'Ana,' plus the 12 Best Hulu Movies You Haven't Seen
Hey movie lovers!
Thanks for checking out another edition of "No Content For Old Men." There are no new releases worth talking about, so I'm bringing back my streaming recommendations that you all seem to love, this time focusing on the offerings of Hulu. The platform has put an institutional emphasis on television, and for my money is the best TV streamer on the market, but their movie options turned out to be pretty strong as well. If you're not a Hulu subscriber, you can go ahead and scroll down to my regular "something new, something old and something to stream."
Just like last time, I'm going to skip past the more obvious choices. I hope you've already seen iconic comedies Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Oscar winners The Hurt Locker and Parasite, the Russell Crowe hall-of-famers Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and A Beautiful Mind, my 2020 favs Palm Springs and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the female-led My Best Friend's Wedding and Booksmart, and of course Denis Villneuve's Prisoners. If not, those are a great place to start.
Here are 12 under-the-radar movies, ones you hopefully haven't seen (or heard of!), which you can throw on this week and enjoy. Note for the other cinephiles out there: I didn't go as obscure as I could have...these are for the most part movies that are "known" amongst the film community but based on conversations with friends have not reached a mass audience.
Once again I'll be giving my full explanations on my podcast, which is now available on Apple Podcasts! Subscribe on your phone so you never miss an episode! Also available on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, PocketCasts and RadioPublic. Apple Podcasts soon to come!
As always, thanks for reading and spreading the word,
Matt
Top 10 Movies on Hulu You've Never Seen (Probably)
Full explanations of these picks can be heard on my podcast, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
12. Minding the Gap
11. The Escort
10. The Cabin in the Woods
9. Like Crazy
8. Peanut Butter Falcon
7. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
6. Wild Rose
5. Spotlifters
4. Coherence
3. Margin Call
2. Free Solo
1. If Beale Street Could Talk
Streaming Suggestions!
Something New
Ava ($ VOD): It's really tough for movie fans like myself, who call incessantly for original adult movies to get decent budgets, to see an action movie starring Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Colin Farrell, Common and Diana Silvers flop this hard. It's basically a 96-minute action movie mad lib, plugging in poor recreations of elements from much better entries into the genre. The movie fails alongside a long line of sexy female assassin movies in recent years -- 'Red Sparrow,' 'Atomic Blonde,' and 'Anna' come to mind -- none of which inspire chants of, "girl power!"
Something Old
The Day of the Locust (1975): I just got done reading Nathanael West's iconic 1939 novel about Los Angeles' hollow splendor during the Great Depression. Then I found out that John Schlesinger, director of classics like Midnight Cowboy and Marathon Man, adapted the book into a movie starring, among others, Donald Sutherland and Burgess Meredith (Yo Micky!). It's about a group of people on the fringes of Hollywood trying to get famous, exposing the emptiness of the pursuit. And fun fact, Sutherland's character in the novel and the movie is named Homer Simpson. Yep, the iconic animated character was named the hapless foil to our protagonist here. That's the kind of trivia knowledge you'll only get here!
Something to Stream
Moneyball (Netflix): This movie just made it's return to Netflix and HOLY MOLY, I guess it took a rewatch to realize this is not only the best sports movie ever but also one of my all-time favorite movies. Towering performances, impeccable writing both on the micro and macro levels, and crafty direction. It's thrilling and emotional and informative and really just kicks ass from start to finish. As Brad Pitt's Billy Beane puts it, "It's hard not to be romantic about baseball." With Sorkin's new movie dropping on the service Friday, now is high time to revisit one of his best scripts.