(Photo by Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)
As impressive as what’s on the list of 100 best MAX movies, what’s been left off is almost as eye-opening. Because if the movie’s on the MAX streaming service (featuring a vast library of HBO, Warner Bros, DC, Studio Ghibli, Discovery, and Looney Tunes titles) but rates below 90% on the Tomatometer, it’s not even within sniffing distance of making the cut.
So what you get is movies of MAX acclaim, including DC superhero blockbusters (Superman, The Dark Knight), Studio Ghibli animation masterpieces (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away), the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and a fair shake of James Bond. In addition, check out the filmographies of long-associated WB directors, like Stanley Kubrick, Christopher Nolan, Clint Eastwood, and Martin Scorsese.
Plus, there’s so much from the TCM vault you can save yourself the money on film school. You can start at the beginning with the silent era (City Lights, Battleship Potemkin), move into color and musicals (The Wizard of Oz, Singin’ in the Rain), hit up French New Wave (The 400 Blows, Breathless) and Italian neo-realism (Open City, Bicycle Thieves), and dive into post-World War II international golden age (Seven Samurai, Tokyo Story, Pather Panchali).
Read on for the 100 best MAX movies! We curated the list from strictly Certified Fresh movies with the highest Tomatometer scores, which currently stands that everything is rated over 92%!
#1
Adjusted Score: 103181%
Critics Consensus: Boasting narrative depth, frank honesty, and exquisite visual beauty, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a modern animated treasure with timeless appeal.
#2
Adjusted Score: 110137%
Critics Consensus: Arguably Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, The Seven Samurai is an epic adventure classic with an engrossing story, memorable characters, and stunning action sequences that make it one of the most influential films ever made.
#3
Adjusted Score: 110854%
Critics Consensus: Clever, incisive, and funny, Singin’ in the Rain is a masterpiece of the classical Hollywood musical.
#4
Adjusted Score: 104147%
Critics Consensus: With its impressive action sequences, taut economic direction, and relentlessly fast pace, it’s clear why The Terminator continues to be an influence on sci-fi and action flicks.
#5
Adjusted Score: 102538%
Critics Consensus: Only Yesterday‘s long-delayed U.S. debut fills a frustrating gap for American Ghibli fans while offering further proof of the studio’s incredibly consistent commitment to quality.
#6
Adjusted Score: 104379%
Critics Consensus: Though hampered by Stuart Rosenberg’s direction, Cool Hand Luke is held aloft by a stellar script and one of Paul Newman’s most indelible performances.
#7
Adjusted Score: 108023%
Critics Consensus: A delightful blend of slapstick humor, poignant emotion, and social commentary, The Gold Rush encapsulates Chaplin’s strengths as a writer, director, and star.
#8
Adjusted Score: 107669%
Critics Consensus: A technical masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin is Soviet cinema at its finest, and its montage editing techniques remain influential to this day.
#9
Adjusted Score: 104749%
Critics Consensus: Tokyo Story is a Yasujiro Ozu masterpiece whose rewarding complexity has lost none of its power more than half a century on.
#10
Adjusted Score: 104222%
Critics Consensus: Typifying the best that the Western genre has to offer, Stagecoach is a rip-roaring adventure given dramatic heft by John Ford’s dynamic direction and John Wayne’s mesmerizing star turn.
#11
Adjusted Score: 104404%
Critics Consensus: An existential suspense classic, The Wages of Fear blends nonstop suspense with biting satire; its influence is still being felt on today’s thrillers.
#12
Adjusted Score: 104951%
Critics Consensus: Open City fills in the familiar contours of its storyline with three-dimensional characters and a narrative depth that add up to a towering — and still powerfully resonant — cinematic achievement.
#13
Adjusted Score: 103000%
Critics Consensus: Ingmar Bergman conveys the sweep of childhood with a fastidious attention to detail and sumptuous insight into human frailty in Fanny & Alexander, a masterwork that crystalizes many of the directors’ preoccupations into a familial epic.
#14
Adjusted Score: 103460%
Critics Consensus: Breezy, thrilling, and quite funny, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three sees Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw pitted against each other in effortlessly high form.
#15
Adjusted Score: 102874%
Critics Consensus: Stalker is a complex, oblique parable that draws unforgettable images and philosophical musings from its sci-fi/thriller setting.
#16
Adjusted Score: 126635%
Critics Consensus: An urgent, brilliantly layered look at timely social themes, Parasite finds writer-director Bong Joon Ho in near-total command of his craft.
#17
Adjusted Score: 115079%
Critics Consensus: Eighth Grade takes a look at its titular time period that offers a rare and resounding ring of truth while heralding breakthroughs for writer-director Bo Burnham and captivating star Elsie Fisher.
#18
Adjusted Score: 116056%
Critics Consensus: An undisputed masterpiece and perhaps Hollywood’s quintessential statement on love and romance, Casablanca has only improved with age, boasting career-defining performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
#19
Adjusted Score: 111601%
Critics Consensus: Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs — as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart at his finest.
#20
Adjusted Score: 106645%
Critics Consensus: A documentary-like depiction of a nation’s real-life efforts to expel a colonizing force, The Battle of Algiers puts viewers on the front lines with gripping realism.
#21
Adjusted Score: 105818%
Critics Consensus: A seminal French New Wave film that offers an honest, sympathetic, and wholly heartbreaking observation of adolescence without trite nostalgia.
#22
Adjusted Score: 107485%
Critics Consensus: An Italian neorealism exemplar, Bicycle Thieves thrives on its non-flashy performances and searing emotion.
#23
Adjusted Score: 106583%
Critics Consensus: Mickey Rourke gives a performance for the ages in The Wrestler, a richly affecting, heart-wrenching yet ultimately rewarding drama.
#24
Adjusted Score: 115444%
Critics Consensus: An absolute masterpiece whose groundbreaking visuals and deft storytelling are still every bit as resonant, The Wizard of Oz is a must-see film for young and old.
#25
Adjusted Score: 108029%
Critics Consensus: A Hard Day’s Night, despite its age, is still a delight to watch and has proven itself to be a rock-and-roll movie classic.
#26
Adjusted Score: 100312%
Critics Consensus: A film that requires and rewards patience in equal measure, Pather Panchali finds director Satyajit Ray delivering a classic with his debut.
#27
Adjusted Score: 104465%
Critics Consensus: One of legendary director Akira Kurosawa’s most acclaimed films, Rashomon features an innovative narrative structure, brilliant acting, and a thoughtful exploration of reality versus perception.
#28
Adjusted Score: 103604%
Critics Consensus: Inventive, thought-provoking, and funny, 8 1/2 represents the arguable peak of Federico Fellini’s many towering feats of cinema.
#29
Adjusted Score: 105377%
Critics Consensus: Ikiru is a well-acted and deeply moving humanist tale about a man facing his own mortality, one of legendary director Akira Kurosawa’s most intimate films.
#30
Adjusted Score: 105816%
Critics Consensus: One of Alfred Hitchcock’s last British films, this glamorous thriller provides an early glimpse of the director at his most stylishly entertaining.
#31
Adjusted Score: 101150%
Critics Consensus: My Beautiful Laundrette is fast and all over the place because it has so much to say, and show, including a highly watchable fresh-faced Daniel Day-Lewis.
#32
Adjusted Score: 111759%
Critics Consensus: Spotlight gracefully handles the lurid details of its fact-based story while resisting the temptation to lionize its heroes, resulting in a drama that honors the audience as well as its real-life subjects.
#33
Adjusted Score: 113749%
Critics Consensus: An electrifying dramatization of historical events, Judas and the Black Messiah is a forceful condemnation of racial injustice — and a major triumph for its director and stars.
#34
Adjusted Score: 106932%
Critics Consensus: Drive My Car‘s imposing runtime holds a rich, patiently engrossing drama that reckons with self-acceptance and regret.
#35
Adjusted Score: 103128%
Critics Consensus: Spirited Away is a dazzling, enchanting, and gorgeously drawn fairy tale that will leave viewers a little more curious and fascinated by the world around them.
#36
Adjusted Score: 103943%
Critics Consensus: Bolstered by a strong performance from Matthew McConaughey in the title role, Mud offers an engaging Southern drama that manages to stay sweet and heartwarming without being sappy.
#37
Adjusted Score: 105027%
Critics Consensus: Giulietta Masina and Anthony Quinn’s pitiable pair of outsiders provide a poignant contrast between gentleness and might in Federico Fellini’s unforgettable parable.
#38
Adjusted Score: 101574%
Critics Consensus: Kevin Costner is at his funniest and most charismatic in Bull Durham, a film that’s as wise about relationships as it is about minor league baseball.
#39
Adjusted Score: 102308%
Critics Consensus: Though unabashedly juvenile and silly, Airplane! is nevertheless an uproarious spoof comedy full of quotable lines and slapstick gags that endure to this day.
#40
Adjusted Score: 102734%
Critics Consensus: Jacques Demy elevates the basic drama of everyday life into a soaring opera full of bittersweet passion and playful charm, featuring a timeless performance from Catherine Deneuve.
#41
Adjusted Score: 106075%
Critics Consensus: It requires some viewing commitment, but this beautifully assembled showcase for Douglas Fairbanks’ acting offers some splendid treats for classic film fans.
#42
Adjusted Score: 101770%
Critics Consensus: Bitingly cynical without succumbing to bitterness, The Player is one of the all-time great Hollywood satires — and an ensemble-driven highlight of the Altman oeuvre.
#43
Adjusted Score: 101296%
Critics Consensus: Beyond ravishing, Wings of Desire is Wim Wenders’ is aching and heartbreaking exploration of how love makes us human.
#44
Adjusted Score: 106376%
Critics Consensus: A feverish rendition of a heart-rending story, A Streetcar Named Desire gives Tennessee Williams’ stage play explosive power on the screen thanks to Elia Kazan’s searing direction and a sterling ensemble at the peak of their craft.
#45
Adjusted Score: 110797%
Critics Consensus: Tense, exciting, and often darkly comic, Argo recreates a historical event with vivid attention to detail and finely wrought characters.
#46
Adjusted Score: 110285%
Critics Consensus: Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity is an eerie, tense sci-fi thriller that’s masterfully directed and visually stunning.
#47
Adjusted Score: 112151%
Critics Consensus: Featuring some of Martin McDonagh’s finest work and a pair of outstanding lead performances, The Banshees of Inisherin is a finely crafted feel-bad treat.
#48
Adjusted Score: 108435%
Critics Consensus: Thrilling, powerfully acted, and visually dazzling, Deathly Hallows Part II brings the Harry Potter franchise to a satisfying — and suitably magical — conclusion.
#49
Adjusted Score: 101884%
Critics Consensus: Tangerine shatters casting conventions and its filmmaking techniques are up-to-the-minute, but it’s an old-fashioned comedy at heart — and a pretty wonderful one at that.
#50
Adjusted Score: 100948%
Critics Consensus: Sweet, empathetic, and shot through with a palpable joy, We Are the Best! offers a tender tribute to the bittersweet tumult of adolescence.
#51
Adjusted Score: 104388%
Critics Consensus: As both director and star, Clint Eastwood strips away decades of Hollywood varnish applied to the Wild West, and emerges with a series of harshly eloquent statements about the nature of violence.
#52
Adjusted Score: 103215%
Critics Consensus: Hard-hitting and stylish, GoodFellas is a gangster classic — and arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese’s career.
#53
Adjusted Score: 107468%
Critics Consensus: This complex war epic asks hard questions, resists easy answers, and boasts career-defining work from star Alec Guinness and director David Lean.
#54
Adjusted Score: 103022%
Critics Consensus: Breathless rewrote the rules of cinema — and more than 50 years after its arrival, Jean-Luc Godard’s paradigm-shifting classic remains every bit as vital.
#55
Adjusted Score: 101562%
Critics Consensus: Mean Streets is a powerful tale of urban sin and guilt that marks Scorsese’s arrival as an important cinematic voice and features electrifying performances from Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro.
#56
Adjusted Score: 100790%
Critics Consensus: A horrific tale of guilt and obsession, Eyes Without a Face is just as chilling and poetic today as it was when it was first released.
#57
Adjusted Score: 103890%
Critics Consensus: Packed with twists and turns, this essential early Alfred Hitchcock feature hints at the dazzling heights he’d reach later in his career.
#58
Adjusted Score: 99625%
Critics Consensus: The Right Stuff packs a lot of movie into its hefty running time, spinning a colorful, fact-based story out of consistently engaging characters in the midst of epochal events.
#59
Adjusted Score: 100079%
Critics Consensus: A feudal adventure told from an eccentric perspective, The Hidden Fortress is among Akira Kurosawa’s most purely enjoyable epics.
#60
Adjusted Score: 101598%
Critics Consensus: A well-executed labor of love from star and director Laurence Olivier, Hamlet not only proved that Shakespeare could be successfully adapted to the big screen, it paved the way for further cinematic interpretations.
#61
Adjusted Score: 101028%
Critics Consensus: A ’60s time capsule stuffed with ideas about politics, pop culture, and the battle of the sexes, Masculine-Feminine is one of Godard’s classic black-and-white films.
#62
Adjusted Score: 100176%
Critics Consensus: Rio Bravo finds director Howard Hawks — and his stellar ensemble cast — working at peak performance, and the end result is a towering classic of the Western genre.
#63
Adjusted Score: 100548%
Critics Consensus: A career high point for Akira Kurosawa — and one of the best film adaptations of a Shakespeare play.
#64
Adjusted Score: 107243%
Critics Consensus: A crowd-pleasing tribute to the magic of silent cinema, The Artist is a clever, joyous film with delightful performances and visual style to spare.
#65
Adjusted Score: 106069%
Critics Consensus: Restless, visually sleek, and powered by a lithe star performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler offers dark, thought-provoking thrills.
#66
Adjusted Score: 103353%
Critics Consensus: The Two Towers balances spectacular action with emotional storytelling, leaving audiences both wholly satisfied and eager for the final chapter.
#67
Adjusted Score: 101745%
Critics Consensus: Ben Affleck proves his directing credentials in this gripping dramatic thriller, drawing strong performances from the excellent cast and bringing working-class Boston to the screen.
#68
Adjusted Score: 105607%
Critics Consensus: Director Jonathan Demme’s smart, taut thriller teeters on the edge between psychological study and all-out horror, and benefits greatly from stellar performances by Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.
#69
Adjusted Score: 104477%
Critics Consensus: Cruel, dark, but undeniably effective, Diabolique is a suspense thriller as effective as Hitchcock’s best work and with a brilliant twist ending.
#70
Adjusted Score: 101826%
Critics Consensus: If audiences walk away from this subversive, surreal shocker not fully understanding the story, they might also walk away with a deeper perception of the potential of film storytelling.
#71
Adjusted Score: 98736%
Critics Consensus: Raw, bracingly honest, and refreshingly unconventional, Krisha wrings fresh — and occasionally uncomfortable — truths from a seemingly familiar premise.
#72
Adjusted Score: 104689%
Critics Consensus: With its magical optical effects and enchanting performances, Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast remains the most surreal — and soulful — of the fairy tale’s film adaptations.
#73
Adjusted Score: 101724%
Critics Consensus: One of the best underdog romance movies ever, with an ending that will light up any heart.
#74
Adjusted Score: 100828%
Critics Consensus: Featuring plenty of the humor, action, and escapist thrills the series would become known for, Dr. No kicks off the Bond franchise in style.
#75
Adjusted Score: 99667%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#76
Adjusted Score: 98546%
Critics Consensus: As effortlessly engaging as it is widely influential, Yojimbo represents Kurosawa at the peak of his powers — and lays the groundwork for the modern American western.
#77
Adjusted Score: 107369%
Critics Consensus: Dark, complex, and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga.
#78
Adjusted Score: 103734%
Critics Consensus: Casino Royale disposes of the silliness and gadgetry that plagued recent James Bond outings, and Daniel Craig delivers what fans and critics have been waiting for: a caustic, haunted, intense reinvention of 007.
#79
Adjusted Score: 106195%
Critics Consensus: Brought to life by delicate work from writer-director Paul Schrader and elevated by a standout performance by Ethan Hawke, First Reformed takes a sensitive and suspenseful look at weighty themes.
#80
Adjusted Score: 102184%
Critics Consensus: One of the brightest, funniest comedies of the year, Juno‘s smart script and direction are matched by assured performances in a coming-of-age story with a 21st century twist.
#81
Adjusted Score: 99635%
Critics Consensus: Visually lush, refreshingly free of family-friendly clatter, and anchored with soulful depth, The Secret World of Arrietty lives up to Studio Ghibli’s reputation.
#82
Adjusted Score: 106505%
Critics Consensus: The epic of all epics, Lawrence of Arabia cements director David Lean’s status in the filmmaking pantheon with nearly four hours of grand scope, brilliant performances, and beautiful cinematography.
#83
Adjusted Score: 97556%
Critics Consensus: Affectionate without sacrificing honesty, Behind the Candelabra couples award-worthy performances from Michael Douglas and Matt Damon with some typically sharp direction from Steven Soderbergh.
#84
Adjusted Score: 100752%
Critics Consensus: Superman deftly blends humor and gravitas, taking advantage of the perfectly cast Christopher Reeve to craft a loving, nostalgic tribute to an American pop culture icon.
#85
Adjusted Score: 99201%
Critics Consensus: The Crying Game is famous for its shocking twist, but this thoughtful, haunting mystery grips the viewer from start to finish.
#86
Adjusted Score: 100370%
Critics Consensus: A taut, solidly acted paean to the benefits of a free press and the dangers of unchecked power, made all the more effective by its origins in real-life events.
#87
Adjusted Score: 100773%
Critics Consensus: Some Like It Hot: A spry, quick-witted farce that never drags.
#88
Adjusted Score: 100257%
Critics Consensus: Made with obvious affection for the original, Young Frankenstein is a riotously silly spoof featuring a fantastic performance by Gene Wilder.
#89
Adjusted Score: 98933%
Critics Consensus: With its impeccably slow-building story and a cast for the ages, The Great Escape is an all-time action classic.
#90
Adjusted Score: 96918%
Critics Consensus: A quiet yet deeply moving kind of Western, Paris, Texas captures a place and people like never before (or after).
#91
Adjusted Score: 97874%
Critics Consensus: Francois Truffaut’s arguable masterpiece in a filmography full of masterpieces ready to be argued for, Jules and Jim is an eternal ode to boundless love.
#92
Adjusted Score: 98286%
Critics Consensus: Wild Strawberries were never so bittersweet as Ingmar Bergman’s beautifully written and filmed look at one man’s nostalgic journey into the past.
#93
Adjusted Score: 126896%
Critics Consensus: Thrilling, earnest, and buoyed by Gal Gadot’s charismatic performance, Wonder Woman succeeds in spectacular fashion.
#94
Adjusted Score: 105230%
Critics Consensus: Led by incredible work from Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay, Room makes for an unforgettably harrowing — and undeniably rewarding — experience.
#95
Adjusted Score: 104185%
Critics Consensus: Bolstered by powerful lead performances from Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men finds the Coen brothers spinning cinematic gold out of Cormac McCarthy’s grim, darkly funny novel.
#96
Adjusted Score: 102350%
Critics Consensus: Visually breathtaking and emotionally powerful, The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King is a moving and satisfying conclusion to a great trilogy.
#97
Adjusted Score: 102246%
Critics Consensus: Anchored by Sean Penn’s powerhouse performance, Milk is a triumphant account of America’s first openly gay man elected to public office.
#98
Adjusted Score: 101816%
Critics Consensus: Smart, darkly humorous, and above all scary, Barbarian offers a chilling and consistently unpredictable thrill ride for horror fans.
#99
Adjusted Score: 99233%
Critics Consensus: Christopher Nolan skillfully guides the audience through Memento’s fractured narrative, seeping his film in existential dread.
#100
Adjusted Score: 103403%
Critics Consensus: Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher are worthy adversaries in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with Miloš Forman’s more grounded and morally ambiguous approach to Ken Kesey’s surrealistic novel yielding a film of outsized power.