The 30 Best Movies on HBO and Max Right Now

November 27, 2024

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This article is updated frequently as titles leave and enter Max. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.

HBO Max is now Max. Once upon a time, the streaming service was where you could stream blockbusters like Dune and The Matrix Resurrections on the same day they landed in theaters, but that era long gone. These days, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max is best understood as the streaming service with a dense catalog of classic films, pulling from generations of the Warner Bros. catalog, as well as hosting Criterion, TCM, and Studio Ghibli (at least for as long as the merged Warner Bros. Discovery holds onto its licensing deals).

But you’re not here to celebrate the size of Max’s library. You want help navigating it. The streaming giant’s deep, wide bench makes it perhaps the hardest service to pare down to 30 great films, but somehow we found a way. Our aim is to pull from a cross-section of what the service offers, including recent additions (this month look for Under the Skin and The Souvenir), enduring classics (2001: A Space Odyssey and The Silence of the Lambs), award winners (Spirited Away), under-the-radar gems (Shoplifters), general Vulture favorites (Mad Max: Fury Road), and even films that offer an offbeat story but can’t-miss performances from its stars (Gloria Bell).

You’ll find our selections organized into five genre categories — drama, action, horror, comedy, and family-friendly — and each week we cycle our recommendations, whether in response to changes in the Max library or just to keep things fresh. Just because a movie no longer appears on this list doesn’t mean it’s been removed from Max. We just want to give some other films a moment in the spotlight, starting with this week’s critic’s pick below. If there’s an under-appreciated movie on the service that you think we should consider for inclusion, please let us know at streamliner@vulture.com.

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This Week’s Critic’s Pick

*The Breakfast Club

Year: 1985
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director: John Hughes

Few films of the ‘80s are more influential to this day than John Hughes’ mega-popular collection of misfits, a comedy that has basically been remade almost every year since it came out. Look at any of the modern teen comedies and you can pick out the Judd Nelsons, Anthony Michael Halls, Molly Ringwalds, and Ally Sheedys. See where a subgenre basically changed forever.

The Breakfast Club watch on max

How We Pick Our Films

Critic Brian Tallerico watches and writes about movies and TV every day. To curate this list, he dives into Max’s catalogue to surface acclaimed, surprising, or otherwise noteworthy titles — using his taste and a lifetime of cinema study as his guide, instead of whatever the algorithm happens to be pushing. After triple-checking to make sure they’re still available, he watches each, organizes them by category, then writes his recommendation. We highlight more than just Oscar winners or popcorn flicks: These films present interesting ideas, made an impact on cinema, and changed our culture. Read on to find something to watch.

Drama

2001: A Space Odyssey

Year: 1968
Runtime: 2h 19m
Director: Stanley Kubrick

It’s hard to overstate how much everything changed when Kubrick went to space to craft one of the most beloved sci-fi films of all time. Before 2001, there weren’t really movies like 2001, a film that blends genre storytelling with deeply philosophical themes about what it means to be human. It’s also a film that holds up remarkably well, although not one that fits casual watching while on your phone. Give this one all of your attention. It deserves it.

2001: A Space Odyssey watch on MAX

Casablanca

Year: 1942
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Michael Curtiz

One of the most popular films of all time, Casablanca is now over eight decades old, but it’s still being watched somewhere every single day. Why has the story of Rick and Ilsa sustained as generations of other movies have come and gone? There’s something timeless in this tale of an ex-pat (Humphrey Bogart) who is asked to help the love of his life (Ingrid Bergman) escape the city of Casablanca during World War II. This is the first movie that so many people think of when they hear the phrase “classic cinema” for a reason.

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Clèo From 5 to 7

Year: 1962
Runtime: 1h 29m
Director: Agnès Varda

The Queen of the French New Wave has a strong presence on Max because of her deep catalog in the streamer’s Criterion section, and you owe it to yourself to learn more about one of the most vital and important filmmakers of all time. This is probably her most popular film, the tale of a French singer who is awaiting test results that could confirm she has cancer. It’s a deeply powerful and philosophical character study, and the perfect gateway to discovering an essential filmmaker.

Clèo from 5 to 7 watch on max

Gloria Bell

Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Sebastian Lelio

Sebastián Lelio co-writes and directs this adaptation of his own 2013 film Gloria that’s essentially the same film beat for beat with one major difference: Julianne Moore. The Oscar-winning legend plays the title role, a divorced woman with two adult children. There’s no high concept or strange hook here — just a beautiful character study with one of the best performances of 2019.

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In the Mood for Love

Year: 2000
Runtime: 1h 39m
Director: Wong Kar-wai

One of the best films ever made, Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 drama is the story of a man (Tony Leung) and a woman (Maggie Cheung) who form a delicate relationship of glances and brief touches but can never fulfill their obvious passion for one another. Set in 1962 Hong Kong, it is a gorgeous film, filled with color and music that tell the story as much as dialogue or action. Filled with longing, cultural imposition, and regret, In the Mood for Love captivates every time you see it. It’s like entering a dream.

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The Manchurian Candidate

Year: 2004
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Jonathan Demme

Over four decades after the wildly influential original film, Jonathan Demme returned to the Richard Condon 1959 novel and delivered a movie that was widely underrated. Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Jon Voight, and Liev Schreiber star in the 2004 story of a sleeper agent, a film that played a lot differently in a scary post-9/11 world.

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Moonlight

Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: Barry Jenkins

One of the most notable Best Picture winners of all time, this already-influential film tells the story of one young Black man at three different stages of his career. A who’s who of future stars that includes Jharrel Herome and Trevante Rhodes, it also won an Oscar for Mahershala Ali. (And it should have won a Best Director one for Barry Jenkins too.). It’s one of the best films of the century so far.

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Parasite

Year: 2019
Runtime: 2h 12m
Director: Bong Joon-ho

Remember not that long ago before the world changed, and we could all rally around a South Korean film becoming the first foreign flick ever to win the Oscar for Best Picture? It really was a crazy time. Thanks to Hulu’s relationship with distributor Neon, the streamer was the only place you’ll find Bong Joon-ho’s hysterical and thrilling study of class conflict for a long time, but the beloved thriller has now dropped on Max too.

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Pulp Fiction

Year: 1994
Runtime: 2h 35m
Director: Quentin Tarantino

There are certain tentpoles of American film history that changed the form forever, and this is undeniably one. Heck, we’re still getting Tarantino riffs almost thirty years later, as everyone wants to make a movie as effortlessly cool as his masterpiece. What more could possibly be written about Pulp Fiction? You know you love this and want to see it again. Now you can!

Pulp Fiction watch on max

The Souvenir

Year: 2019
Runtime: 2h
Director: Joanna Hogg

This deeply personal drama was one of the best films of 2019, and probably the best film on Max that you might not have heard of before. Honor Swinton Byrne plays Julia, a film student who falls for a man named Anthony (Tom Burke), who turns out to be toxic in every way, including his drug use. Byrne’s mother Tilda Swinton plays Julia’s mom in a film that’s about how we turn our life into art. Don’t miss this one.

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Winter’s Bone

Year: 2010
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Debra Granik

Jennifer Lawrence’s breakthrough role came in this resonant drama from writer/director Debra Granik about a teenager in the Ozarks forced to deal with the seedy, underground world of meth dealers in this poor part of the country. Lawrence is so believable that she earned an Oscar nomination alongside nods for John Hawkes, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture.

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Comedy

The Banshees of Inisherin

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director: Martin McDonagh

One of the best films of 2022, and a surefire upcoming Oscar contender, this dark comedy is already out of theaters and onto the streaming giant for subscribers. Colin Farrell does career-best work as a hapless Irishman who discovers that his best friend, played by Brendan Gleeson, doesn’t want to talk to him anymore. A film about how neighbors become enemies feels particularly timely in the currently fractured world, and this one is brilliant, funny, and moving.

The Banshees of Inisherin watch on max

*Barbie

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Greta Gerwig

One of the biggest films of 2023 has already landed on Max in the form or Greta Gerwig’s daring blockbuster, a comedy that works both as a reminder of the power imagination and the fight for equality. Anyone who thinks this movie is anti-male isn’t paying any attention. The theme of the movie is that no one — not even Barbie or Ken — should be defined by traditional roles. We should all be free to play however we want. It’s a wonderful film that will truly stand the test of time.

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*Dr. Strangelove

Year: 1964
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Stanley Kubrick

The large fan base of Stanley Kubrick often mentions dark pieces of work like 2001, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining, but one of his best and most influential films is a comedy about the end of the world. Satirizing the Cold War this aggressively way back in 1964, Kubrick rewrote the textbook for political comedy and presented viewers with an instant classic that was both hysterical and terrifying.

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Election

Year: 1999
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Alexander Payne

What a great movie. The writer/director of Nebraska and The Descendants adapted Tom Perrotta’s novel of the same name and produced arguably his best film to date. Reese Witherspoon is amazing as Tracy Flick, an overachieving student who really aggravates a high school teacher named Jim McAllister, played by Matthew Broderick. So much so that he sabotages her run for student government president in a film that understands the intersection of the political and the personal in ways that movies actually set in D.C. rarely do.

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Fargo

Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Joel and Ethan Coen’s masterpiece is only one of the best films ever made, a story of violence and redemption in the great American North. The Coens won Best Original Screenplay and Frances McDormand took her first Oscar home for playing the unforgettable Marge Gunderson, a Minnesotan cop who gets entangled in a car salesman’s deeply inept foray into the criminal world.

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I, Tonya

Year: 2017
Runtime: 2h
Director: Craig Gillespie

Who could have ever guessed that the true(-ish) story of Tonya Harding would become an Oscar-winning dramedy? Margot Robbie does some of the best work of her career as the title character, who reclaims her own story through this odd, funny, and ultimately moving character study that won Allison Janney an Academy Award.

I, Tonya watch on Max

Office Space

Year: 1999
Runtime: 1h 29m
Director: Mike Judge

It barely made a dime when it was released ($12.2 million total) but Mike Judge’s workplace comedy developed a cult following on VHS almost immediately upon its release. Ron Livingston stars in a satire of life in cubicles in the 1990s. Set at a software company and a horrible chain restaurant, the film captured something about the surreal daily drudgery of work life at the turn of the century that changed this kind of comedy forever.

Office Space watch on max

Action

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Year: 2001
Runtime: 2h 58m
Director: Peter Jackson

The Oscar-winning franchise by Peter Jackson bounces around the streaming services with alarming regularity, now finding its way to Max for an indeterminate amount of time. Watch the entire saga of Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gange, and the rest of the Fellowship while you can.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring watch on max

Mad Max: Fury Road

Year: 2015
Runtime: 2h 1m
Director: George Miller

Have you seen the Furiosa trailer?! It’s insane and easily one of the most anticipated films of 2024. Go back to its predecessor, one of the best action movies ever made. This sequel rocked the world when it was released in 2015 on its way to winning multiple Oscars and really setting a new bar for practical action effects. George Miller went into the desert and returned with one of the most ambitious, insane, downright impossible action epics ever made.

Mad Max: Fury Road watch on max

The Matrix

Year: 1999
Runtime: 2h 16m
Director: Lilly & Lana Wachowski

Neo and the gang returned to Max in late 2021 with The Matrix Resurrections, and the response was predictably divisive. You know what’s not divisive? The fact that the first movie still absolutely rules. The story of an average guy who learns that nothing is what it seems has influenced so much pop culture in the over-two decades since this movie was released. You can see Neo everywhere. (And you can watch the entire saga on Max if you want.)

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*Robocop

Year: 1987
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Paul Verhoeven

People like to point at ‘80s movies and say they were ahead of their time, but this may be most true about Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 masterpiece, a film that foretold how technology would impact law enforcement in ways that took decades to come true. A brilliant action satire, this is the story of a Detroit cop who is murdered and revived as the title character, a superhuman cyborg enforcer. It’s even more riveting and relevant almost four decades later. Note: Both original era sequels and the 2010s reboot are also on Max.

Robocop WATCH ON MAX

Strange Days

Year: 1995
Runtime: 2h 25
Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Largely unavailable in the United States, Max subscribers were stunned when Strange Days dropped on the streaming service to start 2023. A sci-fi masterpiece from the director of Near Dark and Point Break, Bigelow’s epic stars Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, and Juliette Lewis in a vision of the end of the millennium that blends sci-fi and noir. A bomb when it came out, this is a flick begging for a reappraisal. (Sad note: It appears the version on Max is in the wrong aspect ratio, but we’ll take what we can get right now.)

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Horror

Carrie

Year: 1976
Runtime: 1h 39m
Director: Brian De Palma

Long before Stephen King was an entire industry, he was the guy who wrote Carrie, a 1974 novel about a bullied teen girl who unleashes hell on her classmates. Every once in a while, there’s a perfect combination of source material and creatives, and that’s what happened when King, De Palma, and Sissy Spacek combined forces here. Horror movie history would be made. Note: The underrated Chloe Grace Moretz remake is also on Max.

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Night of the Living Dead

Year: 1968
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: George A. Romero

The movie that changed it all. It’s really hard to overstate the impact that George A. Romero’s classic black-and-white masterpiece had on not only the zombie genre, but DIY microbudget horror filmmaking. So many people have been chasing that game-changing impact of Night of the Living Dead in the half-century since it came out, but it’s the original that’s passed the test of time.

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The Silence of the Lambs

Year: 1991
Runtime: 1h 58m
Director: Jonathan Demme

Movies don’t get much better than Jonathan Demme’s adaptation of Thomas Harris’ chilling thriller about Clarice Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter. With career-defining performances from Jodie Foster and Sir Anthony Hopkins, this movie still absolutely slays a quarter-century after it was released. It’s fascinating to see its DNA in so many modern genre films. Nothing about it is dated, which isn’t something that can be said about many films that are three decades old.

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Under the Skin

Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 49m
Director: Jonathan Glazer

A trippy, sci-fi masterpiece, this flick stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien being exploring the world around her and, well, doing some terrifying things to the men she comes into contact with. Although that only scratches the surface of why this is a special movie, a terrifying tone piece that has more in common with Twin Peaks than Species. It’s unforgettable and brilliant, one of the best films of the ‘10s.

Under the Skin watch on Max

For Kids and Family

Spirited Away

Year: 2001
Runtime: 2h 4m
Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Almost all of the Studio Ghibli films are on Max, the now exclusive home to them when it comes to streaming. The truth is that we could devote about 10 percent of this list to Hayao Miyazaki and his colleagues, but we’ll give up some that space and just point you here to the ranking of the entire output of the most important modern animation studio in the world. Start with Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Castle in the Sky. You won’t stop.

Spirited Away watch on MAX

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Year: 1970
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Mel Stuart

They can remake this story as many times as they want (and are again now with an upcoming series) but the most beloved version of the Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will always be the 1971 film starring the legendary Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Joyous and a little dangerous at the same time, Wilder understood the Dahl sense of humor, one that doesn’t baby young viewers as it takes them on an unforgettable journey through pure imagination.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory watch on max

The Wizard of Oz

Year: 1939
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Victor Fleming

Maybe you’ve heard of it? Seriously, what could possibly be written if you’re on the fence about The Wizard of Oz? Maybe you haven’t seen it since you were a little kid? Revisit the journey of Dorothy over the rainbow if that’s the case and appreciate this wonderful fantasy on a new level.

The Wizard of Oz watch on max

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