Crossing the Streams is our monthly look at all the offerings hitting the big streaming services each month, and this time we’re checking out the new Hulu arrivals for February 2021. This month’s titles include two of 2020’s best films and more!
Keep reading to see what’s new to Hulu for February 2021!
Hulu Pick of the Month for February 2021
Brandon Cronenberg’s often compared to his filmmaker father, but just two features in and it’s clear he’s possessing his own style and skill. Possessor is his long-awaited follow-up to 2012’s Antiviral, and it’s an improvement across the board. He’s retained his methodical approach to pacing, but he’s upped the ante with unexpected emotional power. The film follows an assassin who uses biotech to enter a person’s mind and take control of their body — they commit murder with it then leave the poor sap behind — but trouble arises with the latest patsy she’s inhabiting. Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott are both terrifically affecting, but don’t think that more humanity means less of the grue. Possessor is chock full of incredible gore and violence and ends on one hell of a note.
The Best Film of 2020!
Sure, Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland (arrives on February 19th) only played festivals in 2020, but it still managed to dominate the conversation in a very strange year which bled over into the next. The film is a pitch perfect observation on the American Dream and this country’s ongoing crisis of class and poverty. Frances McDormand, one of only two professional actors in the film, stars as a woman who lives out of her custom van — she’s not homeless, she’s house-less — and travels around the country doing seasonal work. It’s sad, sweet, honest, and ultimately incredibly human in its observations on the difficulties of living in a country powered by capitalism and the amount of “things” we own. The film takes a naturalistic approach at times with its mostly amateur cast of people actually living the lifestyles they’re portraying, but it’s no less affecting for their lack of acting experience. Nomadland is a film built on empathy with its characters and demands it from viewers. It’s a road trip worth taking.
A Pair of Hulu Originals!
Blumhouse’s Into the Dark series — new horror films each month triggered around various holidays — continues to be a great concept muddled by inconsistent execution. There are some fun ones amid the bunch, but two seasons in we still haven’t gotten a truly great episode. After a break of several months, the series finally returns with Tentacles (premieres February 12th) about a young couple madly in love and lust that see their affection turn into something… else. What exactly that means is unclear, but the title suggests something monstrous, perhaps Lovecraftian, albeit on a Blumhouse budget. Here’s hoping the show is returning with a winner.
Hulu’s pretty light on new Originals this month, but they are gifting (staying optimistic here) viewers with a new feature from Lee Daniels. The United States vs Billie Holiday (premieres February 26th) is a biopic about the legendary singer and her battle with the federal government’s drug enforcement agency. Andra Day plays Holiday while Moonlight‘s Trevante Rhodes plays the agent she was intimately involved with before finding herself under investigation. Daniels’ filmography is a bit sketchy bouncing between Precious (2009) and The Paperboy (2012), but we’re once again hoping for the best here.
A Demi Moore Double Feature!
Remember Demi Moore? Popular member of the infamous “brat pack” throughout the ’80s? Purveyor of interesting career choices throughout the ’90s? Well two of her films from the mid-90s are new to Hulu this month, and while neither lit the box-office aflame at least one of them is worth your time. First up is The Juror (1996) which sees Moore as a young woman whose mundane turn as a juror takes a dark turn when a mob thug violently cajoles her into shaping the jury’s decision. It’s from the screenwriter of The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and co-stars Alex Baldwin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Gandolfini, Lindsay Crouse, and more familiar faces, but while it’s an enjoyable enough thriller it’s never quite able to escape its generically thrilling roots.
G.I. Jane (1997), though, is a different story. It flatlined in theaters and hasn’t really found a following, and many still see it as one of Ridley Scott’s lesser films. Viggo Mortensen and Anne Bancroft are along for the ride, but this is Moore’s show — and she delivers. The film follows the struggles faced by the first woman allowed to train with an elite military unit, and Moore goes big with an intense, charismatic turn as an underdog everyone expects to fail. If you don’t like her you won’t like the movie, but I’d argue it’s worth a second chance many years removed from its debut as a terrific tale worth cheering.
The Complete Hulu List for February 2021
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