Because the birthplace of status TV exhibits like The Sopranos and The Wire, HBO—and, by extension, HBO Max—is greatest identified for its spectacular lineup of unique sequence. The community has additionally been upping the ante with feature-length content material that’s the stuff of Oscar goals.
Under is an inventory of a few of our favourite movies streaming on HBO Max—from Oscar-winning epics to dystopian sci-fi classics. If you happen to determine you’re in additional of a TV temper, head over to our picks for the greatest exhibits on HBO Max. If you happen to’re on the lookout for much more suggestions, take a look at our lists of the greatest films on Netflix, the greatest films on Amazon Prime, and the greatest films on Disney+.
Prime Minister
Little or no about Jacinda Ardern’s tenure as prime minister of New Zealand might be described as quotidian. She grew to become the nation’s opposition celebration chief simply weeks earlier than election day. After she received she found she was pregnant and gave start whereas nonetheless in workplace, one in every of only a few heads of state in historical past to take action. Throughout her tenure she navigated the Covid-19 lockdowns and the Christchurch mosque capturing. This documentary, directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz, chronicles her meteoric rise, resignation, and life after her time in workplace.
Carry Her Again
A24’s partnership with HBO continues to make sure that a unending stream of fascinating new(ish) indies from across the globe discover their method into the Max library. The newest is a very deranged Australian horror movie starring two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins in what is perhaps her most unhinged efficiency but. Following the dying of their father, teen step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are despatched to reside in a foster dwelling with Laura (Hawkins), an odd however seemingly well-meaning older lady who can also be presently tending to a younger mute boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips). However Andy involves be taught that Laura is harboring some critical trauma of her personal—and that he and his fellow foster children are a part of a wild plan to revive normalcy to Laura’s life. The film takes viewers to darkish, sudden, and infrequently ugly locations because it dissects the facility that trauma can have over our lives.
Hereditary
Ari Aster made a splash—and one sadly memorable splat—together with his 2018 directorial debut, which took psychological horror to new heights. Annie Graham (Toni Collette) is an artist dwelling a seemingly contented life along with her psychiatrist husband (Gabriel Byrne) and their two teenaged children, Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro). However any sense of normalcy disappears virtually instantly following the dying of Annie’s mother, with whom she had an typically strained relationship. Is Annie loopy? Is her husband a horrible shrink? Is Peter a horrible particular person? Why does Charlie make that clicking noise? What’s that within the again seat of the automobile? These are all legitimate questions which can be answered by Aster, whose deft directorial type has made him an on the spot Hollywood icon. Aster’s follow-up movies, 2019’s equally disturbing Midsommar and 2023’s surrealist Beau Is Afraid, are additionally each out there to stream.
The Witch
Anya Taylor-Pleasure was a 19-year-old Hollywood newcomer when she delivered her breakthrough efficiency as Thomasin, the younger daughter of a household that’s banished from its Puritan group in 1630s New England and compelled to reside in solitude within the wilderness. Quickly they start experiencing a sequence of eerie encounters that they imagine to be supernatural in origin—they usually very nicely could also be proper. The movie, which burns slowly however brilliantly towards a conclusion that rewards viewers’ persistence, marked the characteristic directorial debut of author/director Robert Eggers, who has gone on to huge approval for equally moody flicks like The Lighthouse (2019), The Northman (2022), and Nosferatu (2024).
Disgrace
Two years earlier than nabbing the primary of two (and counting) Oscar nominations for his work on Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Michael Fassbender and McQueen collaborated on the criminally underseen Disgrace. To be honest: the movie’s NC-17 score definitely didn’t assist its probabilities at turning into a field workplace behemoth, however the controversial score was crucial to ensure that McQueen to ship such a uncooked and trustworthy portrayal of dependancy. Brandon Sullivan (Fassbender) is a good-looking and highly effective government dwelling the nice life in New York Metropolis, all whereas trying to cover a debilitating intercourse dependancy that has rapidly taken over each a part of his life. However when Brandon’s sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) exhibits up at his residence unexpectedly, she forces him to confront the ties—and trauma—that bind them.
Friendship
Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson each do what they do greatest—be impossibly likable and extremely unhinged, respectively—on this darkish comedy bromance. Craig Waterman (I Suppose You Ought to Go away’s Robinson) is an ungainly advertising and marketing government who’s stunned when his new neighbor Austin Carmichael, an area TV meteorologist, invitations him over for a beer one night time. The 2 strike up an sudden friendship that has the usually homebound Craig seeing the world in a complete new method—one crammed with guys’ nights and male bonding. However when Austin decides to name off their brewing brotherhood, Craig can’t deal with the rejection. And can go to wild lengths to fix their relationship.
Se7en
What’s within the field? If you happen to don’t know, you’re about to search out out. If you happen to do know, it’s nonetheless value rewatching. Gwyneth Paltrow was merely generally known as Brad Pitt’s girlfriend when this intelligent thriller was launched in 1995, and Kevin Spacey was a sizzling commodity contemporary off his Oscar win for The Normal Suspects. How occasions have modified! However this David Fincher basic, a few serial killer whose North Star is the seven lethal sins, stays a gritty masterpiece that has misplaced none of its efficiency within the 30 years since its launch. Warning: It’s scheduled to go away the service on October 31, so get to (re)watching.
Closing Vacation spot Bloodlines
Twenty-five years after Closing Vacation spot arrived in theaters, and greater than a decade after the final installment, the latest entry within the so-bad-it’s-good horror franchise simply delivered what’s undoubtedly its greatest chapter. Whereas the story follows the identical plot that followers have come to know and love—a gaggle of individuals handle to cheat dying, so Loss of life comes again to complete the job—this one offers some historical past to that acquainted rubric. Whereas that offers this entry a extra emotional stage, it’s additionally fairly intelligent within the new methods it chooses to off these whose destiny was predetermined. And whereas it’s gory as hell, there’s one thing subtly comedic about the entire affair.
Sinners
Scorching on the heels of among the greatest, and most profitable Marvel films ever (that may be the Black Panther movies), writer-director Ryan Coogler discovered a complete new option to blow cinephiles’ minds with this beautiful vampire story. Set in Thirties Mississippi, the movie stars Michael B. Jordan in a twin position as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, two World Battle I veterans who return dwelling from Chicago with mob cash with a plan to run a juke joint. Opening night time of their new institution, nonetheless, goes terribly flawed when a gaggle of blood-sucking white musicians exhibits up at their door. Lush and stuffed with superbly shot motion scenes, Sinners is already headed to the highest of most Better of 2025 lists. Along with the unique theatrical launch, HBO Max is streaming the movie in Black American Signal Language (BASL).
Get Out
In 2017, Jordan Peele went from one half of Key & Peele to an Oscar-winning screenwriter (to not point out the primary Black author to win the Academy Award for Finest Authentic Screenplay and the primary Black filmmaker to be nominated as a producer, author, and director in a single yr). Eight years later, the influence of Peele’s Get Out continues to be simply as spectacular. Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) has been invited by his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), to spend the weekend at her dad and mom’ dwelling in upstate New York. Whereas Chris worries that her seemingly upper-class dad and mom received’t be accepting of an interracial relationship, Rose assures him it received’t be an issue—and she or he’s proper, however for all of the flawed causes. With Get Out, Peele cracked the code on making a movie that was a horror film, psychological drama, and telling commentary on race unexpectedly.
Parasite
Even in case you don’t care about awards, the truth that Parasite is the primary—and nonetheless solely—non-English-language film to win a Finest Image Oscar ought to let you know one thing concerning the universality of its themes. The Kims, a household struggling to make ends meet, set their scheming sights on the Parks, a well-to-do household with loads of issues of their very own, but in addition loads of cash to muffle their dysfunction. Not less than for a time. Simply if you assume you understand how class warfare is taking part in out on this black comedy, it modifications course to achieve an sudden conclusion. As at all times, director Bong Joon-ho is aware of simply the way to lead his viewers down one path, solely to open a trapdoor into one other.
Mountainhead
Succession creator Jesse Armstrong simply is perhaps immediately’s foremost chronicler of the world’s 1 p.c. He stays in that lane with Mountainhead, his characteristic directorial debut, which follows an unexpectedly eventful weekend gathering of 4 of the tech world’s strongest males on the new mountain retreat of Hugo “Souper” Van Yalk (Jason Schwartzman), the one non-billionaire of the bunch. Whereas it’s meant to be a pleasant get-together between outdated buddies, everybody has an ulterior motive for blocking the weekend on their calendar. However all plans exit the window when the social media platform owned by Ven Parish (Cory Michael Smith), the world’s richest man, sends the world into upheaval as the results of a fast-tracked AI characteristic that’s spreading disinformation at an alarming charge. Which everybody however Ven sees as a possibility to extend each their energy and web value.
Babygirl
Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) is a high-powered CEO with a husband (Antonio Banderas) who doesn’t excite her and two teenage daughters she adores. However her life is turned the other way up when one morning, whereas strolling to her workplace, she is almost attacked by a canine. A good-looking younger stranger (Harris Dickinson) steps in and manages to avert the assault, which leaves Romy shaken—and curious. Later, that very same younger man is launched to her as Samuel, one in every of her latest interns, who appears to maintain discovering methods to push the boundaries of applicable office conduct. Finally, Romy offers in to Samuel’s advances, and his style for BDSM-ish kink. Regardless of Romy’s issues concerning the unfair energy dynamic, Samuel insists that he’s the one who holds the facility of their relationship, as she is the one with all the things to lose. He is perhaps proper about that.
The Brutalist
Adrien Brody earned his second Finest Actor Oscar for this historic epic from director Brady Corbet about László Tóth (Brody), a Bauhaus-trained architect who emigrates to America after surviving the Buchenwald focus camp. Tóth settles within the Philadelphia space and should rebuild his life by working menial jobs for little pay. However Tóth’s skills don’t go hidden for lengthy. A rich industrialist, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Man Pearce), learns about Tóth’s previous and commissions him to design an enormous venture. He additionally helps to hurry up the immigration of Tóth’s spouse, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), whom he has not seen since his incarceration. However Tóth quickly learns that the American Dream comes at a worth. Whereas, at its coronary heart, The Brutalist is a frank depiction of the immigrant expertise, it’s additionally a heartbreaking assertion on the ache that comes with processing trauma. The movie received three of its 10 Oscar nominations, and is totally deserving of every.
Home
Put together to have your thoughts blown by this trippy 1977 horror-comedy from Japan. Attractive (Kimiko Ikegami) is the daughter of a famed movie composer who returns from a visit to Italy with a shock: a brand new spouse. In an effort to keep away from the awkwardness of the scenario, she asks her aunt if she will keep at her creepy outdated mansion for the summer time, then brings alongside six of her closest buddies. It doesn’t take lengthy for bizarre issues to start out occurring. Disembodied head assaults, homicidal pianos, and possessed cat portraits? This thrillingly bonkers cult basic has all of it!
Gimme Shelter
Legendary documentarians Albert and David Maysles reinvented the rockumentary with this riveting first-hand recounting of the ultimate days of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 US tour, which led to their notorious Altamont Free Live performance. The live performance, which attracted an estimated 300,000 folks to California’s Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969, was a catastrophe from the get-go—particularly given the band’s choice to usher in the Hells Angels because the present’s safety (one member famously mentioned they have been reportedly paid in beer). The Stones weren’t the one artists, however by the point they took the stage the group was uncontrolled. At one level, one of many Angels stabbed a person, Meredith Hunter, proper in entrance of the stage—a second that the filmmakers later realized they’d captured on movie. Seeing the band’s response to watching the footage themselves makes for a really compelling perspective on rock stardom.
Sing Sing
Colman Domingo proves but once more why he’s one in every of immediately’s most acclaimed actors with this Oscar-nominated efficiency. Divine G (Domingo) is an inmate at New York’s notorious Sing Sing jail, serving time for against the law he didn’t commit. Throughout his imprisonment, he finds function and pleasure within the jail’s theater group, a part of its (very actual) Rehabilitation By the Arts program. By tapping into his inside thespian, Divine G is ready to join together with his feelings, and he turns into decided to show his innocence. However his plain performing expertise, which evokes a few of his fellow inmates, finally ends up posing an issue when it comes time for a parole listening to. In the end, Divine involves respect the transformative energy of the humanities in serving to him and a few of his fellow inmates to beat their previous traumas. Making the movie much more highly effective is the truth that lots of the actors are previously incarcerated males who took half in this system.
Heretic
Hugh Grant earned some much-deserved awards consideration for taking part in to this point in opposition to kind on this religion-themed psychological thriller. Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are two younger Mormon missionaries who’re determined to search out somebody—anybody—who will allow them to talk about their faith in an try to convert new members to the church. When Mr. Reed (Grant), a seemingly form older man, invitations them into his dwelling to be able to ship their spiel to him and his spouse, it rapidly turns into obvious, not less than to Sister Barnes, that one thing is amiss. And that Reed doesn’t a lot need to hear about faith as he does speak about it—and drive his personal beliefs on the younger ladies in more and more weird, and lethal, methods.
We Dwell in Time
Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh ignite the display with their chemistry on this romantic tearjerker that follows the couple over the course of a decade, from their meet-not-so-cute (she hits him along with her automobile) to their journey into parenthood and, finally, dealing with the last word curveball that threatens their happily-ever-after. Garfield and Pugh are two of essentially the most acclaimed actors of their technology, and We Dwell in Time proves why.
Juror #2
Up till now, most of what you’ve heard about Juror #2 is the way it’s one in every of Clint Eastwood’s most completed directorial efforts—and but one way or the other it bought shafted when it got here to its theatrical launch. Now’s your probability to see what all of the fuss is about. Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) is a journalist and recovering alcoholic who’s making each effort to take care of his sobriety. That turns into a little bit of a problem when he’s placed on the jury of a high-profile homicide trial … solely to comprehend that he might have inadvertently performed an element in what occurred. Hoult is implausible on this edge-of-your-seat authorized (and moral) drama.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
It has been practically 40 years since Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice stormed the late ’80s field workplace. Within the many years since, we’ve typically heard rumblings {that a} sequel was within the works. Or is perhaps within the works. Or most positively was within the works. Or won’t be within the playing cards in any respect. Effectively, in 2024 it lastly occurred, and it was as if Michael Keaton had by no means stepped away from the position in any respect (everlasting life has a method of doing that to you). This time, nonetheless, Lydia (Winona Ryder) continues to be doing her greatest to overlook her rendezvous with the bio-exorcism professional. However when she returns to her childhood dwelling, it’s her personal badass daughter (Jenna Ortega) who finds a option to deliver him again into all their lives.
Tremendous/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Along with the all-new Superman film, audiences have James Gunn and his DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran (partly) to thank for bringing this long-overdue documentary concerning the final superhero actor to worldwide audiences. Administrators Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui ship a heartfelt, shifting tribute to Reeve—as an actor, sure, however much more in order an individual who by no means gave up. Alexandra Reeve Givens, Matthew Reeve, and Will Reeve—Reeve’s kids—share their very own tales about their dad, giving the venture yet one more layer of intimacy. No, you’re crying.
Watchmen: Chapter I
Brandon Vietti (Batman: Underneath the Purple Hood) directs this modern animated adaption of Alan Moore’s Hugo Award-winning graphic novel about an investigation into the homicide of Edward Blake—higher generally known as a superhero named the Comic. When the police come up empty when it comes to suspects, the costumed vigilante Rorschach (Titus Welliver) decides to take the case into his personal fingers, and finally involves imagine that somebody is trying to knock off superheroes. So he enlists the assistance of a gaggle of them to be able to put a cease to the killing spree.
MaXXXine
MaXXXine is the third movie in writer-director Ti West’s X trilogy, which started with X and Pearl. It’s set instantly after the occasions of Pearl: Mia Goth’s Maxine Minx is determined to flee her upbringing as a preacher’s daughter and make the transfer from porn to extra mainstream films. She will get her probability when she lands the lead in a horror film, The Puritan II. Then her buddies begin getting murdered. In the end, Maxine is compelled to confront the sins of her previous and discover a option to obtain the celebrity she so desperately goals of.
Civil Battle
Within the not-too-distant future, the US has reworked into an all-out battlefield between an authoritarian authorities, headed by a third-term president (Nick Offerman), and a stream of secessionist actions that threaten to destroy the nation as we all know it. However a gaggle of journalists (led by Kirsten Dunst) is decided to doc the downfall of America at any price, so that they set about heading to the White Home to be able to interview the embattled president. Which is far simpler mentioned than completed. Oscar nominee Alex Garland (Ex-Machina) writes and directs this dystopian drama that usually hits uncomfortably near dwelling.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Furiosa might have been dubbed final summer time’s first field workplace “bomb,” however don’t let these dollar-focused headlines deter you from this one. Anya Taylor-Pleasure, who’s undoubtedly probably the most versatile actors working immediately, shines within the position of Imperator Furiosa, a badass emancipator who dares to problem gender conventions in a harmful, postapocalyptic world the place (no shock in any respect) males make the foundations. Taylor-Pleasure does an admirable job embracing the position that Charlize Theron memorably originated in Mad Max: Fury Highway.
Love Lies Bleeding
English writer-director Rose Glass follows up her BAFTA-nominated Saint Maud with this twisty, hyper-violent love story. It’s 1989 in a rural New Mexico city the place gymnasium supervisor Lou (Kristen Stewart) is doing her greatest to remain underneath the radar and control her sister Beth (Jena Malone), who’s in an abusive relationship along with her husband JJ (Dave Franco). However Lou’s life is turned the other way up when Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a beautiful younger bodybuilder, begins coming to Lou’s gymnasium to coach for an upcoming competitors in Las Vegas. The 2 fall in love—after which Lou’s hidden household secrets and techniques come tumbling out of the closet and threaten her life, and the lives of these she cares about.
Faye
“I’m Faye Dunaway. That’s who I’m.” That’s the best way the Oscar winner introduces herself within the trailer for Laurent Bouzereau’s feature-length documentary. However what the movie reveals is that there’s much more to Faye Dunaway than the glamorous picture related to the legendary star of Community. Dunaway opens up in a method that has hardly ever been seen earlier than, discussing her childhood and household, her struggles with bipolar dysfunction, and the way the characters she has performed proceed to influence her. It’s a captivating portrait of a real Hollywood icon.
Quad Gods
Jess Jacklin’s characteristic documentary follows the fascinating journey of Blake, Prentice, and Richard—three people with quadriplegia who meet in a neuro-rehabilitation lab at Mount Sinai Hospital and launch a plan to create the world’s first all-quadriplegic esports crew. It’s a noble pursuit, however one fraught with challenges as they break down the doorways of ableism. At its coronary heart, Quad Gods is a narrative of friendship, perseverance, and survival.
Am I OK?
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a thirtysomething dwelling in Los Angeles, always failing at relationships and questioning why she doesn’t have all the things found out but. After drunkenly sharing the story of the time she kissed a feminine buddy as a teen, she begins to comprehend that the issue in her love life won’t be the boys she’s selecting, however that she’s selecting males in any respect. Former Saturday Night time Dwell author Lauren Pomerantz penned the script for the movie based mostly on her personal expertise of popping out in her thirties. Tig Notaro and her spouse Stephanie Allynne do an admirable job as codirectors, treating Lucy’s journey of self-discovery with the respect it deserves—and loads of humor.
MoviePass, MovieCrash
For higher or worse, thousands and thousands of movie followers will bear in mind 2012 because the yr of MoviePass. For $25 per 30 days, you can mainly reside in a movie show—which was nice for audiences, not so nice for film theaters (which have been already struggling), and finally disastrous for the corporate itself. For anybody who nonetheless has their MoviePass, this revealing documentary tells the actual story of all that went flawed behind the scenes, and shares the story of the unsung heroes who actually did simply need to create a product that film lovers may embrace. By the best way: If you happen to do certainly nonetheless have your unique MoviePass, this doc has made it a worthwhile piece of memorabilia—with some promoting for north of $1,000.
Dune and Dune: Half Two
Since breaking by way of with the Oscar-nominated Incendies (2010), Denis Villeneuve has continued to show that he’s probably the most proficient filmmakers working immediately. As if making a Blade Runner sequel that didn’t suck wasn’t sufficient, Villeneuve then went on to crack the cinematic code on Frank Herbert’s Dune sequence—one thing that true visionaries like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky had tried earlier than him, albeit largely unsuccessfully. Each the 2021 unique movie and its sequel are streaming on HBO Max—as is Lynch’s 1984 adaptation (which has turn into a little bit of a cult basic over time). The movie follows the destiny of the planet Arrakis—and its provide of melange, a singular spice and essentially the most invaluable substance within the universe—which rests within the fingers of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the untested son of a strong duke. On the lookout for extra Dune motion? The prequel sequence Dune: Prophecy, starring Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, and Mark Sturdy is streaming in full.
The Zone of Curiosity
In 1943, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) was the commandant of Auschwitz who spent his days taking part in god with the lives of the focus camp’s harmless prisoners. However what occurred when Höss went dwelling? That’s the truth Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning movie examines, and the reply is: Not a lot. Höss lives proper subsequent door to the camp, within the so-called Zone of Curiosity, together with his spouse Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and their 5 kids. Inside these 4 partitions, they try to construct a dream life for his or her household—whereas the sound of gunshots, incoming trains, and furnaces being lit are simply part of every day life. Sure, it’s each bit as brutal—and crucial—because it sounds.
Barbie
Greta Gerwig is a grasp of respiratory new life into outdated properties (see: Little Girls). With Barbie, she has ignited a revolution. Barbie (Margot Robbie) resides her greatest life in Barbieland—till at some point, when her completely plastic world, and heels, all of a sudden start to break down. To get her fabulous life again, Barbie should journey to the actual world—nicely, Los Angeles—to find out who or what’s inflicting her existential disaster. The movie grossed practically $1.5 billion worldwide, which means you have already seen it. However even in case you did, it’s completely value a second watch—if solely to lament its many Oscar snubs.
Actuality
In 2017, an intelligence report about Russian interference within the 2016 US presidential election was leaked anonymously. One yr later, former NSA translator Actuality Winner (sure, that’s her actual title) was sentenced to greater than 5 years in jail for the crime—the longest sentence ever acquired by a authorities whistleblower. HBO’s reigning muse, Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, The White Lotus), shines on this gripping true story, which performs out principally in actual time because the FBI knocks on the 25-year-old’s door and spends greater than an hour questioning her.
All of the Magnificence and the Bloodshed
Discovering success in a single’s lifetime would possibly look like the dream of each artist, however Nan Goldin has greater ambitions. Although she’s a photographer by commerce, she’s an activist by calling and has lengthy used her digicam to seize painfully intimate moments of America in disaster, together with intensive work targeted on the HIV/AIDS and opioid epidemics. However All of the Magnificence and the Bloodshed reveals the artist in battle: Ought to she enable her work to be showcased in one of many distinguished museums or galleries which have acquired endowments from the Sackler household—the Massive Pharma household that many blame for America’s opioid disaster? It’s a shifting portrait of an artist prepared to threat all of it for her beliefs.
