Hulu‘s slate of December additions includes a fantastic mix of holiday favorites, exciting action movies and beloved comedies.
Watch With Us is excited to dig into these flicks, and we’re highlighting three that are not only solid to us, but have won favor with Rotten Tomatoes critics as well.
Our first pick is Crazy Heart starring Jeff Bridges, a romantic drama movie inspired by the life of country singer Hank Thompson. We’ve also got Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, that highly improves upon its predecessor.
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‘Crazy Heart’ (2010)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90 percent
Alcoholic musician Otis “Bad” Blake (Jeff Bridges) was once a country music star, but has since seen his glory days pass by in the rearview. Reduced to playing gigs at dive bars and bowling alleys, he strikes up a relationship with a reporter named Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who has come to his show to do a story about him. As their friendship turns to romance, Blake sees a way for him to turn his life around.
Anchored by Bridges’ captivating performance and some terrific original songs, Crazy Heart bears a familiar narrative that is nevertheless elevated by Bridges and by director Scott Cooper‘s 70s-inspired direction. While perhaps a cliché story about a washed-up musician battling addiction and looking for redemption, Cooper and Bridges work together seamlessly to turn something old into something new.
‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91 percent
Ten years since the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, during which the simian flu wiped out much of humanity, Caesar (Andy Serkis), the ultra-intelligent chimp, leads a colony of apes in the woods near San Francisco. However, a small band of surviving humans brings challenges to Caesar and his tribe, as they attempt to establish a friendly relationship with the humans. But tensions and inner-sanctum turmoil threaten to topple any hope for peace.
Dawn was considered a huge improvement upon Rise, able to deftly balance a genuinely strong emotional core with exciting action sequences and impressive motion-capture CGI. Director Matt Reeves (The Batman) expands upon the first movie into intelligent and thoughtful new territory while maintaining a gripping simmer of tension and establishing immersive sci-fi world-building.
‘Love Is Strange’ (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93 percent
After nearly four decades together, Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) finally decide to get married, but when George’s intolerant Catholic school employer finds out, he’s fired. Without George’s income, the couple is thrown into turbulence as they can no longer afford to live in their New York City apartment and are forced apart as they bunk with different friends. Ben and George navigate their new lives, while their friends navigate living with them.
New on Hulu in December 2025 — The Full List of Movies, TV Shows and Holiday Specials
Lithgow and Molina’s exceptional performances lead this tender look at unwavering commitment in the face of hardship. Director Ira Sachs’ thoughtful character study may sneak up on you with its profound emotional impact, but Love Is Strange is anything but mawkish sentimentality. Instead, it is a heartfelt exploration of the true, strange beauty of love.
