What are the best films available to watch online this week? Check out our recommendations:

 

Grosse Pointe Blank

Watch Grosse Pointe Blank for free on Hulu

This 1997 black comedy is one of John Cusack‘s best films (the other is obviously High Fidelity, and we will not accept any arguments to the contrary unless it’s to say that all of his films are the best). Cusack plays Martin Blank: a hitman-cum-existentialist heading home to Michigan for his 10-year high school reunion to right some wrongs and rub someone out (BUT WHO?). With an excellent supporting cast including Dan Ackroyd, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, and former Cusack bestie Jeremy Piven, Grosse Pointe Blanke is perfect for anyone with a modicum of humor trying to figure out how to atone for past sins.

 

 

 

 

Short Term 12

Watch Short Term 12 on Amazon Instant Video

Director Destin Daniel Cretton expanded his earlier short film (also titled Short Term 12) into this feature length gem. Brie Larson stars as a social worker who supervises a shelter for at-risk youth. Her compassion and selflessness against a stacked deck of circumstance and bureaucracy leap off the screen, and her subtle approach to her character Grace is worthy of far more accolades than it received. Skip some of the flashier entries available this week and check out this underseen heartbreaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leah E. Friedman is the managing editor of AllMovie. She used to have a pretty serious crush on John Cusack—but then again, she’s only human.