The last weekend in May is cause for an unexpected celebration. Why? Well, there are still lots of movies to watch over the weekend.
While you could go to the theater and watch the latest Karate Kid movie, Watch With Us recommends you stay inside, turn on your TV and access your Hulu subscription.
The streamer has tons of underrated movies that are worth your time. We’ve selected three of them — an action drama, a “stoner” comedy and a domestic thriller — that provide enough entertainment for you never to leave your house over the next three days.
‘The Negotiator’ (1998)
Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson) has been set up. A well-respected Chicago police officer, he’s been framed for his partner’s death and is about to be sent to prison. As a last resort, he takes his former precinct hostage and makes one demand — he wants to speak with professional negotiator Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey). What follows is a tense stand-off as Danny pleads his case to Chris while the entire police force is ready to kill their former fallen comrade.
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The Negotiator is an old-school action movie in the tradition of ‘70s classics like The French Connection and Serpico, but with a late ‘90s gloss. It emphasizes plot and characterization over gratuitously violent set pieces and gives Jackson one of his best lead roles ever as a desperate man driven to crime to prove his innocence. The movie keeps you guessing until the end, where it springs one last surprise that you won’t see coming.
The Negotiator is streaming on Hulu.
‘Year One’ (2009)
A comedy based on the Book of Genesis, Year One chronicles the exploits of cavemen Zed (Jack Black) and Oh (Michael Cera), who wander around prehistoric times armed with more knowledge than their Paleolithic Era peers. Things get more serious when their girlfriends are kidnapped and sold into slavery. Zed and Oh must now find and rescue them before they are lost forever.
Year One’s plot is pretty standard, and it’s really just an excuse to place Zed and Oh in a series of loosely related skits that parody Old Testament figures like Cain, Abel, Abraham and the Sodomites. Some of these encounters work better than others, but Year One is just funny enough to make it worth streaming on a lazy weekend afternoon. Black has solid comedic chemistry with Cera, and their schtick is always entertaining to watch.
Year One is streaming on Hulu.
‘The Desperate Hour’ (2021)
Amy Carr (Naomi Watts) is about to experience every parent’s worst nightmare. When she goes for a routine jog one morning, she learns from several social media messages on her phone that a shooting has taken place at her son’s high school. Worried, she calls her son to see if he’s OK and doesn’t get a response. As Amy tries desperately to find out more information from the cops and her son’s friends, she not only becomes scared that her son might be in danger, but also could be the shooter holding everyone hostage.
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The Desperate Hour is an incredibly tense movie that takes a real-world concern — school shootings — and creates an effective thriller that successfully ratchets up the tension. For a good chunk of the film, Amy — and the viewer — doesn’t know if her son is a victim or a villain, and that ambiguity makes The Desperate Hour stand out from other thrillers in the genre. Watts is front and center throughout the movie, and she gives an empathetic performance that showcases all the fears and anxieties a parent would experience in a situation like this.
The Desperate Hour is streaming on Hulu.
