#The Best Movies Coming to HBO Max in December 2020 – /Film

Warner Bros. made headlines when it announced that Wonder Woman 1984 would simultaneously be heading to theaters and to HBO Max on Christmas Day this year. But while we’re excited to see Diana’s latest adventure, there are plenty of other TV shows and films arriving on the service this month to tide you over. Read on to discover our choices, and then see the entire list below.

Best Films Coming to HBO Max This Month

True Grit (2010)

Hailee Steinfeld’s star-making performance is still pretty damn incredible a decade later, and seeing the Coen Brothers’ tackle a more classical version of a western a few years after their modern western No Country for Old Men is fascinating. If for absolutely no other reason, it’s worth watching just to hear a put-upon Jeff Bridges drawl out Matt Damon’s character’s name, “LaBeef.”

The Shop Around the Corner

Ernst Lubitch’s delightful romantic comedy about a pair of gift shop employees who can’t stand each other in person but fall in love through writing anonymous letters served as the inspiration for You’ve Got Mail decades later. Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan are both charming in this iteration of the tale, and it’s especially worth watching around the holidays.

Blow-Up

Speaking of inspirations, if you’ve seen Brian De Palma’s Blow Out and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (which you absolutely must on both accounts), this 1966 movie is the precursor to those thrillers. It’s a more lethargic in its plotting, but the hook is great: when a photographer develops his film, he realizes he’s captured something in an image that he never should have seen.

Hot Fuzz

Edgar Wright’s loving send-up of classic 1980s action movies is one of those rare parodies that actually works as a standalone entry in the genre instead of  just being an ongoing string of jokes and gags. As a big fan of Point Break, I love all of this film’s nods to Kathryn Bigelow’s classic, but the murder mystery elements of Hot Fuzz push it out into its own unique territory.

The Shawshank Redemption

I somehow stumbled across this little-known gem the other day and it’s surprisingly great. I can’t believe I’ve never heard anyone talk about it! It’s about this guy named Andy who goes to prison for killing his wife, but – get this – he claims he’s innocent. He befriends a “guy who can get things,” and…well, I don’t want to spoil it. But you should really check it out! It’s truly unreal that no one has ever mentioned it before!

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