Culture

9 Essential Movies and Shows Coming to Hulu in February

Who needs reality when you can watch The American President instead?
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Lifetime

Welcome to February (almost), a quick month of 28 days short on sunlight: Perfect for buying that big box of chocolate for yourself (er, your significant other) and curling up on the couch for a two-hour escape from the cold. You’ve already seen Moonlight and La La Land and 20th Century Women (if you haven’t, take that box of chocolates straight to a cineplex near you), but luckily, Hulu has some golden oldies coming to your TV screen in February. From a morose Peter Dinklage to conniving reality TV producers to Michael Douglas as the sweet president of your dreams, Hulu’s got movies and TV to carry you all the way to March.

  • In this dark American Western havoc is wreaked Old-Testament-style. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic film, petroleum speculator Daniel Plainview (played by a sinister Daniel Day-Lewis) is out to find the oil, the money, and the blood in the barren land of the West, up against a creepy, somber young preacher (Paul Dano) and accompanied by his silent young son (Dillon Freasier). Just don’t watch it while drinking a milkshake.
  • What do a taciturn train enthusiast, a chatty food truck driver, and a mourning artist have in common? You might think "nothing," but that's not true. Tom McCarthy’s exploration of loneliness is anchored by performances from Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale, and Patricia Clarkson. A ramshackle train depot in the wilds of New Jersey has never looked like a better spot to meet your people.
  • When American troops try to kidnap a Somali warlord’s advisers, a mission led by idealistic Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett) all goes wrong. Ridley Scott’s epic battles are beautiful (and so blue), and the drama is palpable the whole way through. Time to return to this noble, melodramatic look at combat.
  • Ah, the ‘90s, when a shy president had to work up the nerve to ask a lady to the ball! This Aaron Sorkin romance between President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) and environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), full of betrayals-by-executive-order and swelling orchestrals in the Oval Office, is still great, 20-odd years later—and even more absurd today.
  • Molly Ringwald as an angsty, lovesick teen working at her local record store. A homemade pink ‘80s prom dress. A soundtrack featuring New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen. When *don’t* you need a good dose of John Hughes?
  • And once you’ve gotten your John Hughes kick, how about a real life *The Breakfast Club*? Nanette Burstein’s documentary follows the life of five seniors at Warsaw Community High School in Indiana: the jock, the princess, the heartthrob, the geek, and the rebel. The highs are so high, and the lows are so low, and the earnest vulnerability of all five teens will remind you just how impossible and all-consuming it is to be 17.
  • Don’t act like you’re not indulging in *The Bachelor*. And as you shake your head in disbelief—Corinne did *what*?!—remember to check out the show satirizing it all. Once you see the exploits of conniving field producers behind the scenes, you won’t see reality TV the same way again. As Quinn would say, *Let’s do this.*
  • Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia are back! Go on vacation to Miami with the girls—you’ve got 90 hours of Betty White telling odd stories about growing up in Minnesota and Rue McClanahan regaling her housemates with tales of sexual misadventure ahead of you. *Picture it, your couch, 2017...*
  • What, you didn’t realize *Romeo and Juliet* was autobiographical? Kidding. But that’s no reason not to watch *Shakespeare in Love*, the sentimental 1998 Best Picture winner written by Tom Stoppard, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes as the Bard himself. *Can you love a fool?* Maybe. But you can definitely love this goofy romance.

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Charley Locke writes about growing up and growing old for publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and WIRED. ... Read More
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