What’s your plan for the weekend? Some may read a book while others will take advantage of the warming weather to venture outside. You might be bold and check out Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle show on Netflix, With Love, Meghan.
But if you’re like Us and want to watch some quality movies from the comfort of your own home, then you probably want to take advantage of one of the many streaming subscriptions you’re signed up for.
HBO and its streaming platform Max have tons of underrated movies to stream, and the following three are hidden treasures that are worth polishing off and having a look.
A drama set in Hawaii, a thriller about an affair gone wrong, and an inside look at reality TV’s earliest watershed moment are just the ticket for an entertaining weekend that doesn’t involve stepping one foot outside.
Cinema Vérité (2011)
In 1973, PBS aired a groundbreaking documentary that captured America’s attention and forever changed the television landscape. An American Family documented the seemingly ordinary lives of a Southern California family, the Louds, but it also revealed several then-shocking secrets: mom and dad’s decision to divorce and one son’s coming-out as gay.
The story behind the documentary is just as fascinating as the real thing, and Cinema Vérité dramatizes the filming of the show and its aftermath. Diane Lane is fantastic as Pat Loud, the chic matriarch who is fed up with her husband Bill (Tim Robbins), and James Gandolfini has one of his best roles ever as Craig Gilbert, the producer of the show. Cinema Vérité nails its early 1970s aesthetic (Dig those shag carpets!) and presents a fascinating look at the exact moment when reality television was born.
Cinema Vérité is streaming on Max.
Stone (2010)
This underrated movie on Max is perhaps the most obscure one on this list. Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro) is a parole officer on the cusp of retirement. A thorough man, he asks to help one more convict before he leaves his job–Gerald “Stone” Creeson (Edward Norton). Stone insists he’s been reformed and regrets his earlier crimes. When Stone’s wife, Lucetta (Milla Jovovich), enters the picture, things get messy as Jack begins to fall for her while trying to help a man whose past actions have caused numerous deaths.
Stone is a tricky thriller, one that never really reveals all its cards until late in the game. As Jack, De Niro is appropriately shifty and ambiguous; you never quite think he’s as squeaky clean as he would like to be. Taking a break from fighting digital zombies in the Resident Evil franchise, Jovovich is impressive as Lucetta, whose devotion to her husband is both admirable and scary. Stone is better than its largely forgotten status, and is worth a stream for those who want a well-acted thriller with an unsettling ending.
Stone is streaming on Max.
The Descendants (2011)
This year’s Oscars ceremony is over, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop watching award-worthy films. The Descendants was nominated for 5 Academy Awards in 2012, winning Best Adapted Screenplay, and it hasn’t aged a bit. It remains George Clooney’s best dramatic movie, and gave then-teen star Shaliene Woodley an adult role that launched her career.
Clooney stars as Matt King, a Hawaii-based lawyer who is facing one crisis after another. His wife is in an irreversible coma, his extended family wants him to sell his valuable ancestral land to make some fast money, and his two daughters are getting into trouble at school. When Matt discovers a revelation about his wife, he’s forced to re-examine what’s really important to him, and the unavoidable reality of his wife’s condition.
Not a lot of dramas are set in Hawaii, and part of the appeal of The Descendants is watching all the drama play out in gorgeous locations that most people would spend small fortunes to visit. Clooney is surprisingly believable as a man besieged by uncertainty about his own abilities as a husband and father, and Woodley is just terrific as his teenaged daughter Alex, a recovering addict who knows more about her mother than she’d like.
The Descendants is streaming on Max.
