I really like to break up my work week by watching a movie or two, so I’m always on the hunt for something good.Hulucan be hit or miss (as can any streaming service), but in the end I always find a handful of blockbusters and more hidden gems, like the five I’ve collected below.
In this week’s roundup we’ve got extraterrestrials, we’ve got dancing (of the dirty and ballet varieties), and a box of chocolates. It’s a bit eclectic, but I think you’ll enjoy something on this list.
1986
Runtime
2 hours 17 minutes
With Hulu/FX’s highly-anticipated new seriesAlien: Earthpremiering this week, everyone’s minds are focused on our favorite face-hugging, belly-busting xenomorphs. While we have rounded upevery Alien film and ranked them, one in the franchise stands out—1986’s sequel to the original,Aliens.
In the darkest, scariest, and most intense film in the franchise, Sigourney Weaver returns as Ellen Ripley, who is woken up after 57 years in cryosleep to join a team of Marines to investigate a space colony that’s been overrun by a hive of xenomorphs. The sole survivor is a little girl named Newt, and as the Marines, led by Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn) and the cocky Hudson (Bill Paxton), try to get everyone off the moon alive, the formidable aliens have other ideas.
The James Cameron-directedAliensgarnered seven Oscar noms, including a best actress nod for Weaver and two wins for visual effects and sound. Watch the entire franchise on Hulu, but don’t skip this masterpiece.
1987
1 hour 40 minutes
And now for something completely different. For anyone looking for a classic date-night movie to score some points with the missus, it doesn’t get much better than this legendary Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey romantic drama.Dirty Dancingwas a phenomenon when it came out in 1987.
It’s the now-familiar coming-of-age trope that follows the story of 17-year-old Frances “Baby” Houseman (Grey), whose wealthy, stuffy family is vacationing at a popular summer resort in the Catskills. But when the crew of resort dance instructors, led by the charismatic Johnny Castle (Swayze), draws Baby into their less-than-proper world of after-hours “dirty” dancing, it awakens a freedom in her that she’s never felt before.
Her parents are furious, of course, but as her romance with Johnny blossoms, it all culminates in the iconic “Time of My Life” performance that features the film’s award-winning choreography and feel-good summer vibes. I always like to imagine that Johnny is actuallyPoint Break’s Bodhi before we went all bank-robbing surfer. The timelines don’t really line up, but it’s fun.
1994
2 hour 22 minutes
I’ll never forgive the Academy for awardingForrest Gumpthe Best Picture statue over my belovedPulp Fiction(robbery!), but even I have to admit that the charming Tom Hanks classic drama is an incredible bucket-list film.
If youhaven’tseen it,Forrest Gumptags along for the wild ride of the life of the titular Forrest (Hanks), a simple Alabama man who loves his mama (Sally Fields) and his Jenny (Robin Wright).
Using some cutting-edge special effects for the time, Forrest’s incredible right-place-at-the-right-time life takes him from college football star to Vietnam hero to cross-country runner to wealthy owner of the Bubba Gump shrimp company and beyond.
It’s a remarkable, feel-good story with Oscar-winning performances from Hanks and his co-star, Gary Sinise as Forrest’s Nam commanding officer, Lt. Dan Taylor, who overcomes losing his legs in the war and has one hell of a battle with a hurricane (and god) out on the shrimping boat. Life really is like a box of chocolates.
2010
1 hour 48 minutes
It’s no surprise at all that Natalie Portman’s first (and only) Oscar came for her portrayal of haunted and troubled New York Ballet dancer Nina Sayers in Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thrillerBlack Swan.
The lines of reality are blurred for the unstable Nina when she’s given the lead in the company’s production of Swan Lake. But as in the ballet, the dual contrasting roles of both the innocent White Swan and the seductive Black Swan start to fracture Nina as well, as paranoia and her obsession with perfection take over.
Fueling that paranoia and pressure is the company’s artistic director (Vincent Cassel), a provocative new rival, Lily (Mila Kunis), and Nina’s own overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey).Black Swanis a poignant and emotionally raw exploration of desire and ambition gone wrong.
1989
2 hours 20 minutes
A few years after James Cameron took us into deep space looking forAliens, the prolific director then asked us to hold our breath and follow him to the darkest depths of the ocean in search of otherworldly creatures.
The Abyssis an award-winning visual feast for the eyes. It follows a team made up of Navy crew and a civilian diving team to locate and recover a sunken U.S. nuclear submarine. The civilians, led by oil platform veteran Bud Brigman (Ed Harris) and his estranged wife, engineer Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), are at odds with the Navy SEAL team about the recovery, but everything changes upon the discovery of an intelligent, beautifully eerie entity living in the depths that may be friend or foe.
The Abyssis famous for being mostly filmed using massive underwater sets, including an unfinished nuclear power plant that was flooded. The actors would sometimes spend upwards of 12 hours in the water a day.
Like the abyss, Hulu’s well of movies and TV shows runs deep, and includes an array of classics, new releases, and every genre in between.
Hulu
Hulu has an excellent, ever-changing lineup of blockbuster movies just waiting for you to explore.
