It seems like most people think about television when Hulu is brought up. The streaming service does offer up a large number of TV series and it causes their film catalog to sometimes get overlooked. That's a shame because they currently have some fantastic movies available.
That's especially true when looking at the 2010s. Hulu boasts a wide variety of movies from the decade including Oscar winners, superhero flicks, foreign language classics, and works from some of the most talented directors in Hollywood. Using the ratings on IMDb can help determine which are the best ones to give a watch.
Loving Vincent (7.8)
You won't find many films out there that are more unique than Loving Vincent. That's because it is the first fully painted animated movie in history. Every single one of the 65,000 frames in it was an oil painting done by 125 artists from around the world.
That was done in honor of Vincent Van Gogh, who the movie is about. It focuses on his life and a young man looking into the final days before his death. Released in 2017 (it was originally conceived as a short film a decade prior), it ended up being nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.
Hunt For The Wilderpeople (7.9)
Taika Waititi has kind of taken the world by storm in recent years. The director/writer/actor from New Zealand has progressed from working on smaller indie projects to helming blockbuster movies like Thor: Ragnarok and TV shows like The Mandalorian.
While his greatest early work is arguably What We Do In The Shadows, 2016's Hunt For The Wilderpeople is also phenomenal. It follows the exploits of a juvenile delinquent and his foster uncle who go on the run through the wilderness. It features great work from Sam Neill and helped introduce Julian Dennison (Deadpool 2) to the world.
Captain Fantastic (7.9)
Another 2016 release, Captain Fantastic also boasts a somewhat similar setup to Hunt For The Wilderpeople. However, it's kind of the other way around. In Captain Fantastic, a family is forced to move back into society after spending a decade living in isolation.
Viggo Mortensen takes on the role of Ben Cash, the father of six who leads this family. For his tremendous work, Mortensen earned nominations for Best Actor at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. He won the prize at the Satellite Awards.
Shoplifters (8.0)
The first of three foreign language films on this list, Shoplifters shares similar themes to a certain Best Picture winner from 2019. This Japanese drama centers around a family who struggles with poverty and constantly shoplifts to combat it.
Arriving in 2018, this won the highly-coveted Palme d'Or, which is the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It also won a slew of trophies elsewhere, including Best Film at the Asian Film Awards, and it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.
Deadpool (8.0)
In a world where superhero movies are dominated by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 20th Century Fox found success with the X-Men franchise. As something of a spin-off from that series, Ryan Reynolds became the "Merc with a Mouth" in 2016's Deadpool.
It instantly became a massive success, grossing $782.6 million and working as a more adult-friendly take on superheroes. Deadpool is an anti-hero who gets mutant abilities that physically scar him and he's known to break the fourth-wall and crack jokes often. Reynolds was seemingly born for this role and has made it iconic.
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (8.1)
Similar to Shoplifters, 2019's Portrait of a Lady on Fire turned out to be a big winner at the Cannes Film Festival. There, it took home the Queer Palm (making Céline Sciamma the first female director to do so) and it earned the award for the Best Screenplay.
This French romance film is set in the late 18th century and tells the story of a forbidden affair. It's between a female artist who is tasked with painting a portrait of an aristocrat before her wedding. They spend their time on an island together, which leads to their relationship.
Prisoners (8.1)
Like Taiki Waititi, Denis Villeneuve has quickly become one of the most impressive directors in all of Hollywood. While this 2013 release was his fifth directorial effort, it was the first to really turn him into something of a household name and it was his first English project.
Prisoners follows a desperate father (Hugh Jackman) who tracks down the abductors of his daughter and his neighbor's (Terrence Howard) daughter. Jake Gyllenhaal also stars as a detective in one of the best mystery films released during the decade.
12 Years A Slave (8.1)
Sometimes, a movie comes along and you can just tell that it is destined to dominate at the Academy Awards. In 2013, it seemed like that was 12 Years A Slave and it proved that thought process right by winning Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Based on a slave memoir from 1853, 12 Years A Slave tells the harrowing tale of a free man in 1841 who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, where he spent over a decade before finding a way out. It turned Lupita Nyong'o into a breakout star and was led by a powerful performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Gone Girl (8.1)
The aforementioned Prisoners is a great mystery movie but Gone Girl is right up there with it. Released a year later in 2014, it is based on a 2012 novel of the same name. Gone Girl became a huge hit for director David Fincher and had his signature style all over it.
The plot centers around a man (Ben Affleck) who becomes the prime suspect when his wife (Rosamund Pike) goes missing. About halfway through, a huge twist comes regarding the woman, completely blowing the minds of viewers and changing the way the entire film is viewed.
Parasite (8.6)
It's one thing to win major Academy Awards but it's another to make history while doing so. 2019's Parasite did just that, as it became the first non-English language movie to earn the Best Picture Oscar. It also won for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film.
Parasite follows a family of schemers who live in poverty. They use their cunningness and various skills to infiltrate the home of a wealthy family and con them continuously. The film is filled with unexpected twists and is a remarkable look at class disparity.