HBO
HBOwas establish in 1972 , and it speedily became the premium cable connection of option for fans who wanted to see Hollywood ’s best movies from the ease of their own family . It was n’t until 1983 that HBO began make its own original movies . And back then , Home Box Office was n’t just a name or a brand — it was a promise that HBO ’s original programming would be several gash above traditional made - for - TV film .
For decades , HBO has attracted top - tier actor and actress , as well as established director , to fork up feature article - film quality depicted object that , in many pillowcase , should have gotten theatrical release . Although HBO has for the most part pulled back from making fresh original moving-picture show in the streaming geological era ofMax , many of the web ’s top films from the yesteryear are still promptly usable to watch . To help keep these fantastical films in the public eye , we ’ve put together a lean of the 10 best HBO movies , which you may determine below .
HBO
10. Behind The Candelabra (2013)
word picture if you will a movie about homo icon Liberace , with Michael Douglas as the famous pianist and Matt Damon as Liberace ’s lover , Scott Thorson . The photographic film in question was also helmed by one the best directors of his contemporaries : Steven Soderbergh . So how is it thatBehind the Candelabracouldn’t get a theatrical release in the United States ? Because , with few exceptions , picture show with LGBTQ+ themes have n’t fully crossed into the mainstream . It would still be an acclivitous battle to get this pic made in 2024 , much less 2013 .
HBO gave this cinema the home and the stage that it take to research the last decade of Liberace ’s life , as well as his complex family relationship with Thorson . Liberace ostensibly adored Thorson , but he also wanted to control his life and remake him in his image … sometimes literally ! In the decades before gay matrimony , there was no prescribed divorcement for two homosexual lovers . That did n’t stop Thorson from airing his unclean laundry in public after his human relationship with Liberace was fractured .
WatchBehind the CandelabraonMax .
9. Live from Baghdad (2002)
InThe Tempest , William Shakespeare save “ what ’s past is prologue . ” It ’s severe not to guess of that quotation mark when consideringLive from Baghdad , a play that is set during the first Gulf War and made its debut on HBO just as the 2nd Gulf War was begin to get afoot . Michael Keaton and Helena Bonham Carter co - headline the film as CNN producer Robert Wiener and his associate , Ingrid Formanek , respectively .
During the buildup to the war , CNN ’s team is the only American news outlet provide in Baghdad . Wiener assay to build a working relationship with the Iraqi Minister of Information , Naji Al - Hadithi ( David Suchet ) , for get the scoop of a lifetime . But even Wiener ’s attack to act without go against Iraq ’s purview can only go on for so long before Iraq curtails their access to the outside world .
Live from Baghdadis not usable to stream or rent .
8. Iron Jawed Angels (2004)
Women have only had the rightfulness to vote in the U.S. for 104 days . And there are n’t a pile of dramatized retellings of the womanhood in the suffragist cause who fought to make that happen . Not long before her second Oscar profits for Best Actress , Hilary Swank starred in HBO’sIron Jawed Angelsas Alice Paul , one of the leading voices among the suffragists .
Paul and Lucy Burns ( Frances O’Connor ) are so confrontational with the men in mightiness that they seem extreme even to other suffragist like Carrie Chapman Catt ( Anjelica Huston ) . When Paul , Burns , and the rest of their followers prove to be too riotous , they are put away and subjected to horrific abuse during their hunger tap . no matter of their portion , the suffragists reject to back down .
WatchIron Jawed AngelsonMax .
7. You Don’t Know Jack (2010)
Al Pacino has starred in three HBO original film , andYou Do n’t Know Jackis the full of the three . Pacino portray Dr. Jack Kevorkian , one of the leading advocates for aided felo-de-se in the late ‘ 1900s and ’ 90 . Rather than enshroud his bodily process , Kevorkian goes public with his assisted self-annihilation gadget , the Thanatron , which allows patients to press the button that will end their own spirit .
Despite attempt to pursue Kevorkian , he manages to debar serious charges until he deal footage of one of his dying patients on home television . Attorney Geoffrey Fieger ( Danny Huston ) leads the fight to keep Kevorkian out of prison , but even Fieger ’s skills may not be enough win over the judicature of public opinion .
WatchYou Do n’t have it away JackonMax .
6. The Normal Heart (2014)
American Horror Storycreator Ryan Murphy directedThe Normal Heart , which was adapted by Larry Kramer from his frolic of the same name . The MCU ’s Hulk , Mark Ruffalo , stars as Alexander “ Ned ” Weeks , the openly merry boyfriend of Felix Turner ( Matt Bomer ) in the former eighties as the HIV and AIDS pandemic discover the homosexual community of interests .
Dr. Emma Brookner ( Julia Roberts ) is one of the few aesculapian practitioners who not only acknowledges the rising number of HIV cases , but also tries to get other physician to agnise the great scope of the crisis . Ned also uses his political platform to kick upstairs awareness , which causes friction with his closeted lover . But as the disease spreads , Ned seems doom to lose almost everyone he knows in the homophile residential area as they knuckle under to illness and death .
WatchThe Normal HeartonMax .
5. Something the Lord Made (2004)
To paraphrase critic Richard Roeper ’s moving-picture show laws , here ’s one to keep in mind : If Alan Rickman is in a moving picture , it ’s either a great narration or he have the good performance in the film . Both thing are reliable in HBO’sSomething the Lord Made . But Mos Def is right up there with Rickman as he hand a compelling performance as Vivien Thomas , a gifted innovator in the theater of operations of cardiac surgery who was mostly abnegate recognition for his feats because he was Black .
Dr. Alfred Blalock ( Rickman ) ab initio disregards Thomas ’ skills until the unseasoned man show to be indispensable . Over the decennary , Blalock and Thomas harness the “ Blue Baby Syndrome , “ and their advanced work leads to a treatment . However , Blalock takes and accept most of the reference for the work , leave Thomas in comparative obscurity .
WatchSomething the Lord MadeonMax .
4. Temple Grandin (2010)
One year before the debut of her breakout role in Showtime’sHomeland , Claire Danes demonstrated her range with an Emmy - winning turn in HBO ’s biographic play , Temple Grandin . Danes depict the title quality , a woman who struggles with autism in the mid-20th 100 , when it was not wide sympathize .
Temple ’s female parent , Eustacia Cutler ( Julia Ormond ) , does everything that she can to provide Temple with a normal liveliness . While working for her family ’s cattle ranch , Temple comes up with a way to comfort the livestock and humanely lead them to slaughter . But getting anyone to severely count Temple ’s thought is a fight in and of itself .
WatchTemple GrandinonMax .
3. Deadwood: The Movie (2019)
word ca n’t adequately describe how bleep excited we were to seeDeadwoodget some closure a bare 13 class after it prematurely come to an end in 2006 . serial creator David Milch pass the show ’s numerous expletive - laced monologue a Shakespearean - like timbre , especially when delivered byJohn Wick‘s Ian McShane , who portrayed Al Swearengen .
Ten years after the third season coda , Seth Bullock ( Timothy Olyphant ) , Alma Ellsworth ( Molly Parker ) , Trixie ( Paula Malcomson ) , and more descend upon Deadwood as South Dakota celebrates statehood . Swearengen ’s power may not be what it was a ten sooner , but he ’s not one to quietly slip away into the night as culture takes storage area in the township .
WatchDeadwood : The MovieonMax .
2. 61* (2001)
Billy Crystal take the penultimate motion-picture show on our list,61 * , which is also one of the all - meter great sports films . Crystal even incorporates Mark McGuire ’s nursing home ladder book Salmon Portland Chase in 1998 before flashing back to the magical 1961 time of year when the New York Yankees ’ Mickey Mantle ( Thomas Jane ) and Roger Maris ( Barry Petter ) were both in rivalry to break the place footrace bull’s eye set by Babe Ruth .
The asterisk in the title is there because MLB stipulated that Ruth ’s record would n’t really be break unless Maris or Mantle managed to do it in 154 games , which was the length of the season during Ruth ’s earned run average . Amid the attack to downplay their potential achievement , Maris and Mantle face incredible pressure to beat that mark . But only one of them will set the record for the decades that stick with .
Watch61*onMax .
1. Game Change (2012)
Game Changeturns back the clock to 2008 , as John McCain ( Ed Harris ) struggles to get ahead the Republican nomination for president and excite his base while Barack Obama clears the way for his own historic trial for the Democratic party . McCain consultant Steve Schmidt ( Woody Harrelson ) convince the senator to regain a vice presidential nominee who can counter Obama ’s impulse . The name they come up with is Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin ( May December‘s Julianne Moore ) .
Schmidt realize far too lately that he ’s create a monster , as Palin ’s popularity starts to eclipse McCain ’s . Meanwhile , Palin ’s willfully unlettered statements make both her and the campaign calculate bad to independent voters . Palin may no longer be the political force out that she was in this pic , but her firebrand of anti - rational populism is here to stay . Once she ’s out , there ’s no getting this genie back in the bottle .
WatchGame ChangeonMax .
