If you're looking for something new to watch on Hulu, the movies below are all excellent in different ways. All of Us Strangers is a stylish-but-serious examination of grief and redemption; Cat Person is a funny-but-scary look at dating in the everything-online era; Amulet is the choice for dread-inducing horror; and if you just want some mindless fantasy, you could do much worse than The Secret Kingdom.
All of Us Strangers (2023)
Released to nearly universal critical acclaim, director Andrew Haigh's dreamlike All of Us Strangers examines the grief and loneliness of a middle-aged screenwriter whose identity was shaped by a lifetime of trauma, including the death of both his parents when he was 12. When Adam visits his childhood home, he finds his parents still there, and begins visiting them regularly even though they've been dead since the 1980s. Meanwhile, a new relationship with a similarly alienated neighbor offers a different kind of redemption.
Amulet (2020)
In horror movie Amulet, a woman hires Tomaz, a homeless veteran, as a live-in caretaker for her crumbling house in London. Her mother lives in the attic; at least, she says it's her mother up there. But Tomaz starts to suspect that there's something very sinister in the secret recesses of the house. If you like horror movies that build up dreadful, foreboding vibes instead of throwing jump scares at you, don't miss Amulet.
Cat Person (2023)
Based on a short story that went viral from New Yorker writer Kristen Roupenian, Cat Person is a comedy/thriller that tells the semi-true story of 20-year-old student Margot's fumbling relationship with Robert, an older man who seems nice at first, but is hiding something terrible. Like the main characters' relationship, Cat Person goes from awkward comedy to outright terror as Robert's many red flags pile up. Maybe nothing you've experienced is this extreme, but anyone who has ever dated online will relate to Cat Person's vibe.
The Secret Kingdom (2023)
Sometimes you want to watch a totally escapist fantasy movie, the kind where children discover a secret world hidden under the floorboards of their room and have heroic adventures involving talking animals in a fantastical kingdom. That's just what happens to siblings Peter and Verity in The Secret Kingdom, a good-natured (but not particularly original) fantasy film for the whole proverbial family.
Last week's picks
The Space Race
Produced by National Geographic, The Space Race tells the story of the pioneering Black pilots, engineers, and scientists who became NASA astronauts and were otherwise integral to the American space program. Told through archival footage and interviews with the people who were there, The Space Race details the unique challenges and triumphs of these unsung American heroes.
The Lost City (2023)
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum star in this romantic-comedy-adventure. Bullock is a pampered romance novelist; Tatum is the self-absorbed male model who appears on the covers of her books. The mismatched couple find themselves in a dangerous jungle, without any idea how to do anything. It's the kind of movie that survives on the chemistry and likability of its stars, and Tatum and Bullock are as charismatic as they come.
Joan Baez: I Am a Noise (2023)
This documentary about folk music and civil rights giant Joan Baez has earned a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes by going beyond a just-the-facts retelling of Baez's life and exploring the nature of pop culture and personal mythology. A combination of archival footage and fearless interviews with Baez draw a picture of Joan Baez the person and Joan Baez the icon.
Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Baz Luhrmann films are love-em-or-hate-em, and the director's over-the-top take on Romeo and Juliet is extra Luhrmann-y. But unlike in some of his movies, Romeo + Juliet's story isn't overwhelmed by Luhrmann's unique glitter-and-lust aesthetic. His stylized visuals compliment Shakespeare's teenage love tragedy instead of fighting against the source material, especially when enacted by a very young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.