Like all streaming services, Max is losing several titles at the end of February. And for reasons that aren’t clear, Max is also purging a lot of Warner Bros. Pictures this month, especially when it comes to the DC animated films from the past three decades. Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero, Superman/Shazam!: The Return Of Black Adam, Superman: Man of Tomorrow, Green Lantern: First Flight, and the animated Wonder Woman movie are all among the departures. If you’re not a superhero fan, then you may not care. But these films were far and away better than the live-action DCEU movies of the past few years, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll go to a rival streamer.
But rather than fill up our picks with superhero movies alone, we’ve spread out our choices of the five best movies leaving Max in February that you have to watch. This month’s departures include a sports biopic starring Chadwick Boseman, one of Oliver Stone’s wildest films, a remake of a classic rom-com, and more.
42 (2013)
The late Chadwick Boseman had his breakout in 42, a sports biopic about baseball legend Jackie Robinson. In the late 1940s, Brooklyn Dodgers co-owner Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) is determined to break MLB’s color barrier by signing the first Black player. Rickey quickly realizes that Robinson is the man for the job, although he warns Robinson that he will face an intense pushback from both inside and outside of baseball.
Resident Alien‘s Alan Tudyk has a small role in the film as Ben Chapman, the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies who subjected Robinson to vicious verbal assaults. But as the rest of the Dodgers, including team captain Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black), rally around him, Robinson endures the taunts and racism on his way to becoming an icon. Robinson’s accomplishment is the reason why the No. 42 is retired by every team in baseball.
Watch 42 on Max.
Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)
In theory, Batman: Gotham Knight was supposed to be set in the world of Christopher Nolan’s movies between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The connections between them are somewhat dubious in the finished project, which comes together as six different shorts that were animated by prominent anime studios.
Batman: The Animated Series‘ Kevin Conroy reprises his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman across all six shorts, although this is a very different type of animated Batman. The Dark Knight of these adventures inhabits a world that is far more real than any of Batman’s other cartoon stories.
Watch Batman: Gotham Knight on Max.
Blindspotting (2018)
Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and co-starred in Blindspotting as a pair of best friends, Collin Hoskins and Miles Turner, respectively. Both men are lifelong residents of Oakland, California, and they’re dismayed by the ongoing gentrification of their hometown. Collin is particularly unnerved after witnessing a white police officer shooting a fleeing Black man.
As Collin attempts to cope with what he saw, his former lover, Val (Janina Gavankar), urges him to keep his distance from the increasingly unstable Miles. When Miles starts brandishing his gun at a party, it jeopardizes Collin’s probation and it could get both men thrown in prison.
Watch Blindspotting on Max.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Natural Born Killers has a story by Quentin Tarantino and over-the-top direction from Oliver Stone. This was one of the most controversial films of the ’90s, and it features Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as outlaws and spree killers Mickey and Mallory Knox.
As tabloid news reporter Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr., miles away from Iron Man and Oppenheimer) hypes up the pair as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, Detective Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore) leads the manhunt to capture Mickey and Mallory. Scagnetti turns out to be pretty messed up in his own right. But catching Mickey and Mallory is one thing. Holding them is much harder.
Watch Natural Born Killers on Max.
Sabrina (1995)
Sabrina is a remake of the 1954 film of the same name by Billy Wilder, but director Sydney Pollack did a great job with this take on the story. Julia Ormond plays the title character, Sabrina Fairchild, a woman who has been in love with playboy David Larrabee (Greg Kinnear) her entire life. Her father, Thomas Fairchild (Richard Crenna), worked as the personal driver of David’s wealthy father.
After years away, Sabrina returns home in stunning fashion and easily attracts David, who is now engaged to Elizabeth Tyson (Lauren Holly). David’s brother, Linus Larrabee (Harrison Ford), is worried that the family company’s merger with Tyson’s holdings could be in jeopardy if David breaks his engagement with Elizabeth to be with Sabrina. But while keeping David and Sabrina apart, Linus didn’t count on falling for her himself.
Watch Sabrina on Max.
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