Use your HBO Max subscription for these must-watch movies
With so many streaming services bidding for our attention (and wallets), it’s hard to know which app to open, let alone subscribe to, when we want to get our content fix. What’s even more difficult is deciding on a streaming platform when we want to watch a good movie.
Most streaming platforms seem to thrive off presenting users with the trendiest viral TV shows & limited series, but if you don’t have a Criterion password, where can you go to get some quality movies in your life?
HBO Max is proving itself to be one of the streaming giants’ best options for top-notch films. HBO Max offers a plethora of films you’d find on the syllabus of most 101 film classes, as well as cult hits and under-the-radar blockbusters that’ll make any streamer ditch the binge and reconnect with their love for cinema. Check out our list of must watch movies on HBO Max.
8 ½
Of all the must watch movies on our list, 8 ½ is the most textbook need-to-see movie. Every film nerd, from the snootiest to most down to earth, will tell you 8 ½ is one of the most important films of all time, and a great starting point for anyone who’s intimidated by foreign film.
The Oscar-winning must watch 8 ½ is directing legend Federico Fellini’s most influential film, and you can find the feature on almost every “best films of all time” list. Are these accolades not enough for you? Well, we’ll just tell you it’s a magical film about life told through the mind of a struggling director. If you’re yawning at the prospect, consider the fact Fellini’s 8 ½ might be the horniest film of 1963.
House Party
Moving right along from one side of the film spectrum to the next, House Party is an iconic 90s film and one of HBO Max’s must see movies. 1990’s House Party captures America’s transition from the 80s to the 90s with one of the most iconic party movies of the time period.
House Party is a classic story of a high school kid sneaking out to the biggest party of the year. However, the movie also features some of comedy’s most iconic black stars like Martin Lawrence, & John Witherspoon, and music legends like George Clinton who have all sustained relevance beyond the time of Kid & Play (although no shade to these kings).
If you don’t believe us on the greatness of House Party, believe the three sequels following throughout the 90s.
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
We bring you back to film class with The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, one of HBO Max’s most ethereal must watch movies. John Cassavetes has a cult of followers, most of which would say Killing is one of the director’s greatest efforts.
The title is a dead give away to the crucial plot point of the movie, but rather than explain the story, we’ll tell you The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is like a stroll through a real-life 1970s sleaze dream. We follow the owner of a dingy club as he grasps for stability & meaning in a world which doesn’t take him seriously. Killing is beautiful, heartbreaking, and dripping with documentary-levels of 70s nostalgia.
Boogie Nights
Speaking of the 1970s, Boogie Nights harkens back to an earlier time, but is one of the 1990s best must watch movies, and one of the sturdiest mainstream films of the late 90s.
Before director P.T. Anderson became Oscar canon with films like There Will Be Blood & The Master, he pumped out a few of the weirdest, most heart wrenching, and funniest films with an ensemble cast of experts theaters had seen in the 90s.
Boogie Nights brings audiences a porn epic somehow moving from laugh-out-loud hilarious to pitch black depressing throughout its (unlike many films) necessary two & a half hour run time. Even the most distracted viewer will be on the edge of their seat watching Boogie Nights for the first time, and they’ll be watching even closer when they can’t resist another viewing.
