HBO Max is removing 186 movies from its lineup after Sunday as part of its regular monthly inventory shake-up. Here are seven movies from the list that you should watch before they go. (Time is short here. You could pick just one, of course.)
* Boogie Nights, director Paul Thomas Anderson’s inventive 1997 take on the 1970s adult film industry starring Mark Wahlberg as the cut out for legendary adult performer John Holmes. However, PTA’s film is far more than a chronicle of the SoCal porn world from decades ago. It’s a thrilling and sometimes tragic look at a collection of lost souls who yearn for acceptance and recognition. whether they are shedding clothes for cash or slinging stereos in the Valley.
* Blow Out, the haunting 1981 Brian DePalma-directed drama starring John Travolta as an accidental investigator of a presidential assassination with DePalma’s then wife, Nancy Allen, playing a clueless accessory. This is arguably DePalma’s finest work as he taps into the conspiratorial vibe that still haunted the nation in the early 80s after the political assassinations of the 1960s and the Watergate/intelligence scandals of the 1970s. Travolta is also sensational as the B movie soundman who’s seen and heard enough.
* Eyes Wide Shut, the 1999 sexy psychological drama from director Stanley Kubrick, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a glamorous couple trying to preserve their marriage amid temptation and deceit. (No, it’s fiction.).
* Any Given Sunday, director Oliver Stone’s underrated (but loud!) 1999 football drama starring Jamie Foxx as QB1 and Al Pacino as his coach. If you love intense football, you will love this movie. Stone portrays pro football as something more than a game and just slightly less than a war. The supporting cast, which includes James Woods, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid and several former players such as Jim Brown, is ripe with fun and sometimes over-the-top performances.
* Se7en, director David Fincher’s excellent neo-noir thriller starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives searching for a serial killer who’s obsessed with the Seven Deadly Sins. The 1995 movie is an early peak at the brilliance of Fincher and you don’t want to miss the powerful performance of the guy who plays the killer. No spoilers here.
* Taxi Driver, the 1976 Martin Scorsese classic about urban alienation starring Robert DeNiro as a war veteran who returns to America in search of a purpose. Unable to make connections in the cold streets of 1970s Manhattan, DeNiro’s Travis Bickle turns to all the wrong things, including a friendship with an underage prostitute (Jodie Foster) and an infatuation with an icy blonde (Cybill Shepherd) who works for a presidential candidate. Powerful film.
* If you’re looking to lighten your mood, try Caddyshack, the hilarious and drug-fueled 1980 send-up of country club life starring Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield.
There are several other fun films on the list including Citizen Kane, When Harry Met Sally with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, the 2021 Nightmare Alley remake with Bradley Cooper, the four Lethal Weapon movies and two Jason Bourne films with Matt Damon. But we can’t pick everything, right?
Here is the complete list of movies that are leaving HBO Max after Sunday, April 30. (Films with HBO in parenthesis will also leave the cable/satellite version of HBO.)
47 Ronin, 2013 (HBO)
3 Godfathers, 1948
Accepted, 2006 (HBO)
The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938
A Private War, 2018 (HBO)
An American in Paris, 1951
The American President, 1995
Any Given Sunday, 1999
Australia, 2008 (HBO)
Before I Fall, 2017 (HBO)
Ben-Hur, 1959
Black Legion, 1937
Blade, 1998
Blood Diamond, 2006
Blow Out, 1981 (HBO)
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The Bodyguard, 1992
Boogie Nights, 1997
The Book of Eli, 2010
The Bourne Identity, 2002 (HBO)
The Bourne Supremacy, 2004 (HBO)
Bringing up Baby, 1938
Brothers By Blood, 2020 (HBO)
Cabaret, 1972
Caddyshack, 1980
Captain Phillips, 2013 (HBO)
Carefree, 1938
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1958
The Champ, 1979
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1968 (HBO)
A Christmas Story, 1983
Citizen Kane, 1941
College, 2008 (HBO)
Colors, 1988 (HBO)
Confessions of a Nazi Spy, 1939
Crazy, Stupid, Love., 2011
Creed, 2015
Creed II, 2018
A Damsel in Distress, 1937
Deep Blue Sea, 1999
Demolition Man, 1993
Designing Woman, 1957
Devil’s Due, 2014 (HBO)
Disturbing Behavior, 1998 (HBO)
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, 2002
Dog Day Afternoon, 1975
Dumb & Dumber, 1994
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, 2003
Enter The Dragon, 1973
Escape Plan 2: Hades, 2018 (HBO)
The Expendables 2, 2012
The Expendables 3, 2014
The Expendables, 2010
Eyes Wide Shut, 1999
Fashions of 1934, 1934
Final Destination, 2002
Frailty, 2001 (HBO)
The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1981 (HBO)
Friday, 1995
Frida, 2002 (HBO)
The Fugitive, 1993
Generation Por Que?, 2021 (HBO)
Geronimo: An American Legend, 1993
Graffiti Bridge, 1990 (HBO)
The Great Gatsby, 2013
Hairspray (Musical Remake), 2007
The Hangover Part II, 2011
The Hangover Part III, 2013
Happy Feet, 2006
Happy Feet Two, 2011
He’s Just Not That Into You, 2009
High Society, 1956
Hotel Rwanda, 2004 (HBO)
House Party, 1990
House Party 2, 1991
House Party 3, 1994
House Party 4: Down To The Last Minute, 2001
How the West Was Won, 1962
I Am Legend, 2007
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, 1988 (HBO)
Insomnia, 2002
Interview with the Vampire, 1994
Jezebel, 1938
Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, 2001 (HBO)
King Kong, 1933
La Boda De Rosa (Aka Rosa’s Wedding), 2020 (HBO)
Life Of Crime, 2013 (HBO)
Lethal Weapon, 1987
Lethal Weapon 2, 1989
Lethal Weapon 3, 1992
Lethal Weapon 4, 1998
Little Shop of Horrors, 1986
Little Women, 1949
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, 1983
Magnum Force, 1973
The Man Who Came to Dinner, 1942
Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World, 2003 (HBO)
Meet Me in St. Louis, 1944
Menace II Society, 1993
Misery, 1990
Miss Congeniality, 2000
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, 2005
Murder by Numbers, 2002
Murder In The First, 1995 (HBO)
The Music Man, 1962
Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935
My Life In Ruins, 2009 (HBO)
Navy Seals, 1990 (HBO)
The New Guy, 2002 (HBO)
Next Friday, 2000
Nightmare Alley, 2021
The Notebook, 2004
Nothing But Trouble, 1991 (HBO)
Ocean’s Eight, 2018
Once Upon A Time In Brooklyn, 2013 (HBO)
One For The Money, 2012 (HBO)
The Philadelphia Story, 1940
Para Rosa (Aka For Rosa), 2020 (HBO)
Point Break, 1991
Poltergeist, 1982
Purple Rain, 1984
The Queen, 2006 (HBO)
Race, 2016 (HBO)
Ready Player One, 2018
Red, 2010 (HBO)
The Replacements, 2000
Risky Business, 1983
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 1991
Rugrats Go Wild, 2003 (HBO)
Rugrats In Paris: The Movie, 2000 (HBO)
The Rugrats Movie, 1998 (HBO)
Safe, 2012 (HBO)
San Francisco, 1936
Se7en, 1995
Shaft, 1971
Shall We Dance, 1937
The Shawshank Redemption, 1994
Shutter, 2010 (HBO)
Silent Hill: Revelation 3d, 2012 (HBO)
Sleeping With The Enemy, 1991 (HBO)
The Smurfs 2, 2013
The Smurfs (Movie), 2011
Snakes on a Plane, 2006
Something Borrowed, 2011 (HBO)
Space Jam, 1996
St. Elmo’s Fire, 1985
Stargate, 1994 (HBO)
A Star is Born, 1954
A Star is Born, 1976
The Stepford Wives, 2004 (HBO)
Stuck On You, 2003 (HBO)
Superbad, 2007
Taxi Driver, 1976
Tenet, 2020
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991 (HBO)
This Is the End, 2013
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005
A Time to Kill, 1996
To Have and to Have Not, 1944
Top Hat, 1935
Training Day, 2001
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948
Twilight Zone: The Movie, 1983 (HBO)
Twister, 1996
Unbroken, 2014 (HBO)
U.S. Marshals, 1998
The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 1964
The Vanishing Of Sidney Hall, 2017 (HBO)
Wag the Dog, 1997
The Wedding Singer, 1998
Westworld (Movie), 1973
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1962
When Harry Met Sally, 1989
Where Eagles Dare, 1968
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966
The Wild Thornberrys Movie, 2002 (HBO)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1971
The Wings of Eagles, 1957
The Witches of Eastwick, 1987
The Witches, 1990
True Crime, 1999 (HBO)
Wyatt Earp, 1994
You Got Served, 2004
You, Me And Dupree, 2006 (HBO)
Young Adult, 2021 (HBO)
You’ve Got Mail, 1998
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