Hulu is beginning March on the right note — literally.
The Disney-owned streamer just added one of the best musicals of the 2020s, West Side Story, which is a remake of the classic Oscar-winning 1961 film.
Not in the singing mood? Don’t worry, Hulu is also streaming the Oscar-nominated political thriller The Secret Agent.
If you miss Robin Williams as much as I do, then watch Dead Poets Society and remember a time when Hollywood made big-budget dramas for adults.
‘The Secret Agent’ (2025)
In late 1970s Brazil, Armando Solimões (Wagner Moura) is a former professor-turned-political dissident who uses fake names and disguises to hide from the corrupt government. He’s good at hiding, but when he learns an old foe has hired a pair of professional hitmen to kill him, he’ll need all of his skills of disguise — plus a little luck — to stay alive.
Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, The Secret Agent is a gripping political drama that isn’t the cavalier spy flick its title suggests. Instead, it’s a fairly realistic depiction of a turbulent time in Brazilian history, when the country was under a military dictatorship that Armando rebels against. Moura is terrific as a man whose political beliefs are almost as important to him as his own son, whom he can’t see too often or else he’ll risk the boy’s life. With a near-perfect period look and feel and superb supporting performances, The Secret Agent is an immersive movie that never fails to thrill or rouse your emotions.
The Secret Agent is streaming on Hulu.
‘West Side Story’ (2021)
1961’s West Side Story is just about a perfect movie musical, with Oscar-winning performances from Rita Moreno and George Chakiris and dazzling dance sequences that still feel modern today. So why on earth did Steven Spielberg remake it in 2021? The answer is simple — because he wanted to. The result is a curious remake that’s both unnecessary and unforgettable, a showcase for Spielberg’s gifts as a filmmaker and a launching pad for Rachel Zegler’s still-ascending movie career.
The story is familiar to those who have read or know about William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet — Italian Tony (Ansel Elgort) loves Puerto Rican Maria (Zegler), but their cultural differences and a gang war between Tony’s Jets and Maria’s brother Bernardo’s Sharks threaten to tear them apart. Can Tony and Maria find their happily ever after, or will they meet the same fate as their literary antecedents?
With exhilarating songs like the spicy “America” and the longing ballad “Somewhere,” West Side Story is a musical that hasn’t aged a bit since it debuted on Broadway in 1957. This film version gives those songs and the plot a modern edge, with a particular emphasis on inclusive casting that adds to the verisimilitude. Most importantly, the film just rips, with a love story that works and a bittersweet ending that somehow improves on Shakespeare’s original.
West Side Story is streaming on Hulu.
‘Dead Poets Society’ (1989)
When new English teacher John Keating (Robin Williams) arrives at the stuffy all-male prep school Welton Academy in 1959, he’s met with a classroom full of rowdy teenage boys. But when he encourages them to “carpe diem” and look at life differently, he becomes the most popular teacher at school. New student Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) reveres Keating, but when tragedy strikes, he’s forced to grow up faster than he’d like.
A huge hit with critics and the public in 1989, Dead Poets Society has been referenced and parodied so many times over the years, you probably know what happens even if you haven’t seen it. Still, it’s a coming-of-age film that holds up, with a deeply empathetic lead performance by Williams that gives him enough room to execute his trademark riffs. It’s also a kick to see Hawke, House’s Robert Sean Leonard and The Good Wife’s Josh Charles early in their years as Keating’s fresh-faced disciples.
Dead Poets Society might be the whitest movie ever made, but it’s also a touching drama about a specific time in these characters’ lives when childhood ends and adulthood begins. Everyone can relate to that, even if you’ve never read a Lord Byron poem.
Dead Poets Society is streaming on Hulu.
