Hulu is a one-stop streaming service for some of the highest rated movies out there and now that it’s about to bring a whole new wave of titles in August, I’ve taken a deep dive through its schedule and picked out five new movies with over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics to add to your watchlists.
This month’s picks kick off with the fourth installment in the John Wick franchise, but Chad Stahelski’s action-thriller is just the beginning as I’ve found one of the best British movies ever made, a neo-noir mystery flick, and two drama and crime movies with a comedic touch that you won’t want to miss streaming.
It was difficult to narrow down, but the following titles are some of August’s biggest standouts from one of the best streaming services, and I couldn’t keep them to myself. Which one will you start with?
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
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RT score: 94%
Age rating: R
Runtime: 169 minutes
Director: Chad Stahelski
Arriving on: August 15
The entire John Wick collection of action-thriller movies will be landing on Hulu this month, but its most recent installment has proved to be the most exciting one with critics, scoring 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the fourth movie, we see notorious hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) continue his battle against the High Table, a powerful council that governs the international criminal underworld. This time, he challenges their new leader, the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), to a duel.
One by one, he fights deadly assassins while traveling the world and making difficult sacrifices along the way, leading to his final show down in Paris where he has the chance to earn his freedom from the High Table.
The Full Monty (1997)
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RT score: 97%
Age rating: R
Runtime: 91 minutes
Director: Peter Cataneo
Arriving on: August 1
Named the 25th best British movie of the 20th century, The Full Monty has stood the test of time and has been adapted into every media you can think of, from a stage musical to a Disney+ follow-up series that was released in 2023. Now, the original 1997 movie is coming to Hulu this August.
Set in Sheffield during the 1990s, a group of unemployed men with a lack a sense of purpose within their community find themselves desperate for money. This includes steelworker Gaz (Robert Carlyle), who has just lost his job and is being sued by his wife for missed child support payments.
Joining forces with a group that’s in similar situations, Gaz decides to create a male strip-tease act, promising to go completely naked, aka ‘the full monty’, to draw a crowd. What starts off as a means to generate money turns into a unexpected journey of self discovery, exploring themes of masculinity and the insecurities that the men experience, but keep to themselves.
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
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RT score: 92%
Age rating: R
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: Carl Franklin
Arriving on: August 1
Franklin’s neo-noir mystery flick Devil in a Blue Dress has been received positively by critics and audiences alike, hence its respectable Rotten Tomatoes score.
Based on the novel of the same name by Walter Mosley, Denzel Washington stars as Ezekiel Rawlins, a World War II veteran who finds himself unemployed and staking up overdue mortgage payments. When he meets DeWitt Albright (Tom Sizemore), a mysterious man, he’s quickly drawn into investigating the strange disappearance of Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals).
As he dives deeper into the investigation, he navigates the underbelly of LA that’s riddled with political corruption and murder, and the closer he gets to solving the mystery of Daphne Monet, he realizes that there’s more to her disappearance than what’s on the surface.
Win Win (2011)
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RT score: 95%
Age rating: R
Runtime: 106 minutes
Director: Tom McCarthy
Arriving on: August 1
Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man, The Holdovers) stars as a struggling attorney in Tom McCarthy’s sports drama, which he served as writer as well as director. In addition to Giamatti, Win Win also stars Bobby Cannavale, Amy Ryan, and Jeffrey Tambor.
Lawyer and small-town wrestling coach Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) is in a financial rut. When he’s appointed attorney to an elderly man with dementia Leo Poplar (Burt Young), he sees this as an opportunity to get his hands on some cash by becoming Leo’s legal guardian to collect his monthly stipend while he’s stuck in a nursing home.
When Leo’s grandson Kyle (Alex Shaffer) appears in search of his grandfather, Mike’s plan is jeopardized, but when he discovers that Kyle is a talented wrestler he uses this as a chance to bring a new energy to Mike’s team and improve their skill.
Raising Arizona (1987)
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RT score: 91%
Age rating: PG-13
Runtime: 94 minutes
Director: Joel Coen
Arriving on: August 1
From the dynamic duo that is the Coen brothers, who we have to thank for movies such as Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), and No Country for Old Men (2007), Raising Arizona packs an ensemble cast led by Nicholas Cage, and accompanied by Frances McDormand, William Forsythe, and John Goodman.
Raising Arizona follows the unlikely relationship between police officer Edwina (Holly Hunter) and ex-convict H.I. ‘Hi’ (Cage). The two fall in love, marry, and dream of starting a family of their own, but between Edwina’s infertility and Hi’s criminal history, they’re unable to adopt.
As an alternative, they decide to ‘borrow’ a a baby from local furniture magnate Nathan Arizona (Wilson) whose just had a set of quintuplets. While they try to be normal parents, Edwina and Hi’s lives get increasingly more complex when others start to get on their case.
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