If you're obsessed with movies, you might want to stop teasing HBO Max about being so purple, and give it a shot because of the staggering amount of movies it has in its catalog. Unfortunately, it's also the staggering amount of films available that makes it hard to find the hidden gems of HBO Max. Since the streaming service's launch the home screen has been focused on DC Comics movies and the — soon to depart — Harry Potter franchise. It takes some digging to get to everything else.
So, I did some digging for you and found 19 movies streaming on HBO Max that you won't find on the main screen. Rather than browsing for an hour and deciding against watching anything at all, just pick one of these gems.
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There are classics from the Golden Age of Hollywood with stars like Katharine Hepburn and Gene Kelly. There are original HBO documentaries about everything from blue singers to roller skating. There are animated movies from Japan's Studio Ghibli. And, there are newer releases that you may have missed in theaters.
We even included all the trailers so you can test drive the movies before you choose one — out of 19 options instead of hundreds and hundreds. It's much easier.
An American in Paris
HBO Max has a ton of classic films from Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Collection, but there are so many that it can be hard to know where to start. So, start with An American in Paris. Watching Gene Kelly's dance moves is reason enough, but the story about an American painter being seduced by an outrageous rich heiress (Nina Foch) is plenty entertaining, too.
Before Sunrise
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy star in this Richard Linklater romance about an American man and a French woman who meet on a train and spend a day together in Vienna. The film has two sequels, Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013), with the first one also available on HBO Max.
Bessie
Mixed in with all the many other options on HBO Max are, of course, HBO original films. One worth checking out is 2015's Bessie, directed by Dee Rees and starring Queen Latifah as real-life blue singer Bessie Smith.
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Blinded by the Light
Blinded by the Light is about a 1980s British-Pakistani teen (Viveik Kalra), who develops an obsession with Bruce Springsteen after finding the American musician's lyrics relate to his own life. From Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha, the film is also about young love, British politics, and facing racism and xenophobia.
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
Another HBO original, Bright Lights is a documentary about mother and daughter actors and Hollywood legends, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. The film shows them living in quirky homes next door to each other later in life, but touches on their entire relationship and Fisher's upbringing. Sadly, Bright Lights also became one of their final film appearances, as both women died just before its release.
Buena Vista Social Club
This documentary is about a group of Cuban musicians who started performing together under the name Buena Vista Social Club and rose to international fame in the late '90s. Along with interviews with the musicians, it shows their trip to perform at New York City's Carnegie Hall, which was a dream come true for many of these lifelong artists.
Contact
Like outer space movies? Try out Contact. The 1997 Robert Zemeckis movie stars Jodie Foster as a scientist who attempts to make humans' first contact with aliens after recording a message from them. As is the case with many alien movies, the government also gets involved and complicates things.
Grey Gardens
The documentary Grey Gardens follows Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, a mother and daughter who are relatives of Jackie Kennedy. While they are from an upper class family, the 1975 film shows the eccentric women living in a rundown estate in the Hamptons called Grey Gardens. HBO Max also has a dramatization of the Beales' story, also called Grey Gardens, starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.
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Emma
Jane Austen's Emma has been adapted to film numerous times. There's the movie that came out this year starring Anya Taylor Joy. There's 1995's Clueless, which is based on the story. And then there's this 1996 adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow as the self-centered matchmaker.
Eve's Bayou
Director and writer Kasi Lemmons' 1995 film Eve's Bayou is about a wealthy Black family in Louisiana in the 1960s. The character Eve (Jurnee Smollett) is a 10-year-old who catches her father cheating on her mother and witnesses the fallout.
In a World...
In a world where one woman wants to become a trailer voiceover artist that gets to say "in a world"... she faces some obstacles along the way. Lake Bell directed, wrote, and stars in this Hollywood-themed comedy.
Like Water for Chocolate
Like Water for Chocolate is a Mexican film that follows the life of a woman named Tita (Lumi Cavazos). Tita is not allowed to marry the man she loves, Pedro (Marco Leonardi), due to a family tradition, and the story of their forbidden relationship is told with elements of magical realism.
Loving
Loving tells the story of Mildred (Ruth Negga) and Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton), who were responsible for Loving vs. Virginia, the Supreme Court case that made interracial marriage legal across the U.S. In addition to this 2016 drama about the case, HBO Max also has the documentary The Loving Story.
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Martha Marcy May Marlene
Martha Marcy May Marlene stars Elizabeth Olsen — in her first film role — as Martha, a former member of a cult, who struggles to fit back into her life. Much of the 2011 movie shows Martha's traumatic time at the cult, including with cult leader Patrick (John Hawkes), through flashbacks.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
HBO Max has a number of movies from anime company Studio Ghibli, including Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning film Spirited Away. But, if you're looking to try out an older film from the director, check out Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind from 1984. It's about a girl in a post-apocalyptic future, who has to fight for peace between her group of humans, an opposing faction, and a bunch of giant bugs.
The Philadelphia Story
The Philadelphia Story is a classic rom-com in every sense of the word. The 1940 film stars Katharine Hepburn as a socialite who is about to get married, but ends up in love square with her ex-husband (Cary Grant), a journalist reporting on the wedding (James Stewart), and her fiancé (John Howard).
A Room with a View
A Room with a View stars Helena Bonham Carter as a young woman, who is literally in search of a room with a view while on vacation in Tuscany. But, she's also in search of romance and freedom from early 1900s restraints. It co-stars Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
This 1999 thriller stars Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, a man who grows obsessed with another man, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), and steals his identity. Plus, some other spoiler-y things happen as they, along with Dickie's girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), hang out in Italy.
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United Skates
United Skates is a documentary about a subculture of Black roller skaters and the closure of many roller skating rinks that were gathering places for Black Americans. The film follows several people who are active in the roller skating world and highlights the styles of skating that are popular in different regions of the U.S.
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