The Best No-brainer Movies to Watch on Max (HBO Max)
Sometimes, you just need a good movie that poses neither an emotional rollercoaster, nor an intellectual challenge. Here are the best no-brainer movies and shows to stream now for a carefree and uplifting watch, from the funny to the offbeat.
As a sort of cooking-themed game show, Wildcard Kitchen doesn’t have enough to it by way of game mechanics and strategy to make it truly engaging. The cards that each chef is dealt hold all the power, which does make the show more similar to simply watching people gamble, but it also means the players […]
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Former SNL cast member and comedy legend Bill Hader is the writer and main protagonist of the HBO-produced and three-time Emmy-winning series Barry. Part psychological thriller, part dark comedy – one of many new series in the “dramedy” genre – deals with the unlikely premise of a PTSD-ridden low-rent assassin, who, after travelling to LA […]
Four college freshmen from different parts of the country come together as roommates to earn their bachelor’s degree, sure, but more than that, to explore their newfound independence, experiment with each other, and establish a sense of self that they can truly be proud of. In other words, they’re out to get an education, in […]
The brainchild of Lisa Hanawalt (one of the creative forces behind Netflix’s BoJack Horseman), Tuca & Bertie departed from that other show’s no-holds-barred look at addiction and depression to focus on the freewheeling adventures of two best friends in the wacky city of Birdtown. The series wears its silliness like a badge of honor and […]
Los Espookys is the name of a horror-loving group of friends, who, following their passion, provide gory services to those who seek them. Their clients range from fearmongering priests to greedy insurance claimants, all of whom demand the most bizarre out of the Los Espookys team. They’re a bit like the Scooby-Doo team in that […]
This buddies-on-the-road drama was the highest-grossing independent film of 2019, which tells you everything you need to know about it: it’s familiar, but it’s not overblown. A fisherman (Shia LaBeouf) has to flee after vandalizing the property of a rival fishing group who bully him. On the way, he meets a man with Down syndrome, […]
x3Like so many pictures about the pictures, The Player is a biting satire of the biz. Tim Robbins plays Griffin Mill, a Hollywood executive who gives dinner speeches about movies being art but works at a studio where endings are unceremoniously tweaked for maximum audience approval ratings — and therefore maximum profits. The greedy corporate […]
Through positively adorable characters and zero dialogue whatsoever, Shaun the Sheep Movie reminds viewers young and old of the sheer artistry that goes into a truly great children’s cartoon. Animated by British stop motion godfathers Aardman Animations, the film delivers one excellent visual joke after another, while still telling a coherent story that arrives at […]
A hilarious British sitcom about 24-year-old Tracey Gorden, a shop assistant living in a housing estate in London with unusual friends and an even more unusual family. A bit messed up by a very religious upbringing, she navigates adulthood and trying to untangle herself from the unexciting life her neighbourhood offers (mainly by trying to […]
This is an HBO dark comedy that was intensely loved by anyone who knew about it before it was inexplicably canceled. Laura Dern plays a corporate executive who has a full-blown meltdown. I’m talking mascara streaming down her cheeks and screaming “I’m going to destroy you” to a coworker. When she comes back from a […]
Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Schwartzman, and many others star in this three-season comedy that aired between 2009 and 2011. Jonathan is a bored and lonely writer in New York, his girlfriend having recently left him for smoking too much pot (he would quit but “quitting cold turkey is dangerous”. To fight the boredom, Jonathan […]