Best Max movies: the 23 finest films to stream in July 2024
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The best Max movies guide below is packed with some of the top films ever made and Max continuously adds great titles to its huge library. Warner Bros. Discovery owns Max, which explains why it's filed with the century-spanning back catalogue of one of the most successful studios in Hollywood history.
It's clear why Max is one of the best streaming services around, less than a year after it replaced HBO Max. In our list below you'll find our picks of the best Max movies. It's an epic list filled with recent blockbuster hits and timeless classics, all chosen by our resident film experts. New titles are added to Max all the time, be sure to read our guide to new Max movies to see the freshest films.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
RT (Rotten Tomatoes) score: 54% (critical) and 91% (audience)
Age rating: PG-13
Director: Adam Wingard
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a big, bold and at times quite silly action movie that brings together two of the biggest (literally and figuratively) monsters from film history together for one epic showdown.
Directed by horror and action director Adam Wingard, this movie is a sequel in his MonsterVerse series, following on from the events of Godzilla vs. Kong. It takes us deeper into the Hollow Earth, bringing a whole new set of threats and alliances as Godzilla and Kong face off against a new adversary. Expect stunning visual effects, breathtaking battles, and a thrilling monster story that'll keep you on the edge of your seat. It'll appeal most to monster lovers, of course, but if you like cinematic spectacles, lots of action or just want a fun action movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon, you can't go wrong either.
Casablanca
RT score: 99% (critical) and 95% (audience)
Age rating: PG
Director: Michael Curtiz
It’s no accident that Casablanca regularly features on lists of the greatest movies of all time, because this wartime classic is proof that they really don’t make them like they used to.
Humphrey Bogart is the bar owner whose life is turned upside down when an old flame (played by Ingrid Bergman) arrives in town with her new husband (Paul Henreid), a key figure in the resistance in Europe. Both a love story for the ages and a cunning piece of 1940s propaganda – the importance of sacrifice in wartime is a major theme – Casablanca is much imitated but never bettered. Endlessly quotable and exquisitely acted, if you haven’t seen it you must remember this: put it on your best Max movies watchlist immediately.
2001: A Space Odyssey
RT score: 92% (critical) and 89% (audience)
Age rating: G
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Nearly a decade ahead of Star Wars – and a year before humans walked on the Moon – Stanley Kubrick expanded the possibilities of big-screen space travel. Where science fiction had traditionally been the preserve of schlocky B-movies, the legendary director assembled a spectacular vision of a future where beautiful ships glide elegantly through space to a score of classical music – and, at key moments, dead silence.
But beyond the hardware, this big-screen riff on Arthur C Clarke's short story ‘The Sentinel’ asks huge philosophical questions about the origins of our species, and where we might be going next. Just don't ask us to ever remove 2001: A Space Odyssey from our best Max movies guide. In the words of HAL 9000: we're afraid we can't do that.
Aliens
RT score: 98% (critical) and 94% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: James Cameron
The greatest sequel ever made? Along with The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather: Part II, James Cameron's follow-up to Ridley Scott's Alien undoubtedly deserves a place at that top table (see where Aliens sits in our best James Cameron movies article, and where Alien placed in our best Ridley Scott films guide, while you're here).
Cameron's smartest move is using Scott's genre-defining sci-fi horror as a jumping off point, before launching the story in an exciting, new, action-heavy direction with Aliens. From the ruthlessly efficient, muscular set-pieces to the expansion of the Xenomorph mythology – there's loads of them and they have a Queen! – the writer/director set the blueprint for every sci-fi action movie that followed. And as reluctant hero Ellen Ripley, an Oscar-nominated Sigourney Weaver delivers the most iconic performance of her career.
RoboCop
RT score: 92% (critical) and 84% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: Paul Verhoeven
The 1980s was Hollywood’s ultimate era of violence and excess, and mainstream cinema doesn’t come more violent and excessive than RoboCop. Director Paul Verhoeven’s first US film is also a state-of-the-art sci-fi classic, a super-smart satire on capitalism and 20th century America masquerading as a big, dumb action movie.
Peter Weller plays the ordinary cop who, after being fatally wounded by a sadistic gang, is transformed into the eponymous cyborg police officer. What follows is a classic tale of revenge wrapped up in witty one-liners, memorable villains, and lots and lots of blood. The less fun 2014 reboot, starring Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson, is available on Max, too.
Fargo
RT score: 95% (critical) and 92% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
By the mid-’90s, Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink had earned the Coen brothers both critical acclaim and cult appeal. It was this snowy 1996 crime drama, however, that made the rest of the world take notice of Joel and Ethan’s unique talents, winning two Oscars (for Best Screenplay, and for Frances McDormand’s performance as police chief Marge Gunderson) in the process.
Setting the story in their native Midwest, the Coens bring a tale of double-crossing, murder, extreme incompetence and snow to the unsuspecting small town of Brainerd, Minnesota. A memorable ensemble cast including William H Macy, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare make the most of the brothers’ witty, twisty script, but McDormand is the undoubted standout as the brilliant, eternally upbeat and very pregnant Marge. The movie has also spawned five (at present) seasons of the brilliant Fargo TV spin-off, one of the best Hulu TV shows.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
RT score: 92% (critical) and 95% (audience) for The Fellowship of the Ring; 95% (critical) and 95% (audience) for The Two Towers; 94% (critical) and 86% (audience) for The Return of the King
Age rating: PG-13
Director: Peter Jackson
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of those rare movie series where everything – and everyone – came together in the right place at the right time. How different history could have been had New Line not trusted director Peter Jackson’s vision, and allowed him to film all three movies back-to-back in his native New Zealand – the perfect real-world stand-in for J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.
In Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, Jackson found the ideal co-writers to translate J.R.R. Tolkien’s sprawling novels to the screen, while the visual effects geniuses at Weta discovered many groundbreaking ways to make a magical world feel real. Jackson also found the right performers for every iconic role, from Gandalf to Gollum, Elrond to Eowyn. Without The Lord of the Rings, there’d be no The Witcher, no Game of Thrones, and certainly no The Rings of Power, which will forever be judged against what Jackson achieved two decades ago.
The Dark Knight trilogy
RT score: 85% (critical) and 94% (audience) for Batman Begins; 94% (critical) and 94% (audience) for The Dark Knight; 87% (critical) and 90% (audience) for The Dark Knight Rises
Age rating: PG-13
Director: Christopher Nolan
After the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) became widely accepted as the benchmark for superhero movies, many people forgot how radical – and brilliant – Christopher Nolan’s Batman film trilogy was. Crafting a dark-and-moody Gotham City nearly two decades before Robert Pattinson got soaked in The Batman, Nolan’s decision to ground the Caped Crusader in a believable world proved a masterstroke.
Always a mainstay on our list of the best Max movies, Batman Begins remains one of cinema’s great origin stories, while follow-up The Dark Knight is an ambitious crime thriller that would probably have won numerous major awards if its protagonist didn’t dress up as a giant bat. The Dark Knight Rises isn’t quite the closer the trilogy deserves, but the series still stands up as the pinnacle of DC storytelling on the big screen. See where each film placed in our Christopher Nolan movies ranked and best Batman movies pieces.
Behind the Candelabra
RT score: 94% (critical) and 71% (audience)
Age rating: PG-13
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Although Michael Douglas spent much of the ’80s and ’90s in chiselled leading man mode, the 21st century has seen him morph into one of Hollywood’s finest character actors. His multi-award-winning performance as legendary pianist Liberace – a man who didn’t believe in understatement – in Behind the Candelabra is one of the undoubted highlights of his long career.
The star gets A-list support from Matt Damon as Liberace’s boyfriend, a younger man who finds himself trapped in a bizarre, acrimonious hell when the musician tries to mould him in his own image. Douglas’s Traffic director Steven Soderbergh tells the story in typically accomplished style.
The Normal Heart
RT score: 94% (critical) and 88% (audience)
Age rating: TV-MA
Director: Ryan Murphy
Ryan Murphy, the prolific brain behind TV shows as diverse as Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story, Ratched and Pose, turns his attentions to New York’s early-’80s HIV/AIDS crisis with hard-hitting drama The Normal Heart.
Directing from Larry Kramer’s screenplay based on his own 1985 stage play, Murphy pulls no punches in telling the powerful story of gay activist Ned Weeks (a character Kramer based on himself) as he tries to convince the world to take the lethal virus seriously. The ever-brilliant Mark Ruffalo leads the cast as Weeks, with memorable support from Jim Parsons, Julia Roberts, Matt Bomer, and Taylor Kitsch.
Mad Max: Fury Road
RT score: 97% (critical); 86% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: George Miller
While action blockbusters aren’t traditionally regarded as art, the ingeniously choreographed stuntwork of Fury Road ensured even the most highbrow critics had to give the fourth Mad Max movie its due.
After a lengthy and troubled production (excellently documented in author Kyle Buchanan’s Blood, Sweat & Chrome), director George Miller built an entire movie around a single madcap chase across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Although the movie bears the character’s name, Tom Hardy’s Max is relegated to a monosyllabic supporting player, leaving a magnificent Charlize Theron to take the lead as the heroic Imperator Furiosa.
Wonder Woman
RT score: 93% (critical) and 83% (audience)
Age rating: PG-13
Director: Patty Jenkins
Although the superhero landscape of the 2010s was ruled by the all-powerful MCU, Wonder Woman was the breath of fresh air that proved DC hadn’t forgotten how to have fun and play Marvel at their own game. Far more playful than dour DCEU predecessors Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Patty Jenkins’ movie is a thoroughly entertaining journey from Wonder Woman’s origins on the magical island of Themyscira, to the battlefields of World War I.
As Christopher Reeve did in Superman: The Movie, breakout star Gal Gadot finds the joy and inherent decency in a god walking among humans, without ever allowing Diana to become one-note or predictable. It’s just a shame that lightning didn’t strike a second time in so-so sequel Wonder Woman 1984. Find out more about Wonder Woman and other DCEU flicks in our guide to how to watch the DC movies in order.
Hereditary
RT score: 90% (critical) and 70% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: Ari Aster
While The Conjuring recycled plenty of old tricks to unleash its cacophony of frights, Hereditary always felt like a genuinely groundbreaking addition to the horror genre. Debut writer/director Ari Aster keeps the focus extremely tight, as an ordinary family deal with the death of a matriarch, bringing family demons – both figurative and supernatural – painfully to the fore.
It's an intense, unrelenting watch, as Aster ensures his cast (led by Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne) bare plenty of emotions on screen. It’s also a masterclass in delivering powerful scares, packed with moments that – once seen – can’t be unseen.
Joker
RT score: 69% (critical) and 89% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: Todd Phillips
Barry Keoghan must have been chomping at the bit to play the Joker at the end of The Batman – Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime tends to bring out the best in every actor lucky enough to win the role. For all Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger’s exuberance as Batman’s most famous foe, however, they never had to go to places quite as dark as an Oscar-winning Joaquin Phoenix does here.
Indeed, with Bruce Wayne still a kid, director Todd Phillips’ bleak, retro drama owes as much to Martin Scorsese crime dramas (most notably The King of Comedy) as traditional comic-book movies. Its brutal, nihilistic take on a city gone to hell may not be to everyone’s tastes, but Joker shows how far DC can push the envelope when they’re not trying to ape Marvel. And they're about to go even further in musical, Lady Gaga-starring sequel Folie à Deux. Find out where we placed Joker in our best superhero movies list.
Parasite
RT score: 99% (critical) and 90% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: Bong Joon-ho
There were few arguments when Parasite won Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars. After all, the South Korean movie – the first ever non-English language winner of the prestigious prize – is the sort of film that sears itself onto your brain from the first time you see it.
On one level it’s the story of a down-on-their-luck family who con their way into working for a rich household, but there’s much more to it than that. Writer/director Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Snowpiercer, Okja) crafts an ingenious social satire about the haves and the have-nots in modern society, and keeps your sympathies shifting as you try to decide who the real parasites are. It also manages to be extremely funny while packing an emotional punch when it needs to.
The Suicide Squad
RT score: 90% (critical) and 82% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: James Gunn
When Marvel and Disney briefly removed James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy 3, DC swooped in and gave him a writing/directing gig on this quasi-sequel to 2016’s mediocre Suicide Squad. Confusingly, it was titled The Suicide Squad but in this case the definite article was entirely justified.
Given free rein to keep or discard characters and continuity as he pleased, Gunn shaped a hilariously funny, frequently rude tale of memorably amoral supervillains on a mission to eliminate a giant pink starfish. DC were so impressed that they allowed Gunn to make spin-off series Peacemaker (one of the best Max shows), and then hired him to co-manage all their future movie and TV output. Read more about his ambitious plans in our guide to DCU Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.
The Batman
RT score: 85% (critical) and 87% (audience)
Age rating: PG-13
Director: Matt Reeves
Not even Spider-Man can compete with the Caped Crusader when it comes to big screen reinventions. The latest – from Dawn of/War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves – doubles down on the Dark Knight’s reputation as the World’s Greatest Detective, with a labyrinthine, noir-ish mystery that borrows as much from Seven as the Dark Knight's previous screen outings.
Robert Pattinson is a suitably angsty Bruce Wayne, while Paul Dano’s chilling reinvention of classic villain the Riddler adds extra edge. Learn more about the Dark Knight's cinematic history in our guide on how to watch the Batman movies in order.
Barbie
RT score: 88% (critical) and 83% (audience)
Age rating: PG-13
Director: Greta Gerwig
From Transformers and GI Joe toThe Lego Movie and Battleship, Hollywood has been taking inspiration from kids’ toyboxes for years. Never, however, have we seen anything quite like Barbie, a movie that’s simultaneously a multi-million-dollar commercial for a doll, and a witty, sophisticated examination of 21st century feminism.
Margot Robbie is brilliant as the classic, stereotypical Barbie who goes through something of an existential crisis when she realizes she’s actually a child's plaything. Desperate to get her life back on track she takes a trip to the real world but – unfortunately for her – longtime boyfriend Ken (a similarly excellent Ryan Gosling) also hitches a ride, becoming a plastic embodiment of toxic masculinity along the way.
Director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women) navigates the movie’s many tonal shifts with fun, style and a smart satirical eye. Indeed, having dominated the global box-office in 2023, the impressively self-aware Barbie is destined to be the subject of academic essays for years to come.
Priscilla
RT score: 84% (critical) and 63% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: Sofia Coppola
The ideal companion piece to Elvis, this biopic (from Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette director Sofia Coppola) shifts the focus to Presley’s wife, Priscilla. Based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir Elvis and Me, the movie follows her journey from a teen besotted with a much older guy (who just happens to be the most famous man in the world), through their difficult marriage and painful divorce.
Cailee Spaeny (soon to be seen in Alien: Romulus) delivers a star-making turn as Priscilla, who finds that living with the king of rock 'n' roll is not all it’s cracked up to be. Meanwhile, Euphoria and Saltburn's Jacob Elordi shows the darker sides of Elvis in a similarly excellent performance as Priscilla’s famous husband.
Dream Scenario
RT score: 91% (critical) and 68% (audience)
Age rating: R
Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Hot off the back of the entertaining The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Nicolas Cage continues his mission to explore the places other actors can’t reach with this suitably weird journey into the world of the human subconscious. He plays a scientist who inexplicably starts appearing in other people’s dreams, lifting him to an unparalleled – and unwanted – new level of celebrity.
Director Kristoffer Borgli fully embraces the surrealness of the premise, navigating the dreamscapes with the wit and invention of Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry. But ultimately this is 100% a Cage movie, and fans of Hollywood’s most idiosyncratic leading man will lap it up.
Wonka
RT score: 82% (critical) and 91% (audience)
Age rating: PG
Director: Paul King
Few were calling out for Roald Dahl’s legendary chocolatier to be given his own origin story musical, but the creative team behind the brilliant Paddington movies conjured up a suitably tasty concoction. While not quite as endearing as the Peruvian bear’s adventures in London, Wonka uses similar feelgood ingredients to explain how the eponymous hero went from idealistic dreamer to the most famous candyman in the world.
Dune star Timothée Chalamet is excellent as Willy Wonka, delivering the witty songs (written by the Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon) in style, while finding the right levels of wide-eyed wonder. A-list support comes from Olivia Colman as the villainous owner of a boarding house, and Hugh Grant as a very cynical Oompa-Loompa.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
RT score: 33% (critical) and 81% (audience)
Age rating: PG-13
Director: James Wan
The old iteration of the DCEU swims off into the sunset with Arthur Curry’s second headline adventure. In truth it’s not quite as memorable or fun as the first Aquaman but returning director James Wan and star Jason Momoa capture enough of the original movie’s magic to prevent this sequel becoming a damp squib.
Second time out, Arthur’s trying to balance ruling Atlantis with being a dad when a vengeful Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) uses a magical trident to unleash a bid for world domination. Aquaman’s then forced to team up with estranged half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) to save the day, and the film has plenty of fun with the bickering siblings dynamic. Just don’t expect the derivative plot to change the world – either above or below the water.
Dune: Part Two
RT score: 92% (critical) and 95% (audience)
Age rating: PG-13
Director: Denis Villeneuve
The highly-anticipated sequel to the 2021 movie Dune is the second of the two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi novel Dune. Dune: Part Two continues right where the first movie left off and follows the story of Paul Atreides who joins the Fremen people to fight against the evil House Harkonnen.
Denis Villeneuve has done incredible things with his adaptation of Herbert's epic story. The cinematography is truly stunning, the atmosphere sinister, dramatic and filled with wonder and the script should keep fans of the book very happy. Performances from all of the cast are incredible too, especially Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, a Fremen warrior, and Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Paul's Bene Gesserit mother.
Whether you're already a fan of Dune or you're new to the sprawling sci-fi saga, movie lovers are going to enjoy Dune: Part Two immensely. It's a long way off, but if you love the sequel, you'll be glad to hear that a prequel series about the Bene Gesserit called Dune: Prophecy is set to arrive on Max later this year.
For more Max-based coverage, read our guides on the best Max shows, The Last of Us season 2, and Euphoria season 3.
