The best movies on Hulu right now (August 2024)
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Hulu has now reached the point in the summer where movies that came out in May are arriving for their streaming debut. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was Disney/20th Century Studios’ first big hit of the summer, and it’s got a new home on Hulu. Somehow, we suspect that Disney’s other big hits of the season, Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine, will only be streaming on Disney+.
Besides the latest Planet of the Apes adventure, the best movies on Hulu include new arrivals like the horror flick Immaculate, a drama called Rachel Getting Married, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a Coen brothers film unlike anything else in their catalog. For these films and more, check out our picks for the best movies on Hulu right now below.
Subscribe to a different platform? Not only do we have a guide to the best shows on Hulu, but we’ve rounded up the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Netflix, and the best movies on Disney+.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) [New]
Metacritic: 66%
IMDb: 7.0/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 145m
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Action
Stars: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand
Directed by: Wes Ball
The Planet of the Apes films have been around since 1968, but there’s still a lot of life left in the franchise in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. This story takes place 300 years after the life of Caesar, as one tribe of apes has taken to raising eagles as companions. Noa (Owen Teague) is the heir to Eagle Clan, until his people are brutally kidnapped and enslaved by the forces of Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand).
Proximus has perverted the teachings of Caesar and installed himself as a tyrant. He’s also after Mae (Freya Allan), a young human girl who may be able to lead him to hidden tech and weapons. Both Noa and Mae have reasons to oppose Proximus, but can they bring themselves to trust each other enough to bring him down?
Immaculate (2024) [New]
Metacritic: 57%
IMDb: 5.8/10
Rated: R
Duration: 89m
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Stars: Sydney Sweeney, álvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco
Directed by: Michael Mohan
If you’ve seen one movie this year about a young nun at the center of an evil plan, then you’ve either seen Immaculate or The First Omen. There are definitely a lot of overlapping themes between them. But so you can keep them straight, this is the one that stars Sydney Sweeny as Cecilia, a woman who can’t wait to take her vows and devote herself to God.
Unfortunately for Cecilia, there are shady things happening at her new home in the Italian countryside. Someone believes that Sister Cecilia is the perfect candidate to play an important role in the future of the world. Cecilia doesn’t get to choose what happens to her body, but she will have to decide how to react when the truth behind her immaculate pregnancy comes out.
Rachel Getting Married (2008) [New]
Metacritic: 6%
Rated: R
Duration: 113m
Genre: Drama, Romance
Stars: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
The name of the movie may be Rachel Getting Married, but Anne Hathaway’s face is the one on the film’s poster. Hathaway plays Kym Buchman, an ex-model and recovering addict who has temporarily been released from rehab to attend the wedding of her sister, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), to a man named Sidney Williams (Twisters star Tunde Adebimpe).
One of the first things that Kym finds is that there’s not a lot of forgiveness waiting for her on Rachel’s big weekend. Lingering conflicts with her sister, and their parents, Paul (Bill Irwin) and Abby Buchman (Debra Winger), threaten to derail both the weekend and Kym’s sobriety. She’s the odd woman out, and Kym may never fully be accepted by her family again because of her past sins.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) [New]
Metacritic: 69%
IMDb: 7.7/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 107m
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Stars: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson
Directed by: Joel Coen
Collectively, the Coen brothers have a very strong lineup of films, but O Brother, Where Art Thou? is one of their few feel-good movies. The story is an Americanized remix of The Odyssey, with George Clooney as Ulysses Everett McGill. Ulysses is a prisoner who has convinced two of his fellow inmates, Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), to escape a chain gang with him to find a treasure before a local area is submerged. Somewhere along the way, they become music superstars who are known as the Soggy Bottom Boys.
Yet what Ulysses really wants is his wife and daughters back in his life. And it’s going to take an act of God for that to happen. The music in this film is incredible, even if bluegrass and country aren’t really your things. The songs lend the film an irreverent tone, and it’s just a lot of fun to watch things play out.
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Metacritic: 81%
IMDb: 8.1/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 153m
Genre: Drama, Action, History
Stars: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal
Directed by: James Mangold
Only the most enthusiastic race fans knew much about the fabled rivalry between Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) and Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) before director James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari. But the film explains why Ford held such a grudge against Ferrari before turning the story over to Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and a volatile race car driver named Ken Miles (Christian Bale).
Shelby and Miles are a pair of mavericks who have been tasked with building and designing a car that can match Ferrari’s top models in competitive racing. However, Miles is, to put it mildly, very abrasive, even with his friends. His attitude also earns the duo some powerful enemies within Ford itself who would love to sabotage their efforts. It’s going to take a battle of wills for Miles and Shelby to bring their dream car to fruition and ride it to glory.
Courage Under Fire (1996)
Metacritic: 77%
IMDb: 6.6/10
Rated: R
Duration: 116m
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Mystery, War
Stars: Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips
Directed by: Edward Zwick
Denzel Washington stars in Courage Under Fire as Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling, a Gulf War veteran who is struggling with the knowledge that he accidentally killed his friend in a friendly fire incident. After his mistake is covered up by the military, Serling is tasked with determining whether Captain Karen Emma Walden (Meg Ryan) deserves to be the first woman to posthumously win the Medal of Honor for her heroics during the war.
As Serling investigates the circumstances around Walden’s death, some conflicting details emerge. Staff Sergeant John Monfriez (Lou Diamond Phillips) claims credit for her deeds, and Specialist Andrew Ilario (Matt Damon) isn’t talking. In order to find some measure of redemption for himself, Serling refuses to stop looking into Walden’s case until he finds the truth.
The Cable Guy (1996)
Metacritic: 56%
IMDb: 6.1/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 96m
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Stars: Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann
Directed by: Ben Stiller
Even among Jim Carrey’s wild stable of characters, The Cable Guy’s Ernie “Chip” Douglas is particularly unhinged. And Carrey absolutely throws himself into the role after a guy named Steven (Matthew Broderick) takes advice from his friend, Rick (Jack Black), to bribe the cable guy and get extra channels for free.
Chip takes that as an invitation to be Steven’s new best friend, and he goes far beyond stalking to get the latter back together with his ex-girlfriend, Robin (Leslie Mann). Yet Chip has no concept of boundaries, and as soon as Steven tries to establish some, his cable guy “friend” sets out to destroy his life.
Get Out (2017)
Metacritic: 85%
IMDb: 7.8/10
Rated: R
Duration: 104m
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Horror
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener
Directed by: Jordan Peele
Get Out was a transformative experience for writer and director Jordan Peele, who is now widely acclaimed as one of the best helmers in the horror genre. The main character of the movie, Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), doesn’t have the same positive experience in the film itself. Get Out starts off as a slightly comedic social horror story as Chris accompanies his girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Allison Williams), to her family’s estate for the weekend.
Chris is unnerved by how welcoming everyone is, as the wealthy friends and family of Rose put on performative displays of acceptance. It’s only when Chris encounters another Black man at a party that he starts to realize that his weekend away is more insidious than he initially suspected. But it may already be too late to get away unscathed.
The First Omen (2024)
Metacritic: 66%
IMDb: 6.5/10
Rated: R
Duration: 119m
Genre: Horror
Stars: Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, S?nia Braga
Directed by: Arkasha Stevenson
Depending upon whether you consider the made-for-TV movie Omen IV: The Awakening as canon, the story of The Omen has been over since the third film hit theaters in 1981. And yet The First Omen reinvigorates the franchise with a prequel set in the early 1970s before the events of the original film.
The film follows Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), an American who has come to Rome to train for a life as a nun out of her religious devotion. Almost from the start, Margaret finds herself targeted by a conspiracy that she doesn’t understand. The forces of evil have decided that Margaret is the perfect woman to bring the antichrist into the world, whether she wants to or not.
Bullet Train (2022)
Metacritic: 49%
IMDb: 7.3/10
Rated: R
Duration: 126m
Genre: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Stars: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Directed by: David Leitch
Brad Pitt was 58 years old when Bullet Train hit theaters in 2022, and yet you can’t tell his age by looking at him. As Pitt has grown older, he’s also gotten a lot funnier, and this movie makes his character, Ladybug, the butt of a lot of the jokes in the film. Ladybug is an assassin who is very unlucky, to the point where he wants to leave the life of a killer behind him. But he’s roped into filling in for an operative on a Japanese bullet train for a supposedly easy job.
All Ladybug has to do is retrieve a briefcase full of stolen money and slip out of the train before anyone realizes it’s missing. It’s easy to say, and almost impossible to do when multiple assassins get on the train, each with their own agendas. Ladybug may not have been looking for trouble, but it’s found him. And there’s an even more dangerous threat awaiting everyone at the end of the line.
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
Metacritic: 68%
IMDb: 6.7/10
Rated: R
Duration: 91m
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Stars: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei
Directed by: Tamara Jenkins
Natasha Lyonne was still very early in her career when she nabbed the leading role in the coming of age comedy Slums of Beverly Hills. Lyonne plays Vivian Abromowitz, the 15-year old daughter of Murray Abromowitz (Alan Arkin), a hardworking father who can’t support his kids in the 1970s … at least not without the help of his wealthy older brother, Mickey Abromowitz (Carl Reiner).
When Mickey’s adult daughter, Rita Abromowitz (Marisa Tomei), comes to live with Murray and his family, Vivian finds herself roped into keeping Rita from relapsing into addiction and getting into trouble. The problem is that Vivian wants to spend time figuring out who she is, and what she’s going to be like. She may be a bad influence on her older cousin, and the reverse is also true.
It Follows (2015)
Metacritic: 83%
IMDb: 6.8/10
Rated: R
Duration: 101m
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Stars: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto
Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
It Follows is one of the most inventive horror films of the century because it came up with a new breed of monster/slasher. The monster in this film is a curse that can take on the form of almost anyone as it relentlessly pursues the last person who had sex with the previous victim. Jaime “Jay” Height (Longlegs star Maika Monroe) discovers this only after her new boyfriend, Hugh (Jake Weary), sleeps with her and passes on the curse.
Only someone who has been touched by the curse can see the entity, which never runs after its victims. And it never has to. The entity always knows where Jay is, and no matter how far away she gets, it’s always going to be there unless Jay figures out how to break the curse.
Bad Boys for Life (2020)
Metacritic: 59%
IMDb: 6.5/10
Rated: R
Duration: 124m
Genre: Thriller, Action, Crime
Stars: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Paola Nu?ez
Directed by: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah
To paraphrase the immortal words of Danny Glover from the Lethal Weapon movies, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are getting too old for this bleep in Bad Boys for Life. That can’t be avoided when the sequel comes out 17 years after the second film. This does work to the movie’s advantage, as Detective Lieutenants Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Miles Burnett (Lawrence) clash over whether they should retire from the force.
Before they can think about stepping away for good, they’ll have to contend with someone from Mike’s past, Isabel “La Bruja” Aretas (Kate del Castillo). Isabel is the widow of a drug kingpin, and she’s sent her son, Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio), to Miami to wipe out their enemies and get her revenge on Mike. And when Armando strikes, he strikes hard.
War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Metacritic: 82%
IMDb: 7.4/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 140m
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, War
Stars: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Karin Konoval
Directed by: Matt Reeves
The end of the reboot trilogy arrives in War for the Planet of the Apes, and Caesar (Luther: The Fallen Sun‘s Andy Serkis) is no longer the idealistic leader he used to be. This is understandable considering that humans killed his wife and oldest son. With the Colonel (Woody Harrelson) making a final push to defeat Caesar’s tribe, Caesar plots to lead his tribe to sanctuary and avoid the war.
While attempting to lead the Colonel’s forces away from his followers, Caesar and Maurice (Karin Konoval) encounter a young mute human girl they call Nova (Amiah Miller). And despite Caesar’s reluctance to feel anything for Nova, her friendship may prove to be critical in the struggle against the Colonel.
Poor Things (2023)
Metacritic: 88%
IMDb: 8.1/10
Rated: R
Duration: 142m
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance, Comedy
Stars: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Emma Stone won her second Oscar for Best Actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in Poor Things. Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) falls for Bella before he learns that a mad scientist, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), brought her back to life with a newborn’s brain. That doesn’t dissuade Max from wanting to marry Bella, but she has other ideas.
Bella runs away with a lawyer, Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), so she can experience everything that the world has to offer her. Much like Max, Duncan’s influence over Bella only goes so far before she starts setting the agenda for herself, and no one is prepared to accept that.
Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
Metacritic: 86%
IMDb: 7.8/10
Rated: R
Duration: 152m
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Crime
Stars: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner
Directed by: Justine Triet
Anatomy of a Fall was a five-time nominee at the Oscars, and the winner for 2023’s Best Original Screenplay. The story revolves around the death of Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis) and the discovery of his body by his son, Daniel Maleski (Milo Machado-Graner). Did Samuel fall from the attic in his home, or was he pushed?
The police soon openly suspect that Samuel’s wife and Daniel’s mother, Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), attacked Samuel and pushed him to his death. Even Daniel doesn’t quite know what to think when the truth about his parent’s strained marriage is brought out to the open. Affairs and resentment are only a small part of why Sandra and Samuel were estranged. But it looks damning when one of the leading characters in Sandra’s new novel contemplated killing her husband in a similar manner.
Life of Pi (2012)
Metacritic: 79%
IMDb: 7.9/10
Rated: PG
Duration: 127m
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Stars: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon
Directed by: Ang Lee
Life of Pi is not a fantasy, but there’s a touch of magic in director Ang Lee’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s hit novel. The film and the book are the story of Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel (Suraj Sharma), a teenager who accompanies his family and their zoo animals as they travel by sea to immigrate to Canada. Tragedy strikes when the boat sinks, killing Pi’s family and most of the animals.
Only a handful of animals make it off the ship with Pi, including a large Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Soon, it’s just Pi and the tiger as the former attempts to find a way to co-exist with Richard Parker without being eaten or attacked. Because the boy and the tiger need each other to survive while stranded in the open waters of the sea.
Suncoast (2024)
Metacritic: 61%
IMDb: 6.6/10
Rated: R
Duration: 110m
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Stars: Nico Parker, Laura Linney, Woody Harrelson
Directed by: Laura Chinn
Laura Chinn’s Suncoast is largely based on true events that happened to her and her family, but the movie does take some dramatic license with the story. Nico Parker stars as Doris, a teenager who is overwhelmed by the brain cancer afflicting her brother, Max (Cree Kawa), and from her attempts to deal with their mother, Kristine (Laura Linney).
When Max enters hospice care, Doris befriends Paul (Woody Harrelson), an activist who is fighting to keep a woman named Terri Schiavo hooked up to life support despite her persistent vegetative state and the wishes of her husband. As for Doris, she has to face the very real possibility that her brother will never come home from hospice.
Uncharted (2022)
Metacritic: 45%
IMDb: 6.3/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 116m
Genre: Action, Adventure
Stars: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Sophia Ali
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Fans of the Uncharted video games may have done a double take when the MCU’s Spider-Man, Tom Holland, was cast as a much younger version of adventurer Nathan “Nate” Drake. The Uncharted movie is an alternate take on Nate’s origin story and how he formed a partnership with Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), a treasure hunter who claims to have been the partner of Nate’s missing brother, Sam Drake (Rudy Pankow).
In the way of Nate and Sully’s first expedition is Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas), a very wealthy man who hires Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle) and her mercenaries to take out anyone in their path. Nate and Sully only have Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali) to call upon for help, but even she may be less than trustworthy.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
Metacritic: 83%
IMDb: 7.6/10
Rated: R
Duration: 162m
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
If Quentin Tarantino is serious about making only one more movie, then his penultimate film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, will go down as one of his best pictures. In this alternate version of history, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a faded Hollywood star, and his best friend and bodyguard, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), is a dangerous man with a murky past. Rick is desperate for a comeback, and his opportunities are drying up.
Meanwhile, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) is on the rise as a prominent actress, unaware that the Manson family’s violent ambitions may mean the death of her. Tarantino creates so much tension whenever the Mansons menace any of the three leads in this film that the inevitable violence is almost cathartic when it finally arrives.
Quiz Lady (2023)
Metacritic: 58%
IMDb: 6.7/10
Rated: R
Duration: 100m
Genre: Comedy
Stars: Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Will Ferrell
Directed by: Jessica Yu
Quiz Lady features a unique pairing of Awkwafina and Sandra Oh as sisters Annie and Jenny Yum, respectively. When their mother flees the country to avoid a gambling debt, the struggling Jenny moves back home with her younger sister. While Annie effortlessly answers the questions as she watches a TV game show, Jenny films it and later posts it online where it goes viral.
This attracts the wrong kind of attention to Annie’s talent, as a criminal kidnaps the family dog to blackmail Annie into going on the game show in order to cover her mother’s debt and get their pet back. What Annie doesn’t realize is that Jenny also has other ulterior motives to get her sister on TV.
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Metacritic: 63%
IMDb: 6.6/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 104m
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot is accustomed to murder mysteries, but less so to ghosts in A Haunting in Venice. Just two years after World War II, Poirot is ready to put his life as a detective in the past. However, Poirot just can’t resist the opportunity to unmask a fraud when he is invited to attend a seance held by Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh).
It doesn’t take Poirot long to figure out how Joyce pulls off her supposedly supernatural tricks. But much to Poirot’s alarm, someone soon tries to murder him before Joyce’s body is discovered. Now, Poirot has to figure out if he is dealing with a conventional murderer, or something more sinister from beyond the grave.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Metacritic: 58%
IMDb: 6.9/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 119m
Genre: Adventure, Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
The curse of Jumanji returns for a new generation of characters in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Now transformed into a video game, Jumanji entices four teenagers – Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff), Anthony “Fridge” Johnson (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman), and Martha Kaply (Morgan Turner) – into playing without fully understanding the consequences of their decision.
Suddenly, the group finds themselves physically transported into the game, with Spencer in the body of Dr. Xander “Smolder” Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), Fridge as Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Kevin Hart), Bethany as Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon (Jack Black), and Martha as Ruby Roundhouse (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s Karen Gillan). Each of the kids has only three lives to escape from Jumanji. But first, they have to locate the fifth player in their group.
No One Will Save You (2023)
Metacritic: 60%
IMDb: 6.3/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 93m
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
Stars: Kaitlyn Dever, Elizabeth Kaluev, Zack Duhame
Directed by: Brian Duffield
Kaitlyn Dever stars in the Hulu original movie No One Will Save You as Brynn, a young woman who lives a solitary existence in large part because she is a pariah in her small town. That’s one of the reasons why Brynn has no one to turn to when an alien invades her home. In the aftermath, Brynn finds no support from her fellow humans, and she discovers just how alone she really is.
No One Will Save You barely has any dialogue at all, but Dever’s expressive and earnest performance carries the entire film. It also goes a long way toward making little gray men scary again, especially when Brynn meets the more horrific aliens.
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Metacritic: 87%
IMDb: 7.7/10
Rated: R
Duration: 114m
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon
Directed by: Martin McDonagh
There are few things more heartbreaking than when your best friend suddenly decides they don’t like you anymore. Writer and director Martin McDonagh explores this idea in his dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin. Colin Farrell stars as Pádraic Súilleabháin, an ordinary man living on Inisherin, who is absolutely bewildered and hurt when his best friend, Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson), abruptly ends their relationship.
Pádraic assumes that he’s somehow offended Colm and bends over backwards to apologize … to no avail. Even the efforts of Pádraic’s sister, Siobhán Súilleabháin (Kerry Condon), fail to reconcile Colm and Pádraic. And soon, Colm threatens to take drastic actions if Pádraic doesn’t stop trying to speak with him.
Flamin' Hot (2023)
Metacritic: 65%
IMDb: 5.8/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 99m
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Stars: Jesse Garcia, Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert
Directed by: Eva Longoria
What do you do when there’s a true story that may not be true? As was famously said in the 1962 Western classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” The story of Flamin’ Hot is truly inspirational regardless of whether these events actually played out this way in reality. The film is based on the memoir of Richard Monta?ez (Jesse Garcia), the man who claims that he created Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. And he didn’t do it alone.
With the support of his wife, Judy Monta?ez (Annie Gonzalez), and his co-worker, Clarence C. Baker (Dennis Haysbert), Richard rises from the rank of janitor and works up the nerve to pitch his Flamin’ Hot ideas to Frito-Lay executive Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub). From there, a snack food legend is born.
Something in the Dirt (2022)
Rated: R
Duration: 116m
Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery
Stars: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, Sarah Adina Smith
Directed by: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson
An exciting example of the kind of narrative ingenuity that only a worldwide pandemic can foster, Something in the Dirt is the latest film from writer-director duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (The Endless, Synchronic), and is arguably the most primitively fascinating work of these two collaborators. Shot over the course of a year with a crew of just 12, our story follows Levi and John, apartment-dwelling neighbors who decide to make a documentary about a range of supernatural events occurring in their Los Angeles residence. But as the two men discover that these kinds of extraordinary happenings are taking place all over L.A., their findings lead them to a combative exchange of theories and calculations.
The Valet (2022)
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 124m
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Stars: Eugenio Derbez, Samara Weaving, Max Greenfield
Directed by: Richard Wong
In The Valet, Eugenio Derbez and Samara Weaving star as Antonio and Olivia, a dedicated valet driver and a Hollywood starlet that “hires” Antonio to act as her new boyfriend when the actress is accidentally photographed with the man she’s actually seeing (New Girl‘s Max Greenfield), who just so happens to be married. As the mass media aims the spotlight more and more at the fake couple, it’s only a matter of time before the news breaks that the romance is fabricated. It’s a heartfelt comedy with attention paid to character development and earnest performances, something that is often lacking in many of today’s bigger-budget comedies.
Ultrasound (2022)
Metacritic: 55%
IMDb: 5.8/10
Rated: R
Duration: 103m
Genre: Science Fiction
Stars: Vincent Kartheiser, Chelsea Lopez, Breeda Wool
Directed by: Rob Schroeder
In director Rob Schroeder’s Ultrasound, Mad Men alum Vincent Kartheiser stars as Glen, an unassuming everyman who just so happens to encounter some car trouble on a dark and stormy night. Seeking some help, he knocks on the door of a perfectly kind stranger named Arthur (Bob Stephenson), leading the former down an uncanny rabbit hole of deceit and mind control. Presenting a nail-biter of a story without diving into carnage and other typical screen grabs, Ultrasound does its best work as a quietly curious foray into a world that’s hard to pin down.
The Last Tourist (2021)
IMDb: 7.3/10
Duration: 84m
Genre: Documentary
Stars: Elizabeth Becker, Sangduen Lek Chailert, Costas Christ
Directed by: Tyson Sadler
When traveling somewhere tropical and off-grid, we typically view these vacations as nothing more than personal getaways for us and those we love. But there’s a whole other side of the tourism coin that doesn’t get talked about — until director Tyson Sadler came along, that is. Through his eye-opening documentary The Last Tourist, Sadler paints a much different picture of tourism’s impacts on the parts of the world that need extra care and protection from humanity’s grip, while also discussing the positive aspects of worldly excursions. In the end, the audience is left with an important message that may have you thinking twice about your next venture to somewhere distant and remote.
Hellraiser (2022)
Rated: R
Duration: 121m
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Stars: Odessa A'zion, Jamie Clayton, Adam Faison
Directed by: David Bruckner
It’s about time the world of Hellraiser received some much-needed reimagining. For years now, the franchise has seen sequel after sequel, and while Cenobite fans are always pleased to see Doug Bradley donning his Pinhead garb, the series has certainly run into its fair share of cinematic duds. But director David Bruckner has come along to get the saga on track once more. The 2022 remake stars Odessa A’zion as Riley, an on-the-mend drug addict who comes into the possession of a runic puzzle box — a mysterious device that summons an armada of hellish entities. Led by the Hell Priest (Jamie Clayton), Odessa is plunged into a fight for survival when the demonic visitors begin wreaking havoc in the real world. Bruckner’s Hellraiser reboot may not satisfy all of the saga’s diehards, but when you consider it as a gruesome yet polished homage to Clive Barker’s source novella and first batch of films, the 2022 version more than gets the job done.
Derek DelGaudio's In & Of Itself (2020)
Metacritic: 82%
IMDb: 8.2/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 90m
Genre: Documentary
Stars: Derek DelGaudio, Hal Schulman, Marina Abramovi?
Directed by: Frank Oz
We all ponder over the great existential questions of life from time to time. Who are we? Why are we here? Where are we going next? And while cinema is often used as a philosophical medium through which we can explore such inquiries through fiction and nonfiction lenses, such introspection has never been captured like it has in Derek Delgaudio’s mesmerizing documentary/stage spectacle In & Of Itself. Directed by Frank Oz, Delgaudio’s work combines elements of traditional stage performance and unconventional narrative structure to deliver a filmic spectacle that is hard to describe but impossible to forget.
This Mountain Life (2018)
IMDb: 7.2/10
Duration: 77m
Genre: Documentary
Stars: Simon Beck, Martina Halik, Tania Halik
Directed by: Grant Baldwin
This Mountain Life is the kind of documentary film that exposes viewers to treacherous, isolated environments where geographically remote livelihoods are par for the course and tundra survival is as second-nature as putting milk in your cereal. Released in 2018, director Grant Baldwin’s thought-provoking film explores the lives of British Columbia residents living in and around the region’s mountainous landscapes. The subjects include a mother and daughter pairing who are looking to undertake a significant traversing of the local Coast Mountains area. A philosophical deep-dive into what it takes to be one with your land and hills, This Mountain Life is up there with the best deeply-pondered Herzog nature docs and National Geographic specials.
Dinner in America (2022)
Metacritic: 80%
IMDb: 7.2/10
Rated: R
Duration: 106m
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
Stars: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Pat Healy
Directed by: Adam Rehmeier
It’s not often that you see the punk rock music genre getting any kind of cinematic limelight (sans films like Her Smell and Green Room), but even less so when the film genre of choice is an indie rom-com. Such is the case, though, with writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeir’s 2020 film Dinner in America, and the results are pretty great. Starring Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs as a singer and his band’s devoted fan, our story follows the star-crossed lovers as they travel around the lesser-seen suburbs and pervading urban sprawl of the American Midwest. If you’ve seen Garden State or Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, picture these two films being tossed into a blender with a healthy bit of rated-R this and that for extra punch, and you’re probably at least halfway to the look, feel, and budgetary, off-the-cuff sensibilities of Dinner in America.
Pig (2021)
Metacritic: 82%
IMDb: 6.9/10
Rated: R
Duration: 91m
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin
Directed by: Michael Sarnoski
In Pig, Nicolas Cage stars as Robin Feld, a truffle forager living off the grid in the backcountry of the Pacific Northwest. With a day to day composed of seeking out and selling rare fungi to a local restaurant supplier named Amir (Alex Wolff), Feld is content to go about a simple life of living off the land, that is until a posse of malcontents steal his truffle-foraging swine. Teaming up with Amir to track down the thieves, Robin must go to great lengths to infiltrate the locales and social circles he left behind to regain the animal he loves. A stirring blend of arresting performances and a unique narrative, Pig is the kind of independent film that makes a quiet but powerful impact before fading into the greater ephemera of bigger-budget pictures. That being said, catch it while you can — you won’t be disappointed.
Prey (2022)
Metacritic: 79%
IMDb: 7.3/10
Rated: R
Duration: 100m
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Thriller, Horror
Stars: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro
Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg
Serving as a centuries-ago prequel to the 1987 film Predator, Prey gives us the story of a Comanche warrior named Naru (Amber Midthunder) who aspires to be the mighty protector of her Great Plains tribe. One day, a powerful new foe descends on her clan, forcing Naru and her fellow Comanche to summon up all their wits and strength to thwart the combatant extraterrestrial. Prey is a propulsive and blood-soaked nail-biter of an action film, and one that could effectively stand alone as a singular entity. But in this case, it’s a new entry in a much-loved franchise, and it’s one we’re betting will make plenty of fans happy.
Flee (2021)
Metacritic: 91%
IMDb: 8/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 89m
Genre: Documentary, Animation
Stars: Amin Nawabi, Daniel Karimyar, Fardin Mijdzadeh
Directed by: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Flee is one of those movies that fully commands the power of documentary filmmaking to tell an unbelievable true story. With jaw-dropping animation as our visual medium of choice, director Jonas Poher Rasmussen unpacks the emotionally arresting past of one Amir Nawabi, a refugee from Afghanistan (operating under an alias) who recounts his experience of fleeing his native country close to two decades ago. Heartfelt, beautifully constructed, and filled with frame after frame of immersive imagery, Flee is an important bit of storytelling you don’t want to miss.
Sundown (2022)
Metacritic: 70%
IMDb: 6.6/10
Rated: R
Duration: 82m
Genre: Drama
Stars: Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios
Directed by: Michel Franco
In Sundown, Tim Roth is Neil Bennet, the emotionally and financially domineering patriarch of a high-class family. Vacationing in Mexico with his sister Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her two children (Samuel Bottomley and Albertine Kotting McMillan), Alice receives distressing news about a death in the family. Planning to travel home, Neil makes up an excuse at the last second to stay in Acapulco, where he indulges in a series of cheap thrills in an effort to distance himself from his sister, the death, and anything else that could pester the quiet and miserly gentleman. A bleak drama, Sundown is propelled by the chameleon-like performance of Tim Roth at its center, portraying a man who has it all but would seemingly give it all up if it meant disappearing was a possibility.
Three Identical Strangers (2018)
Metacritic: 81%
IMDb: 7.6/10
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 97m
Genre: Documentary
Stars: David Kellman, Robert Shafran, Lawrence Wright
Directed by: Tim Wardle
Joining the ranks of Hulu’s jaw-dropping documentaries, Three Identical Strangers traces the story of Edward Galland, David Kellman, and Robert Shafran, identical triplets who were separated at birth and reunited years later after a chance meeting in New York. After spending time together and learning about each other’s lives, the three brothers unravel a deep-seated mystery that changes everything they knew about each other, themselves, and the clinical details of their adoptive upbringings. This is a documentary that screeches into huge hairpin turns, forcing its viewers to question the nature of reality and what it means to have your life altered without your knowledge or consent.
Fresh (2022)
Metacritic: 67%
IMDb: 6.7/10
Rated: R
Duration: 114m
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Jonica T. Gibbs
Directed by: Mimi Cave
Noa (Daisy-Edgar Jones) is sick of swiping through dating apps to find a true companion. Lucky for her, she seems to have run into the man of her dreams, Steve (Avengers: Infinity War‘s Sebastian Stan) at the local grocery store. After quickly warming up to each other, Noa’s new suitor invites her on a weekend retreat. But it’s not long before the idyllic, romantic outing devolves into a horrific fight for survival. A brilliantly brutal riff on the horror-comedy, Fresh is a bombastic amalgamation of familiar genre tropes that we can’t get enough of.
Spencer (2021)
Metacritic: 76%
IMDb: 6.6/10
Rated: R
Duration: 117m
Genre: Drama
Stars: Kristen Stewart, Jack Farthing, Sally Hawkins
Directed by: Pablo Larraín
Spencer offers a fresh take on the introspective turmoils of Princess Diana, portrayed by the grounded and arresting Kristen Stewart (Love Lies Bleeding). With her marriage to Prince Charles in a tumultuous place, the two nobles have agreed to keep the peace through the Christmas season. But as the holiday festivities ensue, Diana’s inner demons begin to boil over, as she considers what life could be as an ex-communicate of the royal family. A moving character study with powerful performances and thoughtful storytelling at its core, Spencer does its due diligence in paying homage to the tragic Princess through a lens of harmonious self-discovery.
No Exit (2022)
Metacritic: 54%
IMDb: 6.1/10
Rated: R
Duration: 96m
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Stars: Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, Dennis Haysbert
Directed by: Damien Power
When Darby (Havana Rose Liu) discovers her mother is in critical condition, she escapes from her rehabilitation center, hoping to return home to tend to her ailing parent. But when a powerful blizzard puts a monkey-wrench into Darby’s homecoming, she’s forced to take shelter at a highway rest-stop. There she meets a group of fellow travelers, all stranded by the storm. After wandering outside, Darby discovers something in a parked van that initiates a deadly game of cat-and-mouse between her and the rest stop’s other inhabitants. A taut thriller that treads familiar waters, No Exit moves forward, full-steam ahead, dropping one thrill after the other.
Deep Water (2022)
Metacritic: 53%
IMDb: 5.4/10
Rated: R
Duration: 116m
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Stars: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Grace Jenkins
Directed by: Adrian Lyne
A Hulu original, Deep Water stars Ben Affleck and Mary Ana de Armas as Vic and Melinda Van Allen, a married couple that has entered an unsettling part of their relationship. As their love wanes, the troubled husband and wife engage in a tantalizing set of mind games with each other, a psychological battle that ropes in more casualties than just the wedded pair. Based on the 1957 Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name, Deep Water is a slow-burning thriller with blistering performances from both Affleck and de Armas. They’re cinematic waters that have certainly been trodden before, but director Adrian Lyne delivers a rich, if at times troubled, adaptation of Highsmith’s source material.
Wander Darkly (2020)
Metacritic: 66%
IMDb: 5.8/10
Rated: R
Duration: 97m
Genre: Romance, Drama
Stars: Sienna Miller, Diego Luna, Beth Grant
Directed by: Tara Miele
After a traumatic incident, Adrienna and Matteo (Sienna Miller and Diego Luna), a struggling young couple, are sent to the hospital. Confined to rehabilitative quarters, the once-happy pair are transported to an otherworldly realm of surreal memories. While each of them is forced to confront the hazy beginnings of their fizzling romance, their out-of-body paths will cross in bizarre and unexpected ways. Visually, Wander Darkly lives in an elevated plane of awareness, but the emotionally laden performances of both Miller and Luna help to anchor the film in a grounded and often relatable reality.
Another Round (2020)
Metacritic: 79%
IMDb: 7.8/10
Duration: 117m
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe
Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
With an original Danish title of Druk (“binge drinking”), co-writer and director Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round follows a group of four high school teachers with a wild plan. Facing unenthused students, trouble at home, and other midlife hardships, the foursome agrees to test the theories of psychiatrist Finn Sk?rderud in the workplace. More specifically, the colleagues want to see if maintaining a constant blood-alcohol level of 0.5 will improve their creativity and overall mood. Truly more than another midlife boozer flick, Another Round sees Mads Mikkelsen in top form as Martin, the de facto onscreen leader who attempts to gain more out of his day-to-day through mild intoxication. It’s funny, at times dark, and tactfully hard-hitting.