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Hidden Gem Movies To Stream On Hulu
Stress Positions (2024) You might never look at a TheraGun the same way after watching writer-director Theda Hammel's riotous debut feature — one of the very best things to hit theaters during the spring of 2024 and, without a doubt, the very best COVID comedy we've gotten to date. (I'll confess, it's not a crowded category.) John Early (Search Party) is the insufferable Terry Goon (talk about a name that tells you everything you need to know), an unemployed, recent divorcee, stumbling his way through a pandemic while living in his ex-husband's Brooklyn brownstone. A cast of eccentric characters — including his teen-model nephew and COVID-denying upstairs neighbor — pack every minute with spectacular chaos. Watch it on Hulu. Thelma (2024) June Squibb just narrowly missed out on an Oscar nomination for Thelma this year — and that's a shame, not only because we could have gotten more cutie-patootie red carpet moments from Squibb and Fred Hechinger, but because this modestly sized indie from Magnolia actually could have used a boost from the telecast. With all the ingredients of a crowdpleaser, this big-hearted comedy about a grandmother (Squibb) getting her revenge on a scammer, simply lacked word of mouth. Notably, the 95-year-old actor performed many of the impressive on-screen stunts herself, which begs the question: Could Thelma have secured a Stunt Design Award if the Academy introduced the new category for this last year? I guess we'll always have to wonder. Watch it on Hulu. La Chimera (2023) The forthcoming Mastermind isn't the first film to place Josh O'Connor at the center of an arthouse art heist. In one of his very best roles to date, the perpetually unshowered Challengers star plays Arthur, a grief-stricken Italian tomb raider searching for his missing girlfriend. This Cannes contender, released stateside in 2024, comes from the mind of Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro), which means you can expect plenty of magical realism and intricately designed set pieces to move the plot forward. It is a hallucinogenic, awe-inspiring experience that takes you through Italy's past and present while reminding you that there's pretty much nothing the Internet's husband can't do — like speak near-fluent Italian and get a big fit off in a soot-covered linen suit. Watch it on Hulu. Ghostlight (2024) It's a mystery to me why some Sundance darlings, like CODA, go on to win Best Picture at the Oscars and become household names, while others like Ghostlight (touted one of the best movies of [2024] by New York Magazine's Bilge Ebiri) fade into obscurity. This family-drama tearjerker opens by introducing us to Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer), a troubled thespian teen prone to outbursts, who has been suspended from school for pushing a teacher. Her aggression, we learn, has been brought about by an unspeakable family tragedy. Enter: Rita (the always excellent Dolly De Leon), who might just be the key to getting the family back on track. In a chance encounter with closed-off patriarch Dan (Keith Kupferer) — yes, that's Daisy's real-life father — Rita introduces him to a community theater, specifically a production of Romeo and Juliet, which unexpectedly allows the family to process their grief and communicate more openly with one another. Watch it on Hulu. Strange Days (1995) Sure, you know The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, but what about this deep cut from Kathryn Bigelow? A box-office flop, sure, but Strange Days is ripe for a re-appreciation on streaming thanks to its deeply '90s, cyberpunk aesthetic (complimentary) and prescient themes of fascism and police brutality. At least one critic has even touted the film as "better than Blade Runner," which is not nothing. Rounding out the intrigue of this sci-fi action gem is a cast that includes a near-unrecognizable Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett (she certainly did the thing here), and Juliette Lewis — plus, a writing credit from James Cameron, who divorced Bigelow four years prior. Watch it on Hulu. How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023) There's never been a better time to press play on How to Blow Up a Pipeline, an urgent eco-thriller based on Andreas Malm's book of the same name, which asks us to consider when acts of terrorism might be justified for a greater good. Daniel Goldhaber's gripping film follows a group of twenty-something climate activists who band together to take down a West Texas pipeline that is wreaking havoc on its community. Each of the eight members have a different motivation for getting involved in the heist; Theo has contracted terminal leukemia from the town's toxic atmosphere, while the group's resident bomb expert, Michael, is an Indigenous person who has a personal connection to the land that has been occupied by oil workers. Contrary to what the title suggests, the film never feels didactic, and Goldhaber skillfully manages to never talk down to his audience, trusting that they are smart enough to draw their own conclusions from this evocative and quick-moving story. Watch it on Hulu. Minding the Gap (2018) The best kind of documentary, IMO? The kind that takes a seemingly narrow focus like, say, skateboarding, and finds a way to turn it into something universal. That's the gist of Bing Liu's masterwork from 2018 which starts off simple enough — a document of three boys and their love of skateboarding — and then plunges into heavier topics of masculinity, class, and race before you know it. This is all to say: Mid90s wants what Minding the Gap it on Hulu. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023) And the winner of the Hardest Movie Title to Remember When Trying to Recommend It to a Friend Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed. Congrats! Yes, this indie stars Scott Cohen (the one and only Max Medina) alongside the multi-hyphenate talent Joanna Arnow, who wrote and directed the film. Arnow's comedy is about millennial malaise, BDSM, and dead-end jobs, and its uncomfortable truths will ring true to anyone who is willing to sit with it for long enough. The New Yorker's critic Richard Brody said it best when he said of Arnow's writing and direction, that she "recognizes that much of life's pain is built around sharp yet minor intimacies, impressions, and humiliations, and she brilliantly captures the sense of disproportion that arises when slight or banal exchanges have mighty emotional effects."Watch it on Hulu. National Anthem (2024) You might know him as that hot cowboy photographer from Instagram. Allow Luke Gilford to reintroduce himself as the talented filmmaker behind National Anthem. Told through his signature lush images, the photographer's debut feature film situates us in New Mexico as a 21-year-old construction worker (Charlie Plummer, who you may have also seen riding horses in Lean on Pete) finds himself immersed in the queer rodeo community. If Brokeback Mountain is the entirety of your queer-cowboy media diet, do yourself a favor during Pride Month and press play on this hidden gem. Watch it on Hulu. Presence (2024) Leave it to Steven Soderbergh to give us not one, but two, bangers within a year. The less buzzed-about, but equally deserving of your streaming time, film was Presence — a chilling ghost story unlike anything I've seen before. (Though, if you forced me to compare it to existing films, I'd say it brings to mind elements of Olivier Assayas's Personal Shopper and David Lowery's A Ghost Story.) Shot from the perspective of the ghost, this never-dull atmospheric thriller filled with spooky, tracking shots, slowly builds to a satisfying twist. Just don't go into this one expecting jump scares (or, much screen time from Julia Fox, for that matter, who was used in the marketing of the film) because you will be utterly disappointed. Watch it on Hulu. Perfect Days (2023) What the world needs now? A gentle, life-affirming film. Specifically, one that reminds us to take stock of the little moments that pass us by each day. I hear how cliche these words sound as I type them, and that only solidifies my belief that Wim Wenders, who directed this Oscar-nominated film, is one of the absolute greats — somehow able to pull at our heartstrings without saccharine storytelling or lousy contrivances. Even more impressive is the fact that Wenders was commissioned to make this film by Japan's Tokyo Toilet project, helping to promote the image of public hygiene. What he is able to pull off is something much more nuanced than an advertisement. It follows a highly routined toilet cleaner as he commutes to the city each day to scrub public toilets and visit the same bar, bath, and spot in the park. But don't be fooled by its deceptively simple, linear structure. Perfect Days is also a brutal takedown of our soul-sucking digital world (...I write, hunched over my MacBook.)Watch it on Hulu. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) Here's a hidden gem that Iran's authoritarian government would prefer to keep hidden. Mohammad Rasoulof's powerful, fourth wall-breaking family drama that exposes much of Tehran's political turmoil was able to get made in secret and find global distribution — but not without consequence. Rasoulof was sentenced to eight years in prison and subsequently fled to Germany, along with the film's two stars Setareh Maleki and Mahsa Rostami. Rasoulof is not German, and there is no German language spoken at any point in the film; however, Germany opted to submit the film for Best International Film at the Oscars in lieu of Iran. That certainly gave the film some much-needed visibility but not nearly the amount it deserves. Thankfully, this important piece of filmmaking is now widely accessible stateside on streaming. Watch it on Hulu. Decision to Leave (2022) Park Chan-wook doesn't miss. The king of labyrinthian storytelling (Old Boy, The Handmaiden) delivered another instant classic in 2022 with Decision to Leave. Part love story, part murder mystery, the Korean auteur's Cannes hit surprised critics and fans alike by deviating from his usual (spectacularly graphic) mode of filmmaking. The story about a romance between a Busan detective and his prime suspect might feel more restrained, but there's no shortage of Chan-Wook's signature dark humor it on Hulu. Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (2022) One of the great, overlooked performances by multi-Oscar winner Emma Thompson is featured in this small Searchlight two-hander. Thompson plays an uptight middle-aged widow who hires a sex worker (Daryl McCormack) to achieve an orgasm for the first time and, of course, what ensues is something much more profound. Its witty and unflinching exploration of sex positivity, female pleasure, and human connection make it something of a spiritual predecessor to FX's current awards juggernaut series Dying For Sex. Free double-feature idea!Watch it on Hulu. Stream all these hidden gems on Hulu.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
June Squibb on Her Nonagenarian Career High: 'A 70-Year-Old Will Say, ‘I Want To Be You When I Grow Up!''
'If I'm called 'icon' one more time, I'm going to scream,' laughs June Squibb from her Los Angeles home. It's been a big year for the 95-year-old actress. Thelma, Squibb's first leading feature film role, became one of the biggest success stories at the specialty box office last year, earning over $12 million at the global box office and becoming the highest-grossing movie ever for distributor Magnolia over its two-decade history. She also voices a character in Inside Out 2, which became the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It's the kind of run that anyone, let alone someone in their seventh decade in entertainment, dreams of. More from The Hollywood Reporter Cannes: Wes Anderson Teases His Next Film Cannes: Wes Brings The Whimsy in 'Phoenician Scheme' Press Conference In Cannes, It All Happened at the Carlton While flattered by the attention that comes with being Hollywood's favorite nonagenarian, Squibb finds the fawning a little ridiculous at times: 'A 70-year-old will say, 'I want to be you when I grow up!'' After all, Squibb is just doing the same job she's always been doing, from off-Broadway shows and cabarets to her work with filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Alexander Payne. Nonetheless, the hits keep coming for Squibb as she jets off to the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of her latest movie, Eleanor the Great, which also happens to be the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson. 'When I called June to tell her, 'Oh my God, June, we're going to Cannes,' she said, 'Well, that's marvelous,' ' recalls Johansson. 'And then she was like, 'Well, I was there about 10 years ago [for Payne's Nebraska], so I know the drill.' I just said, 'June, you're the best.' ' In the film, which will be released by Sony Pictures Classics after the fest, Squibb plays the eponymous title character, a woman who, after the death of her best friend and roommate, moves from Florida back to her native New York to be closer to her daughter and attempts to build a new life for herself. For Squibb, playing a character returning to New York City after many years away was not a big leap. 'I lived there for 65 years,' says the actress, who broke out in New York stage productions like the 1959 musical Gypsy. 'I've been in California for about 20. But, I certainly knew everything there was to know about New York.' Filming took place all over the city, from Brooklyn and Queens to the Meatpacking District and the East River. Squibb, a consummate West Sider, was surprised by how the city had changed. '[Brooklyn] has been gentrified like crazy. That was interesting to me, because my memory of Brooklyn is that Brooklyn Heights was the only place anyone ever went.' Because Eleanor tells a story that deals heavily with themes of Jewish heritage, in addition to subjects like grief and aging, Squibb had to memorize more than her lines. 'I learned the bat mitzvah Torah readings and actually did it on camera,' she says. 'My assistant and I were living in an apartment together, and I woke up one morning saying, 'Oh my God, in my dreams, I was doing the Torah!' ' As for being directed by one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Squibb says she and Johansson connected immediately. 'I just felt I knew who this person was. She's very — what is the word? It's not matter of fact. She is herself. She's not making you look at somebody that she wants you to see. It's just her. And that's what was so great in her direction.' Working with a fellow actress as her director was a new experience for Squibb, who adds that Johansson anticipated the notes and space she needed in order to get the scene just right: 'Now, not many directors can do that, even if they know a little bit about acting. They couldn't do what she did. She knew immediately where I was or where I was going, and how long it might take.' As for returning to the Cannes red carpet for the second time, one of Squibb's most vivid memories is getting an assist from Nebraska director Payne and her co-star Will Forte. 'I still remember going up those stairs,' says Squibb of the Palais' famous steep red steps that deliver audiences and talent into the Grand Auditorium Lumière. 'I was in my 80s at the time. Will Forte took one arm, and Alexander Payne took the other arm, and they dragged me up those stairs. They made sure I made it up the stairs.' It was well worth the climb, as Nebraska debuted to a rapturous 10-minute standing ovation. 'I can still remember, by the end of it, I grabbed Alexander around the waist and was crying in his chest,' recalls Squibb, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film. Squibb has no plans to rest on her laurels, or retire for that matter. As of late, she has been inundated with scripts. Hollywood, long obsessed with youth and the stories that surround it, has embraced projects centered on older adults. 'People are really interested in aging now that we've got an aging population,' she says. 'I think people understand 90-year-olds. We just have so many more. I have friends that are 100! People want to see aging. They want to know: What do I have to expect?' But not all of the material is the right fit. 'One script was written for a 70-year-old. And I have to laugh, because I thought, at 90, I can't do some of the things that I could do when I was 70. They wanted me to ride a horse!' She chuckles and thinks for a moment before considering, 'Now, I'm not even saying I couldn't [ride a horse]. I used to ride, so I don't know, maybe if they got me on I could stay on.' And if Squibb does happen to do it, please — don't call her an icon. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
India Today
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Scarlett Johansson shines at Cannes with grief-themed film ‘Eleanor the Great'
Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson made her directorial debut at the 78th Cannes Film Festival with Eleanor the Great, a heartfelt indie film starring June film tells the story of a 94-year-old woman named Eleanor (played by Squibb), who, after the death of her best friend (Rita Zohar), relocates to New York. There, she unintentionally attends the wrong meeting at a Jewish Community Center and assumes her late friend's identity as a Holocaust film delicately explores the themes of grief, loneliness, and the longing for connection. Speaking about the inspiration behind the film, Johansson said, 'There's a lack of empathy in the zeitgeist forgiveness feels less possible in the environment we're in.' The film was showcased in the Un Certain Regard section and has been lauded for its tender tone and character-driven reported by Associated Press, Johansson, shared that the desire to direct had been part of her journey for years. 'I would not have had the confidence to direct this film 10 years ago,' she Cannes premiere came shortly after her appearance on Saturday Night Live and ahead of her upcoming blockbuster role in Jurassic World the years, Johansson has expanded her creative role in Hollywood. She has produced several films, including Black Widow, Fly Me to the Moon, and now Eleanor the Great. Her directorial debut is a constant effort of her recent pattern of following her instincts, including her public disputes with major companies like Disney and film's emotional impact was felt at Cannes, where both Johansson and Squibb received a standing ovation. 'Holding June at that moment was unforgettable,' Johansson said, recalling the festival's warm reception.(With inputs from AP)ALSO READ: K-Pop stars turn Demon slayers in Netflix's new animated filmMust Watch
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Legendary Actress, 95, Receives Standing Ovation in Colorful Cannes Appearance
Some of the biggest names in Hollywood have attended the Cannes Film Festival throughout the week, including a special appearance from legendary actress June Squibb. The 95-year-old actress hasn't allowed her age to stop her from continuing with her career, appearing in Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut, Eleanor the Great. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 The film—also starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Erin Kellyman—scored a five-minute standing ovation at the French event, as it gains early buzz for the powerful storyline and intergenerational casting. The Good Girls actress also turned heads as she ditched her wheelchair to walk the red carpet alongside Johannson and Kellyman. Donning a colorful floral kimono with black pants, the iconic actress used a cane as she posed for photos, holding hands with her castmates for additional support. While attending the film's screening the day before, Squibb opted for a floral black gown. Per Variety, Johansson said premiering the film at Cannes is 'really a dream come true," adding that it's a film "about friendship, it's about grief, it's about forgiveness. And I think those are all themes that we can use a lot more of these days.'The drama piece finds Squibb as the eponymous title lead, who moves from Florida to New York City for a fresh start after the death of her best friend and learns that "making new friends at ninety proves difficult." "Longing for connection, she befriends a 19-year-old student," the synopsis notes. As for how Squibb feels about her status in the industry, she previously told The Hollywood Reporter, "If I'm called 'icon' one more time, I'm going to scream,' noting that the attention gets a little ridiculous at times: "A 70-year-old will say, 'I want to be you when I grow up!'" Squibb began her career with a Broadway debut in Gypsy in 1959, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2013 for the film Nebraska, and landed her first leading role in an action comedy just last year in Thelma.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Eleanor the Great' Review: Scarlett Johansson's Directorial Debut Is an Unconvincing Crowd-Pleaser, With June Squibb Doing Brash Shtick
June Squibb has become the female Alan Arkin. She's 95 years old, but onscreen she delivers her zingers with the crack timing of an old person whose perception of the world is ageless in its bombs-away, truth-telling joy. After years as a sneaky scene stealer, Squibb became a star in 'Nebraska,' the 2013 Alexander Payne film that turned her combination of homespun grandmotherly demeanor and ruthless wit into a crowd-pleasing force. Last year, she had her first leading role (in 'Thelma,' an action comedy!), and now her perky moon face is front and center again in 'Eleanor the Great,' the first film directed by Scarlett Johansson. The movie is an awards-season wannabe in every sense. It totally plays up Squibb's tart-tongued Arkin-adjacent antique brash aplomb. But in addition, it's an attempt to tap into the poignant underside of a character who uses her wisecracks as weapons. Did I mention that it's also a sentimental Holocaust weeper? More from Variety Erin Kellyman on Starring in Scarlett Johansson's Directorial Debut 'Eleanor the Great': 'This Job Has Changed the Way I See Myself as an Actor' Jafar Panahi and Saeed Roustayee Are Both in Cannes in Banner Year for Iranian Cinema on the Croisette Jafar Panahi Speaks Out for First Time in 14 Years as New Film 'It Was Just an Accident' Premieres at Cannes: I Spent 'Eight Hours a Day Blindfolded' and 'Being Interrogated' in Iran Prison When we first meet Squibb's Eleanor Morgenstein, who is 94 and still spry, she's waking up in the bedroom she shares with her oldest friend, Bessie (Rita Zohar), in an apartment in Florida. It's Friday morning, and they're undertaking their ritual weekly outing: a trip to the supermarket. That may not sound too dramatic, but there's rarely a dull moment with Eleanor, who will give anyone a piece of her mind, even when it's not a friendly piece. When she and Bessie arrive at the market's pickle-jar section, only to learn that the kosher brand they favor isn't there, Eleanor seizes the chance to dress down a stockboy who's utterly at sea about how to help them. That she has the awareness to skewer him as a clueless Zoomer is what's funny — that, and the fact that Squibb delivers her lines as if they were the opening monologue of her own talk show. The script of 'Eleanor the Great,' by Tory Kamen, doesn't stint on the sitcom sarcasm, and that's both a plus and a minus. There's no denying that as a character, Eleanor plays, giving Squibb an opportunity to strut her granny-with-an-attitude stuff. But you're always aware that the movie is trying to squeeze a laugh out of you. Bessie is a Holocaust survivor, with one of those old-world Eastern European accents and a woe-is-me shrug of a personality to match. She and Eleanor are presented as if they were two peas in a Jewish-retirement-community pod. But this gives us pause. June Squibb is a hell of an actor, but in 'Eleanor the Great' she doesn't exactly come off like a Jewish person from the Bronx (which is what the film first implies she is). There is, however, a good explanation for that. The set-up for the movie is that Bessie, who has been Eleanor's soulmate for decades, dies quite suddenly. Eleanor has never lived alone, so she relocates to New York City to move into the East Side apartment of her daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), and grandson, Max (Will Price), at which point it starts to become clear that 'Eleanor the Great' is no mere glorified sitcom. It's an investigation into the mystery of who Eleanor is. 'You cut your hair, I see,' says Eleanor to Lisa. 'I liked it better before.' That's the kind of line that gives Eleanor — and, indeed, the comedy of June Squibb — an anti-social edge. Eleanor isn't just sharp as a tack; she's got boundary issues when it comes to what she thinks she can say. She talks less to communicate than to entertain herself. And it's that what-the-hell mouthiness that gets her into trouble. Dropped off at the Manhattan Jewish Community Center (a place where Lisa figures her mother can spend some time and make friends), she wanders into a group of people seated in a circle, and it turns out to be a support group for Holocaust survivors. A normal person would get up and leave, or maybe ask to listen. But neither of those options would satisfy Eleanor, who needs to be at the center of the action. So she starts to tell a story about how she's from Poland, and then this happened to her, and that happened, and we realize that she's making up who she is. She's telling Bessie's story and passing it off as her own. And, of course, doing a captivating job of it. Nina (Erin Kellyman), a journalism student from NYU, is sitting in on the group to write an article for one of her classes, and she's struck by Eleanor's story. She wants to feature her in the article! And since Eleanor could use the company, she gets drawn into a connection with Nina — a standard buddy-movie trope. If there's any doubt about how much 'Eleanor the Great' often seems to have come out of a screenwriting processor, check out this Coincidence 101 contrivance: Back in Florida, Eleanor and Bessie were obsessed with Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a handsome cable-TV newsman — and it turns out that Roger is Nina's recently widowed father. The table is now set for Eleanor's fake Holocaust story to go very public. That someone would appropriate her best friend's saga of wartime survival is clearly indefensible. Yet in a strange way I think 'Eleanor the Great,' to be true to the outrageousness of that premise, should have sharpened the comedy of it more. Johansson, however, while she does a perfectly efficient job of directing, doesn't hone the tone of her scenes. She keeps the whole thing earnest and rather neutral in a plot-driven way, with Squibb as her wild card. As Nina, Erin Kellyman has a wide-eyed precocity marbled with the sadness that has sprung from her mother's death. 'Eleanor the Great' very much wants to be a movie about grief. It tells us that grief is what's at the core of Eleanor's deception — the grief of Bessie's passing, the grief she couldn't bear. That's why she did it! But guess what? I didn't believe that for a moment. Not when June Squibb is having this good a time making herself the center of attention. Best of Variety The Best Albums of the Decade
