The 50 Best Movies on HBO Max, Updated for July 2026

DIRECTOR: Nicholas Stoller
STARS: Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Rose Byrne
RATING: R

Obviously, the Diddy of it all has not aged well. Still, fans of farcical comedy owe it to themselves to check out the uproarious Get Him to the Greek, a wild cross-continent trip following the efforts of talent scout Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) to wrangle the incorrigible rockstar Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) for a big show in Los Angeles. The antics keep escalating, and the movie only picks up steam as it rolls along. (Bonus: it also features a wickedly funny Rose Byrne as Aldous’ raunchy flame Jackie Q, a scene-stealer any time she’s on screen.)

Watch Get Him to the Greek on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
STARS: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron
RATING: R

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who respect Ridley Scott’s return to the storied Alien franchise … and those who are wrong. Prometheus returns the series to its body horror roots, weaving another terrifying yarn about how extraterrestrial spores slowly infect and demolish a flight crew in the outer reaches of space. If that’s not enough, the film also features one of Michael Fassbender’s best turns as David, the ship’s icy and calculating android butler.

Watch Prometheus on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Zach Cregger
STARS: Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Amy Madigan
RATING: PG-13

Weapons is, in my humble opinion not quite worth the hype. But it’s still a fun horror watch. Written and directed by Cregger, as his follow-up to the 2022 word-of-mouth hit, Barbarian, Weapons tells the story of a bizarre missing children case, in which 17 children left their homes in the middle of the night to gather in an unknown place. The parents start to blame the children’s teacher, Justine (played by Julia Garner). But Justine has her suspicions about the one student left behind, and his mysterious Aunt Gladys, played by the formidable Amy Madigan in an Oscar-winning performance.

Watch Weapons on HBO Max

DIRECTORS: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
STARS: Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring
RATING: Not Rated

Fan of Black Swan? You owe it to yourself to watch its spiritual antecedent, Powell and Pressburger’s The Red Shoes. This dancing drama charts the internal struggle inside a ballerina torn between her artistic and personal desires. The Technicolor bravura of the performances dates the film squarely in the classical era, but the thematic content still resonates in a contemporary context.

Watch The Red Shoes on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson
STARS: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti
RATING: R

At long last, Paul Thomas Anderson has gotten his overdue Oscar(s) for One Battle After Another. One could obviously make the case for just about any movie prior from his filmography to receive such accolades. Still, there is something a bit poetic about finally crossing the finish line on a work that synthesizes what makes PTA a generational talent. There’s the crackling spitfire energy of his early breakthroughs alongside the more measured, reflective quality of his later works on grander canvases. This story of revolutionaries and families remains surprising and thrilling to its very end.

Watch One Battle After Another on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: James Cameron
STARS: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn
RATING: R

No number of ill-advised spinoffs or sequels (what are we on, the sixth now?) can diminish the spectacular achievement that is the first Terminator. Before the chronology got too scrambled and ret-conned, there was simply Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor caught in between two men from the future. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) wants to protect Sarah’s unconceived son to rescue the fate of humanity, while a sentient cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) will stop at nothing to hunt her down. This is the blockbuster at its best, combining high-octane action thrills with ingenious storytelling.

Watch The Terminator on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Chad Stahelski
STARS: Keanu Reeves, Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane
RATING: R

The recent renaissance of Keanu Reeves begins with 2014’s John Wick. This shoot-‘em-up actioner begins with an almost parodic premise: Reeves’ titular hero kicks into full assassin mode after some Russian gangsters kill his dog. What results is his quest for revenge is a no-holds-barred affair that features some of the best action choreography in years, much of it executed with balletic grace by Reeves that harkens back to his days as Neo in The Matrix.

Watch John Wick on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Mary Bronstein
STARS: Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brian, A$AP Rocky
RATING: R

Written and directed by Mary Bronstein (previously best known for her 2008 indie comedy Yeast), If I Had Legs I’d Kick You stars Byrne as a mom caring for a sick child, by herself, who is slowly but surely losing her mind. Linda (Byrne) is not a good mom, but she’s also not a villain. With style and heart, Byrne and Bronstein defiantly delve headfirst into a long-held taboo: a mom who doesn’t want to be a mom anymore.

Watch If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Ben Affleck
STARS: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Rebecca Hall
RATING: R

If Ben Affleck made The Town any more Bostonian, it would bleed Dunkin Donuts coffee. He both directs and stars in this crime story about a native son from the city’s infamous Charlestown neighborhood who’s caught between fulfilling and escaping a legacy of robbery. Can love — or a manhunt by the FBI — break the ironclad bonds of family? It’s thrilling to watch the two opposing forces tug on the protagonist.

Watch The Town on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Josh Safdie
STARS: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion
RATING: R

Marty Supreme is a dark sports comedy, loosely based on the real-life champion American table tennis player Marty Reisman. Chalamet stars as Marty, a rising table tennis star living in New York City in the 1950s, who is determined to become the best. Marty Supreme received rave reviews from critics and earned nine nominations at the 2026 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Safdie, and Best Actor for Chalamet. (Unfortunately, it didn’t take home wins in any of those categories.)

Watch Marty Supreme on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Tig Notaro, Stephanie Allynne
STARS: Dakota Johnson, Sonoya Mizuno
RATING: R

Coming out as gay, no matter at what age, will always feel a little bit like growing up, and Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne successfully capture that feeling in this “coming of age” film about a woman in her 30s (Dakota Johnson), who finally admits to herself and her best friend (Sonoya Mizuno) that she likes women. It’s lighthearted and sweet in the way queer films rarely get to be, and Johnson is next levels of charming, adorable, and funny.

Watch Am I OK? on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Coralie Fargeat
STARS: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid
RATING: R

Believe the hype on this one. The Substance is a loud, gross, and outrageous commentary on ageism and misogyny, wrapped up in a disgusting—and extremely entertaining—body horror package. Demi Moore stars as a fictional, aging Hollywood star named Elisabeth Sparkle, who uses an experimental black market drug to create a younger, hotter clone of herself, played by Margaret Qualley. Moore didn’t manage to get an Oscar nod despite a hard-fought campaign, but she’s the winner in our hearts for that heartbreaking make-up scene alone.

Watch The Substance on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Sean Baker
STARS: Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe,
RATING: PG-13

Before filmmaker Sean Baker won the Oscar for Best Picture for Anora, he made a name for himself with this critically-acclaimed indie drama tells about a mother and daughter on the verge of homelessness in Kissimmee, Florida, while living in the shadow of the giant, billion-dollar amusement park, Walt Disney World (which was originally dubbed “the Florida project” while it was being constructed). Baker co-wrote the script with his frequent collaborator Chris Bergoch (the team also co-wrote Tangerine and Red Rocket), who said he was inspired to write the story after observing kids in parking lots while he visited his mother in Orlando, Florida.

Watch The Florida Project on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Rob Reiner
STARS: Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer
RATING: R

No music satire comes close to Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap, the movie that essentially invented the “mockumentary.” Reiner mocks reverential rock docs and the bizarre antics of touring metal group Spinal Tap in equal measure. The dialogue is mostly improvised, though not a second of the brief 82-minute runtime feels wasted or haphazard. These laughs go to 11.

Watch This Is Spinal Tap on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Cory Finley
STARS: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ray Romano
RATING: TV-MA

Move over, All the President’s Men, there’s a new shoe leather investigative journalism movie in town. The less you know about Bad Education before you go in, the better. Prepare yourself to be shocked by the corruption that a simple high school journalism story can reveal — and the hilarious extent to which people will go to avoid accountability for what she uncovers.

Watch Bad Education on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick
STARS: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood
RATING: G

Over 50 years later, the wonder and awe of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 remains intact. The movie that made all your favorite directors want to make movies is a beguiling mystery box, indescribable as it conjures the ineffable. The visuals have not aged a bit, nor has the film’s understanding of the twinned promise and peril in the vastness of outer space.

Watch 2001: A Space Odyssey on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer
STARS: Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale, Edith Bouvier Beale
RATING: PG

And you thought your family was weird? Grey Gardens reigns as the champion of cinematic kookiness as a group of documentarians plunges us into the world of two distant cousins of Jackie O. Truth is truly stranger than fiction when it comes to dysfunction between mother and daughter Little and Big Edie, recluses on the slippery slope of isolation to outright entropy.

Watch Grey Gardens on HBO Max

DIRECTORS: Eva Victor
STARS: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Louis Cancelmi
RATING: R

You should run, not walk, to stream this brilliant little film on HBO Max. Victor—who wrote, directed, and starred in this film, making their feature debut, no less!—establishes themselves as one independent film’s next big voices with their smart, clever, and devastating character study of an English professor dealing with the fallout of sexual assault. Victor forgoes any trauma porn and instead focuses on the messy humanity of their protagonist. That includes awkward, funny moments right up alongside the pain. The result is refreshing, distinct, and above all else, real.

Watch Sorry, Baby on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Ingmar Bergman
STARS: Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot
RATING: Not Rated

A Swedish movie best known for a pale-faced Grim Reaper playing chess against a soul he hopes to take might not sound like the most pleasant viewing experience. Yet Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal does not get nearly enough credit for having a real funny bone. The humor is quite dark, of course, given that it’s a film about God and death. But just because something plumbs the depths of some of the most complex ontological questions does not mean it’s an entirely heady, enjoyable experience!

Watch The Seventh Seal on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Hiyao Miyazaki
STARS: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki
RATING: PG

Pixar isn’t the only animation house capable of inspiring pathos with their imagination. HBO Max bought the streaming rights for the movies of Japan’s Studio Ghibli, which had all been previously unavailable online. If you don’t know where to start taking advantage of this opportunity, try Spirited Away. The story of a young girl, Chirono, who must rescue her parents from a world of spirits recalls the childhood classics that convinced us we could do anything.

Watch Spirited Away on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: D.A. Pennebaker
STARS: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding
RATING: Not Rated

D.A. Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop might be the closest thing to a time machine you can get from home. Press play to be transported back to the Summer of Love and experience the music festival that brought together Simon and Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and more. The real highlight, though, is Otis Redding’s sublime rendering of “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.” He’s shot in silhouette against the glare of the blinding spotlight, and the effect is nothing short of transcendent.

Watch Monterey Pop on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Joel Zwick
STARS: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine
RATING: PG

There may never be another word-of-mouth cultural sensation like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a film that rose from a modest limited release to a box office sensation with months of staying power. It’s the perfect movie to stop and watch anytime it plays on TV because you’re never more than a minute away from a really solid joke or gag. But it’s also great to watch straight-through on streaming to connect with the heart and soul of Nia Vardalos’ script. This is an unforgettable story about how we reconcile the people and culture who made us with the person we want to become when those two things appear to be in conflict.

Watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Jordan Peele
STARS: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss
RATING: R

What’s more horrifying than an evil clone that’s determined to kill you? Perhaps only the horrifying reality of class oppression. Us—director Jordan Peele‘s follow-up to his Oscar-winning film Get Out—gives you both of those horrors, along with one of the best performances of the years from Lupita Nyong’o. There’s a lot of twists and turns—all of them earned and satisfying—that I won’t spoil, but I will say that Us is the perfect combination of absolutely terrifying and absolutely hilarious. We all know Peele has comedy chops from Key and Peele, and he puts them to good use. I don’t know that I’ve ever laughed so hard at a movie that also gave me nightmares.

Watch Us on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: John Francis Daley⁩, ⁨Jonathan Goldstein⁩⁩
STARS: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler
RATING: R

This genuinely hilarious comedy—which Decider named the best movie of 2018—is built on slasher horror movie tropes. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams star as a couple whose weekly competitive game night becomes a real, fight-for-your-life murder mystery thriller when of their friends gets kidnapped. It’s high stakes, fun, and laugh-out-loud funny. Plus, Jesse Plemmons steal every scene as the weird neighbor.

Watch Game Night on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Yasujiro Ozu
STARS: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura
RATING: Not Rated

“There is only one place for the camera,” said Martin Scorsese. “That’s the right place.” It’s astonishing to watch Yasuiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story and realize the camera is in the right place for the entirety of the film, perfectly calibrating its physical and emotional distance from the characters. This wistful story of two grandparents visiting their family will both warm and break your heart.

Watch Tokyo Story on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Charlie Chaplin
STARS: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan
RATING: Not Rated

The Kid might be a silent film, but you’ll fill the void of noise with the sound of holding back tears. Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length feature has a heart that transcends spoken dialogue as his iconic Little Tramp learns to love a small orphaned child. This movie will break your heart but then mend it again, leaving you enriched and renewed. If you’re looking to learn why Chaplin is still the greatest artist cinema ever produced, start here.

Watch The Kid on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Aaron Schimberg
STARS: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Adam Pearson
RATING: R

Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man is the perfect response to any ludicrous comments that label an actor’s performance “brave” when they try to undermine their movie star good looks. The film starts with a fantastical premise: what if Sebastian Stan’s Edward, a struggling New York actor with neurofibromatosis, could take an experimental serum that cleared his facial disfigurement? From there, it becomes a fascinating, multilayered, and challenging exploration of constructs our true identity and self. While society might try to separate outer and inner beauty, Schimberg refuses to indulge polite clichés as his darkly comedic character study probes the depths of how deeply people can internalize the perceptions of their appearance. There are far too many polemics about representation gussied up as “conversation starters” these days, but A Different Man is the rare movie worthy of starting a serious and meaningful dialogue.

Watch A Different Man on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Robert Luketic
STARS: Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Jennifer Coolidge
RATING: PG-13

Before she was a book club and producing mogul, Reese Witherspoon was feminist icon Elle Woods, the sorority girl who got into Harvard Law. (What, like it’s hard?) The Legally Blonde script—written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith—is brilliant because it disguises itself as an early 2000s gimmicky rom-com, when it’s actually a fairly radical clap-back against misogynistic stereotypes. Yes, women do contain multitudes, and if you ever forget it, just remember Elle Woods walking in slow motion out of those courtroom doors to Hoku’s “Perfect Day.” No wonder Luke Wilson fell in love with her.

Watch Legally Blonde on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Ari Aster
STARS: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper
RATING: R

This sunny horror film from Ari Aster is both deeply disturbing and one of Pugh’s most iconic performances. Fair warning that this movie features some uncomfortable and traumatic scenes involving grief, suicide, sexual assault, and gore. But if you’re able to handle that, then you’ll be rewarded with a truly brilliant showcase of Pugh’s talent, who stars as Dani Ardor, a psychology student who is traumatized after losing her entire family who tags along with her boyfriend and his friends for a trip to Sweden for a midsummer celebration at a commune. You’ll watch Pugh expertly evolve from a meek girlfriend to a woman of incredible power, and it’s truly transformative.

Watch Midsommar on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Benh Zeitlin
STARS: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry
RATING: PG-13

There aren’t too many great American films in the traditional of poetic social realism, but Beasts of the Southern Wild is a mighty entry. In the outskirts of Louisiana, director Benh Zeitlin captures all the grit and grace of a young firecracker named Hushpuppy who we will come to believe can take on the world. In her imagination, which then bleeds into reality, she has to do just that. It’s a moving vision of childhood resilience visualized on a scale that feels equally epic and intimate.

Watch Beasts of the Southern Wild on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: François Truffaut
STARS: Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger
RATING: Not Rated

If you’re just trying to hit the movies you’d watch an intro film class, the Truffaut film to watch is The 400 Blows. But if you want to dig a little deeper into one of the titans of the French New Wave, the move has to be Shoot the Piano Player, his irreverent mashup of the comedy and gangster flick. This hilarious, inventive movie ought to dispel any mistaken notions that watching old foreign films is some somber chore.

Watch Shoot the Piano Player on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler
STARS: Michael Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton
RATING: R

Written and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ryan Coogler, and starring Coogler’s frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan, Sinners is a period piece, an action flick, and a supernatural horror movie all rolled into one. Jordan stars in dual roles as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who return to their hometown in the Southern U.S. in the 1930s. But instead of a welcoming committee, they discover a great evil waiting for them. The film earned a record-breaking 16 nominations at the Academy Awards, and won the Oscar for Best Actor for Jordan.

Watch Sinners on HBO Max

DIRECTORS: Céline Sciamma
STARS: Noémie Merlant⁩, ⁨Adèle Haenel⁩, ⁨Luàna Bajrami⁩, ⁨Valeria Golino⁩⁩
RATING: R

Treat yourself to some grade-A yearning via this gut-wrenching period romance from French writer/director Céline Sciamma. Starring Noémie Merlant as a French painter in 18th century France, and Adèle Haenel as her beautiful subject she’s hired to paint but instead falls in love with, it’s beautiful, tragic, and oh-so-romantic.

Watch Uncut Gems on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Mel Stuart
STARS: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum
RATING: G

With all due respect to Timothée Chalamet (and much less to Johnny Depp), Gene Wilder is the only true Willy Wonka. There’s something about the way he brings a sense of mischief and menace to the mysterious candy man looking to offload his factory to the next generation. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory plays out as something like a child’s fantasy, and even a half-century later, it’s never lost that dream-like quality.

Watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick
STARS: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill
RATING: G

If you’ve been watching the old Charlie Chaplin films on HBO Max, then you already know the famed silent film actor and director was a big ol’ romantic. City Lights is one of Chaplin’s most-known and praised films, and it’s truly a delight, starring Chaplin as the Tramp trying to impress a beautiful blind woman by passing as a wealthy man. In addition to the impressive physical comedy, it’s also sweet and romantic.

Watch City Lights on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Peter Jackson
STARS: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
RATING: PG-13

“Epic” only scratches the surface of Peter Jackson’s work bringing The Lord of the Rings to life on screen. Cinema at this scale and scope never ceases to amaze. The Fellowship of the Ring, the series’ kickoff, achieves a remarkable balance between easing us into the world of Middle Earth, introducing the characters and providing a taste of the heavily grounded fantasy action that would follow.

Watch The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
STARS: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
RATING: PG-13

There are two distinct periods in cinematic adaptations of comic books. There’s the period before The Dark Knight, when people didn’t know it was possible to scale such an imposing height, and the period after The Dark Knight, when people didn’t know it would be so hard to reach such a height again. Anchored in Heath Ledger’s harrowing incarnation of terroristic mayhem as the Joker, The Dark Knight is the definitive piece of post-9/11 cinema. In the Trojan horse or superhero IP, Christopher Nolan stages a society-wide tussle over the limitations of lawfulness on the grandest canvas he could find. We’re still feeling the reverberations today.

Watch The Dark Knight on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Gene Stupnitsky
STARS: Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman
RATING: R

Jennifer Lawrence fans have known for years that she would absolutely crush it in a comedy, and now, she has. Directed by Gene Stupnitsky, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Phillips, this R-rated comedy stars Lawrence as a broke 32-year-old who answers a Craigslist ad. The job? To date an introverted 19-year-old boy (played by Andrew Barth Feldman) because his parents are worried he’s too sheltered. In addition to being laugh-out-loud funny—including that unforgettable, iconic nude scene from Lawrence—it’s also surprisingly sweet.

Watch No Hard Feelings on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Theodore Melfi
STARS: Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe, Octavia Spencer
RATING: PG

Sure, Hidden Figures might be a little reductive in its treatment of racism by focusing more on individuals than institutions. But if we must have more watered-down versions of stories about overcoming prejudice and discrimination, at least let it center in the stories and humanity of Black women like it does here. Henson, Monáe and Spencer all give powerhouse performances as previously unrecognized NASA mathematicians who played crucial roles in the space race.

Watch Hidden Figures on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Jackie Chan
STARS: Jackie Chan, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung
RATING: PG-13

If you only know Jackie Chan from his Western action movies, you’re missing a big part of the star’s appeal. Go back and watch Police Story to see the action-comedy style Hollywood has been trying to copy for decades. Chan could rival Chaplin with his balletic grace on screen, but it’s tied to fight choreography that inspires laughs and awe in equal measure.

Watch Police Story on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: David Dobkin
STARS: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams
RATING: R

Where does one even begin to start with an all-time classic comedy like Wedding Crashers? The opening 10 minutes packing in so many laughs you can barely keep up? Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn’s partnership being like a Redford/Newman of ribaldry? Rachel McAdams being perhaps the most alluring any person has ever been on screen? Bradley Cooper giving one of the greatest A-hole performances? Will Ferrell coming in and giving the movie a new jolt of energy with an 11th hour cameo? It’s earned all those years of cable play.

Watch Wedding Crashers on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: David Lynch
STARS: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart
RATING: Not Rated

Want to get into the surrealistic stylings of David Lynch but find Twin Peaks and Mulholland Dr. too impenetrable? Try his feature debut Eraserhead, a perfect mixture of artful and accessible. You don’t need to understand every image for it’s overwhelming terror about being a new parent to permeate your soul. Lynch’s images might be abstract, but their impact is chillingly real.

Watch Eraserhead on HBO Max

DIRECTORS: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
STARS: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds
RATING: G

No movie about the movies captures the magic of the medium quite like Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s Singin’ in the Rain. This Technicolor musical captures all of Hollywood’s anxieties as it transitioned from silent films to talkies right when the ascendancy of television proved an existential threat to movies. One glimpse of Kelly’s exuberant dancing is all it takes to have your faith renewed in the enduring viability of cinema.

Watch Singin' in the Rain on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Brady Corbet
STARS: Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones
RATING: R

There’s a reason A24 is leaning into the repeated descriptor “monumental” in the marketing of The Brutalist. First, it’s a clever play on words for a film that revolves so centrally around architecture. But the word also feels like the only proper way to describe Brady Corbet’s mammoth epic about the American dream, the immigrant experience, the challenge of achieving one’s artistic vision, the fungibility of home … the list could go on forever. Here is a film that earns the three-and-a-half hours it requires of your time (that built-in intermission certainly helps) but also feels like it flies by economically and efficiently.

Watch The Brutalist on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve
STARS: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac
RATING: PG-13

Dessert POWER! It feels like a shame to watch Denis Villeneuve’s fantasy epic Dune in any environment other than a giant cinema, but the grandeur of his vision is sure to translate on a screen of any size. This is classical hero’s journey monomyth as Timothée Chalamet’s young Paul Atreides comes to realize the full weight of his messianic potential. This is the rare work of cinema that truly aspires to inspire shock, awe, and wonder – and Villeneuve’s engrossing universe commands that respect.

Watch Dune on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Richard Lester
STARS: John Lennon⁩, ⁨Paul McCartney⁩, ⁨George Harrison⁩, ⁨Ringo Starr⁩
RATING: G

Easily the best of the films made by the Beatles, and arguably one of the best films of all time, A Hard Day’s Night is a time capsule of Beatlemania in 1964. The loose plot left room for the Fab Four to be their hilarious, boyish, charming selves as they romp around England, poking fun at stuffy rich folks and enjoying their new-found fame. Plus, it features the incredible soundtrack of the album of the same name, showcasing some of the bands most beloved songs.

Watch A Hard Day's Night on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Greta Gerwig
STARS: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera
RATING: PG-13

Even apart from the “Barbenheimer” hype, Barbie still hits. It’s an intelligent, entertaining blockbuster that provides a sugar rush of nostalgia followed by a hearty helping of vegetables in the form of incisive cultural commentary. Filmmaker Greta Gerwig once again flips familiar narratives and figures on their head to explore what they say about our society — and, by extension, us. Margot Robbie’s “Stereotypical Barbie” and Ryan Gosling’s (just) Ken are ingenious vehicles to explore the traps of pre-set gender roles and the necessity of claiming one’s own identity and humanity.

Watch Barbie on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Wong Kar-Wai
STARS: Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Maggie Cheung
RATING: PG

Wong Kar-Wai’s tale of doomed would-be lovers in 1960s Hong Kong may well be a perfect movie. The sumptuous In the Mood for Love drips with longing as two neighbors who realize their spouses are cheating on them struggle to sublimate their own feelings for one another. With each subsequent needle drop of the plucky violin tune “Yumeji’s Theme,” Wong dials up the passion and the devastation.

Watch In The Mood For Love on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Charlie Chaplin
STARS: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard
RATING: G

Cinema may never produce a filmmaker who understands the connection between form and content like Charlie Chaplin. His final official outing as his iconic Little Tramp character, Modern Times, is the very definition of a classic. This silent comedy of Depression-era woes was timely for its release, but it endures because it’s a timeless satire of industrial society. This winning movie warms the heart as it places fire in the belly to strive for a world where all humans and their work have dignity.

Watch Modern Times on HBO Max

DIRECTOR: Michael Curtiz
STARS: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
RATING: PG

In case you haven’t heard, the HBO Max classic movie selection is stacked with all-time greats like Casablanca, director Michael Curtiz’s 1942 wartime romance starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Whether you’re watching this masterpiece for the first time or the hundredth, you’ll be sucked into the swoon-worthy love story, the gorgeous lighting, and the surprisingly astute insight on the cultural impact of World War II. (The film came out three years before the war ended!) Sometimes the classics are overhyped. This is not the case with Casablanca, a truly great film. Here’s looking at you, Casablanca.

Watch Casablanca on HBO Max