If you want to watch a movie this weekend, the odds are high that you will be able to find something appealing on HBO Max. The streamer’s film library covers every possible genre and tone, featuring everything from Golden Age classics made over 80 years ago to more contemporary but equally worthwhile thrillers and animated adventures.
Taking that into account, here are three of the best movies that you can stream on HBO Max this weekend, all of which could not be more different from each other.
“Gone Girl” (2014)
What better way to spend two hours this weekend than by watching one of this century’s best and, frankly, most under-appreciated thrillers? Director David Fincher‘s “Gone Girl” is a riveting, blackly comic crime drama — and a masterful adaptation of author Gillian Flynn’s original 2012 novel. The film works as both an immensely entertaining, pulpy crime thriller and as an acid-tinged exploration of marriage, narcissism and — as one character muses — what it is exactly that we do to each other.
Ben Affleck is perfectly cast as the film’s unsuspecting prime suspect, but it is Rosamund Pike as his missing wife, Amy Dunne, who steals the show and who elevates “Gone Girl” from a superficially fun time into an unforgettable, blood-soaked thrill ride.
“Millennium Actress” (2002)
HBO Max has two films by the late, great Japanese anime master Satoshi Kon streaming on its platform this month. 1997’s “Perfect Blue” is the most well-known, acclaimed and influential of the two, but 2002’s “Millennium Actress” may be the more impactful film. Loosely based on the lives of Japanese actresses Setsuko Hara and Hideko Takamine, the film follows two documentary filmmakers as they investigate the life of a retired acting legend.
As the story of her life unfolds, the lines separating reality from fiction, life from cinema, begin to blur. The result is a dazzling and profoundly affecting drama about grief, love, purpose and how art can be as much an outlet for our deepest desires and regrets as it can be a reminder of them. It is one of the best anime films you can find on any major streaming service right now.
“The Shop Around the Corner” (1940)
If you want to ring in the holiday season this year with a film that works as both a cozy, Christmastime treat and a genre piece that also stands on its own, then look no further than “The Shop Around the Corner.” This 1940 classic from director Ernst Lubitsch stars Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as two employees at a small shop in pre-war Budapest who do not like each other and yet have fallen in love as anonymous pen pals.
An obvious influence on Nora Ephron’s “You’ve Got Mail,” “The Shop Around the Corner” is a touching, light-on-its-feet comedy that knows exactly when and how to move you to near-tears. The chemistry between Sullavan and Stewart is electric, and Lubitsch’s renowned, delicate comedic touch is on display in every scene.
What's New on HBO Max in December