39 Best Movies on HBO Max Right Now (April 2026): ‘Marty Supreme’ and More

Young New Yorker Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) dreams of becoming the world’s best ping pong player, but for all his hustle and ambition he’s limited by a lack of funds and some bad luck. Thanks to his relentless efforts, he eventually wins enough matches — and steals from those around him — to qualify for the World Championships in Japan. But the distance between NYC and Tokyo is huge, and even Marty may not be able to turn his dream into a reality.

While Marty Supreme didn’t win any Oscars despite the film’s nine nominations, it’s still a great picture. Directed with grimy zest by Josh Safdie, the film is a rousing underdog story with a protagonist who you want to kick in the shins every once in a while. Marty is kind of a dirtbag, but Chalamet makes him an endearing hero you can’t help but root for, even when he’s stealing from his naive girlfriend to fund his flights of fancy.

Marty Supreme will stream on April 24.

Eight-year-old Aurora (Sophie Sloane) is still young enough to believe in monsters hiding under her bed, but even she’s surprised when her foster parents are seemingly killed by a bunny-like creature. Her only salvation lies with 5B (Mads Mikkelsen), her loner next-door neighbor with a knack for defending the innocent. When mysterious assassins come to finish the job, 5B has no choice but to help the girl — but he wants answers. Why does someone want Aurora dead? And is there really a monster lurking somewhere in the little girl’s apartment?

Directed by Bryan Fuller, whose weird imagination brought us the cult shows Pushing Daisies and Hannibal, Dust Bunny is probably the world’s first kids fantasy movie featuring gun-toting assassins. It kinda resembles what a Quentin Tarantino Disney movie would likely look and feel like — fights that seem more violent than they actually are and magical creatures that are kinda scary. Sigourney Weaver pops up as a friend and foe to the movie’s lone wolf and cub, and she plays her character just right — a little all over the place, just like the movie itself. Still, Dust Bunny is never boring, and it gives the always magnetic Mikkelsen a lead role to show his talents.

Maddie Baker (Jennifer Lawrence) is desperate — she needs money to pay off property taxes on her dead mom’s Montauk house, and the car she uses as an Uber driver just broke down. That’s why she agrees to help the Beckers, a rich couple who will pay her to date and sleep with their virgin 19-year-old son, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman). But Maddie’s attempts to seduce the socially awkward Percy don’t work, and they both wind up becoming friends rather than lovers. How long will this friendship last when Percy finds out about Maddie’s cash-upfront deal with his parents?

When it was released in the summer of 2023, No Hard Feelings was advertised as a return to the raunchy comedies of the ‘80s. While it contains an adequate amount of dirty jokes and gratuitous nudity to justify the comparison, it’s too sweet-natured and serious to be lumped in with the likes of Porky’s. The last act is surprisingly serious, with both Lawrence and Feldman showing some serious dramatic range. Ultimately, No Hard Feelings is a rewarding comedy that offers some life lessons that don’t make you want to gag. High praise, indeed.

In 1989, teenage basketball player Christy Salters (Sydney Sweeney) impulsively enters a boxing competition —- and wins. Flush with victory, she decides to pursue a career as a professional boxer and even signs with famous promoter Don King to represent her. Christy achieves success in the ‘90s, but a disastrous marriage to the abusive James (Ben Foster) and her inability to publicly and privately acknowledge her homosexuality threaten to derail her career and personal life. Christy knows her way around the ring, but can she take the hard knocks of life?

Based on an incredible true story, Christy combines a traditional underdog story with an insightful look at life as a closeted public sports figure. Christy isn’t portrayed as heroic — in an effort to quiet murmurs of her sexuality, she engages in homophobic trash talk against her rival and future wife, Lisa Holewyn (Katy O’Brien). Sweeney is well-known for her looks, but she’s a good actress, too, and her performances in 2023’s little-seen Reality and this film showcase her surprising talents. She’s believable as a West Virginian female jock who hits as hard as she lives, and Christy benefits substantially from her gritty, vanity-free performance.

Christy starts streaming on April 10.

In the distant future, a group of rogue space miners escapes from their indentured servitude by travelling to an abandoned spaceship. But their newfound freedom soon turns into a death sentence when they encounter a nest of deadly Xenomorphs, with acid for blood and a desire to kill anything in sight. Led by Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her android sidekick Andy (Industry‘s David Jonsson), these miners will have to think and act quickly before they become space roadkill.

Set between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus is a largely successful entry in the long-running sci-fi franchise. If you think about it too much, you’ll realize it doesn’t do anything new so much as it gives a nice polish to what worked in the first two Alien movies: atmospheric horror and non-stop action. It’s not as deep as Alien 3 or as weird as Alien: Resurrection, but it does deliver the face-hugging goods. The best part of the film is Johnsoon’s soulful android, who is more human than his human comrades. 

John Wick is a massively popular action movie franchise, so it was only a matter of time before a spinoff was made to capitalize on all that goodwill. And while it’s not nearly as good as the mainline John Wick flicks, Ballerina has enough going for it for you to give it a chance.

Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) is one of the best assassins in the Ruska Roma, a secret society that operates as a ballet training school to provide cover for its very illegal activities. When Eve discovers her father’s killer belongs to a cult that has a longstanding truce with the Ruska Roma, she goes rogue to seek revenge. Eve causes enough trouble for a bounty to be placed on her head, and there’s only one man who can bring her down — the one and only John Wick (Keanu Reeves). Can Eve avenge her father’s murder before Wick finds and kills her?

Ballerina balances its efficient fight sequences with enough intriguing character development to make it a step above most other action movies. De Armas follows up her badass supporting turn in the Bond flick No Time to Die with a fierce action heroine who can throw down with anyone, even John Wick. The supporting cast is pretty effective, too, with Reeves getting enough screentime to please longtime John Wick fans.

Ballerina will stream on March 27. 

Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is blessed with an extraordinary gift — he has the enhanced strength, speed and agility of a genetically modified spider that allows him to patrol the streets of New York City as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man— but he also has terrible luck in his personal life. 

After defeating the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) in the first film, he’s still on the outs with his best friend Harry Osborne (James Franco), who doesn’t know his father was secretly the villain he thinks Spider-Man killed. Even worse, Peter’s longtime crush, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), is seeing someone else, and a new villain, Dr. Octopus (Alfred Molina), is terrorizing New York City. Can Spider-Man save the day once again and also win the heart of the woman he’s always longed for?

Roger Ebert once called Spider-Man 2 one of the best superhero films ever made, and he’s not wrong. Even today, especially today, the sequel stands out for its superb action, inventive direction and surprisingly empathetic performances from Maguire, Dunst and Molina. Even if you’re currently experiencing superhero fatigue, Spider-Man 2 is good enough to make you a true believer again.

There doesn’t seem to be a place at the box office for films like Fackham Hall, which plays like a cross between Downton Abbey and The Naked Gun. The satirical farce is set in the 1930s as the Davenport family hatches a desperate plan to keep Fackham Hall in the family by marrying off their daughter, Rose Davenport (Thomasin McKenzie), to her boorish cousin, Archibald Davenport (Tom Felton).

Rose would much rather strike up a romance with Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe), an orphan who recently came to work for the Davenports. But when Lord Humphrey Davenport (Damian Lewis) is found murdered, Eric may take the fall for a crime he didn’t commit.

Memento may have been Christopher Nolan‘s second film, but it’s the movie that put him on the map. It plays out in reverse order while focusing on Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), a man with severe anterograde amnesia. Leonard was injured during an attack that claimed the life of his wife, and now he can’t form any long-term memories. Every few minutes, it’s like Leonard’s life resets even as he tries to hunt down his wife’s killer.

The only way that Leonard can keep track of his quest is through handwritten notes and tattoos on his body. But whenever Leonard shares his affliction with strangers like Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), they inevitably take advantage of him.

Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) isn’t like the other priests — he has a sense of humor, loves riding his scooter around Vatican City and is generally a chill guy. He’s also willing to perform exorcisms when others won’t. That’s why he’s called to Spain to exorcise a demon from a young boy staying at an old abbey. But Gabriele quickly discovers the abbey holds secrets that may hold the key to getting rid of the demon once and for all — and may bring down the Catholic Church in the process.

On paper, The Pope’s Exorcist seems like another formulaic entry in the demonic possession subgenre. But the film is fun — and funnier — than what its basic plot might suggest. A lot of the credit goes to Crowe, who makes his preacher someone you’d want to hang out with after Sunday mass. He makes fighting the Devil seem like a blast, and if you ever have the misfortune to be possessed, you’d want him to drive those evil demons away.

When Piscine Molitor Patel (How I Met Your Father‘s Suraj Sharma), nicknamed “Pi” as a child, travels from India to Canada by boat, he hopes to start a new life with his family. Those hopes are dashed when a storm wrecks the ship, leaving him stranded in a lifeboat with only a hungry Bengal tiger named Richard Parker as his companion. With no help on the way, Pi must find a way to survive the harsh elements while avoiding becoming Richard Parker’s next meal.

Life of Pi seems like a simple man-versus-nature survival story, but it’s so much more than that. As envisioned by director Ang Lee, Life of Pi is a transcendental experience — an allegory about the stories we tell ourselves to survive the unthinkable. It’s also a beautiful movie to look at, with Oscar-winning cinematography and special effects that breathe vibrant life into Pi’s fantastical imagination filled with orangutans, whales and, yes, even a Bengal tiger. 

Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) smashes things, and he smashes them very well. A big guy with a soft touch, Kerr is a natural fit for the then-burgeoning sport known as MMA [Mixed Martial Arts]. But like some athletes who experience a touch of fame, he can’t quite avoid the temptation of using drugs. His girlfriend, Dawn (Emily Blunt), loves him, but she too has her own problems, which cause the couple to grow apart. With a big match in Japan on the horizon, can Mark get his life together in time to win it all?

The Smashing Machine is a Rocky-esque tale of a real-life person 99 percent of the world’s population has never heard of. So what makes Kerr so special? As embodied by an unrecognizable Johnson, he’s a gentle giant who winds up pioneering a sport that’s now super popular. While the riches-to-rags storyline is nothing new, what makes The Smashing Machine stand out are the lead performances by Johnson and Blunt, who convincingly portray a couple who are each other’s biggest strength and greatest weakness.

Linda (Rose Byrne) isn’t having the best time. Her ship captain husband is away at work, while her young daughter needs constant care due to a pediatric feeding disorder. To make matters worse, the ceiling in Linda’s apartment collapses, forcing mother and daughter into a cheap motel until it’s repaired. With one problem after another overwhelming her, Linda finds herself on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Will her new neighbors, particularly kind motel superintendent James (ASAP Rocky), provide her with some much-needed relief?

A panic-inducing look into the life of a stressed-out mother, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is one of the most uncomfortable movies to watch. It’s also a very good film that effectively conveys the mounting desperation of its almost hysterical protagonist. As Linda, Byrne gives one of the best performances of the year — and is completely worthy of an Oscar nomination and win. You can’t imagine anyone else playing the role, which is probably the highest compliment you can give an actor. 

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You will start streaming on January 30.

Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) has seen better days. As a former member of the revolutionary group the French 75, he led an anti-establishment resistance that rebelled against a capitalist society. Nowadays, he’s just a washed-up stoner who does his best to raise his teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), by himself. But when Willa’s life is threatened by an old enemy from his past, Bob teams up with his buddy Sergio (Benicio del Toro) to rescue his daughter and maybe regain some of his dignity.

One of the year’s most critically acclaimed movies and winner of 6 Oscars including Best Picture, One Battle After Another is an epic film about America as it was in 2025 — messy, violent, sometimes funny and always fascinating. Director Paul Thomas Anderson blends a variety of genres to create a portrait of a desperate father who will do anything for his daughter, even if that involves risking his own life and ideals. DiCaprio, Del Toro and Sean Penn have never been better, and newcomer Chase Infiniti is a star born right before your eyes.

What happened to Maybrook’s children? That’s the central question behind Weapons, the hit horror movie that captivated audiences last summer. Seventeen kids are gone, and they all belonged to local elementary teacher Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) class. She swears she had nothing to do with it, but most of the town, including Josh Brolin’s worried dad Archer, don’t believe her. The key to the mystery lies with young Alex (Cary Christopher), the only child who didn’t disappear. Why was he spared? And does he know something others don’t?

Zach Cregger’s creepy mystery is already gaining status as a modern-day classic, and it’s not hard to see why. The plot is genuinely intriguing, with a third act that amps up the thrills — and the scares. Garner and Brolin are terrific as two enemies linked by their mutual desire to find out what the hell is going on, but best of all is Amy Madigan as Aunt Gladys, whose ginger wig, tacky jewelry and slapped-on makeup have elevated her to horror icon status. She won an Oscar for her performance, and the Academy was right to honor her.

In a crime-ridden neighborhood in Miami, Chiron (Alex Hibbert and Ashton Sanders) navigates an uncertain childhood with an absent father and a drug-addicted mother, Paula (Naomie Harris). Desperate for companionship, he seeks the advice of local drug dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali) and, later, best friend Kevin (Jharrell Jerome). When Chiron gradually realizes he has feelings for Kevin, he’s faced with a dilemma that will haunt him well into his adulthood — should he come out in a time and place that’s hostile to his identity?

A surprise but deserving Best Picture winner at the 2017 Oscars, Moonlight is a haunting coming-of-age story about one person’s struggle with realizing who he is and what his society wants him to be. Told in three parts at three specific periods in Chiron’s life, the movie traces his evolution from a well-meaning child to a messed-up adult who has become his own worst enemy. The movie deals with some dark themes, but its conclusion is both open-ended and hopeful. Moonlight is not a fairy tale, but it possesses a strange, irresistible magic you won’t soon forget.

One of the best modern anime movies ever made is Perfect Blue, a trippy thriller about the high price of fame. When Mima (voiced by Junko Iwao) decides to abandon her successful pop music career to make it as a dramatic actress, she quickly realizes she’s in over her head. As her psyche breaks under the pressure, she discovers she’s being stalked by a crazy fan who wants her to go back to doing what she does best — singing catchy pop songs. 

But Mima doesn’t want to return to her old life, and her insistence on being an actress angers her mysterious stalker. As Mima’s friends fall victim to a variety of mysterious accidents, Mima is forced to confront the fact that her life is in danger and her biggest enemy isn’t a deranged fan but her own unstable unconscious.

Chances are, you’ve heard Jeff Buckley sing without realizing it. His cover of Leonard Cohen’s haunting ballad, “Hallelujah,” became a go-to staple for 2000s teen dramas, and his only studio album, Grace, is frequently cited as one of the best ‘90s albums ever. But how well do you know him? It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley paints an intimate portrait of an artist who, while cut short in his prime, left behind a body of work that still inspires those who listen to it today. 

Using archival interviews featuring Buckley plus never-before-seen concert footage, director Amy Berg captures Buckley from his early days as a struggling musician in Los Angeles and New York to his indie success following the release of Grace in 1994. The result is a fascinating documentary that makes you appreciate its subject more by making the man behind the music less mysterious and more relatable. Jeff was just like you and me; the only difference is that he was blessed with a once-in-a-generation talent. 

30 years after The Brothers McMullen premiered at Sundance and became an indie sensation, writer-actor-director Edward Burns is back with a long-awaited sequel, The Family McMullen. While Barry (Burns) and Patrick (Mike McGlone) McMullen return to tackle life as fiftysomethings, their older brother Jack (Jack Mulcahy) has died, leaving his widow, Molly (Connie Britton), to step into his role as the family’s mediator. She’s needed as the McMullen clan reunites at the family’s Queens home to celebrate new loves and nurse old grudges.

If you’re a fan of family dramas with a dose of romantic comedy, you’ll like The Family McMullen. The sequel stays true to the original film’s indie low-budget roots, making everything you see feel like it’s actually happening. Among the talented cast, Britton shines as a woman still grappling with the loss of her husband while trying to hold her family together.

How did the mutant superhero group, the X-Men, come to be? First Class fills in the gaps and introduces a new cast of friends, foes and everything in between. Set in the swinging 1960s, this origin story follows Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender), two friends with opposing views on the future of mutantkind: Charles campaigns for peace with humans, while Erik believes only force will protect their people from extinction.

Alongside Raven Darkholme (Jennifer Lawrence) and Dr. Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), they recruit new mutants like Havok (Lucas Till) to their cause. But they soon find resistance when Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and his Hellfire Club threaten them and the entire world with their plans for world domination.

It sounds convoluted, and while you may not be able to follow every character and plot point First Class throws at you, it doesn’t matter when it’s this much fun. Director Matthew Vaughn makes the most of the ‘60s setting, bringing a sense of style and mod cool that’s unusual for the cape-and-spandex genre, and the cast seems to enjoy waving their arms around as CGI blasts erupt from their hands.  

The modern dating scene is brutal, but don’t worry — Lucy Mason (Dakota Johnson) is here to help. A professional matchmaker, she helps lonely New York women find love — and if the men all happen to be rich, so be it. Lucy herself needs some help in the love department since she soon finds herself torn between a poor ex, John (Chris Evans), and an ultra-rich prospective suitor, Henry (Pedro Pascal). Lucy’s head is telling her one thing while her heart is saying another — but which one is more important for a single woman to find a lasting relationship in 2025? 

Materialists has been described as a romantic comedy, but it’s much more than that — it’s a modern-day Jane Austen tale that looks at the absurd game of love with a sharp eye. Writer/director Celine Song focuses on her three lead characters, who are all deeply needy and believe they’ve earned the right to a happy ending. Everyone wants that — but as Lucy frequently asks her customers, How much are you willing to pay for it?

Paranormal duo Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are back in the fourth — and possibly final — Conjuring movie. Their latest case involves their now-grown daughter, Judy (Mia Tomlinson), who has psychic visions of a family haunted by three malevolent spirits. Soon, the entire Warren family is investigating this latest haunting, but when Judy becomes possessed, it’s up to Ed and Lorraine to not only save the victimized family but their own daughter as well.

Last Rites is mid Conjuring — it’s better than the last one and any of the Annabelle flicks, about on par with The Nun and nowhere near as good as the original. The sequel has plenty of scares, and the atmosphere is reliably spooky, but it’s Wilson and Farmiga that make this movie worth seeing. As the real-life Mulder and Scully, their supernatural super-couple makes you believe in the power of love — and things that go bump in the night.

The Conjuring: Last Rites begins streaming on HBO Max November 21.

Nobody really likes Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks), least of all himself. What’s to like? He’s a bitter 63-year-old widower who treats others terribly. But Otto is in pain due to the loss of his beloved wife, and he has plans to end it by taking his own life. That changes with the arrival of his new neighbors, Marisol (Mariana Treviño) and Tommy (Manuel García-Rulfo), who see the goodness buried deep within Otto. Otto begins to see it, too, and re-evaluates his life and what he still has to offer the world.

A Man Called Otto could’ve been a sentimental bore, but instead it’s a sharp and engaging drama about a lost man who finds himself by helping others. Otto never becomes “lovable” — he’s still a bit of an asshole, even at the film’s conclusion. But Hanks’ great performance shows that even cranky old men have hearts, and Otto discovers he still has the capacity to care for others. You might cry at the end of A Man Called Otto, but that’s ok — the movie earns your tears.

Agnes (Eva Victor) is a part-time literature professor on the verge of a much-needed promotion. When she visits friends from her graduate school days, she flashes back to a traumatic event that’s always haunted her — a sexual assault by professor Preston Decker (Louis Cancelme), her adviser. As she relives the painful aftermath of that experience, she wonders how her life changed because of it and if she’ll ever fully recover.

One of the best-reviewed movies of the year, Sorry, Baby, combines grace and humor to tackle what’s typically a sobering topic. Victor, who also wrote and directed the movie, gives an effortlessly natural performance that doesn’t sugarcoat the trauma Agnes experienced — and is still processing. The movie’s brisk 93-minute runtime leaves you with just enough to want more, which is always an indication that the movie you just watched is pretty good.

Sorry, Baby will start streaming on October 30.

Is kindness the new punk rock? We wouldn’t go that far, but the new Superman movie by writer and director James Gunn seems to have struck a chord with audiences that none of this year’s Marvel movies could match.

This movie is a fresh start for DC’s heroes, with a new Man of Steel, Dave Corenswet, stepping into the dual role of Clark Kent and Superman. Clark is still finding his way as a hero while navigating an occasionally tense romance with his coworker, Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). However, Superman’s nemesis, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), has found a new way to use Clark’s alien heritage as a weapon that may turn the public against him.

Superman is streaming on HBO Max.

The Substance was an indie horror sensation in 2024 and a story that seemed tailor-made for actress Demi Moore. In this movie, Moore plays a fading Hollywood star, Elizabeth Sparkle, who has been cast aside by her longtime producer, Harvey (Dennis Quaid), because of her age.

Out of desperation to save her career, Elizabeth uses a black market drug called the Substance to produce a younger version of herself called Sue (Margaret Qualley). Only one version can be active at a time, and there are dire consequences if Sue or Elizabeth goes more than a week without switching their consciousness. And Sue is starting to take on a life of her own at Elizabeth’s expense.

The Substance is streaming on HBO Max.

In the mood to cringe a lot? Then Friendship is the perfect movie to watch. Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) is having a midlife crisis. Bored with his middle-class life and roles as husband to Tami (Kate Mara) and father to Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer), he perks up when his new neighbor, Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd). Austin is everything Craig is not — cool, confident and liked by everyone he meets. The two men soon become best friends, but Craig wants Austin all to himself, and his neediness and jealousy set off a chain of events that could ruin his friendship, marriage and life.

Friendship is an oddball comedy that might make you cringe a little — but what else would you expect from Robinson, who perfected the awkward comedy subgenre with his show I Think You Should Leave. He’s able to wring laughs from the most desperate situations, and what Craig goes through throughout Friendship more than qualifies. As the “cool guy” who isn’t really all that cool, Rudd adds to his long list of impressive comedic performances. 

Friendship is streaming on HBO Max.

The Legend of Ochi stars Helena Zengel as Yuri, a young Ukrainian farm girl who lives a relatively normal life except that she cannot go outside after dark or else she might be eaten by mysterious creatures known as the Ochi. When she befriends lost baby Ochi, she embarks on a quest to return the creature to where it belongs.

If you’re a fan of ’80s kids epics like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, you’ll love this film. Heck, if you like adventure stories, The Legend of Ochi will entertain you. The movie is an impressive technical achievement — it utilizes CGI, practical puppetry and old-school matte paintings to create its vivid world that’s almost realistic, but not quite. Yuri’s bond with her new friend is touching and recalls Elliot’s rapport with E.T. in Steven Spielberg‘s classic film. It’s that good.

Death may arrive late, but it always comes back in Final Destination Bloodlines. Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) takes center stage this time as she inherits the visions that allowed so many of the franchise’s protagonists to cheat death.

In the present, Stefani discovers that she and two generations of her family were never meant to exist. The late Tony Todd shows up one last time as William Bludworth, the man who knows death better than anyone. He can offer some advice, but Stefani’s family is dropping like flies, and she’s next on the hit list.

Final Destination Bloodlines is streaming on HBO Max.

L.A. teen June Allen (Storm Reid) is pretty resourceful — she knows her way around a computer and has a knack for eavesdropping on others when she shouldn’t be. She’ll need those talents when her mother, Grace (Nia Long), suddenly goes missing after going on vacation with her new boyfriend, Kevin (Ken Leung). What happened to Grace? And why is June the only one smart enough to find her?

Missing is a spiritual sequel to the 2018 sleeper hit Searching starring John Cho, and like that film, it’s a screenlife thriller that tells the majority of its story through computer screens, mobile phones and security footage. That might seem like a gimmick, but Missing uses it to breathe new life into a standard kidnapped woman mystery. The movie takes some wild turns as the story progresses, but they don’t feel cheap or absurd at all. 

It should’ve been an ordinary trip to the country for Elliot (Paul Rudd) and his teenage daughter, Ridley (Jenna Ortega). Instead, they hit an animal with their car — and not just any animal, but a unicorn. They stash the injured creature into their trunk and drive to their destination: Elliot’s boss’ country estate. But their troubles are over as the animal parents come looking for their magical spawn and aren’t too pleased to find that humans have harmed it. 

Death of a Unicorn is about as odd as the title sounds — it’s a grounded movie that deals matter-of-factly with the existence of a mythical animal. The movie’s unicorn isn’t as peaceful as the ones in fairy tales, though, so there’s a lot of blood being shed and flesh getting torn as it exacts its revenge. The movie’s horrific parts are capably balanced by its comedy, which is often unexpected and uproarious. It’s not for everyone, but Death of a Unicorn is an entertaining adventure tale that’s worth streaming.

Twin brothers Smoke and Stack Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan) are World War I veterans with dreams of opening up their own nightclub in 1930s Mississippi. They save enough money and recruit enough people to do so, but on the club’s opening night, their party is crashed by something completely unexpected: vampires. With both their livelihood and lives threatened, Smoke and Stack will have to forge some unholy alliances to make it out alive.

One of 2025’s surprise hits, Sinners is both a massively entertaining action-horror flick and one of the best-made movies in a while. The music, the cinematography, the acting and the direction are all top-notch, with Coogler once again showcasing the limitless possibilities of genre allegory — and his own talents as a filmmaker. It’s a movie so good that it was nominated for a record 16 Oscar nominations in 2026.

Fans of Succession should check out Mountainhead, an absorbing original movie written and directed by Jesse Armstrong, the creator of that award-winning HBO show. The movie chronicles the winter vacation getaway of four male Silicon Valley billionaires who aren’t that different from the Roy clan. When a humanitarian crisis occurs in the outside world, each man is forced to come to terms with how much wealth and power they have and how little they really care about anything else.

Steve Carell, Ramy Youssef, Cory Michael Smith and Jason Schwartzman are the tech bros who do some soul searching, while still enjoying the spoils of being in the 0.00001 percent. Mountainhead is a funny film that also tells some hard truths about our world today. Carell is great, but it’s Gotham actor Smith who steals the show as an evil version of Mark Zuckerberg.

Tóth (Adrien Brody) is an architect from Hungary who immigrates to America after World War II. After a period of struggle, he finds work with the wealthy Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce). Harrison recognizes László’s talents, but he also envies them. As the years pass, László persistently fights Harrison to realize his artistic vision, which takes its toll on his career and relationships with his wife and daughter. Can art and commerce exist peacefully? Or are they constantly at odds, much like László and Harrison?

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2025, The Brutalist is an American epic Hollywood just doesn’t make anymore. It takes place during the last half of the 20th century in New York City, Philadelphia and Italy. But The Brutalist is also an intimate character study focusing on two men who share wildly different views on just about everything. It’s a film with big ideas about Life and Art, but it never feels too stuffy or self-important.

Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) seemingly has it all: a thriving career as a powerful CEO, a loving marriage to a caring husband and two wonderful teenage daughters. But Romy has one big problem — her sex life stinks. That all changes when young intern Sam (Harris Dickinson) enters her life and correctly guesses that Romy isn’t just horny, she’s also craving to be sexually dominated. Soon, they have an affair, but how far will Romy go to have it all?

Babygirl deals with complicated subject matter, but it has a surprisingly light comedic touch that makes it a pleasure to watch. Kidman excels at playing characters like Romy, who can seem serious and cold one moment and funny and warm in another. It’s one of the actress’s best performances, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her efforts.

Iris (Sophie Thatcher) seems like the perfect girlfriend —  intelligent, attractive and attentive to her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid). There’s a good reason for that: she’s actually a companion android whose every move is controlled by Josh. But when she discovers Josh may be using her for nefarious purposes on a weekend getaway with some friends, Iris breaks free of her programming. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, even a female robot like Iris, and her revenge will change Josh and his friends forever.

Companion is a morbidly funny horror film with a twisty plot that will keep you guessing. Quaid takes a break from playing nice guys (well, mostly) to portray an amoral man who will do pretty much anything to get what he wants. Thatcher is also great as the paranoid android who has every reason not to trust the humans around her. 

Edward Lemuel (Sebastian Stan) is an out-of-work actor with neurofibromatosis who receives an experimental medical treatment that dramatically alters his appearance. After he assumes a new identity and a new career as a real estate agent, he discovers that a new play written by his past neighbor is about to be staged. He auditions for the role and gets it, but things get complicated when Oswald (Adam Pearson), a man with the same condition Edward once had, befriends the cast and crew, pushing Edward to the brink of madness.

A Different Man is a strange, hypnotic film, a movie about obsession and jealousy that never goes where you’d expect. Stan earned an Oscar nomination last year for The Apprentice, but he’s even more impressive here as the self-loathing Edward. He’s ably supported by Pearson, as the man Edward simultaneously hates and aspires to be, and Renate Reinsve as the neighbor/playwright Ingrid.

William Lee (Daniel Craig) is drifting through life. An American expat in Mexico, he has nothing better to do than hang out in bars and try to pick up hustlers who aren’t interested in him. Things change when he meets Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a young GI also wandering without any clear objective. The two soon begin an affair, but Eugene isn’t sure he wants to be with any man, let alone William. But William is madly in love and is willing to travel to the ends of the Earth to make Eugene stay with him.

Queer isn’t quite a romance, drama or a comedy, although it contains elements of all those genres. The third act gets trippy (literally) and may leave you feeling confused, but it’s worth it for the dynamic lead performances by Craig and Starkey. They’re convincing as tenative lovers who can’t quite connect with one another.

One of the best films of 2024, Flow is an Oscar-winning animated movie from Latvia with no dialogue, nameless animal characters and barely any plot. A black cat barely survives a stampede of wild dogs when a giant flood engulfs his home … and eventually, most of the land. Desperate to survive, the cat finds a floating sailboat with a capybara as its sole occupant. Eventually, a dog, a secretary bird, and a lemur join them, and together, they navigate the dangers of rising tides, an epic storm and other wild animals as they try to find dry land free of danger.

On paper, Flow seems intimidatingly basic, but the movie’s pleasures are in simply experiencing its gorgeous visuals and spellbinding score. The director, Gints Zilbalodis, wrote the screenplay and composed the music, and his passion shines through in every frame and musical chord. Most modern animated movies, with their celebrity voiceovers and assembly-line pop tunes, play it safe to appeal to everyone, but Flow takes risks by marching to its own beat. It pays off, and it’s an instant classic.