10 must-watch movies new to Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and Shudder (March 2020) – Polygon

Who’s ready for March Madness? No, we’re not talking about basketball, we’re talking about the insanely good movies added to streaming services in March. We’ve parsed through everything added to Netflix, Hulu, and even the free streaming service Tubi to highlight some of our favorites.

From indie dramedies to big budget superhero features, here’s what’s coming up on streaming in March.

Black Panther

Image: Marvel Studios

The first MCU movie starring a black superhero, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther also made history as the first superhero movie to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination. (The award eventually went to Green Book which will not be appearing on any of these lists.) After the death of his father, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to the fictional East African nation of Wakanda to assume his role as king and protector, the superhero Black Panther.

Because of an ongoing deal with Netflix, several Marvel movies weren’t available to stream on Disney Plus when the platform launched last year. That deal just expired for Black Panther, which left Netfix on March 3 and dropped onto Disney Plus the next day.

Black Panther is streaming on Disney Plus.

The Changeling

Image: Second Sight

Before there was The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity, or even Poltergeist, there was The Changeling, Peter Medak’s 1980 haunted house drama commanded by George C. Scott (Patton). Reeling from the death of his wife and daughter, composer John Russell (Scott) returns to his alma mater, and shacks up in a creepy old home. He’s not alone, as an entity from beyond the mortal plane goes bump in the night, and plagues him with visions. As Medak explores the house, and digs deeper into John’s psyche, another mystery unfurls. A ball bouncing down a set of stairs has never been creepier.

The Changeling is streaming on Shudder

Legally Blonde

MGM Distribution Co.

Legally Blonde, the movie that gave us such iconic lines as, “You got into Harvard?” “What, like it’s hard?”, taught us the bend-and-snap, and informed the public about perm maintenance, is nothing short of a classic. When Reese Witherspoon’s Elle Woods is dumped for not being “serious” enough for her college boyfriend, she sets out to win him back by joining him at Harvard Law School. Along the way she learns that actually he sucks — and she makes a damn good lawyer.

Legally Blonde is free to stream on Tubi.

50/50

Photo: Summit Entertainment

Loosely based on writer Will Riser’s own cancer diagnosis and treatment, 50/50 stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen as a cancer patient, Adam, and his loud, funny best friend Kyle. (Rogen’s character is based on himself — he and Riser are friends.) Adam googles his specific form of spinal cancer, and learns that it has a 50/50 survival rate, hence the title. Dramedies can easily lean too hard towards drama or comedy, but Riser and director Jonathan Levine do a good job of balancing emotional moments with funny ones.

50/50 is streaming on Hulu.

God of Egypt

Image: Lionsgate Home Entertainment

For those who thought Tron Legacy or the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending were a little too grounded, there’s Gods of Egypt, a big-budget spectacle from Dark City director Alex Proyas. Get past the early-20th-century logic of casting only white people as Egyptians and blockbuster fans will find ecastic imagery and unfathomable amounts of money being thrown at the screen in the service of a bonkers adventure story. Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau stars as Horus, an oversized god who teams up with a young thief to take down his brother Set (Gerard Butler). On their journey, they face monsters, puzzling temples, and a giant spaceship driven by Ra the sun god. Forget how this movie ever got made, and just be glad that it did.

Gods of Egypt is free to stream on Tubi.

Up in the Air

Photo: Paramount Pictures

Jason Reitman’s follow-up to Juno brings his signature off-beat comedic style to the world of business-class travel. George Clooney stars as a frequent flier whose job is to travel around the country firing people. He forms a connection with a fellow traveler (Vera Farmiga), but his nomadic lifestyle is interrupted by a new hire (Anna Kendrick), who tags along on his flights to “observe.” It’s funny and sweet and depressing, just like most of Reitman’s movies.

Up in the Air is streaming on Hulu.

Silver Linings Playbook

Photo: The Weinstein Company

Come for Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper dancing, stay for Robert De Niro’s Philadelphia accent. Lawrence and Cooper, both fresh off franchises (The Hunger Games and The Hangover, respectively) proved their dramatic acting chops as two self-destructive Philadelphians who agree to enter a dance competition together. Written and directed by David O. Russel and based the bestselling novel, Silver Linings Playbook earned Lawrence her first (and so far only) Oscar.

Silver Linings Playbook will be streaming on Netflix on March 16.

Goodfellas

Photo: Warner Bros.

Martin Scorsese’s classic gangland drama is finally on Netflix, after his magnum opus to the genre, The Irishman, debuted on the platform last year. Also starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, Goodfellas is flashier than The Irishman, though it deals with similar themes of morality and vice. Plus, Pesci and De Niro are just magnetic performers to watch. It’d make a great double feature if you’re willing to sit through nearly six hours of cold mafia killings punctuated by rock-and-roll needle drops.

Goodfellas is streaming on Netflix.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Photo: Paramount Pictures

No offense to Neil Patrick Harris, who turns in an admiral performance as Count Olaf in Netflix’s excellent adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, but there’s just no topping Jim Carrey’s manic, sinister portrayal in the 2004 film. Spanning the first three novels, the movie adaptation is like a mashup of Tim Burton and Roald Dahl. The film takes some liberties with the plot while the Netflix series is a bit more true to the source material, but now that they both live on Netflix you can decide for yourself which version you prefer.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is streaming on Netflix.

There Will Be Blood

Photo: Miramax

Paul Thomas Anderson’s turn-of-the-century epic stars Daniel Day Lewis as a ruthless oil baron, Daniel Plainview. Paul Dano plays twin brothers, Paul and Eli, who find oil on their property and sell Daniel the rights to drill there. (Fair warning: the twin thing gets confusing. Another actor was originally cast as Eli, but Anderson asked Dano to step in and play both brothers, rewriting them as twins, after filming had already started.) The promise of that title — There Will Be Blood — keeps things pretty tense for the entire two-and-a-half-hour runtime.

There Will Be Blood is streaming on Netflix.

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