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What’s Leaving HBO: May 2016

Heath Ledger And Julia Stiles In '10 Things I Hate About You
Photo: Touchstone Pictures

Each month, several films and TV shows leave HBO’s catalogue. We provide a list of departing titles so you can watch them before they’re gone forever (or are just available on a different site). For more comprehensive coverage of the best titles available on HBO and elsewhere, check out Vulture’s What to Stream Now hub, which is updated throughout the month.

It’s too good to be true: 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

The first of several Heath Ledger movies leaving HBO this month, 10 Things I Hate About You brings Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew into mid-’90s Seattle, complete with gestures toward grunge fashion and riot grrrl bands. There’s also a baby-faced Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a non sequitur of subplot about a girl who’s obsessed with Shakespeare, and a soundtrack that samples everything from Joan Jett to Letters to Cleo. Leaving May 31.

I can’t quit you: Brokeback Mountain (2005)

The second film in our Heath Ledger marathon is Ang Lee’s tale of star-crossed cowboys who fall in love in a beautiful mountain pasture before fate and pervasive homophobia get in the way. Both Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are excellent as the leads, buoyed by supporting turns from Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway. Leaving May 31.

Medieval times: A Knight’s Tale (2001)

And completing our oh-so-carefully-curated trilogy of Heath Ledger films leaving HBO this month: the silly, swashbuckling A Knight’s Tale, which genre-bends medieval romance with rock and roll, for some reason. Paul Bettany plays a drunk version of Geoffrey Chaucer and your college English professor is horrified — and secretly really into it. Leaving May 31.

Dead or alive, you’re coming with me! Robocop (1987)

Paul Verhoeven presents a dystopian vision of Detroit, wrecked by crime, defended by Robocop and all the goofy 1980s special-effects powers he has at his disposal. If you have a high tolerance for corny dialogue and time to spare, queue up the even sillier sequels and make a night of it. Leaving May 31.

Leaving May 31
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) 
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Disturbia (2007)
Focus (2015)
A Knight’s Tale (2001)
Less than Zero (1987)
Robocop (1987)
Robocop 2 (1990)
Robocop 3 (1993)
Run All Night (2015)

For more details on the best film and television available online, consult Vulture’s What to Stream Now hub.

What’s Leaving HBO: May 2016