HBO was, for at least two generations, the birthplace of cable video; no one else can compete. Thus, the rise of HBO Max has been the ultimate streaming destination for moviegoers, but the jury is still out on that designation. , especially given the resolution to remove the “HBO” component from the call in favor of the easier, but more generic, Max.
However, Max maintains a collaboration with TCM, which provides it with a wide diversity of old American and foreign films, as well as much of its catalog from HBO itself. It’s also the main streaming space for Studio Ghibli and A24, so though Max does. It no longer aims to create as many originals as it once did, it still has a counterfeit collection of videos that you can’t possibly find anywhere else.
Here are 25 of Max’s recent and/or exclusive deals.
While Godzilla Minus One proved that Japanese filmmakers are still capable of extracting authentic drama from the stories of the city-destroying kaiju, the American branch of the franchise offers deft counter-programming. That is, Godzilla x Kong: The New Kingdom is as ridiculous as its name suggests, with Godzilla and Kong teaming up to fight a tribe of Kong’s distant relatives – they live in the other size of the Hollow Earth and harnessed the power. of an Ice Titan, you see. It is nothing more and nothing less than a clever time with giant monsters.
Denis Villeneuve has managed to adapt the last part of Frank Herbert’s epic novel, to the point that Dune fans are already considering a third film, adapting the second volume of the series. The bloodless (metaphorically) and cerebral sequel was a critical hit and a box office success, unexpected in both senses, especially since the beloved e-book was once thought to be more or less unadaptable (with David Lynch’s deeply bizarre edition as exhibit A. in of this claim). If you’re catching up, Max also has the first Dune, with a spin-off series (Dune: Prophecy) coming in the fall.
Julio Torres (creator of Los Espookys and Fantasmas, also available on Max) wrote, produced, directed and stars in this surreal comedy about a toy designer from El Salvador who flees to the United States with an expiring visa. Still not satisfied with a desperate task with the unconventional and volatile artist Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton)? The wildly quirky and human comedy has received praise since its debut in South Through Southwest last year. RZA, Greta Lee and Isabella Rossellini also play the lead role. .
It was a tall order, after the beloved 1985 edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, but this adaptation of the later Broadway musical removes those obstacles and more. While you can’t upgrade older versions, it provides a unique, bright, and colorful view. It takes on the story of hardworking, agile Miss Celie (Fantasia Barrino), who survives and ultimately thrives despite her “poverty. “”Black. . . and ugly” in the rural south of the early twentieth century. Danielle Brooks, in the role of Sofia, was nominated for an Oscar.
You have no idea what’s in store unless you’ve seen this raucous musical about a pair of twins separated at birth (Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson), misogynistic idiots pretending to be for each other so they can reconcile their long-estranged parents (Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally). It’s an undeniable and silly premise, but things get crazier and crazier temporarily. Mom Evelyn’s vagina fell out Years ago, her newly freed father, Harrison, helped keep mutant “sewer boys” in a giant cage in his apartment. Everything is wonderfully strange, impressive.
Real-life married couple Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne directed this comedy based, loosely, on Allyne’s own life. Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, an aimless 32-year-old woman living in Los Angeles who discovers that her unsatisfying romantic life might have something to do with her being more than just straight. She travels through her adventure of self-discovery and revelation with her best friend Jane (Sonoya Mizuno from House of the Dragon).
What’s left to say about the 2023 film? Oppenheimer won the Oscars, but Barbie owned the media and the box office, and the bubblegum-pink feminist professional made more money than any other film. Margot Robbie is the best as the fish-out-of-water doll trapped in the real world, Ryan Gosling is more than Kenough and this is director Greta Gerwig’s third consecutive triumph.
Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White of The Bear star in this sports drama about the real Von Erichs family of professional wrestlers, an extended family considered cursed for the number of tragedies they’ve endured. The performances were almost universally praised, as was the film’s ability to combine wrestling’s harrowing action with compelling human drama. The National Review Board named it one of the most productive films of the year. Diffuse it with a handy tissue box.
Willy Wonka’s Horrible Chocolate Experience might have stolen the spotlight from Timothée Chalamet’s role as a vaguely menacing favorite chocolatier, but that doesn’t explain why sleeping with Wonka. An old-school musical with modern production values, Wonka feels like a completely refreshing film. A throwback to a less cynical time, with memorable songs and moving emotional rhythms.
One of A24’s most recent releases hasn’t made much of a splash among the distributor’s other recent offerings, but it still garnered some wonderful reviews and some awards and nominations for star Nicholas Cage. Here he plays school teacher Paul Matthews, who begins to appear in the dreams of dozens of unrelated people, but as a passive and bored observer. Until both that and the appearances begin to take on a more menacing, nightmarish quality. It all ends up being an incredibly disjointed meditation on fame, A24 style.
The wonderful Sofia Coppola wrote and directed this biopic based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir about her young life and her turbulent and disturbing romance with the elder Elvis Presley. Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi will give wonderful performances, and the result is a portrait of a tender relationship. , in its own way, but also confusing and profoundly unbalanced.
I’m not here to argue that Aquaman 2 is wonderful art, or even completely memorable, but it is a captivating and crazy piece of superhero fun, pairing Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson as a pair of mismatched super brothers on a quest. . to save the planet from some evil greenhouse fuel spitters. There’s a lot at stake to keep things interesting, but the film lacks the gravitas that plagues so many other super movies, especially DC-adjacent ones.
In a world of videos carefully calibrated to be as risk-free as possible, it’s great to see something as muscular, frenetic, and uncompromising as Love Lies Bleeding. Kristen Stewart plays Lou, the director of a small-town gym; she is the daughter of the local crime boss (Ed Harris), along with a sister (Jena Malone) who suffers the mistreatment inflicted by her bad husband (Dave Franco). All of this is quietly tolerated until bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) stops in town. She is in a position to act and fall in love with Lou before they get caught up in an act of violence that turns the whole thing into a truly savage final act. (available July 19).
A provocative name for a provocative documentary, Slave Play. No is a film. A pieza. ve playwright Jeremy O. Harris to explore the artistic procedure of the play of the same name, a play that garnered a record number of Tony nominations, won none, and is equally enjoyed and hated (they are interracial couples receiving sexual treatment in a pre-war plantation house). The narrative here is completely non-linear and the regulations of the classical creation process are out of the window; Harris, on the other hand, adopts an almost thought-based technique to examine the procedure of creating the piece and understand the reactions to it. Formation
While DC’s live-action film slate went extinct with a whimper (at least until next year’s Superman reboot), the animated film series progressed more quietly, but also more successfully. This episode marks the first component of an adaptation of DC’s biggest story, in which heroes from across the multiverse combine to save you from a wave of antimatter that wipes out entire universes. Darren Criss, Stana Katic, Jensen Ackles and Matt Bomer are among the voices, with the second part coming to Max in the near future.
For some Muslims in New Delhi, it has long been traditional to feed black kites (a type of bird of prey), believing that such a clever action will keep things from getting into trouble. city, where birds are victims of all kinds of dangers, the main culprits being pollutants and overpopulation. The documentary All That Breathes follows brothers Saud and Nadeem, who run a bird sanctuary that has housed tens of thousands of birds of prey over the past two decades. , in a story about the interconnection of our ecosystems, and also about the distinctive feature of avoiding what is inevitable: decline.
Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning film examines the banality of evil in the story of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his spouse Hedwig (the brilliant Sandra Hüller), who lead seemingly ordinary lives while also being complicit in the common evil that occurs in the open air. frame. Array is very explicit in its treatment of the Holocaust and the real-life figures depicted, but it also suggests, more universally, that we are all capable of being blind to the horrors in which we participate.
Daniel Kaluuya won an Academy Award for his role as Fred Hampton in this poignant biographical drama about the FBI’s infiltration of the Black Panther Party’s bankruptcy in Illinois in 1960s Chicago. LaKeith Stanfield plays FBI informant William O’Neal in the film, which is also nominated for Best Picture.
Before Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the book, music, and lyrics for this three-day musical concert in a predominantly Dominican-American community in Upper Manhattan. The cinematic editing captures all the joy of level editing, while adding a filming that grounds everyone making a song and dancing. It is a beautiful and moving birthday celebration of life, change and community.
Long regarded as a lively-filled weirdo, this new documentary establishes Little Richard’s position as one of the architects of rock and roll, if not the cornerstone on which the entire genre is built. This film not only explores his life and art, however, it considers Richard’s open (and equally strong) homosexuality as an essential component in the early years of rock.
Oscar and Emmy-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams collaborated with Donna Summer’s daughter, Brooklyn Soudano, in this in-depth exploration of her life and career as a disco queen, songwriter, and painter. The documentary uses non-public photographs and videos, recorded by Donna herself. , to take an intimate look at the genuine woman behind the iconography.
We spend a lot of time fearing new technology, rightly so, but Quad Gods offers a brighter vision: for other people with quadriplegia, for whom activities like soccer are out of the question, esports provide a way to compete and socialize not only with each other. other people with physical restrictions, but in the broader world of what has become a primary industry. While exploring the contrast between the Quad Gods team’s daily lives and their talents as online gamers, the documentary is an incredibly positive experience. Take a look at how the generation can put us all on a similar playing field.
David Lowery’s medieval pastiche, based more or less (but authentically) on the 14th-century chivalric romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is a visual feast as well as a dark, sensual adventure into an imagined past. Dev Patel plays the knight of the name in a film that adheres more closely to the conventions of medieval storytelling than virtually any film he’s ever seen. The result is something of a fever dream, but a delight for anyone willing to delve into it.
Rob Reiner directs this charming documentary about actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter Albert Brooks, covering his early days and a decades-long career that includes SNL, Scorsese’s films, the voices of The Simpsons, and an Academy Award nomination. It’s usually a verbal exchange between Brooks and Reiner, but it’s all pretty fascinating, whether you’re a longtime fan or not.
An engaging portrait of photographer, artist and activist Nan Goldin, whose paintings document the HIV/AIDS crisis and the most recent opioid epidemic following her own death from a fentanyl overdose. At the heart of the film is an ethical conflict: Goldin’s tireless work against the Sackler family businesses, for her role in the relentless marketing of OxyContin, puts her in a difficult position when it comes to showing her work. After encouraging artistic netpaintings to divest from those pharmaceutical giants, he also goes so far as to question the price of displaying his paintings in museums, many of which are largely funded through the Sacklers. To what extent does an intransigent artist commit himself to a common good?
Former child star turned dog owner.