3 underrated (HBO) Max movies you should watch this weekend (September 20-22)
The Transformers are invading the multiplex again. But this time, they are more animated than ever as Transformers One ditches live-action for animation to tell the origin story of Optimus Prime and his merry band of transforming machines. That should appeal to ’80s die-hards or preteen boys who like watching things go boom.
If you don’t fall under that demographic, then fear not! Streaming is always an option, and Max has some of the best movies and TV shows around. The three movies below may not have won Academy Awards, but they are guaranteed to make you laugh, make you think, or make you shiver, depending on which one you’re watching.
Wild Mountain Thyme (2020)
Ignore the terrible title; Wild Mountain Thyme is one of the best romantic movies of the last five years, and it deserves far more love and attention than it receives today. Based on the play Outside Mullingar, the movie stars Emily Blunt (The Fall Guy) and Jamie Dornan (The Fall) as Rosemary and Anthony, two childhood friends who have grown up next to each other in the Irish countryside. Both introverts, they prefer to be alone, but when Anthony’s dad threatens to disinherit him due to his solitary ways, Anthony works up the courage to pursue a romance with Rosemary.
Moonstruck maestro John Patrick Shanley directs and adapts from his own play, and you can see the parallels between his Oscar-winning hit and this movie. Both feature slightly odd protagonists who each have their own kooky family supporting them in their mutual pursuits of love. Blunt and Dornan have real chemistry with one another, and the Irish countryside is appropriately green and breathtaking. The ending features a revelation that comes out of nowhere, and it’s up to you to decide what the hell it means. (That’s a good thing.)
Wild Mountain Thyme is streaming on Max.
Le Samourai (1967)
Le Samourai is a deceptively simple film, but it’s rich in subtext, mood, and ennui. Plus, it’s a cool movie to watch; you can feel the birth of Leon the Professional and John Wick in its lonely protagonist, whose only friend is a small bird in a cage. But there’s a reason why Jef Costello (Alain Delon, who died just last month) leads a solitary life: he’s a professional hit man, and if you get to close to him, you may lose your life.
After he takes out his latest target, Jef finds himself running from both the police and the mysterious person who hired him. The only good thing in his life is Valérie (Cathy Rosier), a pianist who witnessed him leaving the scene of the crime and didn’t identify him to the cops. Does Jef trust her enough to let her live? Or will his old instincts to push everyone away leave her six feet under?
Le Samourai is streaming on Max.
Leviathan (1989)
The popularity of Jaws and Alien in the 1970s spawned a number of imitators, all of which aren’t nearly as good as those groundbreaking classics. But that’s not to say they are all bad. There are some, like 1989’s Leviathan, that are quite enjoyable in a schlocky kind of way, and are ideal for streaming when you want to watch something noisy and mindless.
A sci-fi horror movie set in a deepwater station, the movie focuses on a group of undersea miners who discover an abandoned Soviet ship at the bottom of the sea. Two of the miners gets sick, and, in a plot twist totally not copied from Alien, they both die, and their bodies mutate into a lethal creature that kills them one by one. Leviathan isn’t original, but it’s fun, the pace is surprisingly brisk, and the effects are, well, effective.
Leviathan is streaming on Max.
