Hulu has welcomed a number of beloved, worthwhile movies to its platform in September. Some of the streamer’s best new additions include a 2009 military epic from “Pulp Fiction” writer-director Quentin Tarantino that may very well be his greatest achievement and a 2009 cult classic horror comedy starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. Additionally, Hulu’s film library also currently includes a 3-hour epic about Hollywood’s Silent Era that is as elegant as it is crass and as beautiful as it is ugly.
Here are the three best movies you can stream on Hulu this week.
“Inglourious Basterds” (2009)
You can make the argument for a few different movies being Quentin Tarantino’s greatest achievement, but few of his films engineer such a constant, commanding hold of your attention better than 2009’s “Inglourious Basterds.” A novelistic World War II epic, the film follows a squad of Jewish American soldiers killing Nazis covertly throughout Europe and a French Jewish cinema owner (Mélanie Laurent) as they both follow through with their own plots to kill Hitler, all while facing resistance from a deviously intelligent, maniacal SS colonel (Christoph Waltz).
Featuring at least two or three of the most astounding scenes Tarantino has ever executed onscreen, “Inglourious Basterds” is a drama overflowing with tension, wit and righteous fury.
“Jennifer’s Body” (2009)
A critical and financial failure that has since rightly been reclaimed as a contemporary cult classic, director Karyn Kusama’s “Jennifer’s Body” is a feminist horror comedy with real bite and, perhaps, the best performance of star Megan Fox’s career.
Written by “Juno” scribe Diablo Cody, the film follows a possessed high school student (Fox) who begins to kill her male classmates in order to keep herself alive, all while her best friend (Amanda Seyfried) grows increasingly suspicious. Witty, angry and more clever than it gets credit for being, “Jennifer’s Body” turns female rage into dastardly pulp fun, and it has an infectiously fun time doing it.
“Babylon” (2022)
Like “Jennifer’s Body,” 2022’s “Babylon” failed to garner the financial and critical success it deserved when it was initially released. However, writer-director Damien Chazelle’s outrageous, shattering ensemble 3-hour epic about Hollywood’s transition from its Silent Era to that of the talkies has quickly been reclaimed over the last four years by cinephiles.
Punctuated by a handful of gobsmacking, ridiculously ambitious set pieces, “Babylon” emerges over the course of its super-sized runtime as both a love letter to Hollywood and a takedown of it, as well as a eulogy for the brief period in the entertainment industry’s history when it was not yet controlled by the values and financial interests of America’s East Coast, Wall Street elites. Flawed and yet staggering, it’s a wonder.
