Culture

The 11 Best Movies Coming to Hulu This Month

Think Hulu is just for binge-watching TV? Think again.
CHRISTIAN BALE AMERICAN PSYCHO
EFAPE5 CHRISTIAN BALE AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)Alamy Stock Photo

Cord-cutters generally think of Hulu as the place to look when they want to binge-watch television (where else should they turn when they need to catch up on deliriously bad cooking shows?), but over the last few months the streaming service has been adding an impressive collection of movies to its TV catalog. This month, Hulu is adding some great actors’ early hits to the mix, putting up films from the likes of Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Jeff Goldblum, Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, and even a young(ish) Michael Caine. As summer turns to autumn and the leaves start slowly tumbling from the trees, why not watch a World War III action movie starring a bright-eyed Charlie Sheen? Here are the films coming to Hulu that you need to watch this September.

  • Despite Christian Bale's impressive gruffness in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy (the performance looks better and better as Ben Affleck hoarsely whispers his way through the part), for a chunk of moviegoers, he’ll always be Patrick Bateman. As the protagonist in Mary Harron's adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis satirical novel, Bale is as funny as he is ruthless. It’s unclear what’s meant to frighten us most: the murder, the grooming regimen, or his taste in music.
  • Things go awry when Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is sent to Italy to bring back spoiled playboy Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law). An adaption of Patricia Highsmith's novel (she also wrote *Carol* and *Strangers on a Train*), the film is a great window into the 1950s pretentious Ivy League rich kid world, expertly populated by Gwyneth Paltrow and Philip Seymour Hoffman. For proof, look no further than Hoffman’s Freddie chiding of Ripley for watching Marge Sherwood (Paltrow): "Tommy, how’s the peeping?"
  • Based on Jack Finney's *The Body Snatchers* and the 1956 *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*, Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake is what remakes should be (and rarely are). A San Francisco health inspector (Donald Sutherland) chases down a case of body doubles popping up around the city. Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy both give predictably weird and awesome performances, and the backdrop of 1970s San Francisco is perfectly horrific.
  • This Cold War-era communist invasion film is not good at all. But if you’re a Patrick Swayze stan or you think Charlie Sheen’s early stuff justifies all that’s come since, check out this story of a group of teenagers who defend their Midwest town from invading Soviet forces. Swayze wears a leather jacket, Sheen wears a letterman, and Lea Thompson has a rifle and a beret.
  • Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is a recently divorced fiction writer who returns home to her small town, hoping to pick up where she left off with her high school boyfriend, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). This film, by Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody (who worked together on *Juno*), is sometimes tough to watch. But, as movie fans were all reminded with *Mad Max: Fury Road*, Theron is incredible and infinitely watchable no matter what she's doing.
  • In the second adaptation of George Orwell’s masterpiece, Winston Smith (John Hurt), a bureaucrat tasked with rewriting history, falls in love with Julia (Suzanna Hamilton) and desperately tries to escape the gaze of Big Brother. Richard Burton plays O'Brien in his final role. Orwell’s work continues to feel pressing, so what better way to take a break from the year that will launch a thousand post-apocalyptic fictions, 2016, than by watching *1984*?
  • We could explain the plot of this film, or we could just tell you that a mustachioed Christopher Walken plays a young Sean Penn’s estranged father. Watch it.
  • Frank Oz's (director of *What About Bob?* and the voice of Yoda) remake of the Marlon Brando/David Niven film *Bedtime Stories* stars Steve Martin and Michael Caine as two conmen with incredibly different styles both trying to woo a wealthy American heiress (Glenne Headly). This is 1980s Steve Martin comedy at its finest.
  • You've probably seen a performance of *Hair* at your local community theater, or at your liberal arts college, or in your cooky aunt Beth’s backyard. Whatever your gripes, it wasn’t the actors fault—the play hasn’t aged that gracefully. Milos Forman’s film adaptation suffers from the same issue, but it’s still fun (especially as an examination of how late-'70s actors portray hippies). Watch this one just for kicks.
  • Arguably the Greatest Flop of Them All, this Western from Michael Cimino (*The Deer Hunter*) cost over $40 million and closed after its second week in theaters making back just $1.3 million. It was considered one of the worst movies ever for decades, but has had a critical renaissance in the last five years, recasting it as misunderstood. The Kris Kristofferson/Christopher Walken epic tells the story of the 1890s Johnson County War, and was Willem Dafoe’s first role. Decide for yourself if it’s incredible or terrible.
  • Based on Robert C. O'Brien's kids book *Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH*, this animated film used the Disney cartoon style to tell the slightly darker story of a field mouse who must ask for help from a group of rats to save her child. The movie is a classic and the animation will give you flashbacks.
Joseph Bien-Kahn is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles. ... Read more
TopicsHuluUnderwire
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