Up until only very recently, Apple TV’s streaming platform featured only Apple originals. The company didn’t have any intellectual property when it first came online, so everything it put on the platform was something unique that it brought and created. It’s taken some time for Apple TV to gain steam, but over the last couple of years, its programming has earned both critical and public praise.
This year, Apple TV has dabbled with adding third-party titles to the service. This is something Netflix and others have been doing for a long time, which is why at the start of every month, plenty of services add new titles, but it’s relatively new territory for Apple TV, and the company hasn’t been super vocal about its plans. Still, that means there are third-party movies on Apple right now that will be leaving soon. Here are all the movies you want to catch before they’re gone.
Revisit one of the better Jurassic Park sequels
Jurassic World features new dinosaurs and familiar beats
It’s by no means the best Jurassic Park movie, or probably even the second best, but it’s definitely plenty entertaining and silly. This sequel/reboot/legacy-quel realizes the vision of the original Jurassic Park, upgrades the technology, and crams in as many dinosaurs as possible to make something that is mostly fun and completely hollow. Just like a bag of popcorn.
Jurassic World does do some fun things, namely recreating the iconic end of the first film, albeit with some different dinosaurs. Of course, it does a lot of things poorly, too. There isn’t a lot of diversity on camera for a film that’s supposed to be about a global theme park, and the movie doesn’t treat its female characters particularly well. And the kids are dull. It also makes Chris Pratt less funny than he is capable of, which mainly defeats the purpose of Chris Pratt. Anyways, go check it out!
28 Days Later is a terrific zombie film
Enjoy the iconic horror movie before Halloween
28 Days Later is gritty, violent, and chaotic, and its arrival on the horror scene dramatically changed the way a lot of movies dealt with zombies. They weren’t so much the walking dead in these film as they were the running, careening, and chasing dead. These zombies were vicious and fast, creating a new kind of on-screen terror.
Some of these movies may be found on other streaming platforms as well, but it’s worth considering the quality. Apple TV only has one subscription tier, providing the best quality available. Other platforms, like Netflix, have multiple tiers that stagger quality, meaning the best version is probably going to be on Apple TV.
Filmmaker Danny Boyle leaned into the chaos with a shaky, intimate camera that made the terror feel claustrophobic and personal. It’s an iconic horror movie and serves as the beginning of a great movie marathon: the three sequels are all very different but all absolutely worth a watch.
The Sixth Sense is still a powerhouse
M. Night Shyamalan’s best feature by far
While you’re at it, why not check out another iconic horror film that has a huge impact on not just scary movies, but pop culture as well. The Sixth Sense was an instant hit for its heightened tension and compelling characters, but the thing that took it to higher levels was, of course, its twist ending.
For all the lampooning and referencing that happened after, the film is still something special and drastically altered horror to follow. Scary stories didn’t have to be bloody and didn’t have to be R-rated. They could explore trauma, grief, and other human emotions while still scaring audiences and leaving them rapt.
Watch the U.S. remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
David Fincher and Rooney Mara offer a compelling vision
Some time ago, Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy was what everyone was reading around the world. The dark thriller, exploring violence against women in Sweden, featured the most compelling protagonist in Lisbeth Salander. Movie adaptations quickly followed in Sweden for all three books, which meant that the U.S. had to have their own version.
The result was surprisingly successful, especially considering the dark material. Typically, adaptations of foreign thrillers and horror stories lighten up the subject matter for American audiences that don’t like to be challenged or made uncomfortable. That’s why so many adaptations create happy endings where there were originally more tragic ones. But this adaptation stayed dark and disconcerting, grounded by two great central performances in Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig. It’s worth a revisit; watch the original Swedish films while you’re at it.
Every title leaving Apple TV October 31
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TheGirlwiththeDragonTattoo
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MasterandCommander:TheFarSideoftheWorld
