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The depths of winter demand a night in with a great movie. The problem? Choice paralysis. Every streaming platform has thousands of films available. To cut through that, here are 30 great hand-picked movies on HBO Max right now. Don’t have HBO Max? Check out our guides on Netflix, Stan* and Amazon Prime Video.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick changed the course of science-fiction with this humanity-spanning saga of a mission to Jupiter where – in an all too timely twist – human deception runs afoul of the spacecraft’s thwarted artificial intelligence.
Acute Misfortune (2018)
Australian actor and director Thomas M. Wright made the leap from stage to screen with this reinvention of the biopic. The story draws blood as the relationship between a leading artist (Daniel Henshall) and a journalist (Toby Wallace) spirals.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Great fun and splendidly made, this is the epitome of swashbuckling Hollywood adventure with a showcase performance from Errol Flynn as the heroic outlaw fighting oppression and infuriating his foes.
Bad Education (2019)
The best Hugh Jackman performance you haven’t seen. In a drama based on real events, the Australian star and Allison Janney play lauded school district officials whose success masks a secret uncovered by a student journalist.
Beetlejuice (1988)
Few Tim Burton movies have more of his idiosyncratic DNA than this afterlife comedy about a pair of inept new ghosts (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) whose attempts to haunt their home’s new owners unleashes a spectral maniac (Michael Keaton).
Before Sunrise (1995)
Rife with telling talk and – increasingly – loaded glances, this twenty-something romance between an American tourist (Ethan Hawke) and a French traveller (Julie Delpy) unfolds over an evening together in Vienna. Their connection is everything.
Best in Show (2000)
Christopher Guest and his band of comic sparks – Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey and more – delivered one of the great mockumentaries in this haywire collection of human contestants at a prestigious dog show.
Chopper (2000)
Eric Bana completely disappeared into the role of notorious convicted criminal Mark Brandon Read for a crime drama that laconically demystifies the legend and applies a pitch-black humour to the bloody record.
Conspiracy (2001)
Told from the minutes of their planning meeting, this historic drama stars Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci as the Nazi officers who implemented Hitler’s Holocaust. It is a procedural portrait of unchecked evil, with a matter-of-fact monstrousness.
Dead Calm (1989)
Alone in the Pacific Ocean, a grieving couple (Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman) and their sailing boat are invaded by a stranger (Billy Zane) from a sinking ship. It’s a terrific thriller, of compressed physical space and emotional tenacity.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
When a Brooklyn bank robbery unfortunately becomes a siege, the two fledgling criminals (Al Pacino and John Cazale, equally brilliant) succumb to paranoia and street oratory. It is a riveting, tragic farce.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
The cinema has never had a director whose image-making works on the scale of Denis Villeneuve. His space opera of rebellion, led by Timothée Chalamet’s conflicted young prophet, has an otherworldly physicality and bitter repercussions.
The Dry (2021)
Set in a rural town beset by drought and a senseless crime, Robert Connolly’s distinctly Australian thriller has a twisty plot and palpable themes, as Eric Bana’s long-gone investigator returns to the place that still haunts him.
Escape From New York (1981)
With Kurt Russell as the sardonic anti-hero “Snake” Plissken, this dystopian action film imagines New York’s Manhattan Island as the biggest maximum-security jail in America. If you want an American Mad Max, this is it.
Idiocracy (2006)
Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge was 20 years early with this satire, where an everyman (Luke Wilson) emerges from 500 years in hibernation to discover America is a dumbed-down, corporatised mess with a pro wrestler elected president.
Klute (1971)
Jane Fonda rightfully won a best actress Oscar for this gripping psychological thriller, playing an escort at risk after reluctantly helping Donald Sutherland’s private eye with a case. The film’s commentary on self-deception, pleasure, and performing are wholly contemporary.
The Lego Movie (2014)
The mini figures bring maximum laughs in this madcap animated comedy that turns the “chosen one” movie trope into a riot of blocky visual gags, pop culture riffs, and choice tunes. A genuine hit that’s fun for all ages.
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
This is the perfect introduction to Humphrey Bogart. In this film-noir classic, complete with sharply acidic dialogue, he plays a cynical private eye navigating a clique of duplicitous fortune seekers chasing a priceless statue.
The Matrix (1999)
Made in Sydney and by the brain-bending imagination of the Wachowskis, this gravity-defying science-fiction epic was cinema’s perfect goodbye to the 20th century, with Keanu Reeves as the human rebel fighting against a machine-run future.
Mulholland Drive (2001)
A David Lynch mystery that demands to be watched and refuses to be solved, this menacing neo-noir thriller stars Naomi Watts as an innocent amnesiac seeking an identity amidst a coolly surreal Los Angeles. A truly beautiful nightmare.
Muriel’s Wedding (1994)
With Toni Collette as the hopeful heroine, this crowd-pleasing comic-drama shows how female friendship is more resolute than romantic fantasies. An Australian classic full of colour and vernacular, this helped reset Australia’s movie boundaries.
One Battle After Another (2025)
A hapless former revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) tries to rescue his teenage daughter (Chase Infiniti) from a US Army nut job (Sean Penn) in Paul Thomas Anderson’s visually charged, blasphemous ode to love and defiance.
Paddington (2014)
Finding empathy (and marmalade) at every turn, this benchmark family film follows the misadventures of a gentle Peruvian bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw) newly arrived in London. It’s both great fun and a great advocate for community togetherness.
The Prestige (2006)
Of all Christopher Nolan’s puzzle-box movies, this is the under-appreciated marvel. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play rival magicians in 19th-century London in a story where artistry is a curse and performance eventually a death wish.
The Searchers (1956)
Director John Ford and his leading man John Wayne were foundation stones of the western genre and this is their most unyielding collaboration. Wayne’s stoic Civil War veteran returns to conflict when his niece is kidnapped by Native Americans.
Singing in the Rain (1952)
Another Golden Age Hollywood classic, this one a musical set during the transition from silent films to the talkies. Co-director Gene Kelly is at the centre of a satirical plot filled with romantic longing, effervescent songs, and timeless choreography.
Sinners (2025)
Never less than deeply felt, whether as a supernatural thriller, celebration of music, or remembrance of African-American endurance, Ryan Coogler’s horror blockbuster doubled Michael B. Jordan’s charisma by having him play twins opening a Mississippi juke joint.
Temple Grandin (2010)
Claire Danes’ ability to lose herself in a role has never been more illuminating than it is here, playing the titular real-life autism advocate whose humane 1960s inventions changed the livestock industry. The movie’s depiction of Temple’s senses is vivid.
Corpse Bride (2005)
Given this is a gorgeously macabre stop-motion animation about a young man (Johnny Depp) who accidentally marries an undead woman (Helena Bonham Carter) and runs with it, you could probably guess that Tim Burton was involved.
Weapons (2025)
With a Russian doll storytelling structure that tells you just enough to increase the suspense, Zach Cregger’s supernatural mystery turns the nocturnal disappearance of a primary school class into a sustained expression of mordant wit and folk terror.
All information correct at July 2026. *Stan is owned by Nine, the owner of this masthead.
Want more TV? We’ve got you.
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- Video: Deputy TV editor Meg Watson on the shows she recommends watching right now (below).
