August is the year’s most useless month, at least if you’re on the East Coast. The humidity rises to apocalyptic levels and everyone’s dreading the comedown of September, when we all have to take our jobs seriously once more. You might as well spend some of that cooped up inside with the A/C blasting, streaming some movies.
This month, Hulu has some of the same titles as Netflix and/or Amazon Prime; they’re not the only ones getting the “Matrix,” “Bill and Ted” and “Saw” movies, or newer fare like “Florence Foster Jenkins.” They are, however, the ones who scored the first two, Tobey Maguire-starring “Spider-Man” films. Ditto both “Clueless” and “Clue.” And if you dug “Dunkirk,” you’d probably like to return to “Saving Private Ryan” now, too.
For cinephiles, there’s some real auteurist gets, too. Michael Mann’s “Ali” — a difficult, renegade biopic that deepens with repeat viewings (though Will Smith’s turn has always been fantastic) — arrives the start of the month. Ditto “Rachel Getting Married,” a typically warm if intense drama from the late Jonathan Demme, which features the first great Anne Hathaway performance.
As August wears down, you’ll be able to kick the summer off in high style. Go out with Brian De Palma’s arguable best film, “Blow Out,” with John Travolta leading a loose semi-riff on Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow-Up.” Keep your David Lynch freak-out going with “Blue Velvet,” and cringe at Albert Brooks’ primo Reagan-era yuppie satire “Lost in America.”
The complete list of arrivals:
Aug. 1
The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All
Ali
Among Friends
Arthur
As Good as it Gets
Bad Boys
Bad News Bears
Bad Company
Benny & Joon
The Big Chill
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Bloodsport
Box of Moonlight
Breakdown
Center Stage
Center Stage: On Pointe
Center Stage: Turn it Up
Charley One-Eye
Charlotte’s Web
Clue
Clueless
Coming to America
Criminal Law
Cujo
Dead Gamers
The Dead Zone
Delta Force
Eve’s Bayou
Far From Home
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Finding Forrester
The Foot Fist Way
Friends and Lovers
The General’s Daughter
Get Rich or Die Tryin’
Ghost
Hannie Caulder
Harlem Nights
Harsh Times
Hey Arnold! The Movie
High Noon
Higher Learning
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
The Italian Job
Mars Attacks!
Men in Black II
The Mod Squad
New in Town
Once Bitten
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Paycheck
Puppetmaster: Axis Termination
The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper
Rachel Getting Married
Reds
Sahara
Saving Private Ryan
Saw
Saw II
Saw III
Saw IV
Saw V
Sleepy Hollow
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
The Swan Princess and the Secret of the Castle
The Swan Princess
Teen Witch
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf Too
Terry Factor: Live in Concert
The Toy
Ulee’s Gold
Vanilla Sky
Wayne’s World 2
Aug. 2
CMA Fest 2017
Cup of Culture
Valkyrie
Aug. 5
Billy on the Street, Season 5
Hacker
Aug. 6
Mosquito
Aug. 7
You’re the Worst, Season 3
Aug. 8
Difficult People, Season 3 Premiere
Earth Live!
Aug. 9
Tall Men
Aug. 11
We Bare Bears, Season 2
Aug. 15
Bachelor in Paradise, Season 4 Premiere
Better Things, Season 1
Beneath
Felony
Hamlet
Invasion U.S.A.
It Takes Two
Ladybugs
Love Story
Missing in Action
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning
Narc
Next
The Prince and Me
The Ruins
Sabrina
Universal Soldier
Yours, Mine and Ours
Aug. 16
Regular Show, Season 8
Aug. 17
Marlon, Series Premiere
Aug. 18
Mary Kills People, Season 1
Stan Against Evil, Season 1
Aug. 19
My Bloody Valentine
Aug. 20
In Secret
Aug. 21
Air Bound
Aug. 27
Florence Foster Jenkins
Aug. 29
Gimme Shelter
Aug. 31
2 Days in the Valley
All Over the Guy
Barnyard
Blow Out
Blue Velvet
Burnt Offerings
Chaos
De-Lovely
Desperate Hours
Fire in the Sky
Gangs of New York
Girl, Interrupted
Harriet the Spy
Hercules
Kangaroo Jack
Little Man Tate
Lost in America
Mr. Mom
Mulan
Shivers
Tracker
Underworld
Underworld Evolution
Under the Sea
Walking Tall
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