HBO Max‘s best November additions include a pair of divisive, wildly different and yet equally worthwhile films from this past summer. The streamer has also added a handful of contemporary genre classics to its platform this month, including Ben Affleck’s best directorial effort and a more recent romantic drama that rightfully earned some awards attention back in 2024. In honor of the fast-approaching end-of-year holiday season, HBO Max’s November acquisitions include two certified Christmas movie classics as well.
Here are the seven best movies new to HBO Max in November.
“The Town” (2010)
A Boston-set crime thriller that is striking in both its violence and its tenderness, “The Town” is the best film Ben Affleck has directed to date. The Oscar winner stars in the 2010 neo-noir as a gruff career bank robber who accidentally ends up forming a romantic connection with the survivor (Rebecca Hall) of one of his previous heists — threatening the safety of both himself and the other members of his crew.
Featuring scene-stealing supporting performances from both Jeremy Renner and Chris Cooper, “The Town” finds a way amidst all of its bullets and shootouts to reach shocking levels of depth and tragedy. In doing so, it rightfully earns its place in the canon of Great American Crime Dramas.
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (2014)
The “Planet of the Apes” trilogy of the 2010s remains one of the better Hollywood franchises of the past 20 years, and 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is its best installment. Directed by “The Batman” filmmaker Matt Reeves, this sequel to 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” takes place 10 years after the events of that film.
It follows the ape leader Caesar (Andy Serkis) as an uneasy truce he strikes with a group of nearby humans causes tensions to flare among his own, intelligent ape followers. Building off the foundation set by its predecessor in frequently shocking, inspired ways, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is a gripping sequel that takes its franchise to dramatic and visual heights the likes of which it has not quite reached since.
“Materialists” (2025)
Writer-director Celine Song’s “Materialists” is one of the most divisive films of the year. Song’s follow-up to her breakout 2023 feature debut, “Past Lives,” follows a New York City matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) as she finds herself caught in the middle of a love triangle between her broke, aspiring actor ex-boyfriend (Chris Evans) and the charming millionaire (Pedro Pascal) who sets out to win her over.
Imperfect and yet overflowing with memorable moments, images and ideas, “Materialists” is a purposefully subversive romantic drama. It is a film guided by its concerns about capitalism’s impact on modern romance, and while you might not agree with all of the ways it explores that conflict, odds are it will leave you thinking and debating about them in the days after you watch it.
“Eddington” (2025)
Speaking of divisive films released in 2025, writer-director Ari Aster’s “Eddington” is now streaming on HBO Max. Described as a neo-Western, Aster’s latest film is set in a small New Mexico town in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. It charts the political, social and increasingly violent tensions that begin to rage throughout its eponymous town after its anti-masker sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) decides to run against its incumbent mayor (Pedro Pascal).
An uncomfortable and frequently ugly mirror of modern America, “Eddington” is a film that wants to shock and unnerve you. As was evidenced by its split critical response earlier this year, it is also a thriller that few will likely agree on. For better or worse, that is exactly the reaction “Eddington,” a scathing indictment of America’s current, divided social and political landscape, wants to provoke.
“Past Lives” (2023)
“Materialists” is not the only Celine Song film that has arrived on HBO Max in November. The streaming service acquired Song’s Oscar-nominated debut feature, “Past Lives,” this month as well. Set in both South Korea and New York City, the film follows two childhood friends (Greta Lee and Teo Yoo) as they grow apart and closer together over the course of 24 years. A what-if romantic drama for the ages, “Past Lives” explores its central will-they-or-won’t-they relationship with tender understanding and literate intelligence.
The waves of emotions lurking beneath its story — and in the prolonged glances between its leads — quietly roll and swell right up until the moment when Song lets them come crashing down over both you and her heroine. “Past Lives” is, in other words, a film that leaves a bittersweet, subtle mark.
“A Christmas Story” (1983)
December is just around the corner, which means the time for Christmas movies is almost here. The good news is that HBO Max added not just one but two Christmas season classics to its streaming platform in November. The first, “A Christmas Story,” comes from director Bob Clark and is based on a 1966 book by Jean Shepherd. An episodic trip back in time, the film follows a young, hopeful boy (Peter Billingsley) as he and his family experience a series of misadventures in the days leading up to Christmas in the winter of 1940.
Overflowing with memorable, oft-quoted lines and featuring two pitch-perfect supporting performances from Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin, “A Christmas Story” is an affectionately rendered portrait of childhood wonder and heartbreak. Cozy, fantastical and yet clear-eyed at the same time, there is a reason why it has endured over the past 42 years. Its magic has yet to fade.
“Elf” (2003)
HBO Max’s other noteworthy holiday season addition this month is none other than 2003’s “Elf.” This Jon Favreau-directed favorite has emerged over the past two decades as a bona fide 21st-century Christmas movie classic. An absurd comedy that is just as full of infectious Christmas cheer as it is sly humor, the film follows a human (Will Ferrell) raised in the North Pole by Santa’s elves who travels to New York City to meet his cynical, workaholic biological father (James Caan).
Elevated by one of the best performances of Ferrell’s career, “Elf” is an endlessly rewatchable gem packed full of ingenious set pieces, sight gags and one-liners. It is as worthy an addition to the wider Christmas Movie Canon as just about any other film that has come along over the past 30 years.
