The 11 best new movies to check out on Hulu this September

In the futuristic sci-fi mystery-thriller Simulant, Robbie Amell plays an android named Evan who was built for Faye (Jordana Brewster) to replace her dead husband. After Evan seeks out a hacker to remove all restrictions on his personality, he ignites an A.I. uprising. With A.I. on everyone’s mind nowadays, could this be where we are heading? Amell, who plays a virtual being on the Amazon series Upload, seems to be carving out a niche for himself in sci-fi projects such as Simulant. The movie, directed by April Mullen, also stars Simu Liu and Sam Worthington.

Raising Arizona is the second movie by Joel and Ethan Coen, and it remains one of the funniest and most outrageously original comedies ever made. Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter play a childless couple—he’s an ex-con and she’s a cop— who kidnap one of a prominent family’s quintuplet babies, which has disastrous consequences. Coen regulars Frances McDormand and John Goodman are hilarious in supporting roles—even after repeated viewings. Raising Arizona can be challenging to find on a subscription streaming service, so check it out while it makes a temporary stop on Hulu.

A rookie detective (Brad Pitt) and a veteran detective on the verge of retirement (Morgan Freeman) hunt down a serial killer (Kevin Spacey) motivated by the seven deadly sins in David Fincher’s Se7en. This acclaimed mystery-thriller is about as dark as it gets, and the story—especially the shocking ending—still gets under the skin decades later. In 2023, Fincher reportedly said that he was working on a 4K remaster of Se7en, but don’t expect that to be ready for Hulu in September. You’ll have to watch it grimy and gritty, just like it was in 1995 when it debuted in theaters.

Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One is based on Ernest Cline’s novel of the same name that was ridiculously popular with gamers—especially those who grew up in the 1980s. Tye Sheridan plays Parzival, a gamer living in dystopian 2045, who competes against others to find an Easter egg in a virtual reality called the OASIS. The winner will take control of the OASIS, per its creator’s last wish. Ready Player One is still a go-to movie for nostalgic gamers and ’80s enthusiasts, although for people who like movies more grounded in reality it might be “game over.”

Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin is about two lifelong friends (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) who reach an impasse when one suddenly ends their friendship. The dark comedy-drama received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director, but didn’t take home any gold. The A.V. Club’s Tomris Laffly described the movie as a “reflective, melancholic masterpiece.”

In Taurus, Machine Gun Kelly plays Cole, a rising musician who goes to a dark place in search of inspiration for his next song. This cautionary tale directed by Tim Sutton about fame, addiction, and the music industry also stars Megan Fox, Scoot McNairy, Maddie Hasson, Ruby Rose, and Colson Baker. Critics gave Taurus mixed to positive reviews, but audiences (especially MGK fans) sang the praises of the musical drama.

In the mystery-thriller 97 Minutes, a hijacked 767 will crash in 97 minutes when its fuel runs out unless an undercover Interpol agent (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) can do something about it. On the ground is NSA Director Hawkins (Alec Baldwin) who’s prepared to shoot down the plane before it reaches New York despite the lone Interpol agent fighting for the fate of the innocent passengers. 97 Minutes isn’t the next Air Force One or even Non-Stop, but fans of high-altitude thrills won’t object to spending 93 minutes checking it out.

Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth installment in the postapocalyptic Mad Max franchise directed by George Miller and the first sequel to star Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky. In this dystopian action film, Charlize Theron plays Furiosa, a woman who rebels against a tyrannical leader and embarks on a journey to find her homeland accompanied by several female prisoners and a drifter named Max. Mad Max: Fury Road won six Oscars and deserved even more for being one of the greatest action movies ever made. The movie has been released in several versions—including in 3D and in black-and-white—but it’s the theatrical version that will likely be available on Hulu. A prequel, Furiosa, is set to arrive in May 2024 with Anya Taylor-Joy playing the younger version of Theron’s character.

The historical drama Corsage follows one fictionalized year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Vicky Krieps), who is deemed “old” as she turns 40 on Christmas Eve 1877. The A.V. Club’s Manuel Betancourt wrote, “Corsage establishes itself as one of 2022’s most ravishing cinematic experiences, a treatise on boredom that’s as electric as it is energizing.” The movie received mostly rave reviews, especially for Krieps’ performance, even though it unapologetically and deliberately distorts history.

The erotically charged drama-thriller Sanctuary, directed by Zachary Wigon, is about a dominatrix (Margaret Qualley) and her wealthy client named Hal (Christopher Abbott). The movie takes place over one night in a hotel room where Hal tries to abruptly end their arrangement because he’s about to inherit his dead father’s fortune. But she refuses to let him go quietly into the night. This psychological chess game between two compelling characters received glowing reviews, especially for the performances by Qualley and Abbott.

No, this is not the movie of the same name starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner, but you should definitely watch that when it pops up on a streaming service. This What’s Love Got To Do With It? is a romantic comedy about a filmmaker named Zoe (Lily James) who documents her best friend’s arranged marriage to a bride from Pakistan and, in the process, begins to question her own attitudes about relationships. Emma Thompson fans will be delighted to see her on board as Zoe’s eccentric, opinionated mother.