The 60 Best Movies On Hulu Right Now

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%

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%

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%

"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%

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%

"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%

"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

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%

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%

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%

"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%

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%

"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%

"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%

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%

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%

"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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

"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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%