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.
This Week’s Critic’s Pick
*North by Northwest
Year: 1959
Runtime: 2h 17m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Movies simply don’t get much better than Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, and Martin Landau. Like so many Hitch classics, it’s a tale of mistaken identity, as Grant’s protagonist is chased across the country. The set pieces – like the infamous crop duster sequence – are well-known, but check out the complete picture, a perfectly paced and executed piece of refined filmmaking.
Drama
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.
Citizen Kane
Year: 1941
Runtime: 2h
Director: Orson Welles
Sure, most people have probably seen Citizen Kane by now, but it’s certainly not a film that plays on cable TV as much as some other acknowledged classics. So maybe you haven’t seen the movie that really redefined the form through the vision of Orson Welles? Or at least not in a long time. You have no more excuses to watch a masterpiece that gets richer every time you see it.
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.
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.
Lost in Translation
Year: 2003
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola exploded onto the filmmaking scene with her second film, this dramedy about a fading movie star who meets an American girl in Tokyo and both of their lives change. Bill Murray does career-best work in the film (and should have won an Oscar), and he’s matched by Scarlett Johansson, but Lost in Translation really is Coppola’s film, a tender, brilliant character study with personal resonance.
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.
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.
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.
Pulp Fiction
Year: 1994
Runtime: 2h 35m
Director: Quentin Tarantino
There are certain tentpoles of American film history that changed the form — and the industry — 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? Nothing: Just watch it.
*The Searchers
Year: 1956
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: John Ford
John Ford and John Wayne took a hard look at the genre that made them household names with this instant classic. Wayne plays a man who has devoted his life to finding his niece (Natalie Wood), kidnapped during the Texas-Indian Wars. Not only is The Searchers arguably Wayne’s best performance, but it digs deeper into the genre than the Western was typically allowed to do, opening it up to new visions by revealing it as something capable of doing more than shoot-outs and horse chases.
*A Serious Man
Year: 2009
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director: Joen Coen, Ethan Coen
Joel and Ethan Coen wrote and directed this period-comedy that introduced most people to Michael Stuhlbarg. The star of Call Me By Your Name and Shirley plays a Minnesota Jewish man in 1967 whose life falls apart in a way that leads to a crisis of faith.
Comedy
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.
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.
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.
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.
Legally Blonde
Year: 2001
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Robert Luketic
Long before she won an Oscar or worked magic with The Morning Show, Reese Witherspoon turned a ditzy blonde into a comedy star in this 2001 romantic comedy from director Robert Luketic. It could be stretching it to call this silly fluff “great” but what elevates the saga of Elle Woods from sorority queen to legal eagle is the total charm and commitment of Witherspoon herself. It’s one of her most likable and memorable performances.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
*Funny Games
Year: 1997
Runtime: 1h 50m
Director: Michel Haneke
Michael Haneke is one of the most daring filmmakers alive, willing to shock viewers to make a point. Perhaps his most divisive film remains this 1997 shocker about a family who are essentially held hostage in their vacation home in Austria. Over the course of the day, the criminals basically torture this family, and through fourth-wall breaks, Haneke interrogates why people would even want to watch something like this, illuminating what art can reveal about the dark side of humanity.
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.
Scream
Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: Wes Craven
The Ghostface killer came back in January 2022 with the release of Scream, the fifth film in this franchise and the first since the death of Wes Craven, and the fun continued with another sequel in 2023 (before the wheels came off in the pre-production of a seventh film). Even the makers of the new movies would suggest that fans go back and watch the original films to see how Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) got here. All four of the Craven films are available now on Max. The first movie is still a flat-out genre masterpiece.
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.
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.
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.
*Wonka
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 57m
Director: Paul King
The quick turnaround from theatrical Warner Bros. releases to Max has been impressive. This family feature was still playing in some theaters when it dropped on Max. An origin story for the character created by Roald Dahl (and defined by Gene Wilder), this Timothee Chalamet vehicle plays well at home, the kind of charmer that can be used as background noise for the little ones or watched more closely on a family movie night. It’s not perfect, but it’s sweet in all the right places.
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