleck
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner

The Town follows the story of a crew of bank robbers living in Charlestown, Boston. Following a successful heist, things become complicated for the group’s leader, Doug (Affleck), when he finds himself falling in love with Claire (Rebecca Hall), the assistant manager of the bank, who they had taken hostage and left unscathed. As Doug attempts to reconcile his feelings for Claire with his obligations to his partners, FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is relentless in his mission to bring Doug and his crew to justice.

With a host of fantastic performances, fierce gunfights, a captivating climax, and a sobering denouement, The Town is yet another stunning accomplishment in Affleck’s career as a director. —TE

The Town leaves Max July 1.

Movies to watch on Criterion Channel

Manhunter

Image: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Year: 1986
Genre: Thriller
Run time: 2h 1m
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen

For a majority of audiences, Anthony Hopkins’ Oscar-winning portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs is their main point of reference for the character, if not Mads Mikkelsen’s equally impressive performance in Bryan Fuller’s TV series Hannibal. Before either of those esteemable performances however, Bryan Cox set the bar for the character in Manhunter.

Like 2002’s Red Dragon, the film follows the story of Will Graham, a retired FBI profiler who is called upon to assist in the search for a terrifying serial killer known as “The Tooth Fairy.” To capture the culprit, Will must call upon the aid of his nemesis: Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the killer responsible for the mental breakdown that resulted in Will’s retirement.

Cox’s portrayal of Hannibal may not exude the same chilling sophistication of either Hopkins or Mikkelsen’s takes on the character, but he in no way lacks their cunning and cruelty. Derided at release, Manhunter’s reputation has grown in the years since due in part to its stylized visuals, Petersen’s standout lead performance, and its enthralling final act. If you’re at all passionate about either Michael Mann’s filmmaking or Thomas Harris’ psychological crime novels, you owe it to yourself to give this film your time. —TE

Manhunter leaves Criterion Channel June 30.

Mulholland Drive

Image: Universal Pictures

Year: 2001
Genre: Neo-noir psychological thriller
Run time: 2h 27m
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Naomi Watts, Justin Theroux, Laura Elena Harring

David Lynch’s haunting LA masterpiece blends genres, mediums (it was initially intended as a TV show), states of consciousness, and even people for a perfect stew of unsettlement.

Naomi Watts plays a woman who has recently moved to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming an actress. She meets an amnesiac (Laura Harring) and attempts to help her uncover the mystery behind her memory loss.

One of Lynch’s finest movies and an unforgettable cinematic dream, Mulholland Drive will twist and swerve its way through your mind just like the famous street it’s named after. —PV

Mulholland Drive leaves Criterion Channel June 30.