Max remains one of the very best streaming services you can sign up for, in part because it's seemingly always home to tons of great movies that are well worth your time.
While August's offering was a little slimmer than we're used to, September sees the streamer back in top form. Even with that high 90% on Rotten Tomatoes threshold in place, there's still a great range of movies coming to Max that we think you should seriously consider adding to your watchlist.
This month, that range includes a modern sci-fi blockbuster that's one of the best movies Ridley Scott has made in a long time, a truly original action-packed comedy-drama, and a beautiful Japanese drama that earned a Best Picture nomination back in 2022.
Here are the five new to Max movies with 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes that we're recommending you check out this month.
'Boogie Nights'
Paul Thomas Anderson's Oscar-nominated "Boogie Nights" transports us back in time to the late seventies. The movie introduces us to idealistic adult film director, Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), a man who has always dreamt of taking his productions to the next level. When he discovers Mark Wahlberg's high school dropout busboy, Eddie Adams, he starts to realize that exact dream as he turns Adams into a sensation: Dirk Diggler.
Dirk's success and rise to fame come with a price, though. Soon, Dirk, Jack, and the rest of the crew around them find that the era's changing attitudes, technology, and excesses start to take their toll, and they face some serious challenges.
Genre: Drama
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Stream it now on Max
'Drive My Car'
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's 2021 movie "Drive My Car" earned high praise upon release, and for good reason; this slow, lengthy movie is a rich, moving masterpiece. If you aren't put off by the runtime, you're in for a treat.
The movie follows acclaimed actor and theater director, Yūsuke Kafukuwho (Hidetoshi Nishijima). After the death of his wife, Yūsuke is asked to helm a production of Chekov's Uncle Vanya at a Hiroshima theater festival. There, he begins to form a bond with Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), the young woman who has been assigned to drive him around in his beloved red car.
Genre: Drama
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Stream it now on Max
'Everything Everywhere All At Once'
The Daniels' Oscar-winning "Everything Everywhere All At Once" was one of the buzziest movies of 2022, and for good reason: This is a kinetic and strange adventure that somehow also manages to cram in some seriously emotional scenes among all the madness.
This inventive tale centers on Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), a laundromat owner who is just trying to keep her business afloat and maintain a (strained) relationship with her daughter and husband. A meeting with an unfriendly IRS auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis) might not sound like the activating event for an absurdist action flick, but in Evelyn's case, it is. In fact, her fraught meeting inexplicably sees her learning that the fate of the multiverse rests on her shoulders.
Genre: Action/Sci-fi/Comedy
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
Stream it now on Max
'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'
The "Harry Potter" movies are always hopping from one streaming service to another, but as of September 1, all eight of them are now available on Max (which makes sense, given they're bringing us a new "Harry Potter" TV show in a couple of years' time).
Technically, only "Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" fit our 90% threshold, but we'd bet there are tons of fantasy fans who will be planning a rewatch now that the Boy Who Lived's entire saga has hopped over to Max.
Having already thwarted some dangerous foes, the third movie in the series sees our titular wizard under threat from Sirius Black, a dangerous wizard who apparently has his sights set on Hogwarts after fleeing the wizard prison of Azkaban.
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Family
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
Stream it now on Max
'Marcel the Shell With Shoes On'
"Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" is a moving tale about an adorable, one-inch-tall talking shell discovered by documentary filmmaker, Dean Fleischer Camp (who directs).
After his marriage ends, Dean moves into an Airbnb where he uncovers Marcel (voiced by Jenny Slate) living with his grandmother, Nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini). Dean quickly grows enchanted by Marcel's whimsical life inside the house and starts filming his daily life.
Marcel soon goes viral when Dean starts posting clips of his daily life online, a move which prompts Marcel to wish his family were around to celebrate his newfound fame. Cue a search for his long-lost family and a struggle with the downside of becoming an internet celebrity.
Genre: Animation/Family/Mockumentary
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Stream it now on Max
'The Martian'
"The Martian" is a 2015 sci-fi effort from Ridley Scott that turns Andy Weir's bestselling (and brilliant) novel of the same name into a gripping, cathartic survival blockbuster.
Set in the near future, "The Martian" revolves around Mark Watney (a brilliant performance from Matt Damon), a botanist who becomes stranded on Mars during a manned mission to the red planet that goes wrong. With no help and access to limited resources, he has to figure out how to survive while NASA and a team of international scientists down on Earth race against time to hatch a plan to save him.
Genre: Sci-fi/Drama
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Stream it now on Max
'The Boy and the Heron'
In great news for Studio Ghibli fans, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest Oscar-winning effort has made its streaming debut on Max.
"The Boy and the Heron" follows a young boy, Mahito (Luca Padovan in the English release), who loses his mother to war. After her death, he's sent to live on his family's estate in the countryside.
There, he comes across a mysterious ancient tower and crosses paths with a mischievous heron (Robert Pattinson). And when Mahito's new stepmother disappears, he ends up heading on an epic journey into a fantastical new world, with that same bird as his guide through this other place.
Genre: Fantasy/Anime/Adventure
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Stream it now on Max
