The Predator prequel Prey (pictured), Natalie Portman’s Oscar-winning turn in Black Swan, Michael Fassbender in the erotic psychological drama Shame, the first Ghostbusters, and Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy are just a few of the many notable movies premiering on the Hulu streaming service in August. There’s also a mind-bending thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, an inspirational documentary about a famous sushi maker, and the mother of all found-footage horror films.
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This fifth installment in the Predator franchise serves as a prequel to the first four films and premieres only on Hulu. Set in the Comanche Nation in 1719, the sci-fi action movie follows a warrior named Naru (Amber Midthunder) who tries to protect her tribe from an alien with advanced weaponry and cloaking technology. Hulu viewers have the choice of watching the movie either in English or Comanche with subtitles because the cast recorded all of their dialogue in each language.
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Natalie Portman plays a professional ballet dancer who loses her grip on reality as she competes to play both the White Swan and Black Swan in Swan Lake. Portman spent 8 hours a day in rehearsal and lost 20 pounds for her role in this mesmerizing psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky and costarring Winona Ryder, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, and Barbara Hershey. The punishing routine caused Portman to dislocate a rib. She suffered for art and was rewarded … with a Best Actress Oscar.
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If you enjoyed 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife as much as we did, why not revisit the original 1984 comedy starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Sigourney Weaver to see how our heroes saved New York from a supernatural threat? The 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters II, is also available on Hulu this month, but the original is the one that still makes bustin’ feel good.
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After you watch the fascinating documentary Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, you’ll know the discipline and dedication legendary sushi chef Jiro Ono puts into his craft. The nonagenarian opened his own Tokyo restaurant in 1965 and people come from all over the world to try it. Said Barack Obama, “I was born in Hawaii and ate a lot of sushi, but this was the best sushi I’ve ever had in my life.” It’s on our bucket list!
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If you know someone struggling with sex addiction, this psychological drama directed by Steve McQueen and starring Michael Fassbender as a sex addict really cuts to the bone with its realistic and courageous depiction of the disorder. Carey Mulligan plays the sister of Fassbender’s character, who is struggling with some personal demons of her own. This rare NC-17 movie is aimed squarely at adults.
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Anne Hathaway plays a recent college graduate who lands a job as the assistant of a difficult fashion magazine editor (Meryl Streep) in this comedy-drama costarring Stanley Tucci as the magazine’s art director. Streep unsurprisingly earned another Oscar nomination for her fire-breathing diva character, Miranda Priestly, not-so-secretly inspired by Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
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Jake Gyllenhaal plays a U.S. Army captain who is repeatedly sent back to a virtual simulation of a real train crash in an attempt to identify the bomber in this sci-fi action-thriller directed by Duncan Jones, the son of David Bowie. Vera Farmiga is also on board (the production, not the train) as Captain Colleen Goodwin. Source Code is thinking-man’s sci-fi and demands a viewer’s attention to pick up all the details and clues, but all tracks align at the end.
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If you had a nerdgasm watching Tobey Maguire reprise his role as the web slinger in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s as good a time as any to revisit the original Spider-Man trilogy by Sam Raimi featuring Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. All three movies are available on Hulu this month, but the best in the trilogy is Spider-Man 2, in which Spidey faces off against Doctor Octopus (played by Alfred Molina, who also reprised his fan-favorite role in Spider-Man: No Way Home).
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Director John Carpenter once commented that the 1980s never really ended, and with a Top Gun movie breaking box office records and Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” hitting the top of the charts in 2022, he has a solid argument. The Wedding Singer, made in 1998 but set in 1985, is a rom-com about a wedding singer (Adam Sandler) who falls in love with a waitress (Drew Barrymore). We get it if Sandler isn’t your thing, but out of all his movies, this one is the most charming, nostalgic and worth revisiting. Watch out for a cameo by ’80s rocker Billy Idol.
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Now that Hugh Jackman has supposedly ended his run playing Wolverine on-screen, it’s time to go back and appreciate his performances as the superhero. This fourth installment of the X-Men franchise is a prequel to 2000’s X-Men and, as the title suggests, gives the adamantium-clawed superhero’s backstory. Ryan Reynolds debuts’ as Wade Wilson/Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but we wish there were more of him here.
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This sci-fi action movie is a sequel to 2000’s Pitch Black, which introduced us to the antihero Riddick (Vin Diesel) who got a “shine job” in prison so that he can see better in the dark. It is revealed that Riddick is the sole survivor of the Furyan race and a prophesized threat to the evil Necromongers. Chronicles Of Riddick, featuring an impressive supporting cast including Judi Dench, Thandiwe Newton, and Karl Urban, was a box office flop, but it has developed a bit of cult following and made enough money to spawn another sequel, 2013’s Riddick.
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The makers of the found-footage horror movie The Blair Witch Project generated prerelease buzz for the low-budget flick by posting promotional material that suggested that the people appearing in the movie were not actors and were actually missing. The stunt worked, and the shaky-cam shocker raked in over $140 million at the domestic box office on a budget of about $60,000. The three main players were revealed to be actors and went on to star in other projects.
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When Tom Hanks’ FedEx troubleshooter character is stranded on a deserted island for years in Cast Away, he names a Wilson Sporting Goods volleyball “Wilson” to keep him company. The survival drama, directed by Robert Zemeckis, also stars Helen Hunt and Nick Searcy. Hanks was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his challenging, mostly solo performance.
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If you love those little yellow rascals known as the Minions, Despicable Me is where it all began. This 2010 animated movie introduced the world to the supervillain Gru, who steals a shrink ray and plans to shrink and steal the Moon. Despicable Me 2 is also available on Hulu this month while the fifth film in the franchise, Minions: The Rise Of Gru, is still playing in theaters.
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The best reason to watch this acclaimed Western black comedy directed by Mel Brooks is that it probably wouldn’t get made today. It’s not that the humor is mean-spirited or cruel, but rather that culture has changed and PC types seem easily offended by, well, anything nowadays. Blazing Saddles was nominated for three Academy Awards and sits at number six on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years … 100 Laughs” list.
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