15 best movies to watch on Netflix, Hulu, and HBO before they leave (Feb 2022)

February is almost over, which means we have a fresh new selection of movies to look forward to on streaming next week. Until then, you know what that means: it’s time to marathon all the best films available to stream right now before they leave your service of choice and flutter off to who knows where. From Gareth Evans’ Indonesian action film The Raid 2 and Michael Mann’s Miami Vice to 2005’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Showdown in Little Tokyo starring Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee, these are all the movies you need to make time for before they leave streaming next month.

Here are 15 of the best movies leaving major streaming platforms by March 1.

21 Jump Street

Based on the 1987 TV series of the same name, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s 2012 buddy cop comedy 21 Jump Street stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as Morton Schmidt and Greg Jenko, two high school classmates from radically different social circles who befriend one another later in life as police academy cadets. After a humiliating screw-up, the pair are sent undercover to pose as high school students in order to find the source of an illegal synthetic drug. Accidentally mixing up their identities, Morton and Greg get a taste of what life was like for one another back when they were in school, all while getting into all types of shenanigans and shootouts. Acutely self-aware and frequently hilarious, 21 Jump Street is a comedy reboot done well. —Toussaint Egan

21 Jump Street leaves Netflix on March 1st.

Constantine

Keanu Reeves stars in Francis Lawrence’s 2005 paranormal action horror film as John Constantine, an expert demonologist and exorcist caught in the middle of a proxy war between heaven and hell on Earth. When police officer Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) comes to Constantine to assist her in proving her sister’s mysterious death was not a suicide, the pair become entangled in a century-long conspiracy to unleash Lucifer’s Mammon using the Spear of Destiny. —TE

Constantine leaves HBO Max on Feb. 28.

The Conversation

Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation is a paranoia-inducing murder thriller starring Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, a surveillance expert — one who does actual spying! — whose professional integrity and personal morality are put in direct opposition when he suspects that he has eavesdropped on a couple who he believe are going to be murdered. Drawn into a plot of veiled conspirators and unsavory violence, Harry must search for the truth behind what he has witnessed while staying alive. Over the journey, Coppola creates an aura of paranoia with each passing scene, and David Shire’s piano score is a mood. —TE

The Conversation leaves Hulu on Feb. 28.

Gangs of New York

Martin Scorsese’s period epic follows the story of Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio), the son of an Irish Catholic gang leader who returns to the slums of New York as an adult to avenge his father’s death at the hands of Bill “The Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), the ruthless xenophobic leader of a Protestant street gang. More than a tale of revenge, Gangs of New York is a vibrant depiction of New York in the mid-1800s, filled with memorable performances by colorful character actors like John C. Reilly and Brendan Gleeson, blisteringly violent street fights, and a beautiful moving score by Howard Shore. —TE

Gangs of New York leaves HBO Max on Feb. 28.

Gone Girl

When Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returns home to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing, he suddenly finds himself squarely in the crosshairs of a true crime media frenzy. What follows is a gripping thriller about gender expectations, the media, and the ways in which our society’s changing relationship to crime as entertainment has a real effect on people’s lives.

Based on the 2012 novel by Gillian Flynn, David Fincher’s psychological thriller is a high-mark in a career filled with hits. Affleck and Pike bring their A-game to rich roles with a lot of depth and nuance. Neil Patrick Harris also stands out as Desi, Amy’s wealthy creep of an ex-boyfriend. —Pete Volk

Gone Girl leaves Hulu on Feb. 28.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

Garth Jennings’ 2005 adaptation of Douglas Adams’ beloved sci-fi comedy stars Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Sherlock) as Arthur Dent, a dull ordinary everyman who inadvertently becomes one of the last surviving humans in the universe after the Earth is destroyed by a bureaucratic alien race to build a hyperspace overpass. Venturing alongside a cast of colorful characters played by Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, and the late Alan Rickman as a paranoid android, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is gleefully out of this world and perennially hilarious. The whale scene alone … —TE

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy leaves HBO Max on Feb. 28.

I Saw The Devil

South Korean revenge thrillers have a reputation for being brutal and gory, but Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw The Devil is a whole other beast entirely. The film follows Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun), a special agent of the National Intelligence Service, who embarks on a twisted mission of retribution and revenge when his fiance Joo-yeon is kidnapped and murdered by Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik), a vicious psychopath and serial killer. The movie unravels as a cat and mouse game of sadistic psychological brutality, as Soo-hyun stalks and hunts Kyung-chul’s every step, attacking him until he’s on the brink of death before pulling back in order to prolong his suffering. Filled with bracing violence, thrilling chase scenes, and a chilling climax that brings the question of what justifies revenge into stark relief, I Saw The Devil is a pulse-pounding experience. —TE

I Saw The Devil leaves Amazon Prime Video on Feb. 28.

Lady in the Water

M. Night Shyamalan’s critically maligned fairy tale deserves reconsideration, and now’s the time to do it. Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti), the superintendent of a Philadelphia apartment complex who doubles as the caretaker for many of its quirky residents, discovers Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), a magical being found swimming in the complex’s pool. Story is here to find the Writer, who is supposed to undergo a magical awakening and write a book that will save humanity. What follows is a tender story of a community working together in crisis. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Christopher Doyle (a frequent Wong Kar-wai collaborator), Lady in the Water was developed from a bedtime story Shyamalan told his children. —PV

Lady in the Water leaves HBO Max on Feb. 28.

Miami Vice

Michael Mann returned to his old television world of Miami Vice in this 2006 film adaptation, which takes the classic buddy cop duo of Crockett and Tubbs and brings them into the 21st century. When this version of Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) go undercover to investigate a large drug operation, things get personal as their romantic lives intertwine with their professional ones.

One of the many examples of Mann’s experimentation with and mastering of digital cinematography, Miami Vice is a beauty to look at and has seen its reputation grow after mixed reviews on release. —PV

Miami Vice leaves Peacock on Feb. 28.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Wes Anderson’s eccentric 2004 ensemble comedy is dedicated to Jacques Cousteau, and is a loving (and hilarious) homage to the legendary French oceanographer. Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) is an oceanographer/documentarian who loses his best friend to a shark attack while working on his project. Zissou sets out for his next project: to find and kill the shark, and film the whole thing.

The hilarious ensemble cast includes Anjelica Houston (Zissou’s estranged wife who finances his projects), Willem Dafoe (an emotionally insecure German first mate), Owen Wilson (a Zissou super-fan who believes he is Zissou’s son), and Jeff Goldblum (playing Zissou’s rival, a more successful oceanographer). With an excellent soundtrack of Portuguese David Bowie covers by Brazilian singer/songwriter Seu Jorge and Anderson’s typical attention to detail in composition, Zissou is a cinematic feast of the senses. —PV

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou leaves Amazon Prime Video on Feb. 28.

The Long Goodbye

Robert Altman’s 1973 neo-noir thriller stars Elliot Gould as Phillip Marlowe, a private detective who finds himself implicated in the death of his friend’s wife after driving him to the Mexican border and drawn into a seedy web of deception rife with money, murder, and sin. Adapted from Raymond Chandler’s novel of the same name, The Long Goodbye is championed as a masterpiece of form and genre; a morality tale charged with the paranoia and suspicion endemic to the culture of the ’70s. —TE

The Long Goodbye leaves Criterion Channel on Feb. 28.

The Raid 2

The follow-up to the smash (and we do mean smash) 2011 hit The Raid, Gareth Evans’ 2014 sequel packs a heavy punch as well (and some hammers). Set just after the events of the first movie, Rama (Iko Uwais, reprising his lead role) is sent undercover to expose corruption in Jakarta’s police. This involves getting himself sent to prison, surviving a prison riot, and ingratiating himself to members of the Jakarta underworld. Filled with high-octane action sequences, plenty of gore, and jaw-dropping displays of the Indonesian martial art pencak silat, fans of The Raid should also check out the second iteration. —PV

The Raid 2 leaves Hulu on Feb. 28.

Showdown in Little Tokyo

It’s Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee doing a buddy cop action movie — what more is there to say?

Okay, I’ll give you a little more. Lundgren plays Chris Kenner, an American cop who was raised in Japan and is deeply tied to Japanese culture. Lee (in his third movie role, three years before The Crow) plays Johnny Murata, an American of mixed Japanese heritage who does not care much at all about Japanese culture. Together, they try to break up a Yakuza ring in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles.

With kickass fight scenes, a hamming-it-up villain (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), and plenty of nearly-nude Dolph Lundgren, Showdown in Little Tokyo is a lean 79 minutes of early 90s action genre fare. A word of caution for those unfamiliar with the film: it includes a brief scene of sexual violence. —PV

Showdown in Little Tokyo leaves HBO Max on Feb. 28.

Tangerine

Filmed entirely with iPhone cameras, Red Rocket director Sean Baker’s 2015 comedy-drama Tangerine follows Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor), two trans sex workers who set out to find Chester (James Ransone), Sin-Dee’s boyfriend/pimp and get to the bottom of a salacious rumor that he cheated on her while she was serving a 28-day stint in prison. Set during Christmas Eve and filmed entirely on the streets of Los Angeles, Tangerine is a raw, uproariously surprising, touching, heartbreaking, and thoroughly engrossing experience that offers an affecting glimpse into the emotional trials and tribulations of sex work while constructing a portrait of Los Angeles in all its many-splendored chaos. —TE

Tangerine leaves Amazon Prime Video on Feb. 28.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

James Cameron’s follow-up to The Terminator is much more action-oriented than the horror-tinged sci-fi original. Set 11 years after the first movie, Skynet has once again sent a Terminator to the past to kill a Connor. This time, the target is young John Connor (Edward Furlong) and the Terminator is a new model that shape shifts (Robert Patrick). For an additional twist on the original film’s premise, the T-800 that served as the antagonist in Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), has now been sent back to protect the Connors from the threat.

With groundbreaking use of CGI that still looks incredible to this day, T2 is a landmark in the history of big action cinema and of the industry’s relationship with digital effects work. The visual effects for Robert Patrick’s liquid metal Terminator are outstanding, involving one of the first recorded uses of motion capture for visual effects. —PV

Terminator 2: Judgment Day leaves Netflix on Feb. 28.

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