Announcing the Hulu Award for "Best Short Format Series (non-comedy)"

And the Hulie goes to...

"30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust"

For the uninitiated, "Dust to Dust" is a six part horror series posted on Hulu by FEARnet. It serves as a sequel to the Josh Hartnett movie "30 Days of Night," which is itself based on a series of comic books. The central premise is that vampirism can be spread like a virus, with a single scratch or bite being the start of a precipitous descent into the ranks of the undead.

In just 35 total minutes, the six installments establish a cast of sympathetic characters who must wrestle with the moral questions that come up when a loved one becomes, irrevocably, a killer. The quick-cuts, expansive buckets of gore, and panicky characters define the show as something that has the power to touch us on a visceral level.

Is it weird to present these animalistic vampires, who seem so out of control, and who transmit their condition with little more than a touch? If you look at other examples of vampires in modern media, you might think that it is. After all, the most anyone has done to stretch the stereotype in the last twenty years is Twilight, which took the (brave?) position that vampires avoid the sunlight because it makes them sparkle.

But if you look at the history of the vampire myth, you'll find that there's way more leeway than you may have otherwise believed. As per Wikipedia:

It is difficult to make a single, definitive description of the folkloric vampire, though there are several elements common to many European legends. Vampires were usually reported as bloated in appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour; these characteristics were often attributed to the recent drinking of blood. Indeed, blood was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one was seen in its shroud or coffin and its left eye was often open.^[21] It would be clad in the linen shroud it was buried in, and its teeth, hair, and nails may have grown somewhat, though in general fangs were not a feature.^[22]

Other attributes varied greatly from culture to culture; some vampires, such as those found in Transylvanian tales, were gaunt, pale, and had long fingernails, while those from Bulgaria only had one nostril,^[23] and Bavarian vampires slept with thumbs crossed and one eye open.^[24] Moravian vampires only attacked while naked, and those of Albanian folklore wore high-heeled shoes.^[24] As stories of vampires spread throughout the globe to the Americas and elsewhere, so did the varied and sometimes bizarre descriptions of them: Mexican vampires had a bare skull instead of a head,^[24] Brazilian vampires had furry feet and vampires from the Rocky Mountains only sucked blood with their noses and from the victim's ears.^[24] Common attributes were sometimes described, such as red hair.^[24] Some were reported to be able to transform into bats, rats, dogs, wolves, spiders and even moths.^[25] From these various legends, works of literature such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the influences of historical bloodthirsty figures such as Gilles de Rais, Elizabeth Báthory, and Vlad Ţepeş, the vampire developed into the modern stereotype.^[20][24]

After 20,000 audience votes, the audience favorite was "Gemini Division," which stars Rosario Dawson.

The third and final nominee was "Pink: The Series."

Announcing the Hulu Award for "Best Movie Studio"

And the Hulie goes to...

Universal Studios!

Panelists and voting audience members agree: Universal Studio has brought the best movie content to Hulu.com. They have something for every taste, from the hopelessly liberal (Cheech and Chong's Next Movie) to the hopelessly conservative (Jesus Christ, Superstar). Family friendly schlock like Beethoven's 2nd (even Beethovenier than the original!) doesn't completely eclipse the more meaty fare like Slaughterhouse Five, Broken Flowers, and The Beguiled. Perhaps most importantly, all of these titles feature full length films, as opposed to sets of clips that merely whet your appetite.

Hats off to Universal for their rich history of moviemaking-- even when they make bad movies, they make them well.

Universal is the second-oldest movie studio on the face of the planet (younger than rival Paramount by one month). It was founded by a clothing store manager named Carl Laemmle, who noticed the popularity of a nickelodeon in Chicago and decided to invest in one of his own. His business savvy led him to start his own fledgling company rather than pay fees to famed inventor Thomas Edison. This bold move led to the corporate behemoth we all know and consume today.

Here, you can see a complete list of every movie they've ever released at Wikipedia


The other nominees for this Hulie were:

MGM
Pix 20th
Century Fox

What's Universal done for you lately? Here's a trailer for one of their 2009 releases. It's pure craptastic horror, and yet the inclusion of Alison Lohman (she's as good as Lindsay Lohan is bad) and Justin Long (the PC guy or the porn star from Zach and Miri Make a Porno, depending on your interests) give it a strange appeal for me.

The Hulies are Here!

After months of preparation, I am very pleased to announce that this week, I will begin releasing the results of the Hulu Awards (aka, the Hulies).

For those of you who may not know, the Hulies are awards given to Hulu.com content in a variety of categories. For each category, a panel of 25 journalists and bloggers gave careful consideration to the eligible content before narrowing the field down to five nominees. There was also an audience voting component that allowed the voting public at large to ensure that their favorite pick was included in the list of final nominees.

Since we received an overwhelming audience response of 20,000 votes cast, we'll also be recognizing the top audience pick in each category. Sometimes this is the same as the actual Hulie winner, and sometimes it's not.

Eligible content for each category was posted on Hulu during it's first full year of existence, October 2007-October 2008.

Please note that, for each award, the audience voting is still open until the day that the results are actually posted. So, if you haven't voted yet for your favorites, please consider clicking on the category in the list on the right, and making your voice heard. Some of the races are very tight, and one vote actually can make a difference.

Thank you to all the panelists and audience members who participated!

The Hulu Top Twenty

Hulu threw everything but the kitchen sink at us this week-- no fewer than eight new movies hit the charts, including everything from a genetically-modified-food frightfest documentary to a little-known but critically lauded Clint Eastwood vehicle from the early seventies. Overall viewership still seems to be down (I guess it's a seasonal thing), but if you have the time, you could do worse than to check out their new offerings.

1. The Future of Foods (1984)

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Hey! I just paid money to rent this one from Blockbuster.com. Bad timing, Hulu! The documentary does some good scare-mongering about the presence of genetically modified foods. I'm not so convinced that GM foods will be bad for my health, but I was shocked at the legal power that GM foods give to massive research corporations, to the detriment of consumers and family farmers everywhere. If you have only a vague idea as to why GM foods are bad, this is a must-see.


2. Slaughterhouse Five (1972)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: A somewhat-surreal modern classic novel adapted into a bizarre film, Vonnegut's masterful handling of anti-war themes touch on the effects of war on a broad spectrum of society, not just the soldier who bleeds on the battlefield. Twenty odd years on, this movie may be difficult to access for a modern audience, but a little investment will get you a great return on your thoughts.

3. Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Billy Murray and Robert Deniro both play against type in this offbeat comedy. Deniro is a meek cop who falls in love with Uma Thurman, a beauty who is in the clutches of gangster tough Murray. Murray and Deniro have some really fun scenes together, as do Deniro and Thurman. The film's major fault is the lack of a climax.

4. Bad Reputation (2005)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Featuring A no-name cast led by Angelique Hennessy, this horror flick centers around the lurid premise of a good girl who is raped and then uses the resulting stigma of wanton sexuality to entrap her tormentors. It didn't earn a single review on Rotten Tomatoes, but at least Hulu is putting up slight films that are relatively recent.

5. Anastasia (1997)
Last Week's Ranking: 2
Weeks on List: 4
Notes: This animated Disney flick will be remembered as a good representative of the last vanguard of 2D animation. The voice talent is strictly all-star, with Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kirsten Dunst, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, and Angela Lansbury. A historic setting provides an educational component, the romance is light and believable, and the disintegrating Rasputin is the best villain since the Lion King's Scar.

6. Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980)
Last Week's Ranking: 7
Weeks on List: 4
Notes: This one is definitely on the downswing of Cheech and Chong 's storied stonerific career. While their earlier movies reveled in the goofy abuses of freedom that ran rampant in the seventies, this one can't escape the encroaching onset of Reagan's war on drugs. Still, stoner movies have their niche in moviedom, and that niche is bigger at Hulu than in the world at large.

7. Inside Special Forces (2003)

Last Week's Ranking: 10
Weeks on List: 6
Notes: Military geeks will enjoy pretending they're alongside the US Special Military forces spotlighted in this movie. It's a lot closer to gun porn than you might expect from a classy outfit like National Geographic, but they do bring their signature awesome videography skills to the table.

8. Super Size Me (2004)
Last Week's Ranking: 9
Weeks on List: 6
Notes: Just weeks after documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock was nominated for a Hulu Award for his reality series "30 Days," his hit documentary film takes the number one spot on the Top Twenty for the week. Could this be a sign that Hulu viewers are brainier and more health conscious than the country at large? Maybe. At any rate, if you haven't seen this fantastic movie, you should. Spurlock uses himself as a guinea pig to answer the question: What will happen when an otherwise-healthy man eats nothing but McDonalds for a month? The answer to that question is probably somewhat obvious, but the film gets us to think about the factors that go into the decision to pull into that drive-thru.

9. Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Last Week's Ranking: 13
Weeks on List: 4
Notes: Younger moviegoers may wonder how in hell Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner ever got famous in the first place. The Jewel of the Nile has all the answers you need-- a well-paced action comedy that shows off both actors to their best entertaining potential. It may not have aged particularly well, but it is a nice little representative of the era in which it was made.

10. Saints and Soldiers (2005)
Last Week's Ranking: 12
Weeks on List: 11 (17)
Notes: A Mormon sniper and an atheist medic clash as their platoon struggles to survive behind Nazi lines in this 2005 actioner. Stars Corbin Allred and Peter Holden. It looks decent, but I'm not sure what the lasting appeal is.

11. Cliffhanger (1993)
Last Week's Ranking: 11
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: Sly Stallone proves that he still has some guns (the muscley bicep kind, not the commie death-dealing kind) in this well-paced actioner about a group of high-altitude hikers facing down some gunmen on the unforgiving Alps. A decent movie for what it is, although there is a silly conceit we're supposed to swallow: Dex is the most important thing you can have to stave off hypothermia and certain death, yet no one carries it in adequate supplies. John Lithgow is the villainous foil. Hulu has it mismarked as coming from 2003-- nice attempt to modernize your listings, Hulu!

12. The Blue Lagoon (1980)
Last Week's Ranking: 15
Weeks on List: 7
Notes: This movie has become notorious for two things: naked young people in the titular lagoon, and being very, very bad. Christopher Atkin's curly blond locks make him the iconic surfer boy, while Brooke Shields shows us why, after a quarter century, she still fails to engage the audience in any way that is not sexual.

13. National Lampoon's Spring Break (2007)

Last Week's Ranking: 16
Weeks on List: 12 (13)
Notes: Can you really call a 53 minute comedy a movie? Hulu has longer clips. The boobs of the hour belong to Nikki Ziering. Be sure to consider this one for the "Worst Movie" in the Hulu Awards, where it has been recognized as a finalist.

14. Three O'Clock High (1987)

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This is a funny, slick movie that relies on stylish camera tricks to form a cohesive tone. The movie spins out a simple story-- a high school student facing an imminent beating from a school bully-- to a feature-length movie. The slowness with which the scheduled fight approaches adds suspense to the climax, even if the climax can't deliver on the built up expectations.

15. Totally Baked (2007)

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: I can't keep track of the stoner comedies that continue to float down the pike. This one tries to jump on the mockumentary bandwagon about five years too late, and earned exactly zero reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

16. Shakedown (1984)
Last Week's Ranking: 14

Weeks on List: 1
Notes: A forgettable actioner in which an attorney and a cop have to join forces to stop an evil, corrupt cop. At least it has the eminently watchable Sam Elliott to keep things moving along.

17. Safe Men (1998)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Two high-energy leads like Sam Rockwell and Steve Zahn bring a lot of promise to the screen, and they just barely save the hackneyed plot, which centers on two lounge singers who get mistaken for safe crackers.

18. Dig! (2004)

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: With so many musical documentaries out there, a director has to go above and beyond to stand out. That's exactly what Ondi Timoney has done, culling through 2000 hours of footage to come up with the story of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols, two rival bands that are a tangled mess of humanity and music industry politics.

19. The Beguiled (1971)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Critics rave about this old Clint Eastwood film that shows his raw sexuality against a gothic western background. Eastwood is a Civil War soldier who is injured and must recuperate under the care of a group of female boarding school students. Their loneliness combine with his lust to create a tempest of emotions.

20. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Last Week's Ranking: 20
Weeks on List: 2 (11)
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. Also: how about that arm? Features Jennifer Connelly, Jared Leto, and one of those Wayanses.


Notably Absent:
These movies have dropped off the list this week.

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Last Week's Ranking: 4
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This is the seminal entry in a bottom of the barrel comedy series that inspired a whole horrific genre. There are some funny moments, both intentional and unintentional, but the movie generally just alternates between three stereotypes: nerds, fraternity jocks, and naked bimbos. I believe this has the original "impossibly long urination sound" joke that has since made the rounds in such notable flicks as Austin Powers.

Shira: The Vampire Samurai (2005)
Last Week's Ranking: 5
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Well, the title says it all. It's a movie about a samurai who is also a vampire who is also a beautiful woman (funny how that happens). Features Chona Jason in the titular role. She's a stuntwoman-turned-playboy model-turned terrible actress. It's also funny how THAT happens.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

Last Week's Ranking: 6
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This is the Christian equivalent of the Rocky Horror Picture Show: it's full of energy and schlocky fun that you're either going to love or hate. Most people will dismiss it as unbearable, but it continues to excite a cult audience-- literally.

Kicking It (2008)

Last Week's Ranking: 8
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This like-new documentary shines a spotlight on the Homeless World Cup, a global soccer tournament that features the best players from a pool of 20,000 homeless men. The movie tells the story of seven competitors.

Crackers (1984)
Last Week's Ranking: 14
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: An instantly-forgettable comedy with a threadbare, done-to-death plot about a group of ragtag zanies who try to pull off a safe-cracking heist. Only the cast of Sean Penn and Donald Sutherland might give you the urge to check this one out.

Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006)
Last Week's Ranking: 17
Weeks on List: 5
Notes: This massive 2.5 hour anime feature didn't receive much attention outside of the target genre audience. It's nice to see that Hulu is adding this to the rolls, but if you're new to anime, you probably won't want to cut your teeth on this behemoth.

Johnny Dangerously (1984)

Last Week's Ranking: 18
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This is one of the comedies that defines Michael Keaton's early career, and I was shocked to see that it received a ho-hum 47% approval rating over at Rotten Tomatoes. It features a rapid-fire sequence of spoof comedy jokes in the vein of the Airplane movies, with a Depression-era gangster setting. Little jokes like Keaton using a price gun to put labels on puppies for sale in a pet shop keep it light and amusing, even when some of the more overstated jokes fall flat.

American Virgin (2000)
Last Week's Ranking: 19
Weeks on List: 1 (14)
Notes: Bob Hoskins and Mena Suvari star in the lowly-regarded 2000 comedy. Why has it done so well? I'm guessing it's PSMSBs (People Seeking Mena Suvari's Boobs). You can see them in American Beauty, folks. They weren't anything special then. What, you think she retrofitted them with subsonic woofers or something?


HALL OF FAME:
The Hall of Fame has moved! If you're interested in seeing which movies have had the most long term success on this list, check it out here.

The Hulu Top Twenty

Five new movies grace our list this week, and we also have the bottom two spots being reclaimed by some old favorites. When a perennial like "Requiem For A Dream" makes it back onto the rolls, it can only mean one thing: overall viewership is down. I assume that's because of the great weather many of us have seen this week. I would dwell on it further, but I have to get outside and enjoy this sunshine!

1. Bad Reputation (2005)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Featuring A no-name cast led by Angelique Hennessy, this horror flick centers around the lurid premise of a good girl who is raped and then uses the resulting stigma of wanton sexuality to entrap her tormentors. It didn't earn a single review on Rotten Tomatoes, but at least Hulu is putting up slight films that are relatively recent.

2. Anastasia (1997)

Last Week's Ranking: 1
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This animated FOX ANIMATION flick (thanks to the Kipling-inspired catwhowalksbyhimself for the correction) will be remembered as a good representative of the last vanguard of 2D animation. The voice talent is strictly all-star, with Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kirsten Dunst, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, and Angela Lansbury. A historic setting provides an educational component, the romance is light and believable, and the disintegrating Rasputin is the best villain since the Lion King's Scar.

3. Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Billy Murray and Robert Deniro both play against type in this offbeat comedy. Deniro is a meek cop who falls in love with Uma Thurman, a beauty who is in the clutches of gangster tough Murray. Murray and Deniro have some really fun scenes together, as do Deniro and Thurman. The film's major fault is the lack of a climax.

4. Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Last Week's Ranking: 3
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This is the seminal entry in a bottom of the barrel comedy series that inspired a whole horrific genre. There are some funny moments, both intentional and unintentional, but the movie generally just alternates between three stereotypes: nerds, fraternity jocks, and naked bimbos. I believe this has the original "impossibly long urination sound" joke that has since made the rounds in such notable flicks as Austin Powers.

5. Shira: The Vampire Samurai (2005)
Last Week's Ranking: 8
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Well, the title says it all. It's a movie about a samurai who is also a vampire who is also a beautiful woman (funny how that happens). Features Chona Jason in the titular role. She's a stuntwoman-turned-playboy model-turned terrible actress. It's also funny how THAT happens.

6. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This is the Christian equivalent of the Rocky Horror Picture Show: it's full of energy and schlocky fun that you're either going to love or hate. Most people will dismiss it as unbearable, but it continues to excite a cult audience-- literally.

7. Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980)
Last Week's Ranking: 2
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This one is definitely on the downswing of Cheech and Chong 's storied stonerific career. While their earlier movies reveled in the goofy abuses of freedom that ran rampant in the seventies, this one can't escape the encroaching onset of Reagan's war on drugs. Still, stoner movies have their niche in moviedom, and that niche is bigger at Hulu than in the world at large.

8. Kicking It (2008)

Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This like-new documentary shines a spotlight on the Homeless World Cup, a global soccer tournament that features the best players from a pool of 20,000 homeless men. The movie tells the story of seven competitors.

9. Super Size Me (2004)
Last Week's Ranking: 9
Weeks on List: 5
Notes: Just weeks after documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock was nominated for a Hulu Award for his reality series "30 Days," his hit documentary film takes the number one spot on the Top Twenty for the week. Could this be a sign that Hulu viewers are brainier and more health conscious than the country at large? Maybe. At any rate, if you haven't seen this fantastic movie, you should. Spurlock uses himself as a guinea pig to answer the question: What will happen when an otherwise-healthy man eats nothing but McDonalds for a month? The answer to that question is probably somewhat obvious, but the film gets us to think about the factors that go into the decision to pull into that drive-thru.


10. Inside Special Forces (2003)

Last Week's Ranking: 11
Weeks on List: 5
Notes: Military geeks will enjoy pretending they're alongside the US Special Military forces spotlighted in this movie. It's a lot closer to gun porn than you might expect from a classy outfit like National Geographic, but they do bring their signature awesome videography skills to the table.

11. Cliffhanger (1993)
Last Week's Ranking: 4
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Sly Stallone proves that he still has some guns (the muscley bicep kind, not the commie death-dealing kind) in this well-paced actioner about a group of high-altitude hikers facing down some gunmen on the unforgiving Alps. A decent movie for what it is, although there is a silly conceit we're supposed to swallow: Dex is the most important thing you can have to stave off hypothermia and certain death, yet no one carries it in adequate supplies. John Lithgow is the villainous foil. Hulu has it mismarked as coming from 2003-- nice attempt to modernize your listings, Hulu!

12. Saints and Soldiers (2005)
Last Week's Ranking: 12
Weeks on List: 10 (16)
Notes: A Mormon sniper and an atheist medic clash as their platoon struggles to survive behind Nazi lines in this 2005 actioner. Stars Corbin Allred and Peter Holden. It looks decent, but I'm not sure what the lasting appeal is.

13. Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Last Week's Ranking: 16
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: Younger moviegoers may wonder how in hell Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner ever got famous in the first place. The Jewel of the Nile has all the answers you need-- a well-paced action comedy that shows off both actors to their best entertaining potential. It may not have aged particularly well, but it is a nice little representative of the era in which it was made.

14. Crackers (1984)
Last Week's Ranking: NA

Weeks on List: 1
Notes: An instantly-forgettable comedy with a threadbare, done-to-death plot about a group of ragtag zanies who try to pull off a safe-cracking heist. Only the cast of Sean Penn and Donald Sutherland might give you the urge to check this one out.

15. The Blue Lagoon (1980)
Last Week's Ranking: 13
Weeks on List: 6
Notes: This movie has become notorious for two things: naked young people in the titular lagoon, and being very, very bad. Christopher Atkin's curly blond locks make him the iconic surfer boy, while Brooke Shields shows us why, after a quarter century, she still fails to engage the audience in any way that is not sexual.

16. National Lampoon's Spring Break (2007)

Last Week's Ranking: 15
Weeks on List: 11 (12)
Notes: Can you really call a 53 minute comedy a movie? Hulu has longer clips. The boobs of the hour belong to Nikki Ziering. Be sure to consider this one for the "Worst Movie" in the Hulu Awards, where it has been recognized as a finalist.

17. Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006)
Last Week's Ranking: 14
Weeks on List: 5
Notes: This massive 2.5 hour anime feature didn't receive much attention outside of the target genre audience. It's nice to see that Hulu is adding this to the rolls, but if you're new to anime, you probably won't want to cut your teeth on this behemoth.

18. Johnny Dangerously (1984)

Last Week's Ranking: 10
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This is one of the comedies that defines Michael Keaton's early career, and I was shocked to see that it received a ho-hum 47% approval rating over at Rotten Tomatoes. It features a rapid-fire sequence of spoof comedy jokes in the vein of the Airplane movies, with a Depression-era gangster setting. Little jokes like Keaton using a price gun to put labels on puppies for sale in a pet shop keep it light and amusing, even when some of the more overstated jokes fall flat.

19. American Virgin (2000)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1 (14)
Notes: Bob Hoskins and Mena Suvari star in the lowly-regarded 2000 comedy. Why has it done so well? I'm guessing it's PSMSBs (People Seeking Mena Suvari's Boobs). You can see them in American Beauty, folks. They weren't anything special then. What, you think she retrofitted them with subsonic woofers or something?

20. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1 (10)
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. Also: how about that arm? Features Jennifer Connelly, Jared Leto, and one of those Wayanses.


Notably Absent:
These movies have dropped off the list this week.


Confessions of a Superhero (2007)
Last Week's Ranking: 5
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This is a great little human interest documentary, with a spotlight on four different people who make their living by dressing up as superheroes and posing for pictures with tourists. When we see a man dressed like Superman trying to help other street performers, we're tempted to give him props as a real-life version of the comic hero. But the film keeps adding layers of humanity, evoking both pity and contempt for him by the time the credits roll. Also features Wonder Woman, Batman, and the Incredible Hulk.

The Bad Girls From Valley High (2000)

Last Week's Ranking: 6
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: The teen horror-comedy just can't seem to get any respect, and this terrible entry may be one of the reasons why. Teenage girls, murder, and lots of valley girl speak are the main selling points, if you can call them that.

Breezy (1973)

Last Week's Ranking: 7
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Before Clint Eastwood directed Oscar-winners, he directed Breezy, a movie about a hippie who finds herself living in the home of a gruff conservative (William Holden). The best reason to see this is to appreciate how far Eastwood has come.

Body Count (1992)

Last Week's Ranking: 17
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: We've got an interesting, talented cast here, including Ving Rhames, Linda Fiorentino, Forest Whittaker, Donnie Wahlberg, David Caruso, and John Leguizamo. The plot sounds perfect for the talent, involving a heist at a museum gone wrong. Ving Rhames and criminal capers go together like peas and carrots. In this case, however, a weak script and weaker direction cause a major misfire.

Sexy Beast (2000)
Last Week's Ranking: 18

Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This is a bizarre little independent movie that was noticed when Ben Kingsley received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The gist of the movie is that Ray Winstone is a retired safecracker who is roped back in by his old gangster boss (Kingsley) to do another job. Kingsley's brutality works because Winstone does such a fantastic job of being afraid of him.

Air Force One (2001)

Last Week's Ranking: 19
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: Hulu has really been blurring the line between movies and television program episodes lately. This "movie" debuted on National Geographic television not too long ago, and I don't see what differentiates it from any other hour long episode of one of their flagship documentary series. At any rate, this spotlights the titular presidential plane from the days of FDR to the days of GWB.

All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996)
Last Week's Ranking: 20
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: A limp, uninspired effort to wring a few extra dollars out of a moderately successful animated movie. Ernest Borgnine, Charlie Sheen, and Bebe Neuwirth (Lilith from Cheers) provide some voice talent.

HALL OF FAME:
The Hall of Fame has moved! If you're interested in seeing which movies have had the most long term success on this list, check it out here.

The Hulu Top Twenty

There were only 3 new entries to our list this week, which either means that the list is getting tougher to break into, or that there are just not that many new offerings over at Hulu. Judging by what DID make it in, I'm going with the latter.

1. Anastasia (1997)

Last Week's Ranking: 1
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: This animated Disney flick will be remembered as a good representative of the last vanguard of 2D animation. The voice talent is strictly all-star, with Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kirsten Dunst, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, and Angela Lansbury. A historic setting provides an educational component, the romance is light and believable, and the disintegrating Rasputin is the best villain since the Lion King's Scar.

2. Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980)
Last Week's Ranking: 2
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: This one is definitely on the downswing of Cheech and Chong 's storied stonerific career. While their earlier movies reveled in the goofy abuses of freedom that ran rampant in the seventies, this one can't escape the encroaching onset of Reagan's war on drugs. Still, stoner movies have their niche in moviedom, and that niche is bigger at Hulu than in the world at large.

3. Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Last Week's Ranking: 3
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: This is the seminal entry in a bottom of the barrel comedy series that inspired a whole horrific genre. There are some funny moments, both intentional and unintentional, but the movie generally just alternates between three stereotypes: nerds, fraternity jocks, and naked bimbos. I believe this has the original "impossibly long urination sound" joke that has since made the rounds in such notable flicks as Austin Powers.

4. Cliffhanger (1993)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Sly Stallone proves that he still has some guns (the muscley bicep kind, not the commie death-dealing kind) in this well-paced actioner about a group of high-altitude hikers facing down some gunmen on the unforgiving Alps. A decent movie for what it is, although there is a silly conceit we're supposed to swallow: Dex is the most important thing you can have to stave off hypothermia and certain death, yet no one carries it in adequate supplies. John Lithgow is the villainous foil. Hulu has it mismarked as coming from 2003-- nice attempt to modernize your listings, Hulu!

5. Confessions of a Superhero (2007)
Last Week's Ranking: 5
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: This is a great little human interest documentary, with a spotlight on four different people who make their living by dressing up as superheroes and posing for pictures with tourists. When we see a man dressed like Superman trying to help other street performers, we're tempted to give him props as a real-life version of the comic hero. But the film keeps adding layers of humanity, evoking both pity and contempt for him by the time the credits roll. Also features Wonder Woman, Batman, and the Incredible Hulk.

6. The Bad Girls From Valley High (2000)

Last Week's Ranking: 6
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: The teen horror-comedy just can't seem to get any respect, and this terrible entry may be one of the reasons why. Teenage girls, murder, and lots of valley girl speak are the main selling points, if you can call them that.

7. Breezy (1973)

Last Week's Ranking: 4
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Before Clint Eastwood directed Oscar-winners, he directed Breezy, a movie about a hippie who finds herself living in the home of a gruff conservative (William Holden). The best reason to see this is to appreciate how far Eastwood has come.

8. Shira: The Vampire Samurai (2005)
Last Week's Ranking: NA
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: Well, the title says it all. It's a movie about a samurai who is also a vampire who is also a beautiful woman (funny how that happens). Features Chona Jason in the titular role. She's a stuntwoman-turned-playboy model-turned terrible actress. It's also funny how THAT happens.

9. Super Size Me (2004)
Last Week's Ranking: 9
Weeks on List: 4
Notes: Just weeks after documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock was nominated for a Hulu Award for his reality series "30 Days," his hit documentary film takes the number one spot on the Top Twenty for the week. Could this be a sign that Hulu viewers are brainier and more health conscious than the country at large? Maybe. At any rate, if you haven't seen this fantastic movie, you should. Spurlock uses himself as a guinea pig to answer the question: What will happen when an otherwise-healthy man eats nothing but McDonalds for a month? The answer to that question is probably somewhat obvious, but the film gets us to think about the factors that go into the decision to pull into that drive-thru.

10. Johnny Dangerously (1984)

Last Week's Ranking: 8
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: This is one of the comedies that defines Michael Keaton's early career, and I was shocked to see that it received a ho-hum 47% approval rating over at Rotten Tomatoes. It features a rapid-fire sequence of spoof comedy jokes in the vein of the Airplane movies, with a Depression-era gangster setting. Little jokes like Keaton using a price gun to put labels on puppies for sale in a pet shop keep it light and amusing, even when some of the more overstated jokes fall flat.

11. Inside Special Forces (2003)

Last Week's Ranking: 7
Weeks on List: 4
Notes: Military geeks will enjoy pretending they're alongside the US Special Military forces spotlighted in this movie. It's a lot closer to gun porn than you might expect from a classy outfit like National Geographic, but they do bring their signature awesome videography skills to the table.

12. Saints and Soldiers (2005)
Last Week's Ranking: 16
Weeks on List: 9 (15)
Notes: A Mormon sniper and an atheist medic clash as their platoon struggles to survive behind Nazi lines in this 2005 actioner. Stars Corbin Allred and Peter Holden. It looks decent, but I'm not sure what the lasting appeal is.

13. The Blue Lagoon (1980)
Last Week's Ranking: 12
Weeks on List: 5
Notes: This movie has become notorious for two things: naked young people in the titular lagoon, and being very, very bad. Christopher Atkin's curly blond locks make him the iconic surfer boy, while Brooke Shields shows us why, after a quarter century,she still fails to engage the audience in any way that is not sexual.

14. Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006)
Last Week's Ranking: 11
Weeks on List: 4
Notes: This massive 2.5 hour anime feature didn't receive much attention outside of the target genre audience. It's nice to see that Hulu is adding this to the rolls, but if you're new to anime, you probably won't want to cut your teeth on this behemoth.

15. National Lampoon's Spring Break (2007)

Last Week's Ranking: 15
Weeks on List: 10 (11)
Notes: Can you really call a 53 minute comedy a movie? Hulu has longer clips. The boobs of the hour belong to Nikki Ziering. Be sure to consider this one for the "Worst Movie" in the Hulu Awards, where it has been recognized as a finalist.

16. Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Last Week's Ranking: 18
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: Younger moviegoers may wonder how in hell Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner ever got famous in the first place. The Jewel of the Nile has all the answers you need-- a well-paced action comedy that shows off both actors to their best entertaining potential. It may not have aged particularly well, but it is a nice little representative of the era in which it was made.

17. Body Count (1992)

Last Week's Ranking: 13
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: We've got an interesting, talented cast here, including Ving Rhames, Linda Fiorentino, Forest Whittaker, Donnie Wahlberg, David Caruso, and John Leguizamo. The plot sounds perfect for the talent, involving a heist at a museum gone wrong. Ving Rhames and criminal capers go together like peas and carrots. In this case, however, a weak script and weaker direction cause a major misfire.

18. Sexy Beast (2000)
Last Week's Ranking: NA

Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This is a bizarre little independent movie that was noticed when Ben Kingsley received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The gist of the movie is that Ray Winstone is a retired safecracker who is roped back in by his old gangster boss (Kingsley) to do another job. Kingsley's brutality works because Winstone does such a fantastic job of being afraid of him.

19. Air Force One (2001)

Last Week's Ranking: 10
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: Hulu has really been blurring the line between movies and television program episodes lately. This "movie" debuted on National Geographic television not too long ago, and I don't see what differentiates it from any other hour long episode of one of their flagship documentary series. At any rate, this spotlights the titular presidential plane from the days of FDR to the days of GWB.

20. All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996)
Last Week's Ranking: 17
Weeks on List: 2
Notes: A limp, uninspired effort to wring a few extra dollars out of a moderately successful animated movie. Ernest Borgnine, Charlie Sheen, and Bebe Neuwirth (Lilith from Cheers) provide some voice talent.


Notably Absent:
These movies have dropped off the list this week.

In the Line of Fire (1993)
Last Week's Ranking: 14
Weeks on List: 3
Notes: Sixteen years ago, people were already saying that Clint Eastwood was getting too old to be an action star. But "In the Line of Fire" was the presidential assassination thriller that shut all of those critics up. Eastwood plays a secret service agent who was on hand when JFK was shot. Now, decades later, he faces another threat to another president, this time from ace crackpot John Malkovich. Rene Russo and Dylan McDermott give supporting roles in this extremely well-done genre exercise.

Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag (2004)
Last Week's Ranking: 19
Weeks on List: 2 (10)
Notes: There must be something I'm not getting about this I-Max documentary featuring fighter pilots. It keeps coming back to our Top Twenty list, like a bad case of herpes. The message board for the movie has a lot of military folks chatting it up, so that may have something to do with it.

The Pleasure Seekers (1964)
Last Week's Ranking: 20
Weeks on List: 1
Notes: This remake came only 10 years after the original "Three Coins in the Fountain," and features the same storyline of three american beauties visiting Italy for a shot at romance. Each one winds up with what seems like the wrong guy. Weirdly, both this remake and the original were directed by the same person, Jean Negulesco.

HALL OF FAME:
The Hall of Fame has moved! If you're interested in seeing which movies have had the most long term success on this list, check it out here.

The Hulu Hall of Fame

This is the new permanent home for the Hall of Fame. Feel free to bookmark it, and check in every once in a while. New inclusions are generally posted on Fridays.

The movies on this list are the most successful movies that have been hosted by Hulu. They have had the longest run on the Hulu Top Twenty list. Right now, the threshold for inclusion is 9 weeks, but I anticipate that it will go up over time.

Liar, Liar (1997)

Weeks on List: 20
Notes: Jim Carrey goofs it up in a decent comedy that puts all of his face-stretching talents on display. If you can get through his current offering, "Yes Man," without puking, then this will give you paroxysms of delight. It spent nearly 5 months in the top 20, which is the best confirmed record in out Hall of Fame.

The Fifth Element
Weeks on List: 13
Notes: Bruce Willis is a cab driver...in the future! Kind of. He and Milla Jovovich tear it up in this pure action adventure that keeps drawing in the Hulu viewers. With "The Girl Next Door" gone for good, this is the most popular movie of all time on Hulu. Strange, innit? I chalk it up to the promo picture on Hulu, which features Jovovich in a skimpy white costume. I think it's utterly unflattering, but I recognize that it will appeal to a certain group of people. Even with an expiration date stealing this movie from Hulu viewers before they were done watching it in droves, it will live on in the Hall of Fame.

Picture Perfect (1997)

Weeks on List: 13
Notes: This romantic comedy is a predictable trifle, but critics were pacified by the sweet match up of Jennifer Aniston and Jay Mohr. The plot involves Aniston inventing a fictional fiancee in an effort to get ahead at work. This one has expired, so look for it in the Hall of Fame next week.

American Virgin (2000)
Weeks on List: 13
Notes: Bob Hoskins and Mena Suvari star in the lowly-regarded 2000 comedy. Why has it done so well? I'm guessing it's PSMSBs (People Seeking Mena Suvari's Boobs). You can see them in American Beauty, folks. They weren't anything special then. What, you think she retrofitted them with subsonic woofers or something?

The Family Man (2000)
Weeks on List: 13
Notes: Studio workhorse Brett Ratner directs this Nicolas Cage vehicle to predictable results. It's a Christmas story in which the financially successful but morally bankrupt Cage gets an opportunity to live an alternate version of his own life, one in which he is an average schmo happily married to Tea Leoni. The movie is well done, but brings nothing new to the table, and we know the outcome of the movie before our asses hit the theater seats (or, in this case, our computer chairs). Don Cheadle has a role as the mystic author of Cage's personal journey.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)

Weeks on List: 12
Notes: A goofy spoof of kung fu films in which director Steve Oedekerk digitally inserts himself into an already-laughable action flick. Critics largely hated the comedic effort, with the main criticism being that it's a 2-minute joke stretched out to an excruciating 80 minutes. Twelve weeks on the top twenty list will earn it a spot in the Hall of Fame next week.

Basic Instinct (1992)
Weeks on List: 11
Notes: Sixteen years on, Sharon Stone's hoohoo is still drawing eyeballs in massive numbers. I hope she has that thing insured! At any rate, this is showing some serious staying power on the list. I guess vagina never really goes out of style.

Black Knight (2001)

Weeks on List: 10
Notes: Martin Lawrence stars in this godawful stinker of a movie about a man who travels back through time to the days of King Arthur. Lame jokes, shameless mugging, and a general shredding of the comedic movie genre are the hallmarks of this effort, although calling it an effort may be too kind. Now it's going to make the Hall of Fame. Boo.

Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag
Weeks on List: 10
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. After weeks near the top of this chart, it finally lost its lift.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Weeks on List: 11
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. Also: how about that arm? Features Jennifer Connelly, Jared Leto, and one of those Wayanses.

Dragonheart (1996)

Weeks on List: 9
Notes: Dennis Quaid is a dragonslayer. But Sean Connery is Draco, his secret dragon pal. How can the two of them pull off a revolt against the evil king? The consistent presence of this one on the Top Twenty may mean that Hulu is connecting with a family niche on a regular basis.