It’s not technically the end of summer, but it sure does feel like it. If you’re feeling bummed out, HBO Max is just the ticket to chase those blues away.
The streamer has tons of films to watch, but these three underrated movies are certain to take your mind off school or work.
Take a trip to the stars with the sci-fi horror prequel Alien: Covenant, or watch Jessica Lange give one of the best performances of her illustrious career in The Great Lillian Hall.
If you’re still craving some star power, watch a young Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch in the compelling real-life drama, Stuart: A Life Backwards.
‘Alien: Covenant’ (2017)
The modern Alien movies are divisive. Some people love Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s return to the sci-fi franchise that made him famous, while others were cool to its esoteric approach to a series known for extreme violence. The follow-up, Alien: Covenant, is even more contentious — while it gave fans the blood and guts they wanted, most were still unsatisfied with its depiction of the famous Xenomorphs. But if you strip Alien: Covenant of all its lore and expectations, it works as a B-grade sci-fi flick.
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Set 10 years after the events of Prometheus, Covenant focuses on a new crew of space colonists who detect a weak distress call from a nearby planet. They soon encounter the android David (Michael Fassbender), the sole survivor from the previous film, who warns them of dangerous, mutating creatures lurking on the planet’s surface. But one of the colonists, Daniels (Katherine Waterston), doesn’t quite trust David and believes he might be more of a threat than the facehuggers that are eager to breed more Xenomorphs.
Alien: Covenant is streaming on HBO Max.
‘The Great Lillian Hall’ (2024)
Lillian Hall (Jessica Lange) is a famous Broadway actress rehearsing for her next, sure-to-be-hit play when she experiences moments of confusion that cause her to forget her lines. At first, she thinks it’s because of the stress of preparing for the play’s highly anticipated opening night, but she soon finds out these are symptoms of something more serious and irreversible. As Lillian struggles to deal with the reality of living with dementia, she’s determined to finish one last play before she retires from the stage.
The Great Lillian Hall works best as a vehicle for two tour-de-force performances from a pair of the finest American actresses working today. As Lillian, Lange fully embodies her character’s strength and unwillingness to deal with an inevitable truth — she’ll have to give up the one thing she truly loves more than anything else. As Lillian’s confidante, Edith, Kathy Bates plays a woman who wants to help her longtime friend even if it means turning a blind eye to some of Lillian’s problems. Both create portraits of two women who share a long history and know that their time together is about to end.
The Great Lillian Hall is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Stuart: A Life Backwards’ (2007)
Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch are bonafide stars thanks to their work in blockbuster comic book movies like Venom and Avengers: Endgame. But in 2007, they were still relatively unknown British actors struggling to break through. They both achieved international notice for Stuart: A Life Backwards, a television dramatization of the award-winning play of the same name.
Hardy stars as Stuart Shorter, a real-life figure who grew up in an abusive household before living most of his young adult life on the streets. Saved from a life of destitution by two outreach workers, Stuart becomes an advocate for the homeless in England during the ‘90s before his mysterious death in 2002.
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Cumberbatch stars as Alexander Masters, Shorter’s friend and biographer, and his scenes with Hardy form the backbone of the movie. Their contrasting acting styles, with Hardy going full Method to accurately portray the disabled and mentally unstable Stuart and Cumberbatch fully embodying the brainy Alex, are fascinating to watch and give the film a vibrant urgency that makes it hypnotic to watch.
Stuart: A Life Backwards is streaming on HBO Max.
