HBO Max‘s film library contains movies of every different kind of genre, length and tone. Whether it be a paranoia-infused 1970s drama about one of the greatest American scandals of all time or a low-budget 2001 thriller that helped put one of the 21st century’s most important filmmakers on the map, the streaming platform has a wide array of choices. You don’t have to look far, either, to also find an early 2000s superhero blockbuster that remains one of the genre’s greatest cinematic achievements.
Here are the three best movies you can watch on HBO Max this weekend.
“All the President’s Men” (1976)
Movies just do not get much better than “All the President’s Men.” The final film — and most would argue the crown jewel — of director Alan J. Pakula’s paranoia trilogy, “All the President’s Men” dramatizes the real-life efforts of journalists Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) as they investigate and expose the truths of the Watergate Scandal that brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency.
Boasting a near-perfect screenplay by William Goldman, “All the President’s Men” is both an engrossing, dread-soaked procedural thriller and a testament to the importance of a free press in the face of immense corruption. It’s the greatest film ever made about journalism, and one of the most important American movies ever produced by Hollywood.
“Memento” (2001)
“Memento” is not the first film that “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan directed, but it is the one that helped put him on the map. Based on a short story by Nolan’s brother Jonathan, “Memento” is a time-bending psychological thriller crossed with a gritty neo-noir. It follows a man (Guy Pearce) suffering from anterograde amnesia and short-term memory loss who uses a complex system of photographs, notes and tattoos to try to track down the person who killed his wife and caused his condition.
Featuring the same kind of elaborate narrative construction as many of Nolan’s later films, “Memento” benefits greatly from both its grounded, street-level style and the violent, crime genre elements that Nolan has repeatedly demonstrated a fondness for. It is an effective gun-blast of genre filmmaking, as well as a movie you finish and immediately feel the need to watch again.
“Spider-Man 2” (2004)
There have been so many superhero movies made since “Spider-Man 2,” and yet director Sam Raimi’s heartfelt, thrilling 2004 blockbuster is still widely cited as one of the genre’s very best movies. There is a reason for that. A sequel to 2002’s “Spider-Man,” Raimi’s colorful superhero opera follows Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker as he faces off against mentor-turned-foe Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), all while grappling with the toll that his crime-fighting lifestyle routinely takes on his personal life.
No movie understands Peter Parker better than “Spider-Man 2,” and no movie better captures what makes him such an enduring fictional character. There are moments of startling humanity and deeply felt, authentic drama scattered in between the film’s many explosive, gob-smacking action sequences. That combination results in a superhero film that does not just glide smoothly through its 127-minute runtime but soars very, very high.
