The 30 Best New Movies on HBO Max
HBO has been, for at least a couple of generations, the home of movies on cable TV—no one else could compete. For a while, it looked like HBO Max Max HBO Max might well be the best streaming destination for movie lovers, but the jury is still out.
However, HBO Max continues to partner with TCM, giving it a wide range of classic American and foreign films. It’s also the primary streaming home for Studio Ghibli and A24, so even if the streaming service isn’t making as many original films as it did a few years ago, it still has a solid lineup of titles you won’t find anywhere else.
Here are the 30 best recent and/or exclusive HBO Max deals.
Mickey 17 (2025)
Bong Joon-ho’s ( Parasite , Snowpiercer ) latest film, Mickey 17, didn’t do well at the box office, but that’s not the film’s fault. It’s a broad but clever and well-timed satire starring Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, a well-meaning chump who signs up to crew a spaceship bound to colonize the icy world of Niflheim. Due to his general lack of skill, he’s deemed Expendable—his memories and DNA are kept on file so that when he inevitably dies (often horribly), he’ll be reprinted and rebuilt to live, work, and die again. Things get complicated when a new Mickey is accidentally printed before the old one dies—a huge taboo among religious types who can handle one body/one soul but panic at the implications of having two of the same person walking around. It also confuses, and ultimately intrigues, Mickey’s girlfriend, Nasha (Naomi Ackie). Soon, both Mickeys find themselves on the run from just about everyone, including the new colony’s MAGA-like leader (Mark Ruffalo). You can stream Mickey 17 here .
Pee-wee as himself (2025)
Paul Reubens took part in dozens of hour-long interviews for this two-part documentary directed by Matt Worth, but from the opening minutes, the former Pee-wee Herman makes it clear that he struggles with the idea of handing over control of his life story to someone else. It’s a throughline in the film and, we learn, in the performer’s life, as he spent decades grappling with his public profile while maintaining deep privacy in his personal life. Reubens’s posthumous admission that he’s gay makes the headlines, but it all adds up to a fascinating look at an artist we feel like we barely knew. You can stream Pee-wee as himself here .
Brutalist (2024)
Brady Corbet’s epic historical drama, which earned 10 Oscar nominations and earned Adrien Brody his second Academy Award for Best Actor, follows Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who emigrates to the United States after the war. His journey as a refugee follows its ups and downs — at first, he can barely find work despite his background as an accomplished architect trained at the Bauhaus in Europe. A wealthy benefactor (Guy Pearce) seems like a godsend when he offers Laszlo a high-profile project, but discovers the limits of his talent in the face of American anti-Semitism and brutality. You can stream The Brutalist here .
Baby (2024)
Nicole Kidman stars in this contemporary erotic thriller as CEO Romy Mathis, who begins a dangerous (i.e. naughty) affair with her much younger intern (Harris Dickinson). After an opening scene involving deeply unsatisfying lovemaking with her husband (we’ll have to suspend disbelief on the subject of Antonio Banderas as a sleazy, sexually frustrating husband), Romy runs into Samuel (Dickinson), who saves her from an escaped dog before taking her on as his mentor at work. She teaches him how to automate processes while he teaches her BDSM, but his sexy, goofy charm soon gives way to something darker. For all the online chatter (Nicole Kidman on all fours lapping up milk!), the gripping performances and Halina Raine’s chilly direction elevate this above more sensible erotic thrillers. You can stream Babygirl here .
Bloody Trophy (2025)
This documentary on the illegal rhino horn trade gets extra points for going beyond the poaching in southern Africa to discuss the global networks involved, and focusing on the activists and veterinarians working to protect and conserve the endangered species. The overall story is as horrific as it is fascinating: smuggling networks that begin with sham hunts that allow quasi-legal export of horn to countries in Europe (Poland and the Czech Republic are particularly interesting), and are often coordinated by Vietnamese mafia organizations. You can stream Bloody Trophy here .
Best Friends for Adults (2024)
Katie Corwin and Delaney Buffett write and star as a pair of lifelong friends who are now in their 30s and whose lives are headed in completely different directions. Delaney (Buffett, who also directs) has no interest in settling down or tying the knot with one guy, while Katie (Corwin) is terrified to tell her party-hard best friend that she’s getting married. Katie plans a weekend with her best friend to break the news, but sees a trip back to their childhood hometown fall victim to a series of wild and crazy complications. You can stream Adult Best Friends here .
2073 (2024)
Inspired by Chris Marker’s 1962 short film La Jetée , which itself inspired the feature film 12 Monkeys , the docudrama 2073 examines the state of our world in the present through the framing device of a woman (Samantha Morton) looking back from the titular year and reflecting on the road that led to an apocalypse of sorts. Her reverie examines, through real, current, news footage, the rise of contemporary popular authoritarianism in the regimes of Orbán, Trump, Putin, Modi, and Xi, and their alliance with the tech bros in ways that accelerate the coming climate catastrophe. It’s not very subtle, but neither is the daily news. You can stream 2073 here .
Flow (2024)
A gorgeous, wordless animated film that follows a cat through a post-apocalyptic world after a devastating flood. The Latvian import, about finding friends and home in uncertain times, deservedly won the Oscar for best animated feature. It’s also allegedly very popular with pets – although my dog slept through it. You can stream Flow here .
Heretic (2024)
Two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) show up at the home of a charming, reserved man (a deeply creepy Hugh Grant) who invites them because, he says, he wants to explore different faiths. Which turns out to be true – except he has ideas that go far beyond anything his two guests have in their brochures. It soon becomes clear that they won’t be able to leave without playing Mr. Reed’s games, and this smart, irreverent thriller doesn’t always go where you think. You can stream Heretic here .
Queer (2024)
Director Luca Guadagnino follows up his vaguely bisexual tennis film Challengers with this less subtle (it’s in the title) adaptation of William S. Burroughs. Daniel Craig plays William Lee (a fictionalized version of Burroughs himself), a drug-addicted American expat living in Mexico City in the 1950s. He soon falls in love with Drew Starkey’s Eugene Allerton, and the two embark on a magnificent journey through Mexico, ayahuasca, and their own sexuality. You can stream Queer here .
Education (2025)
Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn) invite their parents to a remote country house so they can all meet, which sounds like a lot of horror for this horror comedy. But wait! There’s more: A demon summoned from a Wi-Fi router enters the body of Rohan’s father (Brian Cox), an event further complicated by the arrival of the house’s owner (Parker Posey). It’s wildly uneven, but there’s a lot of fun. The supporting cast includes Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, and Dean Norris. You can stream Raising Parents here .
Juror #2 (2024)
Clint Eastwood’s latest (last?) effort is a high-concept legal drama that boasts some impressive performances, highlighted by his straightforward directing style. Nicholas Hoult plays Justin Kemp, a journalist and recovering alcoholic assigned to jury duty in Savannah, Georgia. The case concerns the death of a woman a year earlier, allegedly killed by the defendant, her then-boyfriend. But as the case unfolds, Kemp gradually comes to the realization that he knows more about death than anyone else in the courtroom, and must find a way to exonerate the defendant without implicating himself. You can stream Juror #2 here .
Godzilla x Kong: New Empire (2024)
While Godzilla Minus One proved that Japanese filmmakers are still adept at wringing genuine drama out of city-destroying kaiju stories, the American branch of the franchise offers some clever counter-programming. Which is to say, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is as ridiculous as its title suggests, with Godzilla and Kong teaming up to battle a tribe of Kong’s distant cousins — they live in the alternate dimension of Hollow Earth and have harnessed the power of the Ice Titan, you see. It’s nothing more or less than a good time with giant monsters. You can stream Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire here .
We Live in Time (2024)
Director John Crowley had a huge critical success with 2015’s Brooklyn , but 2019’s The Goldfinch was a disappointment on almost every level. The nonlinear romantic drama We Live in Time feels like something of a return to form, as Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield display impressive chemistry as the couple at the film’s center. They meet when she hits him with her car on the night he finalizes his divorce, and the film jumps from his early days to a difficult pregnancy to a cancer diagnosis without feeling overly gimmicky. You can stream We Live in Time here .
Trap (2024)
Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is a pretty cool dad in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film, taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert by a really cool Billie Eilish-style pop star. But we soon learn that Cooper is also a notorious serial killer (not a patented Shyamalan twist, in case you were worried about spoilers). The FBI knows “The Butcher” will be at the concert, even if they don’t know exactly who it is, and the whole thing is, yes, a trap that Cooper must escape from. Premises like these make for fun thrillers, and Hartnett has fun with the central role, his performance becoming increasingly twitchy and unhinged even as Cooper tries to make sure his daughter enjoys the show. You can stream The Trap here .
Caddo Lake (2024)
While we’re on the topic of M. Night Shyamalan, he produced this psychedelic thriller that plays like a working-class drama for most of its runtime before going completely nuts in ways best left unspoilt. Eliza Scanlen plays Ellie, who lives near the titular lake with her family, and where, it turns out, her 8-year-old half-sister has disappeared. Dylan O’Brien plays Paris, who works dredging the lake while dealing with survivor’s guilt and the trauma of his mother’s slightly mysterious death. Their stories (and backstories) merge when they discover that a person doesn’t always leave the lake the same way they found them. You can stream Caddo Lake here .
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Denis Villeneuve has stuck with his adaptation of the final installment of Frank Herbert’s epic novel, so much so that Dune fans are already eagerly awaiting a third film adapting the second book in the series. The chilly (metaphorically) and cerebral sequel was both a critical and box office success — surprising on both counts, especially considering the beloved book was once considered more or less unadaptable (with David Lynch’s extremely bizarre version serving as evidence to support that claim). If you’re playing catch-up, HBO Max also has the first Dune and a pretty excellent spin-off series ( Dune: The Prophecy ). You can stream Dune: Part Two here .
The Problemist (2024)
Julio Torres (creator of Los Espookys and Fantasmas , also available on HBO Max) wrote, produced, directed, and stars in this surreal comedy about a Salvadoran toy designer working in the United States on a visa that’s about to expire. What else to do but take a desperate job with eccentric, volatile artist Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton)? The wildly unusual and humane comedy has earned rave reviews since its debut at South by Southwest last year. RZA, Greta Lee, and Isabella Rossellini also star. You can stream Problemista here .
MaXXXine (2024)
The final (for now, at least) film in Ti West’s X trilogy once again stars Mia Goth as fame-obsessed Maxine Minx. Taking a break from adult films, Maxine lands a starring role in a horror film, only to find herself being watched by a leather-clad assailant. The solid cast in this industry debacle includes Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon, and Giancarlo Esposito. You can stream MaXXXine here .
The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim (2024)
An anime take on Tolkien’s world, War of the Rohirrim brings back co-writer Philippa Boyens, who helped write each of the previous six Lord of the Rings films. This animated installment takes us 200 years before Peter Jackson’s films, when the King of Rohan (Brian Cox) accidentally kills the leader of the neighboring Dunlendings during marriage negotiations, setting off a full-scale war. Miranda Otto reprises her role as Éowyn, who narrates the story. You can stream War of the Rohirrim here .
Another Man (2024)
Although it barely made the Oscars (only scoring a nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling), Another Man made several top 10 lists for 2024 and earned Sebastian Stan a Golden Globe (he did get an Oscar nomination for an entirely different film, so the former Winter Soldier had a pretty good year). Here, he plays Edward, an actor with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that manifests itself in his body as a disfiguring facial condition. An experimental procedure cures him, and Edward adopts a new identity that does nothing to tame his deep-seated insecurities, especially when he learns of a new play being written about his life. It’s a surprisingly funny look at a damaged psyche. You can stream Another Man here .
Super/Human: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)
Alternating between Christopher Reeve’s life before and after the horse riding accident that left him paralyzed, this heartfelt and heartbreaking documentary follows the Superman actor as he becomes an activist for the rights of people with disabilities. Archival footage of Christopher and his wife Dana is mixed with new interviews with their children, as well as actors and politicians who knew and worked with them both. You can stream Super/Human here .
Sing Sing (2024)
A fictional story based on the real-life arts-based rehabilitation program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, this Best Picture nominee follows Diving G (Colman Domingo), an inmate who becomes the star of the group. The film celebrates the redemptive power of art and acting, with a stunning central performance from Domingo, who was also nominated for an Oscar. You can stream Sing Sing here .
Am I Okay? (2024)
Real-life couple Tig Notaro and Stephanie Ellynn direct this comedy, loosely based on Ellynn’s own life. Dakota Johnson stars as Lucy, an aimless 32-year-old woman in Los Angeles who discovers that her unsatisfactory romantic life may have something to do with the fact that she’s not straight. She navigates her journey of self-discovery and coming out with the help of her best friend Jane ( House of the Dragon ’s Sonoya Mizuno). You can stream Am I Okay? here .
Love Lies Bleeds (2024)
In a world of movies that are so carefully calibrated to be as inoffensive as possible, it’s refreshing to see something as muscular, frenetic, and uncompromising as Love Lies and Bleeds. Kristen Stewart plays small-town gym manager Lou; she’s the daughter of a local crime boss (Ed Harris) who has a sister (Jena Malone) who’s suffering abuse at the hands of her no-good husband (Dave Franco). It’s all quietly tolerated until bodybuilder Jackie (Katie O’Brien) stops by town. She’s fired up and ready for action, falling hard for Lou before the two get caught up in a violent act that sets things off on a truly wild finale. You can stream Love Lies and Bleeds here .
Slave Game. Not a movie. A play. (2024)
A provocative title for a provocative documentary , Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. finds playwright Jeremy O. Harris exploring the creative process behind the title work, a play that has received a record number of Tony Award nominations, won none, and is loved and hated in equal measure (it’s about interracial couples undergoing sex therapy in an antebellum plantation house). The narrative here is entirely nonlinear, and the rules of traditional writing are thrown out the window as Harris instead applies an almost train of thought to examine the process of creating the play and understanding the reactions to it. You can stream Slave Play here .
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Parts One, Two, and Three (2024)
While DC’s live-action roster has been quietly ushered in (at least until next year’s Superman reboot), the animated film series has been moving more quietly, but also with greater success. This trilogy adapts the biggest story in DC history overall, as heroes from across the multiverse band together to prevent an anti-matter wave from wiping out entire universes. Darren Criss, Stana Katic, Jensen Ackles, and Matt Bomer are among the voice cast. You can stream Crisis on Infinite Earths , starting with Part 1, here .
Front Room (2024)
Adapted from a short story by Susan Hill ( The Woman in Black ), The Front Room gets a lot of mileage out of its mother-in-law-from-hell premise. Brandi plays Belinda, a pregnant anthropology professor forced to quit her job due to unfavorable working conditions. Her extremely odd mother-in-law, Solange (a scene-stealing Kathryn Hunter), makes Brandi and her husband, Norman, an offer that could solve their financial problems: if they take care of her in her final days, she’ll leave them everything. Of course, the psychic religious fanatic has no interest in making this easy. It’s more silly than scary, but thoroughly entertaining if you’re in that mood. You can stream The Front Room here .
Four Gods (2024)
We spend a lot of time being wary of new technology, often with good reason, but Quad Gods offers a brighter perspective: for people with quadriplegia, for whom venues like football are out of the question, esports offer a way to compete and socialize not just among other physically disabled people, but in the wider world of what has become a major industry. By exploring the contrast between the daily lives of the Quad Gods team and their talents in online gaming, the documentary is an impressively optimistic look at how technology can put us all on a level playing field. You can stream Quad Gods here .
Height (2024)
There’s not much new to say in Anthony Mackie’s post-apocalyptic thriller, but Elevation is nonetheless a well-made action movie that never feels silly. Just a few years before the film’s release, the ravenous Reapers rose from the depths of the underground and wiped out 95% of humanity. Now single dad Will (Mackie) is forced to abandon his hideout to travel to Boulder, Colorado, the closest place he can get air filters to help with his son’s lung disease. Along the way, he’s reluctantly joined by scientist Nina (Morena Baccarin), whose lab may hold a way to kill the Reapers. You can stream Elevation here .