America loves true crime. The proof? The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, an Investigation Discovery documentary, is the No. 1 movie on HBO Max over titles like Final Destination Bloodlines and Sinners.
If those three movies are your jam, go ahead and watch. If not, we listed three underrated movies on HBO Max below. One is an A24 adventure movie that the entire family might love.
We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, and the best movies on HBO Max.
A24 is the studio known for its dramas, thrillers, and horrors. So when filmmaker Isaiah Saxon makes a family movie for the studio, it immediately stands out. On the breathtaking island of Carpathia lives Yuri (Helena Zengel), the young daughter of Maxim (an always-game Willem Dafoe). Yuri never goes outside alone at night for fear of Ochi, a colorful creature that emits high-pitched sounds. Instead, Yuri and her family hunt Ochi.
One day, Yuri finds a baby Ochi stuck in a leg trap and decides to let it go. Inspired by this interaction, Yuri is determined to return the injured Ochi to its family. Saxon creates a technicolor dream that feels like an ’80s adventure movie in all the best ways.
Stream The Legend of Ochi on HBO Max.
Edgar Wright is the perfect director to helm a comic book or video game movie. Wright’s movies are full of snappy dialogue, breakneck pacing, witty humor, and eccentric characters. Again, Wright is an ideal candidate for a movie like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a bassist in an indie garage band, meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and is smitten immediately.
Unfortunately for Scott, Ramona’s ex-boyfriends are still in love with her. To win Ramona’s heart, Scott will need to defeat her ex-boyfriends, including Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh), and Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha). Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is so fun and vibrant that it makes me wish Wright had made his version of Ant-Man.
Stream Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on HBO Max.
The Conjuring franchise (allegedly) comes to an end next month with The Conjuring: Last Rites. Everyone knows that if Last Rites becomes a financial hit, there will be more Conjuring movies. Let’s say it is the last one, and you want to rewatch the three previous films before Last Rites hits theaters in September. Conjuring 3, aka The Devil Made Me Do It, is the obvious answer for the weakest of the three.
However, the opening scene in Conjuring 3 ranks among the scariest in the franchise. As for the rest of the movie, paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) are thrust into a case where a suspect accused of murder claims demonic possession forced him to do it. Prepare yourself for some truly horrifying scenes in the best way possible.
Stream The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It on HBO Max.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.