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Netflix is doing one of its epic title dumping fests on January 1 – Metro US

Netflix is doing one of its epic title dumping fests on January 1

Scott Thompson's Buddy Cole, one of the main draws of the Canadian sketch comedy show Scott Thompson’s Buddy Cole, one of the main draws of the Canadian sketch comedy show “The Kids in the Hall,” will disappear from Netflix soon as 2014 hits.

It wasn’t that long ago that we bought hard, physical copies of movies and TV shows, or even — gasp! — waited a few days while UPS sent discs to us the old-fashioned way. But once technology caught up to the idea of streaming video, mankind couldn’t wait to chuck these antiquated objects, or at least repurpose them as coasters.

Of course, the downside is that not everything is available on streaming. You could sign up for all of the streaming services — Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, etc. — and still not be able to get your grubby claws on, say, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” The problem is, no one save the nerdish seemed to mind. When confronted with not being able to watch something specific, the majority of viewers simply found something else that was close (or close-ish) to watch.

Actually, you can watch “Eternal Sunshine Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” if you’re a Netflix Instant subscriber — until Wednesday. But the New Year will ring in one of Netflix’s epic dumping fests, when various rights elapse and titles disappear. Sorry, anyone who got used to having all five seasons of “Kids in the Hall” available whenever they wanted! Come 2014 every last bit of it is gone, and all you’ll have to subsist on is Dave Foley’s depressing, I’m-just-doing-this-because-I-owe-a-sickening-amount-in-Canadian-style-alimony stand-up special.

Also among the key titles going will be another Charlie Kaufman favorite, “Being John Malkovich,” plus Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” which would be nice to watch in the wake of his (undeserved) “Oldboy” remake debacle. You can also part ways with two gonzo noir updates — Robert Altman’s 1973 classic “The Long Goodbye” and Rian Johnson’s high school-set “Brick” — Brian De Palma’s nutty “Dressed to Kill” and the 1969 version of “True Grit,” with John Wayne’s Oscar-winning performance. Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate” once nearly destroyed a prestigious company — United Artists — and was long synonymous with Hollywood hubris. But it’s since been reclaimed as an ambitious near-great. But you won’t get the chance to judge for yourself in a handful of days. You’ll have to kiss goodbye one masterpiece, the all-singing French musical “Young Girls of Rochefort,” with Catherine Deneuve and Gene Kelly, as well as one anti-masterpiece, “Troll 2.”

Meanwhile, Netflix is getting closer to shutting down its snail mail disc delivery system. But by all means, please help perpetuate a system allows for great — or at least entertaining — films and TV shows to fall into obscurity at the whim of those in charge.

The complete list of those going bye-bye once the ball finishes dropping in Times Square on Tuesday:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Do the Right Thing
Can’t Hardly Wait
Miller’s Crossing
Being John Malkovich
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo
Half-Baked
Titanic
Braveheart
Requiem for a Dream
Dark Shadows (TV series-all seasons)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
The Long Goodbye
The Kids in the Hall (all seasons)
War Games
The Young Girls of Rochefort
We Were Soldiers
Top Gun
Serpico
Capote
Born on the Fourth of July
The Secret of Nimh
Roman Holiday
Platoon
Brick
Session 9
Intolerable Cruelty
Foxy Brown
Flashdance
Dressed to Kill
Heaven’s Gate
Man on the Moon
As Good as It Gets
What Dreams May Come
Desperado
Body of Evidence
In the Name of the Father
Gallipoli
The Faculty
True Grit (John Wayne version)
Biloxi Blues
50 First Dates
Elizabethtown
Species
Species II
Saturday Night Live: The 2000s (available until 12/31)
Inside Deep Throat
Jarhead
The Great Train Robbery
The Andromeda Strain
Far From Heaven
The Mask of Zorro
The Odd Couple
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Not Without My Daughter
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka
For the Love of the Game
In Like Flint
Romeo and Juliet (1968 version)
Jude
Seed of Chucky
Hard Target
Scary Movie
The Skulls
Tales From The Crypt: Bordello Of Blood
Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight
Rob Roy
Remo Williams
Street Fighter
Back to School
Ned Kelly
High Art
World Trade Center
Windtalkers
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
Troll 2
Pumpkinhead
The Woman in Red
October Sky
The Russia House
War and Peace
An Inconvenient Truth
A Shot in the Dark
Of Mice and Men
Cold Comfort Farm
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Talk Radio
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