Last updated: June 2, 2020
What are the best movies to watch on HBO? Subscription streaming services are the fastest growing sector of the entertainment landscape, but before Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu came to dominate that arena, premium cable companies like HBO were offering consumers a way to watch movies and TV shows without commercials for a set monthly fee. Not content to let streaming run away with their market share, HBO also now allows people to subscribe to an entirely online version of their service called HBO Now, after fans begged for such an option for years.
Nowadays, cutting the cable cord is the preferred way to go for many, especially younger pop culture devotees. Cable packages are bloated, full of content very few people want, and contain multiple additional fees. Still, whether one subscribes to HBO through cable or via streaming, the service offers a great selection of movies with which to pass the time, even if the line-up isn't quite as robust as those of the subscription streaming big three.
Before the list of the best movies on HBO begins proper, there are some important notes to be made. First, the movies below are available to watch on HBO and stream on HBO Now at the time of this writing. As movies expire, the list will be updated, and new great options will be added. Also, the 15 films below, while numbered for convenience, are not ranked.
Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring his modern muse Leonardo DiCaprio, 2010's Shutter Island centers on U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, who's sent to investigate a mysterious disappearance at a mental hospital on the titular island. Unfortunately for Teddy, nothing is what it seems, and the mystery threatens to swallow him whole. The star-studded cast also includes Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, and Michelle Williams. Those looking for a thriller designed to keep them guessing should definitely stream Shutter Island on HBO.
The fourth feature to be directed by perennial critical darling Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002's Punch-Drunk Love offered a showcase for comedy icon Adam Sandler's then-unknown dramatic chops as Barry Egan, a desperately lonely man with severe rage issues. Sadly, said chops have only been glimpsed a few times since, with Sandler mostly content to stick to his usual wheelhouse of slapstick comedies like Grown Ups. Still fans of Sandler the actor will always have this critically acclaimed film to remember him by, and stream on HBO.
After the Oscar-winning success of his debut film Get Out, the eyes of the world's moviegoers looked to director Jordan Peele's second film, Us, in the hopes it would prove his talents behind the camera weren't a fluke. While maybe not quite as good as Get Out, Us is a great horror film in its own right, presenting an ingenious concept: everyone on Earth has a secret duplicate, and those duplicates now want to take over their counterparts' lives. Black Panther's Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke star in this new to HBO selection.
While by no means the greatest DC movie of all time, there's something undoubtedly appealing about director James Wan's Aquaman solo film, one of the most successful superhero outings in recent memory and new to HBO. Jason Momoa stars as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, who's forced to face his destiny and return to Atlantis after a lifetime above the surface. Arthur is recruited by Mera (Amber Heard) to unseat his villainous half-brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson), who's assumed the throne and rules with an iron fist.
While not quite the exalted classic its 1962 inspiration is, director Jonathan Demme's 2004 remake of political thriller The Manchurian Candidate is still an enjoyable piece of work. Denzel Washington stars as a war veteran named Ben Marco, who begins to suspect his experiences overseas might not have been what they seemed. Before long, his investigation leads to the revelation that vice presidential candidate Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) might be an unwitting puppet of a dark conspiracy. Meryl Streep, Vera Farmiga, and Jon Voight also star in this prime HBO pick.
There are few better cinematic illustrations of the phrase "war is hell" than Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 masterpiece Apocalypse Now. A loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now stars Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin Willard, a special ops officer sent into the thick of the Vietnam War to take down Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando, in a legendarily unhinged performance). Kurtz has gone a bit a mad, and now commands fighters that worship him like a god. Apocalypse Now demands to be watched by anyone who claims to be a film buff, and streaming on HBO is the perfect way to do it.
The annual summer blockbuster season for movies is just something audiences take for granted nowadays, but it wasn't even that long ago that such a season didn't exist. That was until director Steven Spielberg's breakthrough hit Jaws came along to set the standard in 1975. Everyone knows Jaws' story: three men - Sheriff Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and grizzled fisherman Quint (Robert Shaw) set out on a journey to kill a massive great white shark after it makes a snack out of those swimming near Amity Island. Those who haven't seen it should fire it up on HBO now, and those who have should watch it again. It's that good.
One of the most iconic films of the 1990s, Fight Club really speaks to a certain type of viewer, while turning another type of viewer off. To be sure, the philosophies espoused by villainous terrorist Tyler Durden aren't meant to be followed in real life, but Fight Club remains a thought-provoking, tense thriller more than two decades after its release. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton star as Tyler and his mild-mannered alter ego, respectively.
While 2019's theatrical arrival of director M. Night Shyamalan's latest film, the highly anticipated Glass, didn't exactly light the world on fire, that doesn't diminish the greatness of the two films Glass functions as a sequel to, including 2000's Unbreakable. After surviving a deadly train crash without a scratch, mild-mannered security guard and family man David Dunn (Bruce Willis) comes to discover that he possesses powers beyond normal men, and that he's destined for greatness as a superhero. Guiding him down this path is Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a mysterious man with secrets of his own.
The film that established Ridley Scott as a future all-time great director, 1979's Alien is arguably the best blend of sci-fi and horror ever made. Sigourney Weaver stars as Ellen Ripley, a crew member on the Nostromo, essentially a space tow truck. The Nostromo is forced by its bosses to answer a distress beacon on an alien planet, and before long, events are set in motion that leads to the Xenomorph killing nearly the entire crew. Alien is still as effective over 40 years later, and is a great addition to the HBO library.
While it was the mammoth successes of Titanic and Avatar that made director James Cameron "king of the world," he was turning out terrific films long before that. Case in point is 1989's The Abyss, which sees rescue divers enlisted to recover a lost U.S. nuclear submarine, only to discover something entirely unexpected deep in the ocean: aliens. As usual for Cameron, The Abyss is visually stunning, and pushed the limits of special effects at the time. Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn star in this excellent HBO addition.
2005's War of the Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg, is an odd case, in that it earned both positive reviews and large box office totals upon release, but has kind of faded into the back of Spielberg's legendary filmography. While the ending tends to be divisive, the film leading up to that is one of the most harrowing tales of an alien invasion ever committed to film, with Tom Cruise ably steering things in the lead role. Full of thrilling action and scenes that would be at home in a horror movie, War of the Worlds is a worthy HBO pick.
Those looking for a creepy ghost movie would be advised to cue up 2001's The Others during their next HBO excursion, as it's one of the best horror efforts to emerge from its decade. Directed by Alejandro Amenabar, The Others is set in 1945, and stars Nicole Kidman as Grace Stewart, who lives with her children Anne and Nicholas at a remote country house. Grace's children have a rare condition which makes them averse to light, a circumstance that's not helpful once chilling supernatural occurrences start happening.
An award season darling, Bradley Cooper's 2018 remake of A Star is Born may have ended up mostly shut out at the Oscars - winning only for Best Original Song - but that doesn't make it any less of a terrific addition to the HBO line-up. Cooper directs and stars as Jackson Maine, a successful singer-songwriter who struggles with alcoholism and the prospect that he's losing his hearing. Lady Gaga plays Ally, an unknown singer that gets discovered by Jackson one night at a club, beginning both a whirlwind romance and Ally's rise to musical stardom. Cooper and Gaga's lead song, "Shallow" deservedly won the Oscar, and the chemistry between the two is electric.
A clear example of a divide between audiences and critics, hit Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, earned decent at best reviews, but absolutely cleaned up at the box office. Rami Malek would of course go on to win an Oscar for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, which didn't sit well with many who found the film overrated. Bohemian Rhapsody also proved controversial due to its alterations to Queen's real history. One thing's for sure though, everyone needs to see it at least once, just to see what all the fuss is about on both sides. For those with HBO, this film will rock you.
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