It may not have the shine it once did, but Max (previously HBO Max) is still home to some of the best TV shows of the past 25 years, from The Sopranos and The Wire to Game of Thrones and The Leftovers.

Max has gotten into the original content game too, with highly acclaimed series like Hacks, Station Eleven, and The Staircase (the owl did it!). So even if you’ve watched all of the HBO classics, there’s more to devour.

Whether you’re a longtime fan of the “it’s not TV” cable network or a Max newbie trying to figure out where to start, the shows below should give you plenty upon which to feast your eyes.

Looking for more recommendations? Head to WIRED’s guide to the best TV shows on Netflix, the best TV shows on Amazon Prime, the best TV shows on Disney+, and the best TV shows on Hulu.

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The Penguin

While superhero/villain TV shows typically tend to be the domain of Disney+, The Penguin is different—in so many ways. Spun off from Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022) and based on the characters famously created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, The Penguin takes a very prestige TV approach to its comic book origins. Which is likely partly why you’ve heard so many comparisons between The Penguin and The Sopranos—a likening that is somewhat overblown. (Though Colin Farrell’s Oswald “Oz” Cobb does bear a passing resemblance to James Gandolfini’s legendary mob boss.) Still, The Penguin is its own beast; it’s an origin story that documents Oz’s violent rise to power following the death of Gotham crime boss Carmine Falcone. While Farrell’s Penguin was one of the most compelling parts of Reeves’ The Batman, here it’s Cristin Milioti—who manages to be utterly charming despite playing a brutal psychopath—who steals the show as Carmen’s daughter Sofia Falcone, a mastermind battling Oz for control of Gotham’s underworld.

Chimp Crazy

“You can’t tame wild things.” That’s Alan Cumming’s very simple summation of why it’s not a great idea to have a 250-pound chimp living in your home as if it were another family member. Chimp Crazy takes that notion to the extreme. Ostensibly, the four-part docuseries—which comes to Max from the same people who brought us Tiger King—is about the lengths to which Tonia Haddix, a tanning-salon-loving exotic animal broker, will go to ensure she cannot be separated from her beloved chimp Tonka (despite what PETA believes is best for the primate). Ultimately, however, it’s an examination of the “chimp mom” community and the disturbing reality of what can happen when a human being puts their own needs above those of these highly intelligent primates, who need more than living in the suburbs can afford them.

City of God: The Fight Rages On

In City of God (2002), Fernando Meirelles’ Oscar-nominated feature, Wilson “Rocket” Rodrigues (Alexandre Rodrigues) is an aspiring photojournalist who uses his art to help make sense of—and bring attention to—the dangers of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. In this new sequel series, it’s a full two decades after the events of the original film. Rocket has achieved his dream of becoming a successful photojournalist, but the dangers that residents of the favela face on a daily basis are still present. So he uses his camera once again to capture the corruption that happens when the drug trade, police, and militia collide.

Industry

You may not have had an “investment banking drama” on your bingo card as your next obsessive binge-watch, but Industry has got a lot more to offer than financial jargon. The British-American series is set in and around Pierpoint & Co., one of London’s most prestigious investment banks and the place that any up-and-comer wants to land a job at. The problem is, Pierpont is picky—and has a very limited number of full-time positions up for grabs. So what you get instead is an inside peek at a cutthroat industry coupled with an ensemble dramedy about the lives of the young professionals competing to make it to the top. Game of Thrones star Kit Harington joined the show—which many have deemed “the new Succession”—for its third season, which just aired its shocking third season finale. All three seasons are available to stream (with a fourth season already confirmed).

House of the Dragon

While it would be silly to think any series could replicate the cultural behemoth that was Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon does a pretty admirable job (even if George R.R. Martin doesn’t necessarily agree with all of the creative choices that make it different from the book). Especially if you wished its predecessor had more dragon action. This prequel series, which is set approximately 200 years before Game of Thrones, is all about discord within House Targaryen and the beginning of the end of that ruling family’s dynasty. Just like GoT, there’s enough sex, violence, backstabbing, family dysfunction, and dragons to fill that void—and even the occasional darkly lit scene to get audiences all riled up. The show’s second season just wrapped in August, meaning you’ve got about another year to catch up.

The Sopranos

It has been 25 years since audiences were introduced to Tony Soprano and his family—both the blood kind and the other kind. Whether you’ve never seen the series that still tops many people’s lists as the greatest television show ever created, or it’s just been a while, it’s time to give it a rewatch. By now the basic premise is well known: Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is the head of a New Jersey crime family who struggles with depression and panic attacks. So he starts seeing a psychiatrist (Lorraine Bracco), which is a no-no in Tony’s line of work. Over the next six seasons, audiences are invited to experience the life of a mob boss—both the violent side and the mundanities it can bring. A quarter-century later, the series still holds up. For an extra dose of Sopranos content, be sure to check out Alex Gibney’s new two-part docuseries, Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, which is streaming now.

Ren Faire

What would happen if Logan Roy were in charge of a Renaissance fair? It might look a lot like Ren Faire. This surprisingly engaging three-part docuseries follows the drama that ensues when George Coulam, founder of the Texas Renaissance Festival (America’s largest Renaissance fair) announces his retirement. While it would seem that the festival’s general manager would be first in line to take over, a kettle corn kingpin and former elephant trainer rise up to challenge that notion of succession. Who knew the Ren faire business was so cutthroat?

Fantasmas

Calling all Los Espookys fans: Julio Torres has a new series. And yes, it’s just as absurd and silly and funny as its horror-comedy predecessor. In this case, Torres plays a fictionalized version of himself who ends up wandering New York City looking for a lost earring. Along the way, he encounters all sorts of bizarre characters, with guest appearances from the likes of Steve Buscemi, Emma Stone, Ziwe, Paul Dano, Bowen Yang, and Aidy Bryant.

The Jinx

The Jinx is as unnerving as it is fascinating. Director Andrew Jarecki’s first brush with the history of Robert Durst came in the form of All Good Things, the 2010 feature starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst that fictionalized the life of Durst. But when Durst saw what Jarecki had done with that project, he requested they sit down for an interview, which spawned this true-crime docuseries that initially premiered in 2015—and eventually led to new charges being filed against Durst. We won’t give away too much, but suffice to say the words “killed them all, of course” will forever live in your mind. The Jinx Part Two, which premiered in April, picks up the story after Durst uttered that haunting phrase.

Hacks

Jean Smart has always been a legend, so it’s only appropriate that she plays a legend in Hacks. The Max series debuted in 2021—not long after the streaming platform itself dropped—and became one of its first major hits. Three seasons in, the show follows the evolution of the relationship between world-renowned Las Vegas entertainer Deborah Vance (Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder, daughter of SNL legend Laraine Newman), a cynical young writer who is on the outs with Hollywood following a bad-take tweet that went viral. What begins as a reluctant “mentorship” slowly transforms into a loving and respectful friendship in which both women realize they have something to learn from the other.

The Sympathizer

Viewers still lamenting the end of The Americans will find much to love about The Sympathizer, which was co-created by acclaimed filmmakers Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar. Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, this limited series follows the exploits of the Captain (Hoa Xuande), a police captain in the Vietnamese capital then known as Saigon, who also happens to be a communist spy. Eventually, he makes his way to America, where he continues gathering intelligence for the Viet Cong. While it may not sound like the premise of a black comedy, that’s indeed what it is—especially whenever Robert Downey Jr. is around. The Iron Man star makes for a formidable villain that viewers love to hate in each one of the four characters he plays.

Conan O’Brien Must Go

Conan O’Brien is at his zaniest in this offshoot of his popular podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Whereas the popular audio series features O’Brien chatting with his fellow celebrities, this globe-trotting series sees the former late-night host surprising everyday people he has featured on said podcast. But it doubles as a kind of travel series, as he uses the time in these far-off places (including Norway, Thailand, Argentina, and Ireland) to immerse himself in the food, traditions, and culture of his chosen destinations. The bad news? There are only four episodes of the series, so you’ll want to savor this one—at least until the second season arrives, bringing two extra episodes with it. On May 15, Max announced that it had renewed the series.

Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show

One has to imagine that putting “Reality Show” in the title was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as this docuseries—in which comedian Jerrod Carmichael claims he’s attempting to “self-Truman Show” himself—is much more intimate and authentic than that label would imply. Carmichael’s goal is to be as honest as he can be about his life and struggles while the cameras are rolling. And if one were to judge his success based on how uncomfortable some viewers might be bearing witness to it all, the show is an absolute triumph.

The Regime

In The Regime, Kate Winslet does that thing that only Kate Winslet can really do: Play someone who is cold, calculating, and highly unlikeable yet immensely watchable. The Titanic star plays Chancellor Elena Vernham, a ruthless dictator who seems to be losing her hold over her people. So she turns to Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts), her water diviner, for advice and companionship. But it turns out the former soldier might have some pretty lofty power goals of his own.

Tokyo Vice

In 1993, American journalist Jake Adelstein landed a job at the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Shimbun as the newspaper’s first non-Japanese staff writer—a position he held for a dozen years. Nearly 30 years later, in 2022, Max turned Adelstein’s life into a slick crime drama that sees the young journalist (played by Ansel Elgort) forge a deep connection with high-ranking members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, who allow him to get dangerously close to the violence and corruption that exist within the city. In June, Max announced that the show’s explosive second season (all of which you can stream right now) would be its last. But Tokyo Vice producers are still holding out hope that a third season will be greenlit elsewhere.

True Detective: Night Country

Did you take our advice and watch Deadloch and now you want more of that, but far darker and more creepy? We have just the solution: True Detective: Night Country. Truth be told, this anthology series has had a rough go. Following a wildly successful first season that crashed Max’s predecessor, HBO Go, and had everyone talking about how time is a flat circle, the series’ second and third installments failed to capture the same momentum. Night Country is a return to form, as evidenced by its 19 Emmy nominations (the most of any HBO series in 2024). It stars Jodie Foster, who just won her first Emmy for the role, and Kali Reis as a pair of investigators trying to uncover a conspiracy and solve a series of bizarre murders. Mysterious symbols are also involved. Yes, that’s pretty much the plot of every season of True Detective, but this season has corpsicles. As with all of those previous iterations, the less you know at the start, the better. Let it pull you in, and never let go.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

“I really did the best under the circumstances of a person who hates people and yet had to be amongst them,” Larry David says in the trailer for the 12th—and final (yes, really)—season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. David—both the real-life comedian and the semi-fictionalized version of himself he plays on TV—has been dipping in and out of our lives for more than 20 years now. And he continually exceeded audience expectations with each new season of Curb. Even though he cocreated Seinfeld, one of the most game-changing TV series of all time, it’s Curb Your Enthusiasm to which he’ll always be more closely linked. Pretty good for a social assassin. Pretty, pretty good.

Julia

In the nearly 20 years since her death in 2004, Julia Child has gotten the biopic treatment with Julie & Julia (2009) and was the subject of Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s documentary Julia (2021). In 2022, Happy Valley’s Sarah Lancashire stepped into Child’s toque to recount the earliest days of her career as a cookbook author and TV chef innovator, and it makes for one tasty dramedy. Both seasons are available to stream now.

Rap Sh!t

Insecure impresario Issa Rae is the brains behind this laugh-out-loud comedy, which follows Mia Knight (KaMillion) and Shawna Clark (Aida Osman), two former high school friends and struggling rappers trying to make it on the Miami music scene. Ultimately, they decide to join forces to form a group, double their chances of success, and use social media as their launching pad—all with mixed results. As much as the series is about music, at its heart it’s really about the unending possibilities of youthdom and the beauty of women supporting women.

The Gilded Age

While it hasn’t made quite the splash that Downton Abbey did, Julian Fellowes’ latest period piece is just as decadent—and really came into its own with its second season. In this case, the drama moves stateside to document the struggle between New York City’s old-money aristocrats and the vulgar new-money types attempting to infiltrate their social circles. There’s also plenty of the Upstairs, Downstairs–type drama that Fellowes is known for, with the servants who cater to Manhattan’s elite playing a big part of the story too. Somewhere in the middle of it all is Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson), a young woman attempting to navigate a world she only belongs to by proxy. Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, and Cynthia Nixon lead a stellar cast.

Starstruck

Jessie (Rose Matafeo) is a twentysomething New Zealander attempting to make ends meet as a nanny in London. One New Year’s Eve, she has a drunken one-night stand, only to sober up and realize she just slept with Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel), a major movie star. But what was presumably a one-off encounter turns into much more over time in this charming romcom series, which is a little bit like Notting Hill—only drunker.

Our Flag Means Death

Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi do what Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi do best as two very different kinds of pirates who cross paths in the 1700s. Darby plays Stede Bonnet, a fictionalized version of a very real member of the landed gentry whose version of a midlife crisis led to him abandon his family and hit the high seas for a swashbuckling adventure. Waititi, meanwhile, plays the infamous Blackbeard, who learns of Bonnet and seeks him out. What begins as a kind of mentorship eventually becomes the gay pirate action-comedy series you never knew you needed.

How to With John Wilson

If Steven Wright and Nathan Fielder decided to create a YouTube channel of how-to tutorials on topics like putting up scaffolding and covering furniture in plastic, it might look a lot like How to With John Wilson. So it probably comes as no surprise that Fielder is an executive producer of the series, which follows Wilson as he attempts to uncover the secrets of such universal dilemmas as how to make small talk. Wilson’s surprising mix of earnestness and deadpan delivery make the series surprising, enlightening, and extremely strange.

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

John C. Reilly stars as Lakers owner Jerry Buss in a performance that would make Reed Rothchild, his Boogie Nights character, proud. This fast-paced period sports drama, which is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime, chronicles exactly what it promises in the title: the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers, who ruled the NBA throughout much of the ’80s—thanks in large part to owner Buss and rookie player Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah). Though it has been lauded by critics, Winning Time has seemed to fly oddly under the radar. This might explain why it was recently axed by HBO. But it’s still period filmmaking and high-stakes sports drama at its finest.

Project Greenlight: A New Generation

In 2001, just three years after Good Will Hunting made them bona fide Oscar winners, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck launched Project Greenlight, a competition that gave aspiring filmmakers the chance to make a real, live movie—which begat Project Greenlight, a reality series that chronicled the ups and downs (mostly downs) of that experience. While the competition was better known for the TV series it spawned versus the movies that it produced, it’s now more than 20 years later. And, as new mentors Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, and Gina Prince-Bythewood quickly realize, it’s all still a bit of a nightmare. Gray Matter, the movie that was created from the competition’s rebirth, is also streaming on Max, so you can judge for yourself whether things are different this time around.

Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York

This four-part docuseries, based on Elon Green’s book Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust and Murder in Queer New York, looks at the murders of several gay men in the early 1990s. Set against the backdrop of rising homophobia during the AIDS crisis, director Anthony Coronna’s doc talks to the family members of those killed and the LGBTQ+ community advocates who pushed law enforcement to investigate the deaths happening in their community.

The Other Two

Chasedreams (Case Walker) is a 13-year-old internet icon whose overnight rise to global stardom has become the sole focus of his mom (Molly Shannon). Chase’s older siblings, however, are having a much harder time finding success. Brother Cary (Drew Tarver) is an aspiring actor who can’t even land the part of “Man at Party Who Smells Fart,” while sister Brooke (Heléne Yorke) is just trying to figure out who and what she wants to be. All three seasons of the series, which was cocreated by former SNL head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, are available to binge.

Barry

No one seemed particularly wowed when HBO announced that Bill Hader and Alec Berg were cocreating a series in which Hader would play a hitman with a conscience who attempts to go straight. But what might sound like a played-out trope has taken on new dimensions of humor, darkness, humanity, and plain old weirdness, with its recently concluded final season serving as a brilliant crescendo of all of that dark weirdness mixed in with a little time jump. Barry Berkman (Hader) is a traumatized marine whose newfound apathy toward the world and the very act of living makes him perfectly suited to work as a gun for hire. When a job takes him to Los Angeles, Barry stumbles upon an acting class led by Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, in what may be the role that finally supplants Fonzie as his most memorable), a failed but charismatic mentor. But transitioning back into the real world isn’t without consequences for Barry, who can spend an entire episode being hunted by a pint-sized martial arts master. All four seasons of the Emmy-winning series, each one better than the next, are available to stream in full.

Love & Death

Elizabeth Olsen seamlessly transitions from part-time superhero to cold-blooded seductress in this retelling of the story of Candy Montgomery—a churchgoing wife and mother who turns murderous after having an affair with a fellow parishioner (the always excellent Jesse Plemons). If the plot sounds familiar, that might be because it’s based on the true story of a murder that took place in Texas in 1980. Or perhaps it’s because Hulu got there first with its own limited series, Candy, starring Jessica Biel as the femme fatale.

Succession

Media empires run by dysfunctional families may rise and fall, but we’ll always have Succession. The Emmy-winning series concluded its four-season run in early 2023, but its legacy as one of the most surprising pieces of prestige TV will be felt for decades to come (especially after what happened at Shiv’s wedding … then “Connor’s Wedding,” not to mention on the balcony or in the hand-hold seen ’round the world). At a time when TV shows about rich people, real or imagined, are in ample supply, Succession manages to stand out by being as bitingly funny as it is painfully tragic. The jet-black family dramedy chronicles the Roy family and the people/cronies/tall men who orbit them, all of whom seem to be angling for control of Waystar Royco, the family-run global media conglomerate—whether by succession (get it?) or more hostile means. Think of it as King Lear meets Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., only funny. (Unless you’re invited to play a game of Boar on the Floor.)

The Last of Us

The Last of Us managed to succeed where Netflix’s Resident Evil (which was canceled after one season) and other live-action TV shows based on video games failed—by being really, really good. Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the video game’s original director, Neil Druckmann, cocreated the post-apocalyptic drama, in which one grizzled survivor (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with smuggling a smart-mouthed teenager (Bella Ramsey) who could be the key to finding a cure for the fungal infection-fueled pandemic that has turned most of America into zombie-like creatures. Props to everyone for generating so much interest in the (very real and parasitic) Cordyceps fungus—because fungi nerds like TV, too. (Fans will be getting a second season of it all, with Pascal and Ramsey returning, in 2025.)

A Black Lady Sketch Show

In 2015, Robin Thede made television history when she was named head writer for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore—making her the first Black woman to hold the head writer position on a late-night talk show. Four years later, she revolutionized the TV landscape once again when she gathered up a group of her funniest friends—including Ashley Nicole Black, (future Abbott Elementary creator) Quinta Brunson, Gabrielle Dennis, and Skye Townsend—and created A Black Lady Sketch Show, the first sketch comedy written, produced, and starring Black women. The four-season series has brought such A-list names as Angela Bassett out as guest stars with its no-holds-barred humor, and the entire series is available to stream now.

Rain Dogs

Costello Jones (Daisy May Cooper) is an aspiring novelist and working-class mom who isn’t always successful at making ends meet for herself and her wise-beyond-her-years daughter, Iris (Fleur Tashjian). So Costello is regularly forced to call upon her violence-prone—but wealthy—gay best friend, Selby (Jack Farthing), to unstick them from whatever jams they’ve managed to get caught in. The series is billed as a black comedy, which it definitely is, although the moments between the levity are sometimes so dark and raw that even the frothiest bits carry weight. This darkly nuanced and sometimes surreal meditation on class, sex, dysfunction, and the varying definitions of “family” makes for a compulsively watchable series.

Abbott Elementary

Abbott Elementary creator/star Quinta Brunson (A Black Lady Sketch Show) has garnered all sorts of accolades with this ABC series and even managed to create streaming deals with both Max and Hulu. The surprise hit follows the lives of a group of teachers who are working at one of the most woefully underfunded public schools in America while doing their best to inspire students. Yes, it all sounds very earnest—and it is—but it’s also the kind of funny we don’t see much of on network TV anymore. The series is entering its fourth season, and has managed to rack up enough awards (Emmys, Critics Choice, Indie Spirit, and beyond) to fill a school trophy case.

The White Lotus

Knowing that Jennifer Coolidge stars in the first two seasons of The White Lotus (the only actor to move locations with the series) is reason enough for many people to tune in. While it was originally imagined as a one-off series from the brilliantly screwed-up mind (in a good way) of Mike White—who cocreated the sadly overlooked Enlightenment with Laura Dern, another HBO show you should check out—it has since morphed into a full-on franchise. The series dives below the surface of the seemingly fabulous lives of deep-pocketed guests who can afford to stay at one of the five-star resorts of the title’s locations (first Hawaii, then Sicily, with Thailand scheduled for season 3), and the people who trip over themselves to serve their every need. Somewhere in between, murder always seems to end up on the menu. As season 3 won’t premiere until 2025, you’ve got time to catch up—and you’ll want to. HBO has already announced that Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Aimee Lou Wood will all appear in the next installment.

I May Destroy You

Michaela Coel is a creative force of nature who delivered on what she promised with the title of this limited series, which she created, wrote, directed, and stars in. Arabella (Coel) is a Londoner living the millennial dream with a thriving writing career, thanks in part to her celebrity as a social media influencer. But Arabella’s Insta-perfect life begins to unravel when, after a night out with friends, she begins to recall—in fragments—being sexually assaulted. Eventually, the need to piece together exactly what happened to her, and who did it, consumes her completely and the past comes knocking at her door. In August, Coel announced she was working jointly with HBO and BBC on a new series, First Day on Earth, that will be equally personal.

The Sex Lives of College Girls

Mindy Kaling cocreated this Max series, which puts a new spin on the teenage sex comedy—one in which the women are fully in charge. Nerdy Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet, yes, Timothée’s sister), aspiring professional funny person Bela (Amrit Kaur), snotty Upper East Sider Leighton (Reneé Rapp), and soccer star/senator’s daughter Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) are four college freshmen randomly thrown together as suitemates. But as they get to know each other, and themselves, their forced cohabitation develops into a true bond—one in which there’s no such thing as TMI and a “naked party” is just one way to unwind after a long week. The series’ third season is expected to premiere later this year, and will be the final go-around for costar/Gen Z icon Reneé Rapp, who announced that she’d be exiting the show to focus on her musical career.

The Rehearsal

Good luck trying to explain what The Rehearsal is to anyone who isn’t familiar with Nathan Fielder’s mastery of uncomfortable comedy. What begins as a series in which the awkward star/comedian attempts to help people prepare for big moments in life by rehearsing them until they get it right quickly turns into a bizarre social experiment in which Fielder himself becomes one of the key players. The less you know about it ahead of time, the better. Just be aware that you’ll be encountering people who responded to a Craigslist ad to take part. For more of Fielder’s weird brilliance, all four seasons of Nathan for You—another kind of meta-comedy that will force you to repeatedly cover your eyes in vicarious embarrassment—are also streaming on Max.

Avenue 5

Bad timing may have led to the unfortunately early demise of Avenue 5, which had filming on its second season delayed, and delayed again, due to Covid-19. But the space-set comedy from the brilliant mind of Armando Iannucci, creator of Veep (another classic streaming on HBO Max), and its even swearier predecessor, The Thick of It, is well worth your time, if only to see what could happen when space travel inevitably goes wrong. Hugh Laurie stars as the “captain” of an interplanetary cruise ship, with Josh Gad playing the role of eccentric tech billionaire/huge baby Herman Judd, whose planned eight-week tour of the galaxy turns dire when a gravitational disaster steers the ship off course. The series gets more bonkers as it goes along, and poop plays a massive part in saving thousands of passengers and crew members. Consider yourselves warned—and feel free to laugh at the inanity of it all. Loudly.

The Righteous Gemstones

Danny McBride and HBO are the new Brangelina of television. First they teamed up for the hilariously offensive-for-offense’s sake Eastbound & Down; then there was Vice Principals. The Righteous Gemstones, which McBride created and stars in, is his latest effort to put forth a group of highly unlikeable people and find a way to make you like them even less but still want to keep watching. In this case, it’s a family of televangelists whose real god is greed and power. McBride assembled an all-star cast that includes John Goodman as the family’s patriarch, Adam DeVine and Edi Patterson as the Gemstone children, and national treasure Walton Goggins as Uncle Baby Billy Freeman—a child-star-turned-grifter who has given the series some of its most memorable quotes and moments.

As the birthplace of prestige TV shows like The Sopranos and The Wire, HBO—and, by extension, Max (aka the streamer formerly known as HBO Max)—is best known for its impressive lineup of original series. The network has also been upping the ante with feature-length content that is the stuff of Oscar dreams. However, because Max is not (yet) a production powerhouse like, say, Netflix, hundreds of great movies come and go each month. So if you see something you want to watch, don’t let it linger in your queue for too long.

Below is a list of some of our favorite films streaming on Max—from iconic Westerns to recent Oscar nominees you’ll see near the top of any Best Movies of the Year list. If you decide you’re in more of a TV mood, head over to our picks for the best shows on Max. If you’re looking for even more recommendations, check out our lists of the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Amazon Prime, and the best movies on Disney+.

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Civil War

In the not-too-distant future, the United States has transformed into an all-out battlefield between an authoritarian government, headed by a third-term president (Nick Offerman), and a stream of secessionist movements that threaten to destroy the country as we know it. But a group of journalists (led by Kirsten Dunst) are determined to document the downfall of America at any cost, so they set about heading to the White House in order to interview the embattled president. Which is much easier said than done. Oscar nominee Alex Garland (Ex-Machina) writes and directs this dystopian drama that often hits uncomfortably close to home.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Furiosa may been dubbed the summer’s first box office “bomb” when it arrived in theaters in May, but don’t let those dollar-focused headlines deter you from this one. Anya Taylor-Joy, who is undoubtedly one of the most versatile actors working today, shines in the role of Imperator Furiosa, a badass emancipator who dares to challenge gender conventions in a dangerous, postapocalyptic world where (no surprise at all) men make the rules. Taylor-Joy does an admirable job embracing the role that Charlize Theron memorably originated in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Drive My Car

Despite earning four Oscar nominations in 2022—and winning one for Best International Feature Film—it still feels entirely accurate to state that Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car remains woefully underseen. Here’s your chance to do your part to fix that. Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) ia a renowned theater director still reeling from the death of his wife. Eventually, he makes the decision to begin working again and agrees to a two-month residency to direct a play in Hiroshima, an hour from his home. So each day, a young woman (Toko Miura) drives him to and from the theater. All that time spent in a confined space together eventually leads to a friendship—one where Kafuku feels comfortable sharing the challenges he is facing with his new project and, eventually, the truth about the way in which his wife betrayed him. Road movies have never felt so intimate—or leisurely.

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel, is currently setting the box office on fire. So why not take a journey back to 1988, where the story of the havoc-wreaking “bio-exorcist” (aka Betelgeuse) began. Michael Keaton is at his zany best as the troublesome spirit hired to help a recently deceased couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) use their ghostly powers to scare away the obnoxious family that has moved into their dream house.

Love Lies Bleeding

English writer-director Rose Glass follows up her BAFTA-nominated Saint Maud with this twisty, hyper-violent love story. It’s 1989 in a rural New Mexico town where gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) is doing her best to stay under the radar and keep an eye on her sister Beth (Jena Malone), who is in an abusive relationship with her husband JJ (Dave Franco). But Lou’s life is turned upside down when Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a gorgeous young bodybuilder, begins coming to Lou’s gym to train for an upcoming competition in Las Vegas. The two fall in love—and then Lou’s hidden family secrets come tumbling out of the closet and threaten her life, and the lives of those she cares about.

Faye

“I’m Faye Dunaway. That’s who I am.” That’s the way the star introduces herself in the trailer for Laurent Bouzereau’s feature-length documentary. But what the film reveals is that there’s a lot more to Faye Dunaway than the glamorous image associated with the Oscar-winning star of Network. Dunaway opens up in a way that has rarely been seen before, discussing her childhood and family, her struggles with bipolar disorder, and how the characters she has played continue to impact her. It’s a fascinating portrait of a true Hollywood icon.

Quad Gods

Jess Jacklin’s feature documentary follows the fascinating journey of Blake, Prentice, and Richard—three individuals with quadriplegia who meet in a neuro-rehabilitation lab at Mount Sinai Hospital and launch a plan to create the world’s first all-quadriplegic esports team. It’s a noble pursuit, but one fraught with challenges as they break down the doors of ableism. At its heart, Quad Gods is a story of friendship, perseverance, and survival.

Babe

Talking animals. Does one need any more convincing? Babe is the heartwarming story of an adorable piglet who aspires to be a sheepdog—much to the delight of Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell, who received an Oscar nod for the role), a farmer and Babe’s caretaker. But Babe is more than just a cute family movie; it’s cowritten and produced by George Miller (yes, the same George Miller of Mad Max fame), who brings an adult sensibility to the story. The film won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects and got six other nominations—including a nod for Best Picture.

The Witch

Anya Taylor-Joy delivers a breakthrough performance as Thomasin, the teenage daughter of a family that is banished from its Puritan community in 1630s New England and forced to live in solitude in the wilderness. It’s there that they begin experiencing a series of eerie encounters that they believe to be supernatural. Think of it as a thinking person’s horror movie—one that burns slowly but brilliantly toward a conclusion that rewards viewers’ patience.

Am I OK?

Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a thirtysomething living in Los Angeles, constantly failing at relationships and wondering why she doesn’t have everything figured out yet. After drunkenly sharing the story of the time she kissed a female friend as a teen, she begins to realize that the problem in her love life might not be the men she’s choosing, but that she’s choosing men at all. Former Saturday Night Live writer Lauren Pomerantz penned the script for the film based on her own experience of coming out in her thirties. Tig Notaro and her wife Stephanie Allynne do an admirable job as codirectors, treating Lucy’s journey of self-discovery with the respect it deserves—and plenty of humor.

MoviePass, MovieCrash

For better or worse, millions of film fans will remember 2012 as the year of MoviePass. For $25 per month, you could basically live in a movie theater—which was great for audiences, not so great for movie theaters (which were already struggling), and eventually disastrous for the company itself. For anyone who still has their MoviePass, this revealing documentary tells the real story of all that went wrong behind the scenes, and shares the story of the unsung heroes who really did just want to create a product that movie lovers could embrace. By the way: If you do indeed still have your original MoviePass, this doc has made it a worthwhile piece of memorabilia—with some selling for north of $1,000.

Dune & Dune: Part Two

Since breaking through with the Oscar-nominated Incendies (2010), Denis Villeneuve has continued to prove that he’s one of the most talented filmmakers working today. As if making a Blade Runner sequel that didn’t suck wasn’t enough, Villeneuve then went on to crack the cinematic code on Frank Herbert’s Dune series—something that true visionaries like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky had attempted before him, albeit largely unsuccessfully. Both the 2021 original film and its sequel, which arrived in theaters in March, are streaming on Max. The film follows the fate of the planet Arrakis—and its supply of melange, a unique spice and the most valuable substance in the universe—which rests in the hands of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the untested son of a powerful duke.

Stop Making Sense

Forty years ago, Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme and the Talking Heads revolutionized the rockumentary format with Stop Making Sense. The 1984 concert film was shot over the course of four performances at Los Angeles’ iconic Pantages Theatre, and made independently on a budget of just over $1 million, which David Byrne and company raised on their own. What makes it so memorable (in addition to Byrne’s iconic oversize suit) is the simplicity with which it is shot, allowing the band’s creativity to take center stage and lead audiences on an unforgettable journey that feels as much like a piece of performance art as it does a straightforward concert.

Mad Max

It’s very likely that even writer-director George Miller didn’t know what he was igniting with Mad Max. Mel Gibson stars as Max Rockatansky, a kind of police officer (in dystopian dramas, authorities aren’t so clearly defined) who is seeking revenge from a biker gang after the brutal murder of his wife and child. In the 45 years since, the film has morphed into a full-on, five-film franchise with another one in development. You can watch all of the released films— including 1981’s The Road Warrior, 1985’s Beyond Thunderdome, and 2015’s Fury Road—on Max now, too.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

If you’re a fan of the absurdly dark work of Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness) or are just discovering the uncomfortable brilliance of Barry Keoghan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer has got your name written all over it. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a highly esteemed surgeon with a loving wife (Nicole Kidman) and children whose life is turned upside down after he befriends Martin (Keoghan), an awkward teen who Steven learns lost his father a few years earlier. What begins as a seeming act of kindness on Steven’s part soon turns into a truly demented version of Sophie’s Choice. As always, Lanthimos’ ability to mix humor with pathos remains unmatched—perhaps never more so than here.

The Zone of Interest

In 1943, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) was the commandant of Auschwitz who spent his days playing god with the lives of the concentration camp’s innocent prisoners. But what happened when Höss went home? That’s the reality Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning film examines, and the answer is: Not much. Höss lives right next door to the camp, in the so-called Zone of Interest, with his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and their five children. Within those four walls, they strive to build a dream life for their family—while the sound of gunshots, incoming trains, and furnaces being lit are just a part of daily life. Yes, it’s every bit as brutal—and necessary—as it sounds.

Black Swan

Natalie Portman gave what might very well end up being the defining performance of her career in this dark dance drama from Darren Aronofsky. Nina Sayers (Portman) is a dancer with the New York City Ballet whose entire life has been dedicated to her art, in large part due to her overprotective mother (Barbara Hershey), who was also a ballerina and pushes her daughter to have the career she wanted for herself. Nina’s life is turned upside down when she lands the lead in a new production of Swan Lake, only to realize that she’ll be splitting the part with the free-spirited Lily (Mila Kunis) who quickly becomes both the only friend Nina has ever really had and her most bitter rival. Soon, she descends into a dizzying madness that is reflected in Aronofsky’s directorial choices, which make the audience feel every bit of her emotions.

Good Time

Back in 2020, we named Good Time as one of the most underrated movies of the past 20 years, and absolutely still stand by that claim. Fortunately, as Robert Pattinson and the Safdie Brothers have continued to establish themselves as some of the most interesting actors (Pattinson and Benny Safdie) and directors (Benny again and his brother Josh) working today, more people have discovered the film, and even more will, now that it’s on Max. Connie Nikas (Pattinson) is a small-time criminal who is always looking for his next big score, and typically employs his developmentally disabled brother Nick (Safdie) as his partner. When a bank robbery goes wrong and Nick is nabbed by the police, Connie must fight for their survival. Much like Uncut Gems, which would later come to define the Safdies’ style (and is also now streaming on Max), Good Time is a fast-moving, visceral crime thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat as Connie works to reunite with his brother, whatever the cost.

Wonka

Timothée Chalamet stars as Willy Wonka in this perfectly entertaining origin story of Roald Dahl’s quirky chocolatier, directed by Paddington’s Paul King. While it doesn’t hit the same as Mel Stuart’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory—really, who could match Gene Wilder’s somersaulting candy maker?—it also far surpasses Tim Burton’s fairly needless 2005 remake.

Dream Scenario

Like Forrest Gump’s famed box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get from a Nicolas Cage performance. But he’s a one-of-a-kind actor whose roles tend to fall into one of two categories: totally transcendent, or scenery-chewing at its most voracious. Dream Scenario is very much the former, and has been heralded as one of the Oscar-winning actor’s best performances by some critics. Rightfully so. Cage stars as Paul Matthews, an unassuming biology professor who suddenly begins appearing in strangers’ dreams and achieves viral fame as a result of it. Like any good Cage performance, this one is multifaceted and examines the downside of sudden fame and what it really costs.

Dicks: The Musical

A24—the studio known for its edgy, award-winning indies like Moonlight and Ex Machina (which are both streaming on Max)—takes a dive into the musical genre with this adaptation of the off-Broadway hit Fucking Identical Twins (and you thought Dicks: The Musical was a raunchy title). Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp cowrote and costar in this over-the-top musical as two coworkers who discover that they’re long-lost twin brothers, and they attempt to Parent Trap their parents (played by Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally). Megan Thee Stallion plays their boss. Anyone offended by an f-bomb—or dozens of them—might want to give this one a skip.

Barbie

Greta Gerwig is a master of breathing new life into old properties (see: Little Women). With Barbie, she has ignited a revolution. Barbie (Margot Robbie) is living her best life in Barbieland—until one day, when her perfectly plastic world, and heels, suddenly begin to collapse. To get her fabulous life back, Barbie must travel to the real world—well, Los Angeles—to determine who or what is causing her existential crisis. The film has grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, meaning you likely may have already seen it. But even if you did, it’s absolutely worth a second watch—if only to lament its many Oscar snubs.

RoboCop

From Total Recall to Showgirls and back to Basic Instinct, director Paul Verhoeven has a track record almost unmatched in modern cinema. RoboCop, his dystopian take on law enforcement, is proof. Set in a bleak vision of Detroit overrun with crime, it follows a cop (Peter Weller) who gets fatally wounded and turned into, yes, a robot cop, who you might think is good at fighting crime, but of course is not. Some of the visual effects may look a little beat up now, but in 1987, they looked like the future. Also, if RoboCop leaves you wanting more, the film’s two sequels and 2014 reboot—none of which, sadly, were directed by Verhoeven—are also available on Max.

Albert Brooks: Defending My Life

Albert Brooks is a comedian’s comedian. Though he might be best known as the filmmaker behind such celebrated comedies as Defending Your Life, Lost in America, Real Life, and Mother, he’s also a brilliant actor (with an Oscar nomination to prove it). Brooks’ longtime pal Rob Reiner directs this charming documentary, which documents Brooks’ one-of-a-kind talent, with a stunning lineup of A-listers—including David Letterman, Steven Spielberg, Sarah Silverman, Judd Apatow, Chris Rock, Larry David, and Ben Stiller—all ready to sing his praises.

Furious 7

You’d be forgiven for thinking a lot of the Fast & Furious movies start to run together. Car chase, fistfight, street race, big booms, Corona, “family”—the end. But this one is special. For starters, it’s the one where the gang parachutes a bunch of souped-up cars out of the back of a cargo plane. For another, it marks Paul Walker’s final appearance in a Fast movie. (He died in a car accident in 2013.) It’s a bittersweet film, and also one of the franchise’s best.

Reality

In 2017, an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election was leaked anonymously. One year later, former NSA translator Reality Winner (yes, that’s her real name) was sentenced to more than five years in prison for the crime—the longest sentence ever received by a government whistleblower. HBO’s reigning muse, Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, The White Lotus), shines in this gripping true story, which plays out mostly in real time as the FBI knocks on the 25-year-old’s door and spends more than an hour questioning her.

Parasite

Even if you don’t care about awards, the fact that Parasite is the first—and still only—non-English-language movie to win a Best Picture Oscar should tell you something about the universality of its themes. The Kims, a family struggling to make ends meet, set their scheming sights on the Parks, a well-to-do family with plenty of problems of their own, but also plenty of money to muffle their dysfunction. At least for a time. Just when you think you know how class warfare is playing out in this black comedy, it changes course to reach an unexpected conclusion. As always, Bong Joon-ho knows just how to lead his audience down one path, only to open a trapdoor into another.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Finding success in one’s lifetime might seem like the dream of every artist, but Nan Goldin has bigger ambitions. Though she’s a photographer by trade, she’s an activist by calling and has long used her camera to capture painfully intimate moments of America in crisis, including extensive work focused on the HIV/AIDS and opioid epidemics. But All the Beauty and the Bloodshed reveals the artist in conflict: Should she allow her work to be showcased in one of the prominent museums or galleries that have received endowments from the Sackler family—the Big Pharma family that many blame for America’s opioid crisis? It’s a moving portrait of an artist willing to risk it all for her beliefs.

The Dark Knight

First things first: All three of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies are currently on Max, and binge-watching all of them in a row is certainly one way to spend an evening. But if you’re opting to watch just one, the second film in the series is the one to beat. Though Christian Bale’s Caped Crusader gets top billing, it’s Heath Ledger’s now-iconic performance as the Joker that makes The Dark Knight the most compulsively watchable Batman movie (even beyond Nolan’s entries). Though Ledger tragically passed away six months before the film’s release, he posthumously won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his villainous turn, in which he managed to find the perfect balance between dark humor and outright insanity.

企鵝號 本週登陸 HBO，擴展了馬特里夫斯 (Matt Reeves) 的殘酷犯罪世界 蝙蝠俠 電影改編成以柯林法洛飾演的反派角色為主題的衍生劇。儘管他的盜賊們的畫廊綽號保持不變，但企鵝人的真名在 2022 年的電影中改為奧斯瓦爾德·科波特 (Oswald Cobblepot)，這是他自 1941 年起就用的名字 偵探漫畫 首次亮相，為“奧茲·科布”。終於，我們得到了一些關於為什麼會發生這種情況的細節。

正如 SFX 雜誌（透過漫畫電影）報導的那樣，「Oz Cobb」不應被解釋為縮短了他公認的愚蠢姓氏的角色。製片人迪倫克拉克在接受該雜誌採訪時解釋了發生的事情，首先指出了早期蝙蝠俠惡棍改名的先例。 「他們從來沒有像對待謎語人那樣在漫畫中改變他的名字，從愛德華·尼格瑪到愛德華·納什頓，從一個不真實的名字到一個真實的名字。透過這樣做，他們奠定了這個角色的基礎，」克拉克說。

企鵝號 團隊得到了 DC 漫畫老闆吉姆李 (Jim Lee) 的熱情支持。 「他們曾考慮過改變他的名字，但從未付諸行動。馬特問：“我可以叫我們的角色奧茲·科布嗎？”吉姆說：“當然！”所以我們得到了國王本人的祝福。這個名字的微小改變讓我們能夠以一種腳踏實地的方式看待這個角色。

勞倫·勒弗蘭克, 企鵝號 節目主持人和創作者解釋說，就像 蝙蝠俠這部劇正在“創造新的經典”，為熟悉的角色帶來自己的風味。 「感覺就像在馬特在電影中創造的哥譚市一樣，科波特似乎不像一個真實的人，就像科布是一個真實的姓氏一樣。他是個黑幫，這感覺更正確。

「Cobb」可能會更尖銳一些，但實際上不是嗎 更多的 有個無情的傢伙在你身後回答“Cobblepot”，你會感到害怕嗎？

DC 漫畫迷將會更了解法雷爾這個突破性的角色 企鵝號主演還包括克莉絲汀·米利歐蒂（飾演蘇菲亞·法爾科內）、倫齊·費利斯（飾演維克多·阿吉拉爾）、麥可凱莉（飾演強尼·維提）、 Shohreh Aghdashloo（飾演納迪亞·馬羅尼）、迪爾德麗·奧康奈爾（飾演弗朗西斯·科布）、克蘭西·布朗（飾演約翰尼·維蒂）薩爾瓦多·馬羅尼(Salvatore Maroni )、詹姆斯馬迪奧(飾演Milos Grapa)、史考特柯恩(飾演盧卡法爾科內)、麥可澤根(飾演阿爾貝託法爾科內)、卡門艾喬戈(飾演伊芙卡洛) 和西奧羅西(飾演朱利安拉甚博士) 將於9 月19 日抵達在 HBO 上。

想了解更多 io9 新聞嗎？看看漫威、星際大戰和星際爭霸戰的最新上映時間、DC 宇宙電影和電視的下一步發展，以及您需要了解的有關《神秘博士》未來的一切。