The 60 Best Movies On Hulu Right Now

The content available on most streaming services changes regularly, and Hulu is no exception. As such, having a handy guide for what to watch each month can be an invaluable resource. And so, without further ado, we present to you the 60 best movies on Hulu right now.

What can you expect from the Hulu catalog specifically? Well, for one, plenty of 20th Century productions, as well as films made under its specialty label, Searchlight Pictures. Ever since Disney bought Fox (which also gave the Mouse House a controlling share of Hulu), the streaming service has been the exclusive streaming destination for all 20th Century films. Hulu also has a pretty strong, albeit constantly revolving, selection of films from other studios, so there's plenty of good stuff to choose from. Given that HBO Max seems to be going through some turbulent times, Hulu currently seems to be the go-to place for the discerning viewer searching for quality movies to watch at home.

In "50/50," Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a twenty-something named Adam who learns that he has cancer. With the support of his best friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen), Adam enters treatment, trying to keep his spirits up. His girlfriend, Rachael (Anna Kendrick), sticks with him, too, though his failing health puts a strain on their relationship. 

Sure, "cancer comedy" sounds like it might be an inadvisable genre, but Gordon-Levitt and Rogen bring a refreshing humanity to their roles, even through all the stoner shenanigans (marijuana does have medicinal properties, you know!). Rogen is a particular standout, though perhaps that's not a surprise; his character is actually based on himself, as the movie is inspired by his real-life friendship with screenwriter Will Reiser.

• Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick 

• Director: Jonathan Levine

• Year: 2011

• Runtime: 99 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Joshua Oppenheimer's critically acclaimed documentary "The Act of Killing" is a unique and chillingly powerful work that reflects on the horrors of the Indonesian genocide of 1965-1966 and the way that the perpetrators of those killings have been subsequently celebrated as heroes. The film follows several former death squad leaders as they're interviewed about their role in the mass murders and willingly participate in bizarre Hollywood-style recreations of the atrocities they committed. Werner Herzog, who joined as an executive producer on the film after seeing it, said, "I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade."

• Starring: Anwar Congo, Jusuf Kalla
• Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
• Year: 2012
• Runtime: 122 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman decided to get extremely meta when he wrote "Adaptation," styling the screenplay on his own real-life experience with writer's block in his efforts to adapt Susan Orlean's non-fiction book "The Orchid Thief." Nicolas Cage plays "Charlie Kaufman," a neurotic and depressed writer attempting to adapt "The Orchid Thief," while Meryl Streep plays Orlean herself. The story veers into the fictional and the strange when Charlie's twin brother, Donald (also played by Cage), appears, and the brothers' lives and that of the authors' end up intertwining. The brilliant and mind-bendingly weird "Adaptation" was lauded for its originality and its incredible performances, and earned an Oscar for Chris Cooper, who plays the orchid thief, John Laroche.

• Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper
• Director: Spike Jonze
• Year: 2002
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

The landmark sci-fi anime "Akira" helped introduce western audiences to Japanese animation and has had a significant influence on numerous film and television series in the years since its release. Set 31 years after Tokyo was destroyed during World War III, this dystopian story revolves around teenage bike gang leader Shotaro Kaneda, whose childhood friend, Tetsuo, is taken to a government facility after a motorcycle accident. When Tetsuo develops telekinetic powers, Kaneda must try to stop him from destroying the city.

• Starring: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama
• Director: Katsuhiro Ohtomo
• Year: 1988
• Runtime: 124 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

Nina (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a bawdy, gutsy comedian with a point to prove. "Guys come up to me all the time after sets cause I'm frank and I talk about sex," she tells a handsome man named Rafe (Common), who approaches her after she gets off stage. He seems genuine, though, and as they begin to fall for one another, Nina realizes she needs to confront something through her work that she's been avoiding talking about. Winstead is phenomenal, her Nina by turns side-splitting and heartbreaking. Just as much of a surprise is Common, who brings a real warmth to his portrayal of Rafe, a man who wants Nina to know that she is seen and she is safe.

• Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Common, Chace Crawford

• Director: Eva Vives

• Year: 2018

• Runtime: 97 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

John Hyams' "Alone" almost functions on the level of myth. It's the story of a woman (Jules Wilcox) who leaves the city, heading out into the wilderness to avoid an unspecified relationship issue. At a gas station, she catches the eye of a man (Marc Menchaca) who immediately fixates on her. The man follows her into the woods, and a desperate chase ensues. If the woman wants to make it out alive, she must evade the predator for as long as she can. "Alone" is tense, frightening, and lean and mean in a way few thrillers are allowed to be.

• Starring: Jules Wilcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald

• Director: John Hyams

• Year: 2020

• Runtime: 98 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

"Annabelle," the first spinoff of "The Conjuring" franchise to feature the titular evil doll, isn't great. If you let that deter you from seeing "Annabelle: Creation," now is your chance to rectify that. The second "Annabelle" movie is actually a prequel, telling the story of Annabelle's ... well, creation, and it's actually quite good.

Annabelle's origin story involves a group of orphans who, along with the nun who oversees them, are invited to stay at the home of a dollmaker. He lost his daughter to a tragic accident years earlier, and the dolls help keep her memory alive — perhaps a little too well. The movie centers on the friendship between two of the girls (Lulu Wilson and Talitha Bateman), and both child actors do an excellent job of grounding the movie's spooky silliness in something approaching genuine emotion.

• Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto, Lulu Wilson

• Director: David F. Sandberg

• Year: 2017

• Runtime: 110 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

When it comes to "Another Round," three words immediately come to mind: Mads Mikkelsen dancing. While there's certainly more to the movie than that, the Danish dramedy's notable final scene is an exhilarating and life affirming moment that also shows off Mikkelsen's (a former gymnast and dancer) impressive physical prowess and agility. Mikkelsen stars in the film as Martin, a middle-aged high school teacher who, along with a few colleagues, decide to spice up his stale life by maintaining a constant .05 blood alcohol level in the hopes this will help him become happier and more creative. At first, the plan seems to work, but the party can't last forever. "Another Round" won the Academy Award for best international feature in 2021.

• Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe
• Director: Thomas Vinterberg
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 115 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Harvey Weinstein's downfall started an overdue reckoning in Hollywood, leading to a reexamination of the toxic workplace culture that allowed his predatory behavior to go unchecked. Kitty Green's quietly powerful "The Assistant" focuses on one particular part of that culture: the Hollywood assistant. 

Julia Garner stars as Jane, a new assistant at an unnamed production company where the boss, an implied Weinstein-type figure, creates a culture of harassment, sleeping with aspiring young actresses and being an all-around bully. We follow Jane during a typical workday, watching as she spends her time performing menial tasks while suffering small indignities and, ultimately, being drawn into a culture of cover-ups and silence.

• Starring: Julia Garner, Matthew Macfayden, Mackenzie Leigh
• Director: Kitty Green
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 87 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Robin Williams gives one of the finest performances of his career opposite Robert De Niro in director Penny Marshall's "Awakenings." Based on the memoir of neurologist Oliver Sacks, the film follows Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Williams), who discovers that treating a group of catatonic patients with the drug L-dopa will fully "awaken" them. One of his subjects is Leonard Lowe (De Niro), who, along with the other patients, must learn to live life anew — until the effects of the treatment begin to wear off, that is.

• Starring: Robin Williams, Robert De Niro
• Director: Penny Marshall
• Year: 1990
• Runtime: 121 Minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

"Benedetta" is about a nun of the same name (Virginie Efra), a repressed woman who experiences religious visions while in a state of ecstasy. Her visions begin to escalate, and stigmata appears on her wrists as she begins an affair with another nun at the convent. This movie is blasphemous, scandalous, offensive, ridiculous, jaw-dropping, beautiful, and emotional, and that's why it's so much fun. Only "Showgirls" director Paul Verhoeven could make a nunsploitation movie like this, one that toes the line between European arthouse and camp; it's a film that must be seen to be believed.

• Starring: Virginie Efra, Charlotte Rampling, Daphné Patakia

• Director: Paul Verhoeven

• Year: 2021

• Runtime: 131 minutes

• Rating: NR

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

Writer-director Jim Cummings stars in "The Beta Test" as Jordan Hines, a talent agent who wants everyone to think he's more successful than he really is. One day, Jordan receives a letter in the mail inviting him to experience a truly anonymous sexual encounter at a local hotel — no strings attached, and no need to tell his fiancée. It even comes with a checklist of kinks and fetishes; anything he wants to happen, will. After he goes through with it, Jordan's paranoia spirals out of control, and he attempts to discover who is behind the mysterious organization. "The Beta Test" is an incisive and biting post-#MeToo satire about a town, an industry, and a man that all appear to be coming apart at the seams.

• Starring: Jim Cummings, Virginia Newcomb, PJ McCabe

• Director: Jim Cummings

• Year: 2021

• Runtime: 93 minutes

• Rating: NR

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

"Blade Runner 2049" bombed at the box office, so now that the film is on Hulu, you have a chance to catch up on one of the most visually interesting science fiction movies in recent memory. Ryan Gosling stars in the sequel to the Ridley Scott classic, playing a blade runner named K. He's tasked with rounding up replicants who have shirked their programming and are living off the grid. This brings him into contact with Rick Deckard, Harrison Ford's character from the original film. Denis Villeneuve's thoughtful direction and Roger Deakins' gorgeous cinematography make "Blade Runner 2049" a movie that sticks with you long after the lights have gone out on this futuristic Los Angeles.

• Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas

• Director: Denis Villeneuve

• Year: 2017

• Runtime: 164 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88% Fresh

The long-running Fox sitcom finally hit the big screen with "The Bob's Burgers Movie," a delightful animated flick that captures the television show's zany energy and dials the musical numbers up to 11. The film basically plays like a long episode of the show — that's a compliment, to be clear. When a sinkhole opens up in front of Bob's Burgers, the Belcher family must find new ways to serve customers, so they open a food cart on Wonder Wharf. At the same time, Louise discovers a body down in the sinkhole, and it turns out to be the remains of someone who used to work on the wharf. While Bob and Linda flip burgers for tourists, the kids go on a mission to solve the crime, bringing them deep into carny society's seedy underbelly. 

• Starring: H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, Dan Mintz

• Directors: Loren Bouchard, Bernard Derriman

• Year: 2022

• Runtime: 102 minutes

• Rating: PG-13

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

Simon, a punk rocker on the run from the cops, is the role Kyle Gallner was born to play. He's a hard-headed misanthrope, but even he can't help but be won over by Patty (Emily Skeggs), a quirky young woman who's a huge fan of his music. After she offers to let Simon crash with her and her family, Patty teams up with the singer to make music, commit crimes, and learn something from each other. "Dinner in America" is a black comedy about the disaffection of youth, and it's a very fun ride.

• Starring: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Mary Lynn Rajskub

• Director: Adam Carter Rehmeier

• Year: 2022

• Runtime: 106 minutes

• Rating: NR

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Former theater kids will find much to love about "Dramarama," a tender-hearted indie comedy. In Jonathan Wysocki's '90s-set film, a group of drama club friends meet up for one last murder-mystery themed sleepover before going off to college. Gene (Nick Pugliese) has promised himself that he's going to finally tell his friends he's gay, but the longer he waits for just the right moment, the more he has trouble working up the needed courage. "Dramarama" features a talented young cast that's already going on to do great work, including Nico Greetham ("Love, Victor") and Megan Suri ("Never Have I Ever").

• Starring: Nick Pugliese, Nico Greetham, Megan Suri

• Director: Jonathan Wysocki

• Year: 2020

• Runtime: 91 minutes

• Rating: NR

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

Christopher Nolan's pulse-pounding war movie "Dunkirk" examines the evacuation of Allied troops from the beaches of France during World War II from three different angles. One storyline follows the young men stuck waiting on the beach, as if in purgatory. Another tracks the rescuers coming to their aid by sea. The final piece of the puzzle involves air support. It's a movie about the compressed and distorted timelines of war, about the way a battle plays out from second to second, and about the quiet days of unimaginable cold and hunger that follow, providing just enough time for fear and existential dread to creep in.

• Starring: Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Harry Styles

• Director: Christopher Nolan

• Year: 2017

• Runtime: 107 minutes

• Rating: PG-13

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

An inventive modern-day spin on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," "Fire Island" stars Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang as Noah and Howie, two best friends who head to the titular gay vacation destination on a quest for some summer fun. Once there, they meet a group of rich friends, including Charlie, a doctor, and Will, a lawyer. While Noah had been focused on helping Howie get laid, he ends up attracted to Will. Featuring a diverse, eclectic cast of characters, "Fire Island" touches on various forms of prejudice, including classism and racism, with both humor and heart.

• Starring: Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Margaret Cho.
• Director: Andrew Ahn
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 105 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

Director Jonas Poher Rasmussen's groundbreaking animated documentary, "Flee," made Oscar history by becoming the first feature film to be nominated for Academy Awards for best animated feature, best international film, and best documentary feature. The film is mainly told via an animated recreation of a first-person account from Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym), who talks about his incredible experience fleeing Afghanistan as a child. Now that he's an adult, Amin's story, which had remained a secret, could threaten the life he has built together with his boyfriend, Kasper. Full of joy, pain, and self-discovery, "Flee" is a poignant, timely tale that powerfully humanizes the refugee experience.

• Starring: Daniel Karimyar, Milad Eskandari, Elaha Faiz
• Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 83 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

Women deserve good sex no matter what age they happen to be, and thus should appreciate the many charms of "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande," in which Emma Thompson plays a repressed, widowed, middle-aged woman, Nancy Stokes, who decides to hire a sex worker for precisely that. Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) is the charismatic and attractive young man who shows up at her hotel, ready to please. But, as the two learn more about each other, they may forge an unexpected emotional connection in addition to a physical one.

• Starring: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack, Isabella Laughland
• Director: Sophie Hyde
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 97 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

"Hell or High Water" is a neo-Western set in modern times, trading the dusty landscapes of the Wild West for a Texan town hollowed out by the after-effects of the Great Recession. Chris Pine and Ben Foster star as two desperate brothers on a crime spree, robbing banks so they can save the family ranch. Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham are the two rangers hot on their heels. The screenplay was written by "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan, and it tells a story of a family, their land, and the law even better than the show does.

• Starring: Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster

• Director: David Mackenzie

• Year: 2016

• Runtime: 102 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

An essential documentary with regard to American history and race relations in the country, "I Am Not Your Negro" pulls from noted writer James Baldwin's life and writings to offer a deeply thought-provoking work that highlights how his observations remain as relevant and urgent as ever. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film covers pivotal events in American history, including the era of school integration, the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s, and the lives (and assassinations) of Baldwin's friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Am Not Your Negro" also tackles the portrayal of Black Americans in the media, American slavery, and how Black Americans continue to be oppressed today. It's a bold and must-see film of great power.

• Starring: James Baldwin, Samuel L. Jackson (Narrator)
• Director: Raoul Peck
• Year: 2016
• Runtime: 95 Minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%

If twisted Korean revenge thrillers are your thing, the dark and intense "I Saw the Devil" is one you won't want to miss. "Oldboy" star Choi Min-sik plays a taxi-driving murderer who ends up killing the fiancée of secret agent Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun). This sends Soo-hyun on a bitter and calculated quest for revenge. However, if Soo-hyun isn't careful, his single-minded focus on making the killer suffer may end up turning him into something he never thought he'd be. "I Saw the Devil" is a visceral, soul-shaking horror-thriller with two excellent lead performances.

• Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik
• Director: Kim Jee-woon
• Year: 2010
• Runtime: 141 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%

It was the whack-to-the-leg heard around the world. Back in 1994, Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, tried to take her rival, Nancy Kerrigan, out of the competition by hiring someone to attack Kerrigan with a baton. "I, Tonya" takes a satirical approach to the scandal and its central figures, portraying Ms. Harding (Margot Robbie) as a product of America's obsession with celebrity and sensationalism and the dark side of the American dream. Buoyed by its excellent central performances, "I, Tonya" ultimately creates a boldly thought-provoking portrait of a controversial figure.

• Starring: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney.
• Director: Craig Gillespie
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 121 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

"If Beale Street Could Talk," Barry Jenkins' follow-up to "Moonlight," features some of the most beautiful closeups ever captured on celluloid. Stephan James and KiKi Layne star as Fonny and Tish, a couple kept apart by an overzealous court system. Fonny is locked up for a crime he didn't commit, while Tish is pregnant with their child. "If Beale Street Could Talk" is about their love and their lives, a kaleidoscopic look not just at their romance but at the whole vibrant scene that was Harlem in the 1970s. Regina King also appears, in an Oscar-winning performance, as Tish's mother. She's incredible; so is the film as a whole.

• Starring: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King

• Director: Barry Jenkins

• Year: 2018

• Runtime: 119 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

In the years since "Harry Potter" ended, Daniel Radcliffe has become one of the most interesting actors working in Hollywood. In "Jungle," a film from the director of "Wolf Creek," Radcliffe plays real-life adventure seeker Yossi Ghinsberg. On a trek deep into the Amazon, Yossi becomes separated from his group and must survive the wilderness alone. Most of the film is a one-man show that features Radcliffe battling the elements, steadily growing thinner and weaker as he tries to reach civilization. It's a transformative performance, one well worth watching for fans of the former child star.

• Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Alex Russell, Thomas Kretschmann

• Director: Greg McLean

• Year: 2017

• Runtime: 115 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 61%

"The Lodge" is a terrifying horror movie about a man named Richard (Richard Armitage) who brings his two kids (Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh) to a wintry house in the woods, where they will spend Christmas. Along for the ride is Grace (Riley Keough), who used to be Richard's student and is now his girlfriend. The kids resent her, and when Richard leaves them alone for a few days, they settle in for a chilly time in more ways than one. When an eerie morning breaks, they awake to find the house emptied, the power out, and all of the food gone. Also? There's a blizzard on the way. Keough is extraordinary, and the scares that lurk at "The Lodge" make it a deeply disturbing winter watch.

• Starring: Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Richard Armitage

• Directors: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala

• Year: 2020

• Runtime: 108 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

"Love, Simon" stars Nick Robinson as the titular Simon, a gay kid who comes from a liberal family and has supportive friends. And yet, he's still afraid to come out. When he hears about another closeted student on his school's anonymous gossip blog, Simon begins exchanging emails with the guy, who goes by "Blue." A coming-of-age movie and romantic comedy wrapped in one, "Love, Simon" is especially noteworthy because of its tender approach to the damaging effects of being outed. Jennifer Garner is a standout, turning in an utterly lovely performance as Simon's mom; one particular conversation is a guaranteed tearjerker.

• Starring: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Katherine Langford

• Director: Greg Berlanti

• Year: 2018

• Runtime: 110 minutes

• Rating: PG-13

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Fran Kranz's directorial debut, "Mass," is both a stripped-down chamber piece and an emotionally wrought exploration of grief, guilt, anger, and empathy. Two couples meet in the back room of a church and talk about a tragedy that ripped their lives apart: a school shooting in which one couples' son was a victim, and the other couples' son was the perpetrator. With a strong script bolstered by incredible performances from the cast, "Mass" is mighty powerful stuff.

• Starring: Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd
• Director: Fran Kranz
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 110 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Years before he was winning Oscars for "Parasite," South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho made another cinematic masterpiece, the true-crime-inspired "Memories of Murder." Loosely based on South Korea's first confirmed serial murders, this meticulously crafted crime drama follows a bumbling local cop (Song Kang-ho) and a slick big city detective who team up to try and solve a string of killings in a rural province. Drawing thematically on the concept of that which remains elusive, the film's haunting final shot lingers long after the credits roll.

• Starring: Song Kang-ho, Kim Roi-ha
• Director: Bong Joon Ho
• Year: 2003
• Runtime: 129 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Bing Liu's must-see documentary, "Minding the Gap," is a personal, painful, and revelatory journal of his and his skateboard-loving friends' experiences coming of age in Rockford, Illinois. Featuring intimate cinema verité-style footage shot over a 10-year period, the film chronicles the boys' turbulent home lives, as well as their hopes, fears, dreams, and friendships as they learn what it means to be young men in the Rust Belt, creating a compelling and thought-provoking portrait of American life along the way.

• Starring: Bing Liu, Keire Johnson, Zack Mulligan
• Director: Bing Liu
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 93 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

Let's get something out of the way up front: The special effects in "The Mummy" haven't aged well. CGI was relatively new in the late '90s, and some movies tried to show off. Poorly. Still, overall, the movie is very fun. Most of "The Mummy" is an intentional return to the days when adventure stories made up a significant chunk of box office. Brendan Fraser plays Rick O'Connell, a dashing member of the French Foreign Legion who teams up with a pretty librarian (Rachel Weisz) to find treasure in the mythic, ancient Egyptian city of Hamunaptra. Instead, they accidentally bring a mummy back to life, unleashing a curse upon the world. If you can overlook the CGI monsters, "The Mummy" is worth revisiting.

• Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah

• Director: Stephen Sommers

• Year: 1999

• Runtime: 124 minutes

• Rating: PG-13

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 60%

"The Night House" is a horror movie about grief and the way that a person's absence can make them, paradoxically, extremely present. Rebecca Hall stars as Beth, a woman reeling from the recent death of her husband, Owen (Evan Jonigkeit). She still feels Owen around the house, hearing noises at night and seeing shadowy shapes down the hallway. Is he still with her, or is her mind simply playing tricks? And what's up with the strange house across the lake, the one that seems to be a mirror image of her own home? Hall's performance is gut-wrenching; this is one of those horror performances that should have been awards contenders, if the Academy were to recognize such things.

• Starring: Rebecca Hall, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Evan Jonigkeit

• Director: David Bruckner

• Year: 2021

• Runtime: 110 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

Movie fans who appreciate masterful storytelling and want more exposure to the Ivory Coast would do well to tune in to Philippe Lacôte's gritty fable, "Night of the Kings." Set at La Maca, a notorious prison, "Night of the Kings" follows a young prisoner who arrives just in time for the red moon, a special event during which someone must be named "The Roman," or storyteller. The Roman's function? He must entertain the rest of the prisoners by telling a story until the sun rises — or be killed.

• Starring: Steve Tientcheu, Bakary Koné, Jean Cyrille Digbeu
• Director: Philippe Lacôte
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 93 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

In provocative Australian director Justin Kurzel's haunting drama "Nitram," the title character (Caleb Landry Jones) is a young man who never fit in and who, despite the best efforts of his parents (Judy Davis and Anthony LaPaglia), might be headed down a dark path. When he strikes up an odd-couple friendship with an eccentric older woman (Essie Davis), Nitram sees a chance for redemption, while his family fears he's being manipulated. Landry Jones is utterly chilling in a role that won him the award for best actor at Cannes; when the film reaches its shocking climax, his transformative performance seems to radiate genuine evil. "Nitram" is not for the faint of heart, but it's a rewarding character piece for those willing to stick it out.

• Starring: Caleb Landry Jones, Essie Davis, Judy Davis

• Director: Justin Kurzel

• Year: 2021

• Runtime: 112 minutes

• Rating: NR

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Chloe Zhao made Oscars history in 2020 when she became the second woman ever to win an Academy Award for best director. She did so for her deeply empathetic look at America's "Nomadland," a space where dried up industries and Amazon warehouses have led to a faded vision of the American dream. Frances McDormand stars as a widow who packs up and leaves a dying town in Nevada, traveling around looking for work and meeting other "nomads" along the way. During her journey, she finds both the beauty and the pitfalls of so-called American individualism.

• Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May
• Director: Chloe Zhao
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 108 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Jerrod Carmichael has been making a name for himself in comedy circles, and recently made waves with his third HBO comedy special, "Rothaniel." But he's also establishing a reputation in the filmmaking world thanks to his impressive directorial debut, "On the Count of Three," which won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

The pitch-black comedy revolves around two depressed lifelong friends, the quiet Val (Carmichael) and the more erratic Kevin (Christopher Abbott), who make a pact to help each other commit suicide, but not before they make the most of their last day on Earth. It's a darkly funny, bittersweet, and ultimately poignant tale that handles its serious subject matter with a keen intelligence; it also features a memorable Papa Roach singalong.

• Starring: Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Henry Winkler
• Director: Jerrod Carmichael
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 86 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Time loops have been done many times before, but the charmingly fun "Palm Springs" breathes fresh life into the genre with a story about two wedding guests (Andy Samberg and Cristin Millioti) who end up falling in love while they're stuck reliving the same day over and over. A smart, funny script and strong performances give this sci-fi-tinged rom-com an edge, making it one of the better comedies of the last few years. More of this kind of thing, Hollywood. Thank you.

• Starring: Andy Samberg, Cristin Millioti, J.K. Simmons
• Director: Max Barbakow
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Perhaps no film highlights the absurdity of late-stage capitalism better than Bong Joon-ho's masterfully crafted dark comedy thriller, "Parasite." The Oscar-winning film revolves around a low-class family that cons its way into working for the wealthy Park clan. But there's more to the story than first meets the eye, as a hidden secret turns up in the basement of the Park home. 

"Parasite" hit at just the right time: in the middle of a worldwide pandemic that further emphasized the chasm between the rich and the poor. Academy voters thought so as well, rewarding the film with statuettes in four major categories.

• Starring: Song Kang-Ho, Jo Yeo-Jong, Park So-Dam
• Director: Bong Joon-ho
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 132 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%

In "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," Stephen Chbosky's film adaptation of his novel of the same name, Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a loner. However, he's promised himself that this new school year will be different. Sure enough, he soon meets a group of new friends who bring him out of his shell. Sam (Emma Watson) is a vivacious girl who needs a little extra help with school; luckily, Charlie can tutor her. Her stepbrother, Patrick (Ezra Miller), is a queer kid who's hooking up with the closeted quarterback (Johnny Simmons), and Charlie agrees to keep their secret. Over the course of an eventful school year, one packed with screenings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and romantic and emotional turmoil, Charlie learns to open up. As he confronts an event from his past, he comes to rely on his chosen family for support.

• Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller

• Director: Stephen Chbosky

• Year: 2012

• Runtime: 103 minutes

• Rating: PG-13

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Based on the premise, viewers might at first expect "Pig" to be a John Wick-style vengeance tale about a man whose beloved truffle pig is kidnapped, but this film is deeper and more complex than that, offering instead a pared-down but emotionally-wrought study of grief. In the film, Nicolas Cage plays a reclusive former chef who must confront the ghosts of his past as he searches for his missing pig. It's a fantastic performance that proves that Cage is very much still a heavy hitter in the acting department, and that rightfully earned him much awards buzz.

• Starring: Nicholas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin
• Director: Michael Sarnoski
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 92 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

The extremely timely "Plan B" follows two high school friends, the strait-laced Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) and the more outgoing Lupe (Victoria Moroles), as they take a road trip around South Dakota in search of a Plan B pill after one of them has a sexual encounter she regrets. In light of the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, this progressive, female-forward comedy touches on the topic of women's reproductive rights and bodily autonomy in a sharp and honest way.

• Starring: Kuhoo Verma, Victoria Moroles
• Director: Natalie Morales
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 108 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

French filmmaker Céline Sciamma followed up her fiery period lesbian romance "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" with a sweet, heartwarming, and heartrending tale of childhood grief, memory, and the relationship between mothers and daughters. The film follows eight-year-old Nelly as she explores the woods behind her recently deceased grandmother's house. There, she encounters a young girl about her own age, whom she later discovers is a past version of her mother. Keep tissues handy when you tune in for this one, as tears of joy and tender sorrow are sure to flow.

• Starring: Nina Meurisse, Margot Abascal, Stéphane Varupenne
• Director: Céline Sciamma
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 72 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Céline Sciamma's period lesbian romance, "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," is a gorgeous and smoldering depiction of forbidden love and feminist power. Set in the late 1700s, the film follows an artist named Marianne who is commissioned to paint a portrait of a well-heeled young woman, Heloise. During their sessions, the women develop a romantic attraction to one another, which eventually ignites into a passionate affair. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that Heloise is betrothed to a man whom she doesn't want to marry.

• Starring: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami
• Director: Céline Sciamma
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 121 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

"The Prestige" stars Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as two rival magicians at the turn of the century. They compete for attention by developing increasingly elaborate stage illusions, until Bale's character seems to invent actual, real-life teleportation. Trying to figure out his competitor's trick drives Jackman's character mad with envy, and the spiraling scientific conspiracy eventually envelopes historical luminaries like Nikola Tesla (David Bowie). This film is somewhat of an oddity in Christopher Nolan's post-"Batman Begins" filmography. It's much smaller in scope than many of the twist-filled, high-concept sci-fi blockbusters he would make in the following decade, but its tight, ingenious construction makes it all the more special.

• Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson

• Director: Christopher Nolan

• Year: 2006

• Runtime: 130 minutes

• Rating: PG-13

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%

Hulu's new "Predator" prequel, "Prey," is a thrilling film that breathes fresh life into the sci-fi action-horror franchise even as it takes the story back 300 years. The movie follows a young Comanche warrior, Naru (Amber Midthunder), who goes up against one of the first alien Predators to land on Earth. The thoroughly engaging, back-to-basics revisionist western of sorts was shot in both Comanche and English, with an all-Comanche dub available on Hulu as well.

• Starring: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro
• Director: Dan Trachtenberg
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 99 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Before she became the second woman in history to win best director at the Oscars, Chinese-born filmmaker Chloé Zhao was garnering critical acclaim for her beautifully tender and affecting second feature, 2017's "The Rider." Set on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the Badlands of North Dakota, "The Rider" features non-professional Lakota actors playing fictionalized versions of themselves. This includes Brady Jandreau, who stars as Brady Blackburn, a horse trainer and rodeo cowboy who's recovering from a riding accident that left him with a brain injury and unable to ride. The film also features Brady's real-life father and sister, and stars his childhood friend, Lane Scott, a rising rodeo star who was severely injured in a car accident a few years prior. The gorgeously shot drama is an unforgettable testament to the human spirit.

• Starring: Brady Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau, Lane Scott
• Director: Chloe Zhao
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 104 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

"Shadow in the Cloud" features Chloe Grace Moretz as a World War II-era flight officer named Maude. She is given a mission that puts her aboard a bomber with a secret package; for the first act of the film, we focus tightly on Maude as she listens to the banter from the boys over the radio. Then, Maude looks out the window, and in a surprise straight out of "The Twilight Zone," there's something on the wing of the plane...

"Shadow in the Cloud" quickly becomes a desperate fight for survival, the stakes continuing to escalate until it becomes an all-out brawl in the skies. It's a shame that this was released at the height of the pandemic. Otherwise, it might've been a word-of-mouth hit. You can't imagine where this thing ends up.

• Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Beulah Koale

• Director: Roseanne Liang

• Year: 2021

• Runtime: 83 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

One morning, Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil) wakes having been cursed by a terrible realization. She is utterly convinced with every fiber of her being that she will die the next day. She's not planning to take her own life; she just knows, with some terrible, inexplicable certainty, that this is her last full day alive. As Amy goes about her day and comes into contact with a number of friends and family members, her affliction spreads, convincing the others that they, too, will die tomorrow. The movie spirals into an existential nightmare as a quiet, creeping dread overtakes the film and the characters confront their own mortality. "She Dies Tomorrow" is not a cheerful experience, but, in our current moment, it's one well worth having.

• Starring: Kate Lyn Sheil, Jane Adams, Chris Messina

• Director: Amy Seimetz

• Year: 2020

• Runtime: 84 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

Questlove's Oscar-winning music documentary "Summer of Soul" shines a light on long lost footage from the Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place in 1969 in Mount Morris Park. Overshadowed by Woodstock, which occurred at the same time, the Harlem Cultural Festival featured incredible performances by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, and Gladys Knight and the Pips. Weaving live concert footage with interviews, this film places the events of the summer in the correct political and historical context, and ties it into our current cultural climate, resulting in a comprehensive, powerful, and rousing film.

• Starring: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King,
• Director: Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 117 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%

High school boys are gross. Perhaps no movie captures this better than "Superbad," a comedy about two high school outcasts (Michael Cera and Jonah Hill) and their even nerdier friend (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). The teens talk openly and graphically about sex (despite having little to now experience), degrade their female classmates, refer to each other with slurs, and have so little self-awareness that it's hysterical. With graduation quickly approaching, the guys realize they have one last chance to party hard. So, when they're invited to a graduation bash thrown by the pretty girl from Home Economics (Emma Stone), they jump at their last opportunity to get with their long-time crushes. Hill and Cera are great, but Mintz-Plasse nearly runs away with the movie thanks to a name that will live forever in comedy infamy: McLovin.

• Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Emma Stone

• Director: Greg Mottola

• Year: 2007

• Runtime: 113 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

Veteran character actor Udo Kier's talents shine brightly in this life-affirming indie dramedy about an aging hairdresser who goes on a quest across the small town of Sandusky, Ohio. Kier plays the fabulous Pat Pitsenbarger, a real-life local legend known as the "Liberace of Sandusky," who once owned his own salon but is now confined to a nursing home. When he gets word that his former client (played by Linda Evans) has passed away, and that her will states that she wanted Pat to do her hair for her funeral, he busts out of the home and travels across town, reconnecting with and reconciling his past along the way.

• Starring: Udo Kier, Jennifer Coolidge, Linda Evans
• Director: Todd Stephens
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 105 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

In "Take Shelter," Michael Shannon plays Curtis, a man with a strange affliction. Curtis' dreams are full of visions of the end of the world, particularly apocalyptic scenes in which his family is in danger from swarms of birds and torrential rain. Increasingly convinced that he has received a prophecy that will soon come to pass, Curtis busies himself building a storm shelter in his backyard. Shannon is fantastic, as is Jessica Chastain as his wife. Together, they form the emotional core of the movie, which ultimately becomes an eerie thriller with an unforgettable ending.

• Starring: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham

• Director: Jeff Nichols

• Year: 2011

• Runtime: 124 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

"Three Identical Strangers" is a jaw-dropping documentary full of incredible twists and turns. The true story of a set of identical triplets who were separated at birth and later reunited, the documentary explores the concept of nature versus nurture while shedding light on a shocking story regarding the adoption system. Fascinating and infuriating in the same measure, "Three Identical Strangers" won a special jury award at the Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered.

• Starring: Robert Shafran, David Kellman, Lawrence Wright
• Director: Tim Wardle
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 96 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Julia Ducournau became the first female director to win the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival with her bold, gender-bending body horror drama, "Titane." It's a movie with a surprising story that's best left for viewers to discover on their own, but generally the story revolves around a woman named Alexia who receives a titanium plate implant in her head after being in a car accident as a child. As an adult, she works as a showgirl at a car show. Meanwhile, a firefighter looks for his missing son. How these two stories intersect will be revealed to those bold enough to subject themselves to the film's metallic charms.

• Starring: Agathe Rouselle, Vincent Lindon, Garance Marillier
• Director: Julia Ducournau
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 108 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

Paula Beer stars as Undine Wibeau in "Undine," Christian Petzold's modern take on the classic mermaid myth. In this version of the story, Undine is a woman who works at a museum. One day, after she gives a lecture, a man named Christoph (Franz Rogowski) introduces himself. They fall in love hard and fast, although Undine is still dealing with the fallout from a breakup and Christoph lives in a different city. "Undine" is a stirring, intimate romance that flirts with magical realism, and both Beer and Rogowski knock it out of the park. Petzold is one of the best directors working today, and "Undine" is one of his best films.

• Starring: Paula Beer, Franz Rogowski, Jacob Matschenz

• Director: Christian Petzold

• Year: 2020

• Runtime: 90 minutes

• Rating: NR

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

After hitting a home run with the classic baseball comedy "Bull Durham," writer-director Ron Shelton delivered a slam dunk with the basketball flick "White Men Can't Jump." Woody Harrelson plays Billy Boyle, a white basketball hustler whose livelihood depends on Black players underestimating his skills on the court. But after he swindles Sidney Dean (Wesley Snipes), the two team up and decide to execute the con together. 

"White Men Can't Jump" is an entertaining comedy that's made all the more special by the depth of its characters and the on-screen chemistry of its talented leads, including Rosie Perez as Billy's Jeopardy-obsessed girlfriend, Gloria.

• Starring: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez
• Director: Ron Shelton
• Year: 1992
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

Paula Beer stars as Undine Wibeau in "Undine," Christian Petzold's modern take on the classic mermaid myth. In this version of the story, Undine is a woman who works at a museum. One day, after she gives a lecture, a man named Christoph (Franz Rogowski) introduces himself. They fall in love hard and fast, although Undine is still dealing with the fallout from a breakup and Christoph lives in a different city. "Undine" is a stirring, intimate romance that flirts with magical realism, and both Beer and Rogowski knock it out of the park. Petzold is one of the best directors working today, and "Undine" is one of his best films.

• Starring: Paula Beer, Franz Rogowski, Jacob Matschenz

• Director: Christian Petzold

• Year: 2020

• Runtime: 90 minutes

• Rating: NR

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

An insightful, honest, and heartfelt look at the complexities of life and love in your 20s, "The Worst Person in the World" is both a rom-com and an adult coming-of-age story at the same time. The film centers on Julie, a medical student turned photography student turned bookstore employee who starts dating Aksel, a comic artist 15 years her senior. One night, she wanders into a party and meets and flirts with Eivind, a barista, leading her to have doubts about Aksel. Tinged with moments of fantasy, pathos, and humor, "The Worst Person in the World" is one of the best movies of 2021.

• Starring: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum
• Director: Joachim Trier
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 128 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

"Zombieland" stars Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus, a college kid trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. He manages to make his way through a ravaged landscape thanks to his close adherence to a set of rules he's made up, but when he teams up with a band of fellow survivors, he has to throw everything that's kept him safe out the window. "Zombieland" is a raucous, violent, and profane comedy that features excellent supporting turns from Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. Even Bill Murray shows up for a memorable cameo, playing himself; in this world, even famous people can become flesh-hungry monsters. Because, y'know, that's so different from reality.

• Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone

• Director: Ruben Fleischer

• Year: 2009

• Runtime: 87 minutes

• Rating: R

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%