The 25 Best Films To Stream On HBO Max Right Now

Did we mention HBO Max has exclusive streaming rights to Studio Ghibli?

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With the May launch of HBO Max, WarnerMedia has entered the streaming wars in a major way. But what exactly sets this new offering apart from others we've already seen (Peacock, Disney+, Apple TV, etc.)? Great question! For starters, there is a ton of original content underway — HBO Max's very first feature film An American Pickle is slated to air Aug. 6, while the much anticipated Gossip Girl reboot has a tentative summer 2021 date attached. In the meantime, subscribers will have access to a huge archive of Criterion Channel films (many featured in my 25 picks) as well as the rare and much-sought-after Studio Ghibli catalog, and, lastly, all the perks you'd get with a regular HBO subscription (including the ability to watch the latest week-to-week episodes of the superb I May Destroy You).

Confused about all the HBO properties that exist? You are not alone! Take a gander at our handy guide that unpacks the major differences between HBO Max and HBO Now. Really, if you're looking for one takeaway, make it this: HBO Max has a lot of very good movies that you can watch right this second! The proof is below:

1. The Studio Ghibli Collection (1984–2013)

GKIDS

Let's start with one of the major selling points of HBO Max: its exclusive streaming rights to the Studio Ghibli catalog. Everything from iconic fan favorites Spirited Away and My Neighbor Tortoro to Isao Takahata's less-talked-about but equally worth-your-time comeback film, Tale of the Princess Kaguya (which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film and currently sits at 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) are available for your viewing pleasure.

2. The Hate U Give (2018)

Twentieth Century Fox

Adapted from the best-selling young adult novel by Angie Thomas, George Tillman Jr.'s film explores the psychological toll of police brutality as well as the code switching of its protagonist Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) while existing in two worlds — the one where she attends school (an affluent, mostly white private school) and the one back home in "Garden Heights" with her family (a lower-income, mostly Black neighborhood). There's been renewed interested in this source text given recent unrest, showing up on several "racial injustice" film-watching guides, and a prequel titled Concrete Rose was recently announced to be in the works with a January 2021 release date.

3. Walking and Talking (1996)

Miramax Films

Nicole Holofcener is a master of the complicated female-friendship comfort watch, and chief among them is this Catherine Keener vehicle which fans of Frances Ha, or its spiritual predecessor Girlfriends, will find scratches a similar itch. Consider Walking and Talking a time capsule to a simpler time when video rental stores, landline phones, and the croons of Bill Bragg, served as set pieces for the perfect, quirky New York City romance.

4. Muriel's Wedding (1994)

Miramax

This Australian cult-comedy from P.J. Hogan may have turned 25 this year but it still feels as fresh and relevant as ever. Career-making performances from Toni Collette and Rachel Griffith (whose quarantine content has really been a sight to behold)! Dismantling the patriarchy! Finding confidence from within! It's all here. Before coronavirus restrictions tightened, Hogan was in the midst of bringing “Muriel’s Wedding: The Musical” stateside (in Australia, it was a critical favorite), but that has temporarily been put on pause.

5. The Tree of Life (2011)

Fox Searchlight Pictures

We've all grown in the decade since Terence Malick's shapeless art epic first hit theaters. So, maybe if you were one of the many filmgoers who, at the time, walked out of a showing in a huff, you'll now find a retroactive appreciation for this auteur and his story of a family in Waco, Texas, in the '50s and....IDK, the cosmos? Not a great sell? Well there's also Brad. Plus, the work of two masters, Alexandre Desplat (composer) and Emmanuel Lubezki (cinematographer) in conversation.

6. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)

New Line Cinema

Speaking of polarizing films, there's been a recent swell of affection for this maligned David Lynch work, in part due to Showtime’s Twin Peaks: The Return. Sure, it once received boos at Cannes (let's be real — Cannes moviegoers just like making noise!) and was called "an undifferentiated mess of story lines and hallucinations" by New York Times upon release (to be fair, that same publication recommended it for "Watching" two decades later), but if you're a Twin Peaks head or a Twin Peaks head-in-training, there's no doubt this will be right up your alley.

7. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

Filmverlag der Autoren

This melodrama from the controversial director Rainer Werner Fassbinder follows the budding romance between two outsiders — a Moroccan immigrant working as a mechanic and a German cleaning lady nearly twice his age — and a prejudiced community insistent upon keeping them apart. It's considered one of the major works of New German Cinema, and its influence is felt in so many contemporary films today (including Todd Haynes', who has spoken about the importance of this film's vision of "outsiders" on him personally.)

8. When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Columbia Pictures

No streaming list would be complete without a classic Nora Ephron flick represented somewhere. And here it is: the essential, Reagan-era Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal rom-com that asks us to consider the age-old question of whether a single man and woman can ever really be just friends.

9. Wings of Desire (1987)

Argos Films

Bruno Ganz stars in this Wim Wenders masterpiece as a guardian angel who watches over the people of Berlin. The plot thickens when he finds himself falling for a lonely trapeze artist (and longing to join the material world). The film features one of the most memorable live performances in cinema history, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds playing “From Here to Eternity" in an underground goth club. A little something for everyone!

10. Winter's Bone (2010)

Anonymous Content

This surprise Sundance hit from director Debra Granik — whose most recent film, Leave No Trace was a critical favorite that topped many year-end lists — features Jennifer Lawrence in her career-making role as a 17-year-old girl who sets out on a journey through the snowy Ozarks to track down her meth-dealing father. Watching Winter's Bone is to long for the quieter, pre-David O. Russell days, when Lawrence commanded our attention not with big or whimsical performances but through the power of her restraint.

11. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Columbia Pictures

When you watched Uncut Gems and declared it Adam Sandler's best dramatic performance to date, did your snobbiest friend remind you of his tour de force in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love? If they didn't, I guess I can be that friend for you! Or better yet: Let Timothée Chalamet be that friend. He's been known to rave on and on about the formative work in interviews and public forums like the National Board of Review awards. “I sat there watching and watching and watching, and then something happened, it clicked," he said during his acceptance speech. "I was inside the world of an introvert, the way I’d only been reading [in] books, like ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ or something like ‘Crime and Punishment.’ Adam Sandler clued me into a world I’d never been, and then it was over.”

12. That Thing You Do! (1996)

20th Century Fox

Following the death of Adam Schlesinger this year, many praises were sung about the prolific songwriter's body of work — notably his Oscar-nominated contribution to the Tom Hanks-directed film That Thing You Do!. A surprise cast reunion followed. Then, the rewatches. Take this to its logical conclusion by revisiting the nostalgic '90s work for yourself and remembering the pure joy and light that Schlesinger brought to the screen.

13. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Miramax

It's been described as the "perfect quarantine watch" and "comfort watch" (granted our comfort requirements have shifted a bit since April). This 1999 film adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel is all about staring at beautiful people in beautiful places with beautiful things for a few hours (I should warn you there is some grisly crime, too). It's no surprise that fashion websites have devoted so much ink to documenting the iconic resorty fits sported by Jude Law, Matt Damon, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

14. Hoop Dreams (1994)

Fine Line Features

Hoop Dreams premiered just over 25 years ago, and many can agree that it changed documentary film making forever. Steve James' deeply humanist three-hour work tracks two Black teenagers from Chicago in their journey to get into the NBA. Sounds like you have no choice but to find out why it was named the best documentary of all time by The International Documentary Association.

15. Bridesmaids (2011)

Universal Pictures

Hold on for one more day 'cause it's gonna go your way! Saoirse Ronan's favorite movie is a hilarious two-hour romp filled with raunchy jokes, jealousy, explosive diarrhea, and tender lessons on friendship. A movie like this doesn't come along often, and it should be proof that comedic performances (like Melissa McCarthy's) can and *should* be recognized by the stuffiest and most elite awards bodies.

16. A Star Is Born (2018)

Warner Bros.

Come on and take another look at Bradley Cooper's directorial debut! Even if you don't love what the film has to say about the current state of pop music or feel like the editing gets a bit sloppy in the latter half, all of this will surely slip away when Lady Gaga has her Feist moment on the keys, belting out the words to "Always Remember Us This Way." And the memes? Well they're here to stay, so get comfortable.

17. Her Smell (2019)

Gunpowder & Sky

The nice thing about watching an Elisabeth Moss movie is that you know going in that even if the movie is bad you will still get a good Elisabeth Moss performance. Which is to say: Even if you aren't head over heels for this relentless, claustrophobic film about an unhinged lead singer in an all-female trio called Something She, you will still be able to appreciate what Moss is able to do here with her acting chops. Certainly there is no shortage of Moss Having a Meltdown movies to choose from (even from Alex Ross Perry), but pick this one because it's a good corrective to the A Star Is Born narrativizing of the music industry.

18. Ad Astra (2019)

20th Century Fox

Ad Astra, also known as Dad Astra by me, is the rescue-mission story of Brad Pitt learning to let go of his grief after discovering his astronaut father (Tommy Lee Jones; presumed dead) is actually alive and hiding away on another planet. It is also about Natasha Lyonne inexplicably working a boring 9-5 job on Mars. Even if you don't generally love space movies, and find that they all hit the same familiar beats, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover the completely fresh and original production design James Gray has dreamt up.

19. The Three-Colors Trilogy (1993–1994)

Miramax

A French woman married to a renowned composer navigating life in the aftermath of a devastating car accident — ah, sounds like just the role for Juliette Binoche. This three-part film collection directed (and co-written) by the esteemed director Krzysztof Kieslowski is a meditation on the stages of mourning and its colors Blue, White, and Red roughly coincide with the French ideals of "liberty, equality, and fraternity" (blue in this case being her emotional liberation).

20. In the Bedroom (2001)

Miramax

I do not mean this dismissively when I say, this is Oscar bait at its most delicious. We have a seasoned actress (Sissy Spacek) screaming and shattering plates in the kitchen. A quiet, menacing doctor husband (Tom Wilkinson) living a secret life. And a young, grieving single mother caught in the middle of it all (Marissa Tomei). It's based on the 1979 short story "Killings" by Andre Dubus, which I once rented from the library because my mom told me I couldn't watch R-rated movies. Spoiler alert: the short story isn't any less dark!

21. In the Mood for Love (2000)

Block 2 Pictures

Step into this dreamy and colorful world from Wong Kar-wai set in 1962 Hong Kong. It features Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung as neighbors who find themselves falling for each other despite both having spouses. There's no mistaking this slow-burning film's influence in the work of many arthouse filmmakers today like Barry Jenkins. And would I be blowing this thing up to say it is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made? You'll just have to go ahead and decide for yourself.

22. The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Focus Features

There are still very few portrayals of long-term queer parenting in the year 2020 — fewer, even, that attempt to examine some of its messier aspects — which makes The Kids Are All Right all that much more of an important and radical cultural document to this day. Lisa Cholodenko possesses an enviable superpower of being able to make people laugh and cry simultaneously (see also: Olive Kitteridge). You might find yourself doing just that as the film toggles between tearful Julianne Moore monologuing and dark, whipsmart humor.

23. Lord of the Rings (2001–2003)

New Line Cinema

Have you heard of this one? It's kind of a "hidden gem." Peter Jackson's trilogy (and Hobbit) are available for you to revisit with your friends any time you darn need to be swept away into another world for, like, 10 hours. To quote Enya, "May it be your journey on!"

24. Magnolia (1999)

New Line Cinema

I know, I know. We already have a PTA film on here. But what's one more? This film-buff favorite takes a page out of Robert Altman's book, assembling a stacked cast (Tom Cruise! Philip Seymour Hoffman! William H. Macy!) and creating a tangled web of intersecting story lines (a la Short Cuts). And who can forget Julianne Moore's pharmacy meltdown that will live on in meme history?

25. Michael Clayton (2007)

Warner Bros.

What Spotlight is to journalism, Michael Clayton is to law. Yes, it is a thriller but it's also rooted in the everyday practices of legalese and all of its corporate jargon, too. Tilda Swinton won her first and only Oscar for her supporting role in this film — it's still her only nomination spanning a career of knockout performances — which seems like the *real* violation worth investigating here.

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