Gone by September: The best movies leaving Neon this month

While there are constant arrivals of fresh movies and TV shows on Neon, there’s also a regular churn of content dropping off the Kiwi-owned and curated streaming service.

So although you might think a film or programme will be available to watch on there in perpetuity, the truth is licencing deals mean they are usually only there for a few months – or years – at a time.

In order to assist those keen to get the most out of their subscription, and to help with your viewing priorities, Stuff to Watch has come up with a list of 10 terrific movies that won’t be around come September 1.

Make sure you catch them while you can.

The Candidate (1972)

Robert Redford headlines this political dramedy about a left-leaning lawyer turned aspiring senator who finds his beliefs tested as his popularity increases the more his platform based on originality and honesty is watered down.

“One of the few good, truly funny American political comedies ever made,” wrote The New York Times’ Vincent Canby.

Knocked Up (2007)

Katherine Heigl plays a journalist whose career is derailed by a one-night stand with a slacker (Seth Rogen) in this delightful rom-com that also stars Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill and Jason Segel.

“Judd Apatow’s high-density, high-intensity comedy of bad (and good) manners is a cause for celebration – the laugh lines are smart, and they come faster than you can process them,” wrote Wall St Journal’s Joe Morgenstern.

Muru (2022)

Tearepa Kahi’s action-thriller, partly-inspired by the real-life 2007 raid by New Zealand Government’s elite Special Tactics Group on a remote Māori township in Te Urewera in the eastern Bay of Plenty, focuses in on Cliff Curtis’ Tūhoe Police Sergeant “Taffy” Tawharau, as he finds himself caught between loyalty to his whānau and dedication to his badge.

Also starring Jay Ryan, Manu Bennett, Simone Kessell, Troy Kingi and Tame Iti, the film was selected for the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival last year.

“A constantly unnerving experience and one that does away with subtleties to make its point clear and concise,” wrote Tilt magazine’s Christopher Cross.

Nitram (2021)

Justin Kurzel’s dramatisation of the build-up to one of Australia’s darkest days is a stunning character study that sensitively handles its subject-matter, while still delivering a solid emotional impact that will leave a mark.

But despite an incredible, award-winning performance from Caleb Landry Jones, a smartly put-together script and stark imagery and clever framing, the one moment that best sums things up is uttered during an archival television interview with Scotland’s Dunblane School headmaster Ron Taylor in the aftermath of another massacre just six weeks before the events of Port Arthur that this builds up to: “Evil visited us yesterday, and we don’t know why. And I guess we never will.”

Payback (1999)

One of Mel Gibson’s most under-rated performances. Walking a quite brilliant line between being deeply menacing and darkly comic, his reinvention of Lee Marvin’s character Walker from 1967’s Point Break had cinemagoers glued to the screen.

The fact that his one-man crusade to get what’s he’s owed is over a relatively paltry sum makes the audience will him on even more.

“It’s kicky, nasty urban sangfroid with pointy little teeth and a serious case of the angries, an existential hand grenade disguised as a heist film,” wrote Austin Chronicle’s Marc Savlov.

Snatch (2000)

Guy Ritchie went multi-national in this entertaining follow-up to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Farina and Brad Pitt are amongst those who find themselves caught up with dogs, diamonds, mobile homes, boxers and assorted weaponry in an, at-times, chaotic and compelling tale.

“Manages the trick of keeping the viewer entertained – and aware of exactly who is where – even when the movie is going in three directions at the same time,” wrote Variety’s Derek Elley.

Titane (2021)

The 2022 Palme D’or winner is certainly not for the faint-hearted. A kind of cross between David Cronenberg’s Crash and Scarlett Johansson starrer Under the Skin, Julia Ducournau’s French “horror” is filled with visceral thrills and imagery not easily forgotten.

At its heart, it is the story of the troubled Alexia (Agathe Rousselle), who finds an unlikely new home when taken in by an ageing fire chief (Vincent Lindon), who is convinced the newly cropped young woman is actually his long-lost son.

Whip It (2009)

Adapted by Shauna Cross from her own 2007 novel Derby Girl, this is a sassy, yet ultimately sweet tale of girl power.

Rookie director Drew Barrymore savvily assembled a fantastic troupe of actresses to play her “savage” skaters, including the then missing-in-action Juliette Lewis, New Zealand’s own stuntwoman Zoe Bell, Kristen Wiig (Knocked Up) and Barrymore herself (who amusingly turns up late in almost every scene, clearly showing she was too busy behind the camera).

However, the real star of the show is the whip-smart Elliot (then known as Ellen) Page, who demonstrates his character range – Bliss is the very antithesis of the precocious Juno (Juno), or Hard Candy’s sinister Hayley Stark.

Wonder (2017)

An uplifting and heartwarming take on R.J. Palacio’s much-loved 2012 novel about a boy, born with Treacher Collins syndrome, who becomes a source of inspiration to his new classmates and family.

Julia Roberts plays Auggie Pullman’s mother Isabel with the requisite compassion and concern, but also a light touch. Owen Wilson, Mandy Patinkin, Daveed Diggs and Jacob Tremblay are all also quite brilliant.

The Worst Person in the World (2021)

It’s Norway’s answer to Toni Erdmann, Blue is the Warmest Colour, Promising Young Woman or Nymphomaniac.

An evocative, provocative tale that focuses on a young woman’s search for identity and love in the modern world that doesn’t pull any punches.

Told over 12 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue, this is the episodic, yet wholly satisfying emotional rollercoaster of four years in the life of Julie (Renate Reinsve).

What follows is wild, often hilarious, but actually quite thought-provoking.

As director Joachim Trier himself brilliantly described it, Worst Person is the “the rom-com for people who hate rom-coms”.