The 2025 movie season hasn’t been all that great. While there have been bright spots like Black Bag and Mickey 17, the overall movie slate these last few months just can’t compare with last year’s stellar lineup that included Dune: Part Two with Timothée Chalamet and Love Lies Bleeding with Kristen Stewart.
While there isn’t anything truly exciting in movie theaters at the moment, the same isn’t true for streaming. For example, Hulu has tons of interesting movies like A Real Pain with Kieran Culkin and Longlegs with Nicolas Cage.
Those movies are great, but chances are, you’ve probably watched them. The streamer also has hidden gems that are just waiting to be discovered. The following three movies are criminally underrated, and worth your time and attention this weekend.
‘The Forgiven’ (2021)
What would you do if you accidentally killed someone? The Forgiven asks this question right away, as married couple David and Jo Henninger (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) hit a teenage boy while driving one night in Morocco. Since David was intoxicated while driving, the couple decide to lie and claim it was an accident and that the boy was at fault.
And so begins a descent into guilt and paranoia as the couple grapple with what they’ve done in different ways. Jo opts to attend parties held by the couple’s immoral friend Richard (Matt Smith) but David’s conscience begins to weigh on him. How long can he go without revealing the truth?
The Oscars are long over, spring is almost here, and your weekend social calendar is wide open. You could go to the movies to see Mickey 17, Robert Pattinson’s wild new sci-fi film from Parasite director Bong Joon-ho. Or maybe you’re in the mood for a cool, sexy spy thriller like Black Bag starring Michael […]
The Forgiven is one of those movies that makes the most of its tricky moral dilemma and doesn’t provide any easy answers. It’s great to see talented actors like Fiennes and Chastain embody characters with such sketchy morals. The Henningers aren’t the most empathetic people around, but they aren’t monsters, either. The film doesn’t ask you to take sides, but rather to empathize with everyone involved in an impossible situation.
The Forgiven is streaming on Hulu.
‘Joyride’ (2022)
12-year-old Mully (Charlie Reed) is upset with his father, who intends to use money donated by their fellow Irish citizens to pay off his debts rather than honor his late mother’s memory. Distraught, Mully steals the cash and jumps into a seemingly empty taxi. After he drives off, he is surprised to discover two passengers in the back: Joy (Olivia Colman), a forty-something lawyer, and her newborn baby.
Joyride has a ridiculous premise (what 12-year-old knows how to drive?) but it uses it as a foundation to tell a touching story between two lonely souls who are both running away from something. Joy isn’t so sure she’s the best person to raise a child while Mully doesn’t believe his father cares enough to raise him. The movie showcases how the two share their private fears and hopes while traveling across the gorgeous Irish countryside.
Joyride won’t win any awards, but it’s a solid drama that features another great performance by Colman. The movie’s ending is almost as unbelievable as its beginning, but by that point, you’ve grown too fond of the two lead characters to care all that much.
Joyride is streaming on Hulu.
‘Femme’ (2023)
Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is a successful London drag queen who is violently assaulted by a gang of street toughs one night. Months later, he encounters one of the men, Paul (George MacKay), at a gay sauna. When he realizes Paul doesn’t recognize him out of drag, Jules plots to exact revenge by filming them having sex and posting it on the internet. But as Jules begins to hang out more with Paul, the two men develop an intimate connection that threatens to derail Jules’ plan and expose Paul’s secret life.
What’s your plan for the weekend? Some may read a book while others will take advantage of the warming weather to venture outside. You might be bold and check out Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle show on Netflix, With Love, Meghan. But if you’re like Us and want to watch some quality movies from the comfort […]
Femme is an engrossing thriller that examines the lengths people will go to protect what’s most valuable to them. For Jules, it’s the comfort and power he had as a drag queen, something that Paul took away during the attack. For Paul, it’s hiding who he really is under a violent public persona he secretly abhors. Femme’s biggest strength is the superb acting by Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay, who provide depth and empathy to their complicated characters.
Femme is streaming on Hulu.
