Let’s face it: the Oscars aren’t for everyone. Even some movie fans can’t stand all the superficial pageantry, the endless thanking of people you haven’t heard of, and the inane interviews that occur on a red carpet that’s probably more expensive than your house.
Want some alternatives? You can do worse than watch some movies on Hulu. In fact, you should watch the five movies on the list below. Some are past Oscar nominees, some were box office hits, and all of them are a guaranteed fun time.
Need more suggestions? We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, and the best movies on HBO
The Post (2017)
Who knew a good thriller could be made out of the simple fact that you must meet a deadline? Steven Spielberg’s The Post is more than that, of course, but that’s what it essentially boils down to. It’s 1971, and the Pentagon Papers, a scandalous expose about the United States’ involvement in the still-ongoing Vietnam War, has been published by The New York Times, who are immediately sued by the U.S. government to stop exposing any more secrets. Katharine Graham, the owner of The Washington Post, and Ben Bradlee, the paper’s Executive Editor, have a copy of the Pentagon Papers and are faced with a dilemma: publish and potentially go to jail, or do nothing and go against what the paper, and the freedom of the press, stands for.
It’s an intriguing premise and one that is just as relevant today as it was over 50 years ago. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks play Graham and Bradlee, respectively, and they have good chemistry; prickly but respectful, they’re the crusaders of the Constitution you’d want on your side. Spielberg directs with a breathlessness that’s uncharacteristic of him, and he has a great eye for the early ’70s time period (dig all that awful plaid!) and Washington D.C. locale.
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot is normally found on trains stuck in snowy mountain passages or riverboats in the Nile, so it’s a bit odd that when we first meet him in A Haunting in Venice, he’s trying to track down a ghost in gloomy, rain-drenched Venice. Why? Well, Poirot just can’t resist the opportunity to attend a séance held by Joyce Reynolds (a campy Michelle Yeoh), who claims she can contact the spirit of a dead child. Sure, Jan.
A suspicious group is assembled, of course, and on a dark and stormy night, someone is not-so-shockingly murdered. What makes A Haunting in Venice so intriguing is that it really does appear to be a ghost stalking the ancient building Poirot and his fellow guests are stuck in. The movie isn’t as clever as it thinks, but Branagh’s directorial tricks work, so you don’t care. It’s good fun, and less expensive than actually going to Italy.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
What better way to celebrate Hollywood’s biggest night than watching a movie that’s a valentine to cinema itself? Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is fun romp through 1969 Hollywood, and while it deals with real-life people, this is most definitely a fictional story. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton is a past-his-prime Hollywood star, and his best friend and bodyguard, Brad Pitt’s roguish Cliff Booth, is a stuntman with a shady past. Together, they try to kickstart both of their careers and fend off overeager groupies, hateful co-stars, and a ticked-off Bruce Lee.
Somewhere else in the city, Sharon Tate (Barbie‘s Margot Robbie) is on the rise as a prominent actress, but a strange man named Charles Manson and his weird hippie “family” may threaten her ambitions. If you think you know how this turns out, you don’t know Tarantino, who likes to remix history to his own liking. You can’t blame him because the result is so much fun to watch.
The Lost City (2022)
Last year’s Anyone But You brought rom-coms back into the spotlight, but it was The Lost City that first revived the genre as everyone was emerging from their post-pandemic slumber in early 2022. The movie stars Sandra Bullock as Loretta, a successful romance novelist who is still mourning her late husband. After being pushed into going on a book tour with her cover model, Alan (Channing Tatum), Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire, Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), who is convinced that the research of Loretta’s husband can lead him to a hidden treasure. It’s up to Alan to save her, but first, he’ll have to stay alive himself.
The Lost City plays a bit like a mixture of Argylle and Uncharted, only much more charming and coherent. Bullock is an old pro at this kind of genre silliness, and her chemistry with Tatum is what makes the movie so watchable. It’s not as good as Romancing the Stone, but The Lost City is a decent rom-com action adventure that’s good to watch as the weekend winds down.
Willy’s Wonderland (2021)
Were you disappointed by last year’s Five Nights at Freddy’s? Sure, it was a box office smash, but it wasn’t actually any good. Well, if you want a good horror-comedy set in a kid’s amusement park, you should watch Willy’s Wonderland.
Nicolas Cage stars as a down-on-his-luck average dude who agrees to take a job as a janitor at a Chuck E. Cheese-like entertainment center, Willy’s Wonderland, for one night to pay for some badly needed car repairs. But what he doesn’t see coming is an army of odd animatronic foes who decide to attack him one night. Armed with whatever he can find (including a plunger), Cage must fight for his life until the sun rises. The movie is unhinged and ridiculous, and Cage is totally in tune with the movie’s anarchic spirit.
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