HBO’s definitive World War II mini-series leave Netflix for U.S. subscribers this month, along with two action spectaculars, a beloved comfort sitcom, a groundbreaking sketch show and more. Catch them before they leave. (Dates reflect the first day titles are unavailable and are subject to change.)
‘The Wave’ (Sept. 5)
The conventions of the disaster movie have been so firmly established, for so long (clear back to “Airport,” leaving Netflix on Sept. 1), that it’s somewhat discombobulating to watch them through the lens of a foreign filmmaker like the Norwegian Roar Uthaug. And he doesn’t scrimp on personality, as the lesser old-school disaster movies often did — his central characters, a nervous geologist (Kristoffer Joner) and the family he brings to a picturesque town among the fjords of coastal Norway, are nuanced and well drawn. But “The Wave” is no esoteric international navel-gazer; this is a good, old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing blockbuster, filled with dynamite set pieces, ticking clocks, convincing special effects and familial drama.
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (Sept. 9)
The Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh once said of this 2015 action extravaganza, “I don’t understand two things: I don’t understand how they’re not still shooting that film, and I don’t understand how hundreds of people aren’t dead.” That’s a fairly precise summary of the kind of awe the “Max Max” director George Miller inspired when he returned to his signature franchise, 30 years after its last installment, to show young-buck action directors how it’s really done. He replaced an aged-out Mel Gibson with Tom Hardy in the title role, but the picture really belongs to Charlize Theron, whose turn as the rebellious Imperator Furiosa is both bone-crunching and deeply soulful.
‘Greenleaf’ Seasons 1-5 (Sept. 10)
A big success on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network — thanks in no small part to Ms. Winfrey’s occasional appearances during the first two seasons — this family drama is particularly worth watching for two reasons. First, it boasts Keith David, the great character actor from projects as diverse as “They Live,” “There’s Something About Mary” and “Nope,” in the leading role of Bishop James Greenleaf, the charismatic and complicated leader of a Memphis megachurch (and of the family that runs it). Second, it’s a rare consideration of religion on television that colors outside the lines of blind faith or easy satire. The show’s creator, the playwright Craig Wright, holds a masters of divinity degree, and he approaches the thorny issues of faith with refreshing candor and delicacy.
‘Band of Brothers’ and ‘The Pacific’ (Sept. 15)
Stream “Band of Brothers” here and “The Pacific” here.
In 2001, after the astonishing commercial and critical success of “Saving Private Ryan,” Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks re-teamed as executive producers of “Band of Brothers, a 10-part World War II series for HBO. (Hanks was also among the show’s writers and directors.) Based upon the 1992 non-fiction book by Stephen E. Ambrose, it dramatizes the exploits of “Easy” company, a parachute infantry unit stationed on the Western Front, from D-Day to victory in Europe. The thrilling and often harrowing series takes its aesthetic and thematic cues from “Private Ryan,” depicting war as intrinsically barbaric and horrifying but made bearable from moment to moment by the camaraderie of one’s fellow soldiers. “Brothers” was such a hit that Hanks and Spielberg returned to the network nine years later for “The Pacific,” an equally impactful series focusing on three Marines (played by James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello and Jon Seda) fighting in key battles including Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
‘Bad Words’ (Sept. 16)
There are essentially two Jason Batemans in film and television. One is the put-upon, prickly but likable hero of “Arrested Development,” “Horrible Bosses” and their ilk. The other is the borderline sociopath of “The Gift” and “Ozark.” This dark comedy from 2014, in which Bateman stars and makes his feature directorial debut, straddles the line between those personas nicely. He plays Guy Trilby, a smarmy 40-year-old know-it-all who uses his middle-school dropout status as a loophole to participate in, and handily win, children’s spelling bees. That scenario could make for a treacly family comedy in which lessons are learned and hugs are exchanged, but Bateman and the screenwriter Andrew Dodge go in another direction, indulging in gleeful vulgarity and unapologetic bad behavior, even while setting up a potentially healing relationship between Trilby and his 10-year-old competitor (the charismatic and appropriately appalled Rohan Chand).
‘The Good Place’ Seasons 1-4 (Sept. 26)
The first season of this hit NBC sitcom concluded with a twist so ingenious, and so unexpected, that it should be preserved here for the blissfully unaware viewer. Let it suffice to say that the subject is the afterlife, as seen through the eyes of Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell). An unapologetic dirtbag and inconsiderate ne’er-do-well, Eleanor is killed in an accident and is surprised to wake up in what appears to be heaven — the “good place” of the title. She can’t understand how her life of selfish indulgence landed her there. The ethical dilemma that follows — and haunts Eleanor and her new friends (played with verve and wit by William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto and Jameela Jamil) — provides much of the first season’s tension, and then … well. Ted Danson and D’Arcy Carden are uproariously funny and delightfully unpredictable as the Good Place’s support staff, and the show’s creator, Michael Schur, deftly intermingles the sweet and the sour.
‘Chappelle’s Show’ Seasons 1-2 (Sept. 30)
Dave Chappelle had been making a splash in comedy clubs since he was a literal teenager, and he turned in memorable supporting work in throwaway comedies like “Half Baked” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” But he became an undeniable star through the short-lived but culturally revelatory Comedy Central sketch show he created with Neal Brennan, custom-created to suit Chappelle’s gifts. Lightning fast, socially conscious and ceaselessly hilarious, it launched scores of catchphrases and a career that remains both controversial and seemingly unsinkable.
ALSO LEAVING (SEPT. 1): “American Gangster,” “American Graffiti,” “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” “Barbarian,” “Bee Movie,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Burn After Reading,” “Hanna,” “The Holiday,” “Home,” “MacGruber,” “Midway,” “The Mule,” “The Notebook,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Paul,” “Red Eye,” “Sicario,” “Trainwreck,” “Us,” “V for Vendetta.”
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