11 movies to check out on Hulu this April

The Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski has been called the number-one cult film of all time. Like the Dude himself, played by Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski “abides” and keeps getting discovered by new generations. The hilarious crime comedy features Bridges as an L.A. slacker who would rather bowl, smoke some weed, and drink White Russians than deal with a case of mistaken identity that has put him in the crosshairs of a nihilistic gang looking to extort money from another, more socially prominent Jeffrey Lebowski. The Big Lebowski also stars John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, John Turturro, Sam Elliott, and Tara Reid.

Copycat is a ’90s psychological thriller you may have missed and will want to check out on Hulu, especially if you’re into true-crime stories. Sigourney Weaver plays criminal psychologist Dr. Helen Hudson who, because of a previous assault, has severe agoraphobia and is confined to her home. A homicide detective (Holly Hunter) teams up with Hudson to find a serial killer committing copycat killings based on notorious murders of which Hudson is acutely aware. The Jon Amiel-directed movie also stars Dermot Mulroney, William McNamara, Will Patton, John Rothman, J. E. Freeman, and Harry Connick Jr. as serial killer Daryll Lee Cullum.

Olivia Wilde’s gaslighting thriller Don’t Worry Darling stars herself as well as then-boyfriend Harry Styles, Dune: Part Two’s Florence Pugh, and Chris Pine. The official description of Don’t Worry Darling reads: “While her husband leaves home every day to work in a top-secret facility, a young 1950s housewife begins to question her life when she notices strange behavior from the other wives in the neighborhood.” The A.V. Club’s writes: “Wilde, a capable director with an eye for movement and composition, enlists Darren Aronofsky’s cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, to create some petrifying, colorful visions—coupled with hypnotizing black-and-white burlesque dancing—that are pulled off with heady visual panache.”

In Luc Besson’s sci-fi opus The Fifth Element, Bruce Willis plays a 23rd-century taxi driver who helps a mysterious woman named Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) search for magical stones that a “perfect being” can use to stop an evil entity from destroying all life in the universe. Highlights include Chris Tucker as flamboyant celebrity Ruby Rhod, Gary Oldman as the sadistic Zorg, and Maïwenn Le Besco as the mesmerizing blue-skinned, alien opera singer Diva Plavalaguna. The Fifth Element also features late actors Ian Holm and Luke Perry in supporting roles. The A.V. Club’s writes, “Like Star Wars, the energy with which [The Fifth Element] rips pages from comics, frames from movies, and adolescent fantasies from its director’s brain makes it great fun.”

If you have giant monsters on the brain after seeing Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire in theaters, check out Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho’s The Host on Hulu. The South Korean monster movie about a father whose daughter is taken by a mutated Han River beast became the top-grossing movie in South Korea’s history at the time of its release. The A.V. Club’s writes: “The monster is a fairly convincing CG effect (especially given The Host’s at best mid-level budget, by Hollywood standards), but it’s the way it’s placed in the environment that really sells the fantasy.”

Are you excited to see if Deadpool & Wolverine is the cure for superhero fatigue at the box office? Before you catch the third Deadpool movie in theaters this July, revisit Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in arguably the best X-Men movie to date: Bryan Singer’s X2: X-Men United starring Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, and Anna Paquin. In the franchise’s second installment, Colonel William Stryker wants to build a machine like Professor X’s mutant-tracking Cerebro that will instead kill all mutants on Earth.

William Brent Bill’s horror movie Lord Of Misrule stars Ralph Ineson, Tuppence Middleton, Matt Stokoe, Alexa Goodall, Anton Valensi, and Rosalind March. The official description from Magnet reads: “Lords Of Misrule follows Rebecca Holland (Tuppence Middleton), who has recently taken over as priest of a small town. When her daughter Grace goes missing at a local harvest festival, a desperate search begins. The closer they edge towards finding Grace, the more secrets emerge from the town’s dark past.” Is anyone else getting Midsommar or The Wicker Man vibes from the trailer?

In Rebecca Miller’s romantic comedy She Came To Me, Game Of Thrones star Peter Dinklage plays a composer with writer’s block who gets his groove back after a one-night stand. The official description reads: “She Came To Me follows Steven Lauddem (Dinklage), a composer who is plagued by a creative block which leaves him unable to finish the score for his big comeback opera. When his former therapist-turned-wife Patricia (Anne Hathaway) suggests he rekindle his creativity by getting lost in the city, Steven sets out in search of inspiration. His epiphany comes after he meets a spirited woman named Katrina (Marisa Tomei) and discovers his life has much more potential than he bargained for, or ever could have imagined.”

The official description for the action-thriller The Channel reads: “After their bank heist goes wrong, a desperate criminal, his out-of-control brother, and their motley crew of ex-Marines must escape New Orleans and the determined FBI agent who pursues them.” The William Kaufman-directed movie has a large ensemble cast, including Clayne Crawford, Max Martini, Nicoye Banks, Juliene Joyner, Lucky Johnson, Jaren Mitchell, E.K. Spila, Linds Edwards, Todd Jenkins, Gary Cairns, and Mike Lobo Daniel.

Aidan Gillen, who played Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish on Game Of Thrones, takes the lead in this Irish thriller directed by Fintan Connolly. The official logline reads: “Val Barber, a private investigator, is hired by a wealthy widow to find her missing granddaughter.” Barber also stars Gary Lydon, Helen Behan, Deirdre Donnelly, Camille O’Sullivan, Ruaidhri Conroy, Nick Dunning, and Jimmy Smallhorne. Gillen currently stars as Milo Sunter on Paramount+’s Mayor Of Kingstown.

Claire Denis’ romantic thriller Stars At Noon stars Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Benny Safdie, Danny Ramirez, and John C. Reilly. The official description of the A24 film reads: “A young American journalist (Margaret Qualley) stranded in present-day Nicaragua falls for an enigmatic Englishman (Joe Alwyn) who seems like her best chance of escape. She soon realizes, though, that he may be in even greater danger than she is.” Based on the novel of the same name by Denis Johnson, Stars At Noon is about a woman forced to use sex as currency when she becomes trapped in unstable Nicaragua during the COVID-19 pandemic.