Hulu Slaps w/ King of the Hill, Eva Longoria, Alien, & More!
Think August’s dog days means kicking back with a cold one and a good book on the e-reader? Not if you’ve got Hulu this month. Catch the series premiere of a prequel to a well-known franchise whose first episode wowed recent San Diego Comic Con attendees. True crime fans will like offerings ranging from a woman imprisoned by her stalker to the theft of an iconic artifact from “The Wizard Of Oz” movie. Fans of “Welcome To Wrexham” will appreciate a spinoff docuseries starring Eva Longoria. And if you’ve thought you’ve seen the last of a certain Mike Judge animated comedy set in Texas, think again.
Whether you’re nostalgic for a classic TV comedy series much beloved by the gays or want to catch a recent touching tale of a woman who uses a Facebook lie to find a better father, Hulu’s better August offerings truly slaps.
August 1
Devil In A Blue Dress–Denzel Washington plays Walter Mosley’s detective character Easy Rawlins in this adaptation of the first novel in Mosley’s series. In 1948 Los Angeles, an unemployed Rawlins gets hired by white P.I. DeWitt Albright (Tom Sizemore) to find missing white woman Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals). Rawlins’ job is to work the Central Avenue juke joints frequented by Monet. But the trail soon entangles him with Los Angeles mayoral politics, murder, and worse. Fortunately, Rawlins has an ace in the hole: his semi-psychotic homicidal friend Mouse Alexander (Don Cheadle).
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl–Marielle Heller directed this acclaimed adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner’s hybrid comics/prose novel. In 1976 San Francisco, 15-year-old Minnie Goetz (Bel Powley) just wants love, acceptance, and a sense of purpose in the world. She hopes to find all this with the “handsomest” Monroe Rutherford (Alexander Skarsgard)…who just happens to be the boyfriend of Minnie’s loving hedonist mom Charlotte Worthington (Kristen Wiig).
Equity–Senior investment banker Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn) tries to professionally bounce back by handling Cachet’s IPO. But could the IPO be in danger thanks to a coder’s discovery that Cachet’s social media platform is very much hackable? And why is Naomi’s on-again off-again boyfriend Michael Connor (James Purefoy) also interested in Cachet? Could Michael be guilty of the insider trading being investigated by Samantha Ryan, Naomi’s college classmate turned white collar crime prosecutor?
Kick-Ass–Ordinary teenage superhero fan Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) thinks all you need to become an IRL superhero is a modified scuba diving suit and some batons. Also, having some broken bones replaced by metal seems to help too. But it’s only when Kick-Ass (as the teen dubs himself) gets “rescued” by vigilantes Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) that he truly gets in deep in battling crime. Big Daddy and Hit-Girl want to bring down Mafia boss Frank D’Amico, and Kick-Ass might help (or hurt) their work.
Ready Or Not–Orphaned Grace (Samara Weaving) thinks her marriage to an heir to the Le Domas Family Games company may be a turnaround in her life. But the traditional wedding night midnight game will quickly disabuse her of that notion. The game Grace picks, Hide And Seek, turns out to be a version where being found by her in-laws means they’ll try to kill her.
The Sessions–Berkeley poet and journalist Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes) has been stuck living in an iron lung thanks to polio complications. Now nearing 40 and possible death, he decides he needs to lose his virginity. Sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Helen Hunt) gets hired for the job, which will require no more than six sessions. But what happens when Mark and the already married Cheryl develop feelings for each other? William H. Macy delivers a great supporting performance as cool priest Father Brendan.
August 4
King Of The Hill Season 14–15 years after the last season ended, the Texas-set animated comedy co-created by Mike Judge returns. The series follows the misadventures of the suburban Hill family and their friends. In the new season, Hank (Judge) and wife Peggy (Kathy Najimy) return to Arlen, Texas after several years abroad. Both husband and wife are retired from their day jobs. Son Bobby has now become a Dallas chef with a fondness for seared beef. But during the Hills’ absence, Arlen has changed in some unexpected ways. Will a cold beer, a good steak, and a friendly face still be enough to help them personally adjust?
August 5
Bob Trevino Likes It—Barbie Ferreira (“Euphoria”) stars as Lily Trevino, a small-town people pleaser whose personal history is so awful she reduces a psych counselor-in-training to tears. When Lily winds up bereft of any close emotional connections, she searches on Facebook for another and better Bob Trevino (the name of her exploitative father). The total stranger Lily picks gets messaged by her that they’re supposedly related. The duo wind up connecting, because this other Bob Trevino (John Leguziamo) hasn’t recovered from a personal tragedy and needs someone in his life too. Your Sleeper Of The Month.
August 8
Necaxa–Loved “Welcome To Wrexham?” Then check out this new docuseries spinoff. Eva Longoria buys a stake in Club Necaxa, one of Mexico’s historic soccer clubs. This century-old club was once a football powerhouse. But decades of instability (e.g. relocations, reinventions) have made Necaxa a shade of its former self. Fortunately, there’s still a fanbase of hard-core supporters who believe the “Rayos” will eventually rise again. But can the team deliver hope to the Mexican town of Aguascalientes when it’s beset by staff shake-ups and unwelcome player injuries?
August 11
Copshop–Con artist Teddy Muretto (Frank Grillo) has racked up such a long list of people who want him dead that he figures his safest place might be a Nevada small town jail. Thanks to his bogus drunk and disorderly incident plus his punching bored cop Valerie Young, Muretto gets his wish. However, the con man soon has company in the form of smelly sot Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler). The trouble is, Viddick’s actually sober and is actually a hit man whose next target is Muretto. Add into the mix drug smuggling and the appearance of a crazier killer than Viddick, and Young’s about to have her wish that her job was more like the Wild West filled in spades. Directed by Joe Carnahan.
August 12
Alien: Earth—It’s two years before the events of the first “Alien” movie. As the newest recruit to Prodigy Corporation’s attempt to monetize immortality, Wendy’s had her consciousness transferred to a superior humanoid robot body. Wendy’s new body winds up getting a workout courtesy of the research starship USCSS Maginot’s crash-landing in a Southeast Asian metropolis. Our heroine’s personal mission is to find her brother, who’s aboard the starship. Also aboard the ship is an Alien Xenomorph…and some other alien creatures equally unfriendly to human beings..
Sharp Corner–Josh (Ben Foster) and Rachel McCall (Cobie Smulders) think they’ve scored a deal on a country house. But their first night in the house reveals the deal’s catch: There’s a tight turn on a road maybe a hundred meters away from their house, and even with a warning sign unfortunate drivers can crash or make near-misses at their corner if they’re not careful. The trouble is, such accidents happen A Lot. While Rachel eventually wants to sell the house and leave, Josh becomes unhealthily obsessed with being ready to save the inevitable next crash victim.
August 14
Mysteries Unearthed With Danny Trejo Season 1–This docuseries recounts the sometimes unexpected ways in which historically significant discoveries are found. Among the stories told this season are: a Revolutionary War ship hidden under Manhattan’s streets, a frozen tundra filled with lethal germs, and a Nazi era weapon sunk off the coast of New Jersey.
August 16
The Curious Case Of…—This true crime docuseries recounts some strange but true crime stories. Among the cases recounted are: an anti-masturbation crusader who allies herself with a Mormon mommy-vlogger, an “eco-friendly” funeral home that’s way less than advertised, and a cat-centered religious cult whose members are used as its prophet’s instruments of revenge.
August 17
Thanksgiving–Director Eli Roth turns the fake movie trailer he created for “Grindhouse”’s intermission sequence into an actual movie. Plymouth, Massachusetts may be the birthplace of the original Thanksgiving holiday. But the town’s current residents consider it a place of terror thanks to a serial killer murdering people in Thanksgiving-inspired ways. What’s the connection to a tragic Black Friday riot that happened a year ago?
August 19
Stalking Samantha: 13 Years Of Terror–For over a decade, Samantha Stites had been stalked by a man named Christopher Thomas. In Fall 2022, Stites’ stalker kidnapped her from her Michigan home and imprisoned her in a secret soundproof bunker he built inside a storage unit. In Thomas’ prison, the abducted woman had to rely on her inner strength and instincts to survive and eventually escape. This docuseries has the victim recounting her ordeal, supplemented by chilling footage from police interviews and photos from Thomas’ own phone.
August 20
The Twisted Tale Of Amanda Knox–KJ Steinberg (“This Is Us”) worked with Knox herself on this dramatic re-telling of her murder accusation ordeal. In 2007, Knox (Grace Van Patten) and then-boyfriend Raffaele Solecito were accused of murdering Knox’s roommate, British student Meredith Kercher. She was found guilty in Italy in 2009, acquitted in 2011, and returned home to Seattle. Yet that acquittal would not be the end of Knox’s legal ordeal.
August 21
Call Of The Night Season 1–Middle school student Ko Yamori has trouble falling asleep at night, so he regularly breaks curfew to wander around his town while the rest of the world sleeps. On one of his nightly journeys, he meets a girl named Nazuna Nanakusa, who suggests his sleeping problems are related to his inability to let go of his inhibitions. It turns out Nanakusa is a vampire, yet her biting Yamori doesn’t turn him into one because he doesn’t genuinely love her. The middle school student now has a goal in life: falling in love with Nanakusa so he can become a vampire.
Farming Life In Another World—When overworked salaryman Hiraku Machio dies in hospital thanks to a terminal illness, a god takes pity on Machio and reincarnates the man on another world so he can do as he pleases. The former office worker expresses interest in becoming a farmer. The god transports Machio to an apparently lifeless forest far from civilization along with the Almighty Farming Tool, which can transform into any useful farming implement he needs. After trial and error, Machio’s homestead slowly grows to become the Great Tree Village. But who knew vampires and elves would become village residents?
August 23
The Great Food Truck Race Season 15–Tyler Florence hosts this reality competition where the best food trucks in America compete against one another for the opportunity to drum up new customers and business. This season takes the contestants to such Southern California cities as Redondo Beach, Laguna Beach and Los Angeles. They will face such challenges as creating a game-changing box lunch, making a dish inspired by a chili cheese Coney dog, and devising a great recovery snack for athletes.
August 24
Total Drama Island: Reloaded Season 2–In this satire of reality survival competitions, 16 teen contestants are divided into either Team Rat Face or Team Stinky Butt. But only the last contestant standing gets to take home the $1,000,000 prize. In this series of contests, see a basketball game where points are scored when a contestant slides through the hoop; a joust on canoes; and a baking contest where the finished cake must bear the likeness of a former contestant.
August 26
Ruby Red-Handed: Stealing America’s Most Famous Pair Of Shoes–Who stole a pair of Ruby-Red Slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan? The 2005 theft of these famous shoes from “The Wizard Of Oz” would lead the police on a wild chase that immersed them in the world of black market Hollywood collectibles.
August 28
Bewitched (Complete Series)–A classic of American TV comedy is available once again. When beautiful witch Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) falls in love with and marries mortal Darrin Stephens (Dick York, later Dick Sargent), she accedes to his wish that she live as an ordinary suburban housewife. Thankfully, the other members of Samantha’s family are not big fans of Darrin (e.g. he’s been referred to as “Durwood” and “Dobbin”), and the spells they freely cast usually wind up creating havoc in the lives of Darrin and those in his proximity. Yes, Samantha’s and Darrin’s marriage is still Hays Code-like intact by the end of each episode. But the series’ real fun comes from knowing just how much teh gayz influenced the show in plain sight.
August 29
Sisu–It’s 1944, and the European part of World War II is entering its waning phase. Prospector Aatami Korbi doesn’t care. He’s just discovered a fortune in gold, and has filled his horse’s saddlebag with gold nuggets. On the return trip back, the prospector runs afoul of a group of Nazis led by Major Bruno. They discover Korbi’s fortune and want to lay dibs on it. Bruno, in particular, thinks the gold will help finance his escape to avoid punishment for his wartime crimes. However, the prospector used to be a special forces killing machine, and he’s not willing to let his long-sought treasure be kept by a swastika-wearing rape gang.
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