The 11 best movies to check out on Hulu this December

District 9, the feature-film debut of Neill Blomkamp, seems even more relevant right now given current events. The A.V. Club’s Scott Tobias writes, “Smuggling a strong political allegory under the guise of a scrappy, docu-style science fiction thriller, Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 asks a simple question: If an alien spacecraft stalled out over a major city, stranding legions of starving and impoverished creatures, how would humankind respond? Blomkamp, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa under apartheid, imagines a similar arrangement in the same city, with insectoid ‘others’ shuffled off into crime-riddled slums and controlled by a hideous private corporation more concerned with containment than compassion.” The critically acclaimed movie stars Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and David James.

In the early aughts before the MCU and superheroes began to preoccupy audiences, wuxia cinema enjoyed a brief spurt of popularity in the United States thanks to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Zhang Yimou’s House Of Flying Daggers, starring Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s Zhang Ziyi, focuses on romance more than the typical wuxia film but is no less gorgeous to look at. The A.V. Club’s Keith Phipps writes, “Zhang finds poetry in flying fists, whirling blades, and flying arrows, and he makes melancholy bloodshed feel almost satisfying as an end in itself.”

It’s difficult to believe that Splash was filmed almost 40 years ago. Although some will find it dated, Ron Howard’s literal fish-out-of-water rom-com about a New York man (Tom Hanks) who falls in love with a mermaid (Daryl Hannah) helped make Hanks a household name. This nostalgic ’80s gem was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar and earned over $69 million on an $11 million budget.

Mob Land is the directorial debut of writer-director Nicholas Maggio. The crime thriller stars John Travolta as a sheriff trying to keep things under control after the violent robbery of an illegal drug operation brings a New Orleans mafia enforcer to his town. The movie that grossed $171 (you read that correctly) in the United Kingdom also stars Shiloh Fernandez, Stephen Dorff, Ashley Benson, and Kevin Dillon.

All four movies in The Matrix franchise are available on Hulu this December, including the most recent entry, The Matrix Resurrections. If you were bummed about the fates of Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) in The Matrix Revolutions, give the lesser-seen Resurrections a watch for a more satisfying conclusion to their journey. The A.V. Club’s Katie Rife writes about the Lana Wachowski-directed sequel, “There’s a clear ambivalence of creator for creation in The Matrix Resurrections, but the impression left by the end is not of bitterness but hope. Confusing, heartfelt, goofy, vulnerable, endearing, all-too-human hope.”

Set in 1988 in Newcastle, England, during the conservative Thatcher regime, Blue Jean is about a gym teacher named Jean (Rosy McEwen) who’s forced to live a double life due to the passing of a law that stigmatizes gays and lesbians. The arrival of a new girl at school threatens to expose Jean’s true colors in this acclaimed drama written and directed by Georgia Oakley in her feature-film debut. The movie also stars Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday, and Lydia Page.

It’s just not the holidays without a new Nicolas Cage movie, right? This December, Hulu gives us the crime thriller-comedy The Retirement Plan starring National Treasure’s Cage as Matt, a retired beach bum kicking back in the Cayman Islands whose laid-back lifestyle is shattered when his estranged daughter and granddaughter track him down and seek his help after they get caught up in a criminal enterprise that threatens their lives. The Cage-y flick also stars Ashley Greene, Thalia Campbell, Ron Perlman, Jackie Earle Haley, and Ernie Hudson.

The black comedy Maggie Moore(s) has a strong Mad Men connection, with John Slattery as the director and his Mad Men costar Jon Hamm in the lead role as small-town police chief Sanders. As he investigates the bizarre murders of two women with the same name, Sanders encounters a web of lies. The R-rated film that got mixed reviews also stars Tina Fey, Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed, Micah Stock, Happy Anderson, and Mary Holland. This year, Maggie Moore(s) is Hulu’s Christmas Hamm.

We much prefer Quentin Tarantino’s alternate history of the Sharon Tate story to what actually happened on that infamous night in August 1969. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio as fading Western star Rick Dalton, Brad Pitt plays his stunt double, Cliff Booth, and Margot Robbie shines as Sharon Tate. Tarantino’s acclaimed Hollywood fairy tale won two Oscars: Best Supporting Actor for Pitt and Best Production Design. The large ensemble cast also includes Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Austin Butler, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Al Pacino, and Luke Perry in his final film role.

The supernatural horror film It Lives Inside, directed by Bishal Dutta, follows an Indian-American teen who unwittingly unleashes a demon that feeds on her loneliness. Dutta told Fangoria that—after moving to the United States at the age of four—his social education came from watching horror movies such as Jaws, A Nightmare On Elm Street, and The Shining. “[It Lives Inside] is a love letter to the community and culture that raised me while on the other, it is a visceral experience that is designed to instill the same raw terror in its viewers that my favorite horror films instilled in me,” he said.

Arriving just in time for New Year’s Eve is Zombieland: Double Tap, the sequel to 2009’s Zombieland. The 2019 zom-com is directed by Ruben Fleischer and stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Avan Jogia, Luke Wilson, and Thomas Middleditch. Although not as much fun as the original film with its hilarious Bill Murray cameo, The A.V. Club’s Katie Rife writes about Zombieland: Double Tap: “When it comes to zombies, more is more, and there are a few good scenes of gory mayhem in this film.” Watch until the mid-credits scene for a little more Murray.