3 acclaimed HBO Max movies to watch this week (August 3-9)

Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek Published Aug 4, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Derek Malcolm has been covering the worlds of tech and entertainment for more than two decades. Before coming to How-To Geek in 2025, Derek was a contributing editor and writer for the A/V and Home Theater section at Digital Trends, where he wrangled and wrote everything from what to watch on Netflix to reviews, explainers, and guides on the latest Bluetooth speakers, turntables, projectors, and other A/V gear. Based in Toronto, Derek graduated from Humber College's Journalism program in 1999, after which he started covering the worlds of music, movies, TV, and celebrity for publications such as TV Guide, Hello! magazine, and Inside Entertainment. He then got the bug for covering tech and gadgets in 2006, when he served as editor-in-chief of Canadian tech magazine Connected for more than a decade. An avid skier, when all the snow's gone Derek can be found at home spinning vinyl with his daughter or cheering on his favorite F1 team, McLaren. Sign in to your How-To Geek account August just might be the hottest month on the calendar for HBO Max. House of the Dragon wraps one of its best seasons ever this coming weekend, Lanterns finally lights up mid-month with Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, Anne Hathaway does something decidedly non-Devil Wears Prada-ish in Mother Mary, and Bob Odenkirk keeps his ass-kicking movie career going with Normal. Meanwhile, though, HBO Max has also refreshed its movie catalog for the month, too, including the three below—a music doc that will wreck you, a drug cartel thriller with a stacked cast, and my top pick this week, a classic coming-of-age journey named after a famous song. 3 Amy The definitive, and intimate, portrait of Amy Winehouse Fair warning: Amy is a tough watch. Not in the kind of shocking, turn-your-head kind of way that, for example, true-crime documentaries can be. But almost worse, because it has the impact of watching a gorgeous, colorful flower slowly wither and wilt under the weight of its environment. You wish you could do something about it, but it’s too late. Quiz 8 Questions · Test Your KnowledgeThe best music documentaries and biopicsTrivia challenge From Woodstock to Walk the Line — how well do you know the films behind the music legends? BiopicsDocumentariesMusic IconsFilm FactsBehind the Scenes Begin The 2015 documentary Amy, about Amy Winehouse, was directed by which filmmaker? AMorgan NevilleBAsif KapadiaCNick BroomfieldDAlex Gibney Correct! Asif Kapadia directed Amy, crafting the film almost entirely from archival footage and audio interviews. The documentary won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2016. Not quite. Amy was directed by Asif Kapadia, who is also known for his documentaries Senna and Diego Maradona. The film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2016. Continue In Walk the Line, which actor portrayed Johnny Cash and won a Golden Globe for the role? ARussell CroweBEd HarrisCJoaquin PhoenixDJosh Brolin Correct! Joaquin Phoenix played Johnny Cash in the 2005 biopic and won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. Notably, Phoenix and co-star Reese Witherspoon performed all of their own vocals in the film. Not quite. Joaquin Phoenix portrayed Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. He even performed all his own singing, which impressed June Carter Cash's real-life family enormously. Continue In the 2004 film Ray, Jamie Foxx portrayed Ray Charles. Which major award did Foxx win for this performance? ABAFTA Award for Best ActorBAcademy Award for Best ActorCScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding CastDGolden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Correct! Jamie Foxx won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ray Charles. Remarkably, Foxx was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor that same year for Collateral, making him one of very few actors nominated twice in the same ceremony. Not quite. Jamie Foxx took home the Academy Award for Best Actor for Ray. His performance was widely praised for its physical and emotional depth, particularly his depiction of Charles's blindness and struggles with addiction. Continue Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck was released in 2015 and directed by Brett Morgen. What made it particularly unique among Cobain documentaries? AIt was the first documentary to feature interviews with surviving Nirvana membersBIt was the first documentary officially authorized by the Cobain estateCIt was shot entirely using Super 8 home footage from Cobain himselfDIt focused exclusively on Nirvana's In Utero recording sessions Correct! Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck was the first documentary to be officially authorized by the Cobain estate, giving director Brett Morgen unprecedented access to personal diaries, home recordings, and family footage. This made it a uniquely intimate portrait of Cobain's life. Not quite. The defining feature of Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck was that it was the first documentary officially authorized by the Cobain estate. This gave filmmaker Brett Morgen extraordinary access to private materials, including journals, artwork, and home videos. Continue Taylor Swift's documentary Miss Americana, released on Netflix in 2020, covers a pivotal period in her life. Which major personal decision is a central theme of the film? AHer move from country music to popBHer decision to speak out publicly on political issuesCHer choice to leave her longtime record labelDHer recovery from a serious vocal cord injury Correct! Miss Americana documents Taylor Swift's decision to break her long public silence on politics, particularly her endorsement of Democratic candidates during the 2018 Tennessee midterm elections. The film explores the personal and professional risks she felt came with that choice. Not quite. A central theme of Miss Americana is Taylor Swift's decision to speak publicly about politics for the first time, including endorsing candidates in the 2018 midterms. The film reveals how she wrestled with breaking from her carefully maintained public neutrality. Continue Summer of Soul (2021), directed by Questlove, focuses on a legendary 1969 music festival. What is the festival's official name? AThe Newport Jazz FestivalBThe Harlem Cultural FestivalCThe Wattstax Music FestivalDThe Atlanta Pop Festival Correct! Summer of Soul centers on the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, a series of free concerts held in Marcus Garvey Park. The footage had been locked away in a vault for over 50 years before Questlove brought it to the world, earning the film an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Not quite. The festival featured in Summer of Soul is the Harlem Cultural Festival, held in 1969. Remarkably, the footage sat unseen in a basement for more than five decades before Questlove used it to create this celebrated documentary. Continue In the biopic Walk the Line, which legendary musician and close friend of Johnny Cash is portrayed as a major influence on his early career? AElvis PresleyBJerry Lee LewisCCarl PerkinsDHank Williams Correct! Elvis Presley appears as a significant presence in Walk the Line, depicted as a peer and inspiration to the young Johnny Cash during their shared time at Sun Records. The film portrays Cash's ambition as partly fueled by seeing Elvis's explosive early success. Not quite. Elvis Presley is portrayed as a major influence on Cash in Walk the Line, with both artists having recorded at Sun Records in Memphis during the same era. The film depicts their camaraderie as part of Cash's formative years as a performer. Continue Which of these music documentaries won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature? AKurt Cobain: Montage of HeckBMiss AmericanaCSummer of SoulDBillie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry Correct! Summer of Soul, directed by Questlove, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2022 ceremony. It also won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, making it one of the most acclaimed music documentaries in recent memory. Not quite. Summer of Soul is the Oscar winner in this group, taking home the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2022. Directed by Questlove, the film also swept major awards at Sundance, cementing its place as a landmark music documentary. See My Score Challenge CompleteYour Score / 8 Thanks for playing! Try Again Winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, Asif Kapadia's masterpiece is the definitive account of singer Amy Winehouse's meteoric rise from wickedly funny North London teenager with a once-in-a-generation jazz voice, through her mega-stardom that came too fast and too intensely, to her heartbreaking fall and death from alcohol poisoning in 2011 at the age of 27. Built from home videos, archival footage, and voice-only interviews with Winehouse herself, the doc is a ride through her turbulent life. Amy delves into the making of her albums Frank and the Grammy-sweeping Back to Black, playing out alongside her struggles with bulimia and addiction, her turbulent marriage, and pressure from all sides, including father Mitch Winehouse. It’s a must-watch for Winehouse fans, and has a 96% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. Amy Release Date July 2, 2015 Cast Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse, Tony Bennett, Pete Doherty, Juliette Ashby, Yasiin Bey, Mitch Winehouse, Tyler James, Salaam Remi, Blake Fielder-Civil Runtime 128 minutes Director Asif Kapadia Writers Asif Kapadia Producers James Gay-Rees Executive Producer(s) Adam Barker, Jamie Edgerton 2 Sicario Emily Blunt descends into the drug war's moral fog 2015’s Sicario has the distinction of being helmed by two monsters of movies and TV, earlier in their careers. Before Denis Villeneuve was knee-deep in sandworms, he was building drug cartel dread in Sicario, from a script written by a pre-Yellowstone Taylor Sheridan (his first ever produced). OK, so what’s it about? Idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) gets recruited by mysterious government spook Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) for a secret task force into Juárez, Mexico, to capture and bring back a Mexican cartel lieutenant. The wild card is Alejandro (Benicio del Toro), a soft-spoken "consultant" whose real agenda comes into focus as the team crosses the border. The infamous Juárez convoy scene, with its racing lineup of black SUVs, showcases the gorgeous camera work of legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins' (Blade Runner 2049, No Country for Old Men), and is worth the watch alone. Sicario is an intense and action-filled film that scored three Oscar nominations and has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sicario Release Date September 17, 2015 Cast Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, Daniel Kaluuya, Jeffrey Donovan, Raoul Max Trujillo, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Hank Rogerson, Bernardo P. Saracino, Maximiliano Hernández, Kevin Wiggins, Edgar Arreola, Kim Larrichio, Jesus Nevarez-Castillo, Dylan Kenin, John Trejo, Marty Lindsey, Alex Knight, Rio Alexander, Eric Steinig, Michael-David Aragon, Vic Browder, Boots Southerland Runtime 122 minutes Director Denis Villeneuve Writers Taylor Sheridan Producers Basil Iwanyk, Edward McDonnell, Ellen H. Schwartz, Molly Smith, Thad Luckinbill, Stacy Perskie Sequel(s) Sicario: Day Of The Soldado Main Genre Action Budget $30 million Studio(s) Sony Distributor(s) Sony, Lionsgate Executive Producer(s) Erica Lee, Ellen H. Schwartz, John H. Starke 1 Stand by Me Four friends, one long walk into growing up My top pick this week is a classic that I’ve seen a half dozen times, but not in a while, so it was a nostalgic trip to revisit, and bittersweet since its director Rob Reiner’s tragic death late last year. Stand by Me is a master-class in how to make coming-of-age movies. Adapted from Stephen King’s novella The Body, it adds the viewer as a fifth silent member of a group of best friends in 1959 Castle Rock, Oregon. The story centers around Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton), whose older self narrates (voiced by Richard Dreyfuss), as he tells a remarkable tale of the bittersweet summer that he and his pals Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman), and Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell) set off along the railroad tracks and into the woods to find the body of a missing boy. The trek serves up so many classic moments burned into my brain, like the leech-filled swamp, Chopper the legendary junkyard dog, a near miss while crossing the train bridge, and a run-in with switchblade-flicking greaser Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland) and his gang. The ensemble cast is one of the most memorable in movie history, and the film was nominated for best adapted screenplay at the Oscars that year. Stand by Me Release Date August 22, 1986 Cast Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, Casey Siemaszko, Gary Riley, Bradley Gregg, Jason Oliver, Marshall Bell, Frances Lee McCain, Bruce Kirby, William Bronder, Scott Beach, Richard Dreyfuss, John Cusack, Madeleine Swift, Geanette Bobst, Art Burke, Matt Williams, Andy Lindberg, Dick Durock, O.B. Babbs, Charlie Owens, John Hodges Runtime 89 minutes Director Rob Reiner Writers Raynold Gideon, Bruce A. Evans, Stephen King Producers Andrew Scheinman Main Genre Drama Budget $8 million Studio(s) Columbia Pictures Distributor(s) Columbia Pictures Hot August movie nights Keep the tissues close—at least two of these movies will have you welling up. And when the credits roll, How-To Geek's other streaming guides are full of picks worth lining up next. Subscription with ads Yes, $10.99/month Simultaneous streams 2 or 4 HBO Max is a subscription-based streaming service offering content from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, and more. In 2025, the service re-branded itself as HBO Max after having previously cut "HBO" from its name. Live TV Live sports available in Standard and Premium plans Price Starting at $10.99/month or $109.99/year