Hulu‘s film library expanded in March, thanks to a number of exciting new arrivals. This month’s additions to the streaming platform include an ’80s coming-of-age drama that features one of Robin Williams’ most iconic performances, as well as an underrated late ’90s thriller directed by “Heat” filmmaker Michael Mann. An oft-forgotten, emotionally moving early 2010s comedy starring George Clooney also arrived on Hulu this month, as did one of the best films Pixar has yet produced.
Here are the best movies new to Hulu that you can stream right now.
“Dead Poets Society” (1989)
“Dead Poets Society” is not only one of the most iconic coming-of-age films ever made, but it is also a defining title in Robin Williams’ filmography. Directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman, the film follows a group of students at a boarding school in the 1950s whose lives are changed by their English teacher (Williams) and his musings about the beauty of poetry.
Chock-full of memorable lines and made with the same elegance and keen human insight present in many of Weir’s films, “Dead Poets Society” is an inspiring and moving piece of work. There is a reason why it has continued to live on these past 37 years.
“The Descendants” (2011)
Directed by “The Holdovers” filmmaker Alexander Payne, 2011’s “The Descendants” is an emotionally frank exploration of family that does not shy away from the ugliness or beauty of our closest familial relationships. The film follows a Hawaiian land baron (George Clooney) who is forced to reevaluate his life and his relationships with his two daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) after a boating accident leaves his wife in a coma and he discovers that she was having an affair beforehand.
Featuring richly layered performances from Clooney, Woodley and the late, great Robert Forster, “The Descendants” is an offbeat and subtly affecting film.
“The Insider” (1999)
“The Insider” may not be as well-known or beloved as some of Michael Mann‘s other films — namely, “Heat” and “Collateral” — but it deserves to be in the conversation for the best movie he has ever made. Based on a 1996 Vanity Fair article, Mann’s film follows Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), a whistleblower who endures terrifying threats in order to bring the corrupt truths about the tobacco industry into the light with the help of determined, unwavering CBS producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino).
If that makes “The Insider” sound like a tedious corporate drama, it could not be further from accurate. The film is a gripping and invigorating thriller, and it features a performance by Pacino so incendiary and impassioned that it feels, at times, like he might burn the entirety of “The Insider” down around him.
“Long Shot” (2019)
“Long Shot” is so much better than it has any right to be. Director Jonathan Levine’s 2019 romantic comedy follows a left-wing journalist (Seth Rogen) who ends up in an unlikely romance with his former babysitter (Charlize Theron), who just so happens to be the current Secretary of State. The comedy charts their growing attraction to each other, as well as the hurdles — both political and personal — that end up standing in the way of their relationship.
Rogen and Theron have far better chemistry together onscreen than their pairing would suggest on paper, and “Long Shot” proves to be an endearing and immensely fun rom-com about learning which differences are actually worth giving up love for and which you should sometimes just look past.
“Marie Antoinette” (2006)
Under-appreciated at the time of its release, writer-director Sofia Coppola‘s “Marie Antoinette” is a radical, punk-rock retelling of the life of the infamous, oft-villainized former Queen of France (Kirsten Dunst). Adapting Antonia Fraser’s 2001 biography of Antoinette, Coppola’s film uses contemporary music and language to reimagine its subject not as a solemn or cold queen but as a teenage girl out of place and out of her depth.
This technique, while initially rejected by some critics and audience members, helps erase the distance that often keeps us from identifying with historical figures. The result is a film that makes history feel vibrant and alive and which features a career-best performance from Kirsten Dunst. Like all of Coppola’s best films, “Marie Antoinette” contains a jaw-dropping level of visual beauty, as well as enough intelligence and emotional power to leave you dazed and in awe of its many cinematic achievements.
“Ratatouille” (2007)
2007’s “Ratatouille,” filmmaker Brad Bird’s second feature directorial effort at Pixar, is an animated dramedy of quiet beauty. Written and directed by Bird, the film follows a rat (voiced by Patton Oswalt) whose sudden relocation from the rural French countryside to the bustling city streets of Paris affords him the chance, with the help of an unambitious human dishwasher (Lou Romano), to achieve his dream of becoming a respected chef.
Overflowing with clever visual gags and even more moments of tender emotional insight, “Ratatouille” is a cozy, warm-hearted delight. One of Pixar’s very best films, it is the rare piece of art that demonstrates an understanding of the soul-fulfilling importance of not only creation but also criticism. The film’s final 20 minutes, in particular, are an elegant wonder to watch unfold.
“Silver Linings Playbook” (2012)
Like “Long Shot,” 2012’s “Silver Linings Playbook” should not work nearly as well as it does. Director David O. Russell’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Matthew Quick’s 2008 novel of the same name is a frenzied, screwball romantic comedy about a man with bipolar disorder (Bradley Cooper) whose attempts to reconnect with his ex-wife are disrupted by his sudden, unexpected relationship with a local grieving widow (Jennifer Lawrence), who talks him into entering a dance competition with her.
As that synopsis suggests, “Silver Linings Playbook” is a film juggling a dozen wildly different, seemingly incompatible tonal and narrative ingredients that should not go together. And yet they do. That is thanks in no small part to the performances given by Cooper, Lawrence and Robert De Niro, all of whom turn in work in here that feels, in their own, respective ways, vital and revelatory.
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