Everyone is watching HBO and Max for their high-quality TV shows like The Pitt and The Last of Us. But with The Pitt on hiatus and The Last of Us season 2 dropping new episodes only on Sunday nights, there’s a lot of time to watch some underrated movies you may have missed the first time around.
Max has plenty of them, so it’s hard to choose which ones are right for you. Watch With Us is here to recommend three of the best under-the-radar films worth your attention.
One’s an action rom-com starring a former Batman villain, another is a searing drama about a grieving mother and the final selection is a medieval horror movie starring an Oscar-winning actor.
‘This Means War’ (2012)
What happens when two best friends fall in love with the same woman? That’s the basic plot of This Means War, but the action/rom-com changes the conventional meet-cute narrative by making the two men, Tuck (Tom Hardy) and FDR (Chris Pine), spies who use covert intelligence to gain the upper hand in love. The object of their affections is Lauren (Reese Witherspoon), an executive who has no clue about their real identities. But when an enemy of theirs kidnaps her, Tuck and FDR must put aside their rivalry long enough to save Lauren — and maybe prove to her that each man is worthy of her affection.
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This Means War was a critical and commercial disappointment when it was released in 2012, but it’s aged well over the years. The action is slick (the movie was directed by Charlie’s Angels helmer McG) and the central love triangle between Hardy, Pine and Witherspoon has enough spark to last throughout the film’s brisk 97-minute runtime. It’s no rom-com classic, but fans of The Fall Guy and Knight and Day should check it out.
This Means War is streaming on Max.
‘In The Fade’ (2017)
Katja (Diane Kruger) has every reason to be angry. Her husband and 6-year-old boy were killed in a nail bomb explosion and she knows the people who did it. But she soon discovers that the law is no help in bringing justice to her family’s killers. Fueled by grief, she decides to track them down herself to avenge their deaths. Will she find salvation, death or both?
In The Fade sounds like a female Death Wish, but it’s more somber and meditative than that 1974 classic. Katja’s transformation from a happy mother and wife to a gun-happy vigilante is often painful to watch and involves her taking drugs and contemplating suicide to dull her pain. As Katja, Kruger gives her best performance ever playing a sympathetic character who does some very bad things. Be warned — the film’s gut-punch ending will take a while to recover from.
In the Fade is streaming on Max.
‘Black Death’ (2010)
Sean Bean is primarily known for three things: The Fellowship of the Ring, Game of Thrones and dying a lot in dozens of movies and TV shows over the years. We won’t say what happens to him in Black Death, a medieval action-horror movie involving magic, romance and the Black Plague, but it’s no spoiler to reveal he plays a gruff, monotone hero named Ulric who must protect an innocent in need of his help.
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That innocent is monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), who is looking for his lost lady love Averill (Kimberley Nixon). Ulric agrees to protect Osmund in exchange for the holy man’s assistance in finding a travel route untouched by disease. As the two men encounter crazed townspeople, aggressive soldiers and evil necromancers, they realize their partnership may not be enough to survive the journey.
Black Death is one of those movies you find on cable late at night and can’t help but watch. Yes, the plot is silly, but it’s also an effective B-movie that delivers on its titular promise. There’s death aplenty in Black Death, and we’re all the better for it.
Black Death is streaming on Max.
