All The Great Stuff Coming To Hulu In January 2024

It’s a new year for Hulu viewers, and 2024 kicks off with a little bit of everything.  There’s a well-known musical starring Patrick Swayze as a working-class dance instructor. True crime fans can learn the chilling tale of the Mormon Manson’s cult. Marvel’s newest mini-series follows a former Kingpin enforcer getting back to her roots in the Choctaw Nation. An acclaimed film shows how a supposedly multicultural village explodes with racism and “economic anxiety” thanks to the appearance of Sri Lankan workers. And fans of insanely spicy food can learn about other chili heads out there.

Incidentally, don’t do a double-take on seeing one particular entry in January. It’s not an error that Hulu is showing an acclaimed dark comedy thriller involving an insane reality show the day after the film makes its theatrical debut at such places as the AMC Metreon.    

Whether you’re in the mood for getting some warm fuzzies from a veterinarian’s family farm or finding your definition of family stretched by the acclaimed tale of a family of shoplifters, Hulu in January offers something worth seeing.

January 1

Dirty Dancing

Compliance–Craig Zobel’s chilling but still timely drama focuses on Sandra (Ann Dowd, “The Handmaid’s Tale”), manager of a ChickWich franchise on a particularly busy day.  An Officer Daniels calls to inform Sandra that one of her employees has allegedly stolen money from a customer.  Given Daniels’ description, the young and pretty Becky (Dreama Walker) sounds like the alleged culprit.  Daniels wants Sandra to detain Becky until the police arrive.  What’s later asked of Sandra and others raises disturbing questions regarding peoples’ willingness to obey authority figures.  Based on an unfortunately true incident. 

Dirty Dancing–In 1963, ugly duckling Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) reluctantly spends part of her last summer before joining the Peace Corps with her family at Kellerman’s Catskills resort, which is part of the Borscht Belt.  A visit to the resort staff’s secret “dirty dancing” party (real hotel staff may differ with this plot point) causes Baby’s path to cross that of working class dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze in high hunk mode).  When Johnny’s dancing competition partner becomes unavailable, Baby’s offer to substitute eventually leads to Baby and Johnny falling in love despite their different social backgrounds.  The film yielded some great rock tunes as well as the famed line “Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”  

The Fight–This powerful rousing documentary will reassure you that the GQP’s fascist sociopaths are not unstoppable.  It follows lawyers from the ACLU pursuing four lawsuits against such odious policies of the Orange Skull’s administration as deliberate separations of undocumented families and banning transgender personnel from the U.S. military.  The film also humanizes its lawyer subjects, whether they’re dealing with voice recognition software which mistakenly thinks someone said Ben Affleck or shooting out multiple swear words on discovering an odious bit of voter suppression.

Grandma–Lily Tomlin is an utter hoot as the titular smack-talking relative.  She’s lesbian poet Elle Reid, who’s in a bad emotional place.  A recent relationship fails to provide a balm for the loss of her long-term partner.  She’s flat broke.  And now granddaughter Sage (Julia Garner) shows up needing $600 to pay for an abortion taking place that afternoon.  Hoping to raise that money, Elle and Sage crisscross Los Angeles visiting people from the poet’s past.  Tomlin’s “You’re too late, she’s already pregnant” line is one of the film’s highlights.     

Pineapple Express–David Gordon Green’s comedy thriller popularized the concept of the bromance.  Lazy process server and pot enthusiast Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) decides to take a marijuana break from work by smoking some of the very rare “Pineapple Express” strain with his dealer friend Saul Silver (James Franco).  Shortly thereafter, Dale accidentally witnesses drug lord Ted Jones and crooked cop Carol Brazier murdering a member of a rival gang.  When Dale accidentally leaves a clue to his connection with Saul, both the process server and the drug dealer must go on the run from the vengeful Jones and his allies.     

Shoplifters–Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or-winning classic focuses on a found family of thieves.  When “patriarch” Osamu gives the neglected child Juri a croquette during a return from a shoplifting expedition, the girl eventually winds up becoming a part of Osamu’s “family.”  This sets the stage for a look at the grey areas surrounding such questions as “what constitutes parenthood” and “is shoplifting ok if it’s motivated by necessity and you don’t drive the store out of business?”

Grimsburg

January 4

Daughters Of The Cult–Ervil LeBaron aka the “Mormon Manson” founded a Mormon fundamentalist polygamous cult.  Members of his group hid in plain sight throughout the American Southwest and Mexico.  At their leader’s command, LeBaron cultists committed cold-blooded executions and acts of violence for decades.  Now in this docuseries, former cult members who escaped LeBaron’s influence recount the history of this murderous organization.  Any similarities to Christian evangelicals who are part of the Orange Skull’s cult may not be as coincidental as viewers wish.  

January 7

The Incredible Pol Farm–In this spinoff from the Nat Geo Wild series “The Incredible Dr. Pol,” veterinarian Dr. Jan Pol and two other generations of his family are banding together to build a 350-acre self-sustaining family farm in Michigan.  Its purpose: to grow hay for livestock.  Along the way, the Pols learn by trial and error the ins and outs of farm life as well as the practical knowledge that makes farming sustainable.  But their farming also involves utilizing out of the box ideas such as solar panels and an underground sheep hut.

January 8

Grimsburg–In this new adult animated comedy from Bento Box Entertainment (“Bob’s Burgers”), Marvin Flute (Jon Hamm) may be the greatest detective ever.  But while he’s smart enough to catch cannibal clowns, he isn’t smart enough to avoid getting divorced or to not treat his son as a stranger.  Now Flute’s back in his hometown of Grimsburg, a place where everyone has at least one secret.  In between cases, will he find the clues that will allow his redemption in the eyes of his former family members?  

January 9

Beyond Utopia–Under the heels of North Korea’s authoritarian dictators, the country’s citizens are only allowed access to highly vetted government approved information.  But escaping North Korea isn’t a simple matter of crossing the DMZ.  Instead, it’s a dangerous journey where the unlucky are captured by the Chinese or sold into sexual slavery.  This film consists of footage shot by several would-be defectors including Soyeon Lee, who’s trying to liberate her son from the North.  But it’s also an account of life in a country where ruler Kim Jong Il is treated as a god and keeping up WMD capabilities matters more than dealing with mass famine and starvation.

Echo–In the mini-series sequel to the Marvel TV series “Hawkeye,” Maya Lopez has returned to her Oklahoma hometown to reconnect with her Choctaw Nation family and her roots.  She hopes to leave behind her shameful past in New York City.  There, she served as the Kingpin’s enforcer Echo until she learned her criminal boss and surrogate father orchestrated her biological father’s death.  Putting an arrow through one of the Kingpin’s eyes didn’t sever Lopez’s relationship with her former boss…especially since the Kingpin is still very much alive and not willing to forget a murder attempt.

Self Reliance

Safe Home Season 1–In this dramatic Australian mini-series, Phoebe Rook has left her comfy job with a prominent Melbourne law firm to become a communications specialist for a Family Violence Legal Centre.  The community law organization specializes in domestic violence issues, but it’s constantly under threat of having its funding axed.  As Phoebe struggles to bring public attention to the important work the centre does, her efforts become intertwined with such domestic violence stories as a grandmother fleeing her controlling husband, and a murder investigation involving Phoebe’s ex-lover. 

January 12

Miranda’s Victim–In 1963, teenager Patricia Weir (Abigail Breslin) looks forward to transitioning from her movie usher job to going to secretarial school.  But when she gets kidnapped and raped by Ernesto Arturo Miranda, her desire for justice needs to be stronger than the future-destroying social stigma of being raped.  Miranda does get convicted, and Weir looks forward to putting the rape behind her and living a bright future.  Then one day, she hears that thanks to the work of ACLU lawyer John Flynn (Ryan Philippe), Miranda’s conviction gets overturned and he’s now eligible for a retrial.  The legal precedent known as Miranda rights was the product of Flynn’s efforts.  But for Weir, the retrial means publicly facing the legal system’s subtle mistreatment of women.

Self-Reliance–Actor Jake Johnson (“New Girl”) makes his directorial debut in this dark comedy-thriller.  Tommy (Johnson) is so bored with his life, he thinks nothing of accepting a ride from Andy Samberg.  The comedy star takes Tommy to meet two eccentric producers, where he agrees to participate in their reality show for a chance to win a million dollars.  A team of highly trained “hunters” have been sent to permanently take him out. To win, Tommy has to survive for 30 days.  Fortunately, he’s treated as untouchable as long as he’s in the proximity of at least one other person.  However, how can Tommy stay alive past the deadline when his friends and family don’t believe what sort of situation he’s gotten himself into? 

January 18

Invisible Beauty–Subject Behann Hardison played a key role in eliminating systemic racism in the fashion industry.  First, she was a trailblazing 1970s runway model.  In the 1990s, her revolutionary work as an agent led to her discovering male supermodel Tyson Beckford and mentoring the likes of Naomi Campbell and Iman.  Finally in the aughts, she publicly read the fashion industry for filth for their standard “no Blacks, no ethnics” casting calls.  This documentary recounting of Hardison’s life offers much more than just cool fashions and riveting pop history.  It includes such tidbits as learning Hardison’s father was an Imam who mentored Malcolm X.

Invisible Beauty

January 22

Superhot: The Spicy World Of Pepper People–This documentary series takes viewers into the world of chili heads.  From elite growers who try to create newer and spicier super hot peppers to the eaters who get a magnificent endorphin rush out of consuming super hot peppers, this series will go as far down the chili rabbit hole as possible.  Tying all this together is a quest to answer the question whether there’s a new pepper that can challenge the world’s current super hot peppers.

January 24

King Richard–This biopic begins in late 1980s-early 1990s Compton.  Richard Williams (Will Smith) may work as a nighttime security guard.  But he has a grand dream of having his daughters Venus and Serena become tennis champions.  Supported by his wife Oracene Price, this loving father wants to balance the development of his daughters’ talents with letting his girls be kids.  This is the story of how the Williams family achieved their dreams.

Tell Me That You Love Me–In this remake of a 1995 Korean drama of the same name, Cha Jin-Woo feels very uncomfortable speaking to others because of his hearing impairment.  Instead, he expresses his feelings through drawings.  A chance encounter brings him into contact with aspiring actress Jung Mo-Eun.  She’s used to expressing her feelings through words.  Can their love thrive despite their very different communication styles?

January 25

Chrissy & Dave Dine Out–This new reality series mixing food porn and celebrity conversation is hosted by Chrissy Teigen, David Chang, and Joel Kim Booster.  In each episode, the trio takes viewers to an unexpected must-try Los Angeles restaurant.  While Dave takes a look at how the restaurant of the week makes various dishes, Chrissy and Joel host an informal dinner party in the front of the restaurant.  The conversations at these parties feature such celebrity guests as Jimmy Kimmel, John Legend, and Regina Hall.

January 26

R.M.N.

The Imitation Game–In 1939, mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) gets recruited to Britain’s wartime cryptography unit at Bletchley Park.  The unit’s goal is cracking Germany’s Enigma machine, which is used by the Nazis to send coded messages.  Turing wants to build a machine to decipher the Enigma messages.  However, internal politics and personality clashes with other members of the team threaten to undermine Turing’s efforts.  But the biggest danger to Turing’s future might actually be societal homophobia.

January 28

R.M.N.–The title of acclaimed director Cristian Mungiu’s new drama comes from the Romanian acronym for “nuclear magnetic resonance.”  It’s the principle behind MRI scans.  But what’s being scanned in Mungiu’s film is the collective psychology of the inhabitants of the small rural Transylvanian town of Recia.  The town’s not a monocultural backwater, as the inhabitants of the town include Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, and Roma.  Nevertheless, when the local bakery hires some workers from Sri Lanka, the town’s simmering economic, political, and racial tensions start coming to a boil.

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