21 Great Things to Watch on HBO Max This Winter

New series worth checking out!

Portobello, Season 1

HBO’s first Italian-language original tells the true story of one of the country’s most outrageous miscarriages of justice. Enzo Tortora was the host of Italy’s top-rated variety TV show in the 1980s, Portobello, when he was falsely accused of drug trafficking for the powerful Camorra crime organization. This six-part series follows the ordeal he faced before eventually winning release from prison.

Coming Feb. 20

Rooster, Season 1

Steve Carell, 63, who amazingly never won an Emmy Award for any of his seven remarkable seasons on The Office, could be back in the running with his return to series comedy. This time, he plays a successful author who tries to mend the frayed ties to his grown daughter (Charly Clive) while keeping his head above water on a modern college campus. A campus comedy focused on the grownups and not the hormonally charged students? Sounds refreshing.

Coming March 8

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Season 1

Remember when fantasy stories were fun? This series, set a century before the events of Game of Thrones, promises a different, more lighthearted take on Westeros. The focus is on a gangly young freelance knight named Ser Duncan, nicknamed Dunk (Peter Claffey), who lacks both the experience and standard equipment of a hero. But he proves his mettle in a series of hilarious adventures, aided by a bald-headed, sharp-witted boy named Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) who follows Dunk around as his squire.

Season finale Feb. 22

Suddenly Amish, Season 1

This unusual TLC reality series follows a struggling Amish community in Pennsylvania that lets not only cameras into its farmhouses but also six outsiders who are eager to shun the hectic pace of modern life. But will the nouveau Amish accept the discipline of farm life and the traditional values of the faith, without the use of makeup, jewelry, cellphones, TVs or indoor toilets?

Season finale March 1

Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man

This two-part documentary looks at the legendary comedian, writer and director as he approaches the century mark. Judd Apatow, 58, himself no slouch in writing hit comedies, like The 40-Year Old Virgin, explores Brooks’ early years in TV sketch comedy, his groundbreaking big-screen hits in the 1970s, like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, and his late-in-life pivot to writing hit Broadway musicals (The Producers) — as well as the personal relationships that fueled his creativity.

Streaming now

Buzzy new movies to stream

Dead of Winter (2025)

Pay attention to the name of this movie: A grief-stricken loner (Emma Thompson, 66) caught in a brutal Minnesota blizzard discovers a young woman imprisoned by a desperate armed couple, forcing this unlikely hero into a dangerous fight for her and the victim’s survival. After starring as fearless widow Zöe Boehm in Apple TV’s Down Cemetery Road, Thompson is shaping up to be our next great highbrow-thriller hero.

Coming Feb. 20

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2025)

Rose Byrne, best known for comedic roles in films like Bridesmaids and Neighbors, has generated major Oscar buzz for her performance as a seriously frazzled mom coping with the care of a daughter who is hooked up to a gastric feeding tube every night. It’s a sensational showcase for Byrne, who’s all raw nerves and open wounds.

Streaming now

33 Photos From the Ghetto (2026)

Zbigniew Leszek Grzywaczewski, a 23-year-old member of the Warsaw Fire Service, witnessed the Nazis’ brutal repression in the Polish city’s Jewish ghettos and the uprising it triggered — and he captured that history in 33 snapshots that survive to this day. This documentary offers a rare civilian look at one of the darkest chapters of 20th-century history.

Streaming now

The Smashing Machine (2025)

Dwayne Johnson, 53, is almost unrecognizable beneath facial prosthetics as Mark Kerr, a former college wrestling champ who became one of the early stars of mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the 1990s. In this buzzy biopic from director Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems), Johnson flashes real emotion, overcoming painkiller addiction and sparring with his not-always-supportive girlfriend (Emily Blunt, equally strong).

Streaming now

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025)

It’s hard to believe 40 years have passed since the late Rob Reiner’s beloved mockumentary about a British metal band that ran through drummers more quickly than groupies. In Reiner’s genially diffuse sequel, David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean, 78), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest, 78) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer, 82) prep for a reunion concert — at a venue where “An Evening With Stormy Daniels” was canceled at the last minute. There are plenty of chuckles throughout: David now composes hold music for customer-service calls, while the management team suggests new merch like a Stonehenge-shaped bottle of Tap Water.

Streaming now

Paul Anka: His Way (2025)

The 84-year-old singer-songwriter narrates this absorbing documentary, which follows his journey from a boyhood in Canada to chart-topping success in the ’50s to a savvy move into songwriting. (His credits include Tom Jones’ “She’s a Lady,” the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and even Frank Sinatra’s signature “My Way.”)

Streaming now

Classic movies to rediscover (or watch for the first time)

42 (2013)

This overlooked gem of a biopic tells the true story of the shattering of the color barrier in Major League Baseball — and boasts award-worthy performances from gone-too-soon actor Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson (before he became a household name in Black Panther) and Harrison Ford, 83, as the steel-spined Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey.

Streaming now

Ex Machina (2015)

In this stylish and prescient sci-fi thriller, Domhnall Gleeson plays a young coder tapped to test the abilities of a sophisticated humanoid robot (Alicia Vikander) invented by a billionaire tech mogul (Oscar Isaac). Turns out he’s succeeded all too well and his creation has developed not only consciousness but a very human level of deceit and ruthlessness.

Streaming now

My Favorite Wife (1943)

Screwball comedies don’t get much screwier than this delightful farce. Cary Grant plays a man who decides to remarry seven years after his wife was lost at sea, only to have his first Mrs. (Irene Dunne) turn up just as he embarks on his honeymoon with his new bride (Gail Patrick).

Streaming now

Royal Wedding (1951)

Fred Astaire was at the height of his fame when he and Jane Powell reteamed as a brother-sister act performing in London around a royal wedding. In one of the most memorable scenes, Astaire does a solo number where he dances up the walls and then upside down on the ceiling (all in the days before CGI).

Streaming now

Taxi Driver (1976)

Yes, we’re talking to you. Martin Scorsese’s seminal film, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in February, is about a loner Vietnam vet (Robert De Niro, 82) who becomes increasingly unhinged by the scenes of urban decay and corruption he drives by each day. De Niro’s Travis Bickle feels like the prototype for a certain kind of alienated white man driven to vigilantism.

Streaming now