Hulu had some rough patches in its early days, but it's quietly become a serious streaming player. While is still ahead of the pack, and loops you in because you're already signed up for their Prime service, you'd be wise to give Hulu a look. The streaming service isn't just amassing quality TV series like The Handmaid's Tale and Castle Rock; it also has a surprisingly robust selection of movies.

So if you feel like nothing on Netflix or Amazon is catching your fancy, or if you just want to get the most out of your subscription, take a look at some of the best movies currently available on Hulu.

Editor's note: This post was last updated October 6th to add Logan.

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Logan

Director: James Mangold

Writers: James Mangold, Michael Green and Scott Frank

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, and Stephen Merchant

There's a case to be made that Logan is the best X-Men movie. While its hard-R rating allows it to get more violent than other films in the franchise, that's not why it's good. It's good because it's basically a neo-Western where Logan has to see if his life is more than the violence he's doled out and if he's able to be a caretaker and protector rather than an enforcer as he, a sundowning Professor X (Patrick Stewart), and a young girl (Dafne Keen) go on the run from nefarious forces. Hugh Jackman is able to send the character out a high note and James Mangold's soulful direction gives the movie a heft that belies its comic book origins. Logan is a somber affair, but all the stronger for it. - Matt Goldberg

Spontaneous

Writer/Director: Brian Duffield

Cast: Katherine Langford, Charlie Plummer, Hayley Law, Piper Perabo, Rob Huebel and Yvonne Orji

Growing up is hard, especially when you could spontaneously combust at any time. That's the premise of Brian Duffield's brilliant coming-of-age movie Spontaneous. Mara (Katherine Langford) is a sardonic, cynical teenager whose fellow seniors inexplicably start "popping" into giant splatters of blood. But during this chaos, Mara finds love with her classmate Dylan (Charlie Plummer), and their romance seems to make the world go round for as long as they stay in one piece. The chemistry between Langford and Plummer is terrific with Langford giving a performance that would have landed her on the A-list if Spontaneous' release hadn't been buried by the pandemic. Thankfully, now that it's on Hulu, you can and should make time for this darkly comic and lovely film that will definitely help you if you're going through an existential crisis. - Matt Goldberg

La La Land

Writer/Director: Damien Chazelle

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, and J.K. Simmons

It may not have won Best Picture at the Oscars, but the memorable bungling of the announcement aside, Damien Chazelle’s musical about lovers in Los Angeles still holds up. The film follows aspiring jazz musician Seb Wilder (Ryan Gosling) and aspiring actress Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) through the seasons of their relationships, and through his gorgeous visuals and terrific music from Justin Hurwitz, La La Land sucks you into this brief, lovely affair that must inevitably come to a close because when you’re young and have career goals, you might have to choose between your aspirations and your love for another person. It’s not easy, but La La Land knows how to perfectly blend its bittersweet melancholy with toe-tapping numbers. – Matt Goldberg

Gattaca

Writer/Director: Andrew Niccol

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Alan Arkin, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, and Jude Law

Easily one of the best science fiction films of the 1990s, Andrew Niccol’s movie explores prejudice through the unique concept of genetic discrimination. In a near-future setting (beautifully designed with a mid-century modern look), Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) aspires to be an astronaut, but because he was born out of love and not genetically crafted like others in this future, he’s got a heart condition that rules him out of employment. Determined to follow his dream, he takes the identity of Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a perfect specimen now confined to a wheelchair. As Vincent tries to keep the ruse alive, he’s suspected of murder at his company, Gattaca. The film is thrilling, sad, and reframes our thinking about prejudice in clever, thoughtful ways. It is sci-fi at its finest and has lost none of its punch over the past couple of decades. – Matt Goldberg

A Fish Called Wanda

Director: Charles Crichton

Writer: John Cleese

Cast: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin

Cleese’s 1988 heist comedy remains as delightful as ever thanks to the strength of its lead performances. While the writing and premise are sharp—a crew of jewel thieves steals a massive diamond only to have their double-cross get double-crossed when the diamond is hidden in a new location. In order to find the location, thieves Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her lover Otto (Kevin Kline) decide that she should get the location out of the lawyer (John Cleese) for their captured compatriot. Farcical shenanigans ensue that only ratchet up the laughs from scene to scene. Also, while the Academy is loathe to honor anything that is outright comedy, they couldn’t ignore Kline’s tour-de-force performance as Otto and awarded him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It was well-deserved. – Matt Goldberg

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Director: George Roy Hill

Writer: William Goldman

Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Katharine Ross

One of the greatest Westerns ever made, the film follows the exploits of Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and his best friend The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) as they rob trains only to have their criminal activities put them in the crosshairs of an unrelenting posse. William Goldman’s Oscar-winning script never loses the edge to the danger Butch and Sundance find themselves in, but it also always sings with a light comic touch as well. For example, in one famous scene, the two realize they’ll have to jump off a cliff into a river and Sundance reluctantly admits that he can’t swim. “You idiot!” Butch replies. “It’s the fall that’s gonna kill you!” The whip-smart dialogue and pacing make Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid modern in its attitudes and timeless in its affect. – Matt Goldberg

Edward Scissorhands

Director: Tim Burton

Writer: Caroline Thompson

Cast: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker, Alan Arkin, and Vincent Price

If you want peak Tim Burton, you can’t really go wrong with his 1990 fantasy romance film. While Burton has eventually become a self-parody of himself, back in 1990, his film about a gentle soul with scissors for hands was (pardon the pun) cutting edge. The story follows the title character (Johnny Depp) who, after being left to wander alone by himself in a lonely house, is adopted by a suburban family who tries to integrate him into a society that is at first curious about his talents but turns on him when his novelty wears off. A modern-day Frankenstein tale permeated with Burton’s ideas about the power and dangers of imagination, Edward Scissorhands is the director at his best and the film still endures thanks to the way it weaves together darkness and warmth. - Matt Goldberg

The Final Girls

Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson

Writers: M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller

Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Adam DeVine, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, and Nina Dobrev

If you like smart horror movies with a meta-textual twist a la Scream, then The Final Girls is going to be right up your alley. Released in 2015, the film follows a group of friends who attend a midnight screening of a cult favorite camp slasher movie, only to be magically sucked into the movie themselves. Now they're forced to relive the events of the movie over and over again, dying in various ways all while interacting with the characters from a film that hold dear. As an added emotional twist, one of the main characters is play by the late mother of one of the girls sucked into the movie — so she's now literally reunited with her mom who died in an accident a few years earlier, only they're stuck in a slasher movie. This one is tons of fun. - Adam Chitwood

Mud

Director/Writer: Jeff Nichols

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Sam Shepard, Michael Shannon, Sarah Paulson, Jacob Lofland, and Reese Witherspoon

If you're looking for a great, compelling dramatic thriller to watch that maybe also kinda flew under the radar, check out Mud. The film hails from Take Shelter and Midnight Special filmmaker Jeff Nichols and is unsurprisingly another Southern drama, although this time the story is told from the poitn of view of a young teen boy (Tye Sheridan) who stumbles upon a man living in solitude (Matthew McConaughey) on an island in the Mississippi River in Arkansas. This sets them both on a path that has the man trying to right wrongs from his past, and the boy trying to set forth a better future for himself. This is one of McConaughey's best performances hands down. - Adam Chitwood

Attack the Block

Director/Writer: Joe Cornish

Cast: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Franz Rameh, Luke Treadaway, and Nick Frost

If you want to see a cool sci-fi flick from a unique POV, Attack the Block will hit the spot. Released in 2011 to critical acclaim, the film launched John Boyega’s career as he plays a low-level crook and teenaged gang leader who is forced to step up when alien creatures invade a council estate in South London on Guy Fawkes night. What sets Attack the Block is that its protagonists are kids living in a really rough neighborhood, and they defend their neighborhood with all they’ve got. The creature designs are like nothing you’ve seen before, which is indicative of the film as a whole: the alien invasion story has been done to death, but never like this. Plus, with a sequel in the works, consider this preparation for further adventures a decade later. – Adam Chitwood

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Director/Writer: John Hughes

Cast: Steve Martin and John Candy

It’s entirely possible that in a filmography stacked with classics, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is John Hughes’ best film. The comedy is a mismatched buddy comedy that finds an uptight marketing executive played by Steve Martin stranded and forced to hitch a ride back home with a kindhearted and overly charismatic shower curtain ring salesman played by John Candy. The film is fully of genius comedy as Martin and Candy know exactly how to push one another’s buttons, but what sets it a cut above is the deep humanity that runs through it. This movie’s not just great to watch at Thanksgiving, it’s great to watch anytime. – Adam Chitwood

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Director: Josh Greenbaum

Writers: Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig

Cast: Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, and Jamie Dornan

One of the best films of 2021 and one of the funnier comedies you’ll see is one that kind of flew under the radar, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. The premise seems fairly simple—lifelong friends Barb (Annie Mumolo) and Star (Kristen Wiig) decide to leave their small midwestern town for a vacation in Vista Del Mar. Oh, and there’s a supervillain (also Wiig) who wants to unleashed a deadly plague of mosquitos on the town as an act of revenge so she sends her henchman Edgar (Jamie Dornan), who is also in love with her even though she’s not really interested in him. So maybe it’s not that simple, but the chaotic, cheerful energy pulsating through Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar make it one of the more outlandish, silly, and delightful comedies in recent memory. – Matt Goldberg

Bill and Ted Face the Music

Director: Dean Parisot

Writers: Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Anthony Carrigan, Kid Cudi, and William Sadler

Bill & Ted 3 should not be as good as it is, and yet this long-awaited sequel is terrifically entertaining while also feeling like an evolution of the franchise. The film picks up in real time as Bill and Ted – Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter – have reached middle-age and have yet to write the song that will save the universe. They’re forced to self-reflect on overdrive when they’re given a ticking clock: they must write the song before time runs out. Their fix? Go forward in time to when they’ve written the song, and steal it from themselves! The film is wonderfully goofy and silly, but grounded in a true empathy for all of its characters. Bill and Ted Face the Music is a time-travel comedy with a huge, beating, softie heart. – Adam Chitwood

Galaxy Quest

Director: Dean Parisot

Writers: David Howard and Robert Gordon

Cast: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Justin Long, and Sam Rockwell

1999’s Galaxy Quest is one of the best comedies ever made, hands down. If you like sci-fi movies and laughing, this one’s for you. The story revolves around a gang of washed-up actors who are famous for starring in a Star Trek-like TV show decades ago, and are clinging to their glory days. Their lives are thrown for a loop when they’re abducted by actual aliens who mistook their TV episodes for “historical documents” and think this crew of galactic warriors can help save them from a villainous threat. Chaos, comedy, and a bit of heart ensue. – Adam Chitwood

They Came Together

Director: David Wain

Writers: David Wain and Michael Showalter

Cast: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Cobie Smulders, Christopher Meloni, Bill Hader, Max Greenfield, Ellie Kemper, Jason Mantzoukas, and Melanie Lynskey

If you’re into absurdist comedies, you’ll love They Came Together. But fair warning: if you think this is just a sweet romcom starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler, you may not be satisfied with the result. From the filmmakers behind Wet Hot American Summer, this film takes aim at the absurdity of the romantic comedy genre, taking aim at various tropes that populate those types of films. It’s not a parody – it does actually have a romcom storyline – but it is hilariously absurd as Poehler and Rudd get to showcase their sillier sides, and Christopher Meloni brings the house down with one single scene. – Adam Chitwood

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Steven Zaillian

Cast: Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, and Robin Wright

If you like crime thrillers and for some reason haven’t seen David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there’s no time like the present. Based on the bestselling book of the same name, the film is part murder mystery part origin story, as Rooney Mara’s idiosyncratic hacker Lisbeth Salander is tasked with helping disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) try to solve a young girl’s disappearance from 40 years ago, which puts them on the path of a suspected serial killer. It’s chilling and engrossing, with top-notch craft courtesy of Fincher and Co. – Adam Chitwood

Big Fish

Director: Tim Burton

Writer: John August

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman, and Marion Cotillard

While filmmaker Tim Burton is best known for making films that are whimsical and/or fantastically dark, 2003’s Big Fish is his most successful dramatic effort by far. Burton made the movie in the immediate wake of his father’s death, which brings added emotional heft to the story of a dying man (Albert Finney) telling his life’s story to his son (Billy Crudup). The father embellishes just about everything (or does he?), and flashbacks find Ewan McGregor playing his younger self as he goes on a series of fantastical adventures. It all builds to a really emotional finale that will have you in tears. – Adam Chitwood

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Director: John Ford

Writer: James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck

Cast: John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O’Brien, Woody Strode, Andy Devine, John Carradine

Sometimes you’re just in the mood for a good Western, so what better film to scratch that itch than one starring two cinematic icons: John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Wayne plays the cowboy to Stewart’s naïve do-gooder who’s planning on opening up a law office in the town of Shinbone, where trouble surfaces in the form of outlaw Liberty Valance, played by Lee Marvin. Legendary director John Ford takes the opportunity here to comment on the state of the Western genre in 1962, after decades of personally making some of the best and most successful Westerns in history. Wordplay, gunfights, and a surprisingly emotional finale ensue, as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance stands as one of the best Westerns ever made. – Adam Chitwood

The Adventures of Tintin

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writers: Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, and Joe Cornish

Cast: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg

Steven Spielberg made a splash in 2011 when experimenting with new technology to bring The Adventures of Tintin to life, and while some were underwhelmed by the final product, it remains a daring and dashing adventure if you allow yourself to be won over. Jamie Bell fills the titular role in the comics adaptation, as Tintin is whisked away on an adventure promising buried treasure. Andy Serkis is a hoot as his drunken companion, while Daniel Craig gets his villain on. Spielberg’s knack for blocking and pitch-perfect action is on full-display and then some, as his camera is untethered to the natural world. This movie’s a lot of fun. – Adam Chitwood

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Director: Brad Bird

Writers: Josh Applebaum and André Nemec

Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Anil Kapoor, and Michael Nyqvist

One of the things that makes the Mission: Impossible franchise great is how it allows each new director to bring a unique vision to the series. And if J.J. Abrams’ emotion-centric Mission: Impossible 3 laid the seeds for the franchise to head into a more team-based direction, Brad Bird’s joyous Ghost Protocol solidifies the benefits of making M:I an ensemble. The sequel marked Bird’s first live-action film after wowing critics and audiences with films like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, and he brings a jubilant quality to the action during which Tom Cruise and Co. are clearly having a blast. Ghost Protocol also boasts the best stunt sequence of the entire franchise so far, as Cruise literally hangs off the side of the tallest building in the world. Five stars. – Adam Chitwood