The Hulu Top Twenty

Here are the 20 most popular movies on Hulu this week.

1. Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag

Last Week's Ranking: 1
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: There must be something I'm not getting about this I-Max documentary featuring fighter pilots. The message board for the movie has a lot of military folks chatting it up, so that may have something to do with it.

2. Flatliners

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland star in this eerie thriller about a group of med students who dabble in visiting the afterlife by killing and then resuscitating themselves. You can read my full review of it here.

3. Basic Instinct
Last Week's Ranking: 2
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Sixteen years on, Sharon Stone's hoohoo is still drawing eyeballs in massive numbers. I hope she has that thing insured!

4. Rudy
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Long before Sean Astin carried his beloved Mr. Frodo up to the highest peaks of Mordor, he was a working-class footballer trying to escape his roots.

5. Lawrence of Arabia
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: The classic, Academy Award-winning 3.5 hour epic showcasing Omar Sharif and Alec Guinness. Hulu tells us that this will only be up until November 30, so you better get it while it's hot.

6. Liar, Liar

Last Week's Ranking: 8
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Jim Carrey goofs it up in a decent comedy that puts all of his face-stretching talents on display.

7. The Professional

Last Week's Ranking: 7
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Natalie Portman debuts her acting chops alongside a career-best performance by Jean Reno.

8. The Fifth Element
Last Week's Ranking: 4
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This scifi actioner is a real workhorse for Hulu, apparently riding on the popularity of Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich.

9. A League of Their Own

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: "There's no crying in baseball!" This much-beloved girlie baseball movie features an oddball ensemble cast including Madonna, Rosie O Donnell, Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, David Strathairn, Jon Lovitz, Bill Pullman, and Lori Petty. It's rare that so many disparate actors can be brought together to great effect, but that's exactly what Penny Marshall accomplished here.

10. Jackass 2.5

Last Week's Ranking: 12
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: The strangely charismatic Johnny Knoxville leads his ragtag crew of misfits through a slew of disgusting stunts.

11. American Virgin

Last Week's Ranking: 9
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Bob Hoskins and Mena Suvari star in the lowly-regarded 2000 comedy.

12. Dude, Where's My Car?

Last Week's Ranking: 10
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Garner team up in this stoner flick just before they became breakout stars.

13. Underworld: Evolution

Last Week's Ranking: 11
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: Kate Beckinsale as a goth-boy's wet dream can't save this dark and dreary action flick from the weight of its futuristic vampire world.

14. National Lampoon's Spring Break

Last Week's Ranking: 15
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Can you really call a 53 minute comedy a movie? The boobs of the hour belong to Nikki Ziering.

15. Saints and Soldiers

Last Week's Ranking: 13
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: A Mormon sniper and an atheist medic clash as their platoon struggles to survive behind Nazi lines in this 2005 actioner.

16. Starship Troopers

Last Week's Ranking: 14
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Paul Verhoeven's futuristic thrill ride gives us a war between humans and giant space alien bugs. Guess which side Neil Patrick Harris is on?

17. Bring It On

Last Week's Ranking: 17
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Kirsten Dunst shook these pompoms long before kissing Spider Man in the rain, and this turn as a peppy cheerleader spawned a movie franchise. Eliza Dushku and Jesse Bradford costar as siblings.

18. Requiem for a Dream

Last Week's Ranking: 20
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Do we give points to movies for excelling at depressing us? I'm not sure. But Ellen Burstyn in a downward spiral is too horrific to turn away from.

19. Men In Black

Last Week's Ranking: 19
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Pairing Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as government agents who round up aliens must have sounded like crappy gimmickry, but this feature had enough wits and charm to transport us. The sequel? Now that was crappy gimmickry.

20. Ghostbusters

Last Week's Ranking: 16
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Bill Murray and co. find their comedic groove as the people you're gonna call. Has completely saturated our culture without ever becoming unhip.


Notably Absent:
Here are the movies that dropped off the list this week.

The Girl Next Door

Last Week's Ranking: 3
Weeks on List: 4
Notes: Hulu's most popular movie of all time has been deleted from their roles.

Crawford
Last Week's Ranking: 5
Weeks on List: 4
Notes: The election is over, and so is this political doc's run as one of Hulu's most popular movies.

The Great Train Robbery

Last Week's Ranking: 6
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This new addition was a flash in the pan.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Last Week's Ranking: 18
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Looks like the ship has finally sailed for this Russell Crowe vehicle.