The Cool Stuff Coming To Hulu In March

Hulu wins March by offering some really bold premieres.

A documentary history of socialism in America makes clear Faux News is full of it and that Americans owe a huge debt to this political belief.  An award-winning Australian drama about a transgender teen starting her second year of high school returns for a new season.  Capitalist America gets reamed in an unjustly overlooked crime drama starring Brad Pitt.  But Hulu’s most jaw-dropping offering for March comes from Romania.  It mixes bad amateur porn, idiot moralistic parents, and well-earned reamings of that country’s culture.

 Viewers with tamer programming tastes can turn to new seasons of “Atlanta” and “Dicktown.”  They can also get ready to say goodbye to “Better Things” and “Claws.”  Or if they’re in the mood for something new, there is an Amy Schumer-led dramedy or competitive domino-build-and-topple.

In short, March will not be the month where viewers complain about lacking interesting programming.  

Now Available

Better Things Season 5–It’s the final season of Pamela Adlon’s highly acclaimed semi-autobiographical dramedy.  Sam Fox is a working actress and single mother to three daughters approaching maturity in various ways.  History is the theme of this last season.  Sam and brother Marion explore their family tree.  Sam’s mother Phil (Celia Imre) reconnects with old friends from England.  Eldest daughter Max moves into an apartment once occupied by late actress Frances Farmer.  And of course the sense of mortality hangs over everything.  Viewers who don’t feel like jumping in the deep end can of course check out earlier seasons first.     

The Big Scary “S” Word

The Big Scary “S” Word–The relentlessness of right-wing politicians and their media enablers has made average Americans think “socialism” is something people shouldn’t be.  What these tools of capitalist oppression prefer to sweep into the country’s memory hole is that socialism has a long and storied history in America.  The minimum wage and free K-12 public education were ideas first propounded by socialist thinkers.  Yael Bridge’s wonderfully lively documentary clues viewers in on both the history of American socialism and present day citizens’ efforts to bring runaway capitalism back under public control.  (Note: This writer unapologetically contributed to the Kickstarter that made this film a reality.) 

Blue Velvet–David Lynch’s seminal film mixes both film noir tropes and psychological horror in equal measure, resulting in its being loved by some critics and damned by others.  Clean cut college student Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle Mac Lachlan) returns to his bucolic hometown of Lumberton, North Carolina after his father suffers a heart attack.  While he’s happy to help manage the family hardware store, he still has a thirst for adventure.  When Beaumont discovers a severed ear lying on a patch of waste ground, he’s determined to find out whose ear this was with the help of police detective’s daughter Sandy (Laura Dern).  The trail soon leads Beaumont to exotic cabaret chanteuse Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini) and her lover, unstable thug Frank (Dennis Hopper).  Dorothy and Frank’s sadomasochistic sexual relationship appalls the student…but also fascinates him as well.  Thus begins Beaumont’s descent into Lumberton’s seedy underside.

The Descendants–Matt King (George Clooney) is a descendant of one of Hawaii’s first white land-owning families.  He hasn’t consented yet to opening up a 25,000 acre tract of virgin Kauai forest land to tourist and condo development.  The recent death of his wife Elizabeth soon brings home to Matt how little he knows his daughters Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie…especially since they object to the idea of selling the land.  While the film has certainly earned its share of praise for director Alexander Payne (“Sideways”), it still perpetuates certain errors about Hawaiian life and culture.  

Dicktown Season 2–It’s the return of John Hodgman and David Rees’ animated detective comedy.  The title refers to the local nickname for Richardsville, North Carolina, the show’s setting.  John Hunchman once made a name for himself as the town’s boy detective.  But now he’s pushing 40 and is still solving mysteries about stolen pimento cheese recipes and rogue high school mascots.  David Purefoy serves as Hunchman’s driver, muscle, and only friend.  The biggest mystery both John and David face is learning how to grow up.

Dicktown

Downhill Racer–Disaster strikes the U.S. Olympic ski team when one of its members gets injured and can’t compete.  The good news is a replacement skier is quickly found.  The bad news is that the replacement is Colorado skier David Chappellet (Robert Redford).  He’s a loner who’s determined to win at any costs regardless of official protocols or personal niceties.  The film unsurprisingly bombed on initial release, but time has brought renewed appreciation for Redford’s anti-hero.  

Fresh–Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) has had it with dating apps as they only seem to hook her up with assholes.  Then one day, she meets Texas surgeon Steve (Sebastian Stan) in the grocery store produce aisle and finds she likes him.  Subsequent dates are equally promising, and when Steve proposes a weekend together, Noa accepts.  That’s when this romantic cynic discovers this surgeon’s sweet personality is only a facade and things take a turn for the terrifying.  Can Noa’s Black lesbian friend Mollie help save the day?

Shine A Light–Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese captures rock legends The Rolling Stones performing live at New York City’s Beacon Theatre.  While this summary is true, it omits the fact that the cinematography team who shot the footage were all Oscar winners or nominees.  Lead singer Mick Jagger may have procrastinated on telling Scorsese the set list.  Fortunately, Scorsese has been so influenced by the Stones and their music over the course of his film career that knowing what to do was ingrained in him.  The Stones may have been performing together for 45 years, but Scorsese’s film shows how they can still put younger performers to shame.  

March 5

Stronger–David Gordon Green adapts Jeff Bauman’s memoir.  Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) may be your typical Boston resident (e.g. Red Sox fan, drinks before noon).  But his plan to surprise his on-again off-again girlfriend Erin (Tatiana Maslany) changes his life dramatically,  He happens to be at ground zero when the notorious Boston Marathon bombing occurs.  The explosion results in Bauman losing both his legs below the knees.  The publicity over Bauman’s survival becomes huge, but it magnifies tremendously when the bombing victim says he can identify one of the crime’s perpetrators.  Now Bauman, with Erin’s help, needs to learn how to have a life beyond being a civic symbol.  

Shine A Light

March 9

The Thing About Pam–Renee Zellweger makes her television debut as producer and star of this true-crime drama based on the popular podcast of the same name.  Two days after Christmas 2011, Russ Faria found his wife Betsy murdered at home.  Faria would be convicted for the murder and imprisoned.  But the real perpetrator of the crime was “apparently ordinary” person and compulsive liar Pam Hupp (Zellweger).  How this miscarriage of justice occurred and what happened next forms the basis of this mini-series.

March 10

Domino Masters–Fox’s new reality competition show will be either utterly cool or a boring disaster.  16 teams of three from around the country compete in tournament style elimination rounds to create complex domino builds that incorporate a chosen theme and selected elements.  Added to the pressure of time is the danger of premature topples (and elimination from the competition).  But by the season’s end, only one team can be Domino Masters.

March 14

Claws Season 4–It’s the final season of this comedy-drama about a group of manicurists for the Nail Artisans salon of Manatee County, Florida.  What begins as a side hustle of money laundering for a neighboring illegal pain clinic owned by the Husser family turns into the manicurists entering the world of organized crime and developing their own criminal empire.  In the final season, the split between Desna Simms (Niecy Nash) and former best friend Quiet Ann (Judy Reyes) starts creating problems for the other Nail Artisans, who are trying to remain neutral.  But things really get complicated after Quiet Ann becomes the new right-hand-woman of Desna’s nemesis Clayton Husser.

March 16

Step–Broadway producer Amanda Lipitz makes her directing debut with this enthralling documentary about three members of the Lethal Ladies dance step team.  The three women are about to become part of the Baltimore Leadership School For Young Women’s first graduating class and will head off to college.  That is, if they can deal with challenges in their lives ranging from reviving a GPA on life support to scoring a scholarship to make college possible to falling for the temptations of a relationship which has gotten hot and heavy.  Then add into the mix the Baltimore African-American community furor over Freddie Gray’s death while in police custody…   

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

March 17

Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn–Hulu is really going to stream this satirical comedy from Romania?  Especially given that the film opens with a Very Explicit (but truly lame) home porn video?  Well, if the streamer’s willing to show a documentary about the real history of socialism in America, then why not?  For the uninitiated, Radu Jude’s film may nominally be about Emi (the woman in the porn video) struggling to keep her job as a teacher when angry parents accidentally learn about the video.  But the film’s real target is lampooning the idiocies of Romanian society, which include barely concealed anti-Semitism and glorified selfishness posing as individualism.  And if the streamer keeps in the outrageous final image of the film (shown as the end credits roll), then expect more than a few right-wing types to scream for the film to be censored yesterday.

March 18

Life And Beth Season 1–Amy Schumer headlines this comedy as Beth, a successful New York City wine distributor.  Following a “sudden incident,” Beth’s compelled to re-examine her teen years and hopefully find ways to live a better, more authentic life in the present.  Michael Cera plays John, an honest and direct farmer/chef, in his first TV series role since “Arrested  Development.”  

Welcome To Flatch Season 1–Paul Feig produced and partly directed this docu-comedy inspired by the BBC show “This Country.”  A documentary crew hoping to explore the lives of a small American town’s residents stumble on the midwestern town of Flatch, which is filled with eccentric personalities.  Cousins and best friends Kelly Mallet and Lloyd “Shrub” Mallet become the documentary crew’s hosts.  Through these cousins, the crew meets such characters as minister Joseph “Father Joe” Binghoffer, Flatch Historical Society head (and Kelly’s frenemy) Nadine Garcia-Parney, and human force of nature Mandy Matthews.  

March 19

Captains Of Zaatari–Mahmoud and Fawzi are Syrian soccer-loving teens living in Jordan’s Zaatari Refugee Camp.  The two practice day-in and day-out, believing that becoming professional soccer players will be their ticket out of the camp.  Then one day, representatives from the Aspire sports academy drop by Zaatari to find players for an international tournament in Doha.  But what happens when Mahmoud gets to leave Zaatari and Fawzi’s forced to stay behind because of a technicality?    

Step

March 23

Bloods Season 2–It’s the return of the British comedy about an unlikely paramedic team and their friends.  Over-friendly divorcee Wendy (Jane Horrocks) and tough-acting loner Maleek (Samson Kayo) have somehow managed to work as a team.  But a malpractice investigation and the arrival of Wendy’s irritating son are about to put a strain on their partnership.  Meanwhile, Kareeshma’s concern for teen cancer patient Tasha may cause complications with her partner Gary.  And team leader Jo faces both unrequited love and a challenge to her authority.

March 25

Atlanta Season 3–It’s the new season of Donald Glover’s acclaimed dramedy about hot up-and-coming rapper Alfred Miles (Brian Tyree Henry) aka Paper Boi, who’s trying to negotiate the difference between real life and street life.  His manager and cousin Earn (Glover) constantly tries to find ways to take Alfred’s career to the next level.  This season, Alfred’s off to Europe with Earn and right-hand-man Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) as opener for rapper Clark County’s tour.  Meanwhile, Earn has to figure out how to do long-distance parenting with currently ex-girlfriend Van (Zazie Beets).  And Clark County hasn’t forgotten that Earn nearly sabotaged his tour by trying to jam him up with TSA.  Will we see UK rappers or TikTok challenges?  Maybe, maybe not.

March 26

Mass–In Fran Kranz’ essentially four character drama, two couples agree to sit down with each other in the basement of an Episcopalian church and talk.  Gail and Jay (Martha Plimpton and Jason Isaacs) are the parents of a teenage boy who was one of ten people killed in a mass shooting.  Linda and Richard (Ann Dowd and Reed Birney) are the parents of the depressed and disturbed young man who committed the shooting.  The hope is that their conversation will move them past grief and anger towards acceptance or even insight into this unspeakable event.  But matters are not helped by either Gail and Jay’s smoldering fury or Richard’s apparent determination to treat the shooting as an act of God.

Atlanta

March 28

Monsters And Men–While standing outside a New York City bodega surrounded by six cops, Darius Larson soon becomes yet another Black man killed by the police.  Fortunately, Darius’ friend and neighbor Manny (Anthony Ramos, “In The Heights”) filmed the entire incident.  However, uploading the film may result in his hopes of helping his family being seriously compromised.  Meanwhile, Black cop Dennis (John David Washington, “BlacKKKlansman”) finds himself caught between his affinity for Larson’s neighborhood and his affinity with his fellow officers…even the dirty cop who killed Larson. 

March 29

The Girl From Plainville–Plainville, Massachusetts teen Michelle Carter (Elle Fanning) was only 15 when she first met Conrad Roy III in Naples, Florida.  The duo rarely meet in person but keep in contact via phone, e-mail, and text messages.  Their relationship takes a dark turn when Roy admits to Carter that he wants to kill himself, and the Massachusetts teen does something other than try to talk him out of it.  How culpable will Carter be for what eventually happens?  Based on an unfortunately true crime.

March 30

Killing Them Softly–This adaptation of George V. Higgins’ novel “Cogan’s Trade” sadly bombed at the box office despite having a cast that included Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, and Ray Liotta.  Maybe it’s time to give the film another look.  In the early days of the Great Recession, strategy-challenged ex-con heroin addicts Frankie and Russell rob a mob-protected card game run by Markie Trappman (Liotta).  They gamble that blame will fall on Trappman as he had pulled such a crime years earlier.  Mob enforcer Jackie Cogan (Pitt) is brought in to sort things out and punish the guilty.  He quickly figures out who really pulled the robbery, but Trappman also winds up facing punishment as well.  Call this a noir film that lobs a huge loogie at many of Faux News’ lies about America.

Killing Them Softly

March 31

First Day Season 2–It’s the new season of this Emmy Award-winning Australian teen drama.  Out trans student Hannah Bradford (trans teen actress Evie McDonald) is starting her second year at Hillview High.  She wants to change the trans-unsupportive culture at her school, but eventually learns change comes from working together with others.

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Season 1–Seniors Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya are, respectively, the student council president and vice-president of Shuchiin Academy.  The two students seem to be each other’s perfect match.  They like each other.  Miyuki is the school’s top student.  Kaguya comes from a wealthy conglomerate family.  The problem is, both students are incredibly proud and each expects the other person to confess their love first.  But when neither one proves willing to budge, each student is determined to Do Something about this state of affairs.