11 Good Movies to Watch on Hulu in January 2016

Warner Bros.

When someone mentions streaming movies odds are you think immediately of Netflix, iTunes, or even Amazon Prime, but you most likely don’t even give a first thought to Hulu. You’re not alone either. Most people, even those who use Hulu on a regular basis, really only think of the service when it comes to watching TV shows.

I’m here to tell you though that there’s a cinematic streaming goldmine available for Hulu subscribers that includes recent hits, older classics, domestic releases, and foreign imports. It’s even home to hundreds of Criterion titles. Sure there’s plenty of filler and seemingly thousands of titles I’ve never heard of before, but I’m not here to talk about possible gems like Gingerdead Man vs Evil Bong… I’m here to recommend some good movies to watch this month on Hulu.

Pick of the Month: Mad Max 2 (1982)

It’s the apocalypse, Australian-style, and one man wanders the wasteland in his souped-up car scavenging for water, fuel, food, and a reason to keep going. His name is Max (Mel Gibson), and when a small group of civilized survivors makes a desperate bid for escape from the outlaw-ravaged land he offers them a deal they can’t refuse. 2015 saw the release of George Miller‘s fourth Mad Max film, and not only is it one of the year’s best films but it lives up to the quality, energy, and excitement he delivered 33 years earlier with the second entry, more commonly referred to as The Road Warrior. It’s a widely appreciated classic, deservedly so, but if you haven’t seen it yet for whatever reason — or just find yourself in the mood for some old-fashioned vehicular mayhem — it’s always a good time to go a little mad.

The Wages of Fear (1953)

Two pairs of men volunteer for a simple, high-paying job that also happens to be incredibly dangerous. All they have to do is drive two trucks loaded with extremely sensitive nitroglycerin through a South American jungle along a bumpy, unstable road. What could possibly go wrong? Henri-Georges Clouzot‘s classic suspense tale is over sixty years old but still manages to whiten the knuckles of anyone who watches. It finds immense thrills and intensity in a premise that can really only go one of two ways each time the trucks reach an obstacle, and Clouzot milks the sequences of every last ounce of suspense. William Friedkin remade it in the ’70s, and Ben Wheatley recently announced he’ll be taking a stab at it soon too, but the original is likely to remain an unsurpassed masterpiece for many more years to come. (subtitled)

Four of the Apocalypse (1975)

Four strangers — a con-artist, a pregnant whore, a deranged ex-slave, a local drunk — spending time in a frontier town’s jail cell are witness to a slaughter as the townspeople are gunned down by masked bandits. The surviving law cuts them loose into the desert with directions to the next nearest town, but their journey is interrupted by all manner of misfortune. Director Lucio Fulci is best known for his gory horror films, but his filmography also includes more straightforward crime dramas and westerns. This mid-’70s flick is a western, but it’s far from straightforward. Cannibalism, revenge, and a town filled with rough and tumble men who grow positively giddy at the arrival of a newborn child in their midst all have a place here, as does a score (by Fabio Frizzi) that moves between the expected sounds and the occasional anachronistic folk song. There are harsh and exciting action beats here, but the film in general is an intentionally paced piece populated with some of the Old West’s oddest characters. (dubbed)

Thief (1981)

Frank (James Caan) is a skilled safe-cracker with plans for a life that doesn’t involve crime or jail-time, but to accomplish his dream he’ll need to commit a crime and avoid jail-time. A big score comes his way — one last job, you could say — but he realizes too late that he’s in far over his head. Michael Mann‘s feature debut displays many of the traits that would go on to become his calling cards including morally conflicted anti-heroes, a specific visual style involving the details of the night, an appreciation and ear for score. Caan delivers an understated but emotionally valid performance, and he’s supported by great turns from Jim Belushi, Tuesday Weld, and others.

Dreamscape (1984)

Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is a young man with a gift — he can enter people’s dreams and shape the events in their subconscious. In the future it will be called “incepting,” but in the ’80s it was known simply as “dreamscaping.” Like landscaping or manscaping, presumably. When villains task another such talent (David Patrick Kelly) with entering dreams in order to kill the subjects without a trace, Alex is forced into a confrontation to stop the murderous nocturnal visitor. Some elements of the film have grown cheesy with time, but it remains overall a fun, sci-fi adventure mixing technology and psychic phenomena. Director Joseph Ruben (The Stepfather, Sleeping With the Enemy) handles the material well delivering scenes of suspense and terror to counterbalance Quaid’s endearingly goofy grin.