This Memorial Day weekend, the place to be isn’t at the beach, a music concert or even the movie theater — it’s in your home watching HBO Max. The newly rebranded streamer has so many hit movies and shows, there’s really no need to step outside. (For health reasons, please do.)
The only problem is deciding what to watch. Some may opt for the Oscar-nominated drama The Brutalist, while others may prefer Christopher Nolan’s mind-pretzel of a movie, Inception.
Watch With Us prefers to highlight movies that are underrated and deserve some attention. This weekend’s lineup includes an unfairly maligned video game adaptation, a fascinating documentary behind one of the most successful shows of all time and a biopic that dramatizes the last days of a music mogul accused of murdering a woman.
‘Assassin’s Creed’ (2016)Cal (Michael Fassbender) is about to be executed for murdering a pimp when he’s saved by a mysterious organization named Abstergo. They need him to retrieve an artifact known as the Apple of Eden, and the only way to do that is for him to enter a simulation called the Animus that allows him to relive his genetic memories in the distant past so he can find the artifact’s present whereabouts. But Abstergo’s intentions aren’t exactly pure, and Cal soon realizes his saviors only want to use him before disposing of him for good.
Assassin’s Creed is silly, confusing and too convoluted for its own good. It’s also immensely enjoyable if you like to watch classy actors such as Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons spout inane dialogue about secret organizations and shadowy conspiracies involving historical figures like Christopher Columbus. The plot is somehow both complex and nonexistent, but the action sequences are staged well, and Fassbender makes for a good, brainy action hero with a lethal middle finger.
Assassin’s Creed is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Game of Thrones: The Last Watch’ (2019)Wait — they made a Game of Thrones movie? Well, not exactly. Game of Thrones: The Last Watch is an in-depth documentary about the controversial last season of one of the best shows ever created. Why was it controversial? We won’t get into it here, but fans expected a satisfying conclusion to George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy, and the showrunners delivered … something else.
The Last Watch, however, is immensely satisfying because it provides an all-too-rare peek behind the showbiz curtain. What’s it like to be one of the many extras in an elaborate battle scene? How do you provide costumes for hundreds of extras and keep track of who is wearing what? And what was the cast’s initial reaction when they read the final episode script? All these questions are answered throughout the documentary, which gives GoT fans the proper closure the series finale failed to provide.
Game of Thrones: The Last Watch is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Phil Spector’ (2013)
Phil Spector was a legendary music producer who worked with famous musicians like The Beatles, The Ramones and Tina Turner, but he’s now remembered as a tabloid fixture who was tried and convicted for killing actress Lana Clarkson. The HBO movie, also called Phil Spector, focuses on the disgraced producer’s relationship with attorney Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren), who defended him at his first murder trial.
Al Pacino plays Spector as a man delusional about his past actions and defiant about the accusations levied against him. Mirren’s attorney is sympathetic to her client but also realistic about the solid case the prosecution has put together. The movie freely dramatizes some of the facts related to the case, so Spector comes off as more sympathetic than he was in real life. But Phil Spector, which was written and directed by David Mamet, is a solid chamber piece featuring two of the best actors working today.
Phil Spector is streaming on HBO Max.
