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It's the start of January 2026, and that means a ton of new movies have just been added to HBO Max. But if you were to look through the full list of everything new to Max in January 2026, you'd find that more movies than you can count were just added to the streaming service.
Lucky for you, I've gone through the full list of all the new movies on HBO Max and singled out five that rise above the rest. These five have all earned a 90% or higher "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning that just about every critic who watched it liked it. It also means that, even if none of these movies becomes your new favorite, they should all leave you feeling satisfied once you're done watching.
Malcolm has been with the Tom's Guide team since 2022, watching dozens of movies each year so you're not stuck watching the bad ones.
'Baby Face' (1933)
"Baby Face" stars Hollywood icon Barbara Stanwyck as Lily Powers, a young woman who has spent years as a prostitute at her father's prohibition speakeasy. After her father dies in a moonshine-related explosion, she makes her way to New York, where she continues to use her sexuality to land a job at Gotham Trust.
Once there, she continues to use her wiles to work her way up the corporate ladder. First, she seduces her boss, Ned (Donald Cook), then his boss, J.P. Carter (Henry Kolker). But that gets her into a mess that she might not be able to get out of, especially with a new bank president (George Brent) investigating just what Lily has been doing since she came to Manhattan.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Stream "Baby Face" on HBO Max now
'Ex Machina' (2014)
"Ex Machina" stars Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, a programmer who scores the opportunity of a lifetime: spending a week at the home of his company's legendary CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). But once he's there, he discovers that Nathan has built a humanoid robot (Alicia Vikander) with an artificial intelligence that's already passed a Turing test. He also discovers that the real reason he's there is that Nathan wants Caleb to see if she's truly capable of being human.
This movie is one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, and probably the best movie of writer/director Alex Garland's career. It explores some dark places and has twists you won't see coming. It's a must-watch movie in general, and you don't want to miss it now that it's on HBO Max.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Stream "Ex Machina" on HBO Max now
'Fargo' (1996)
"Fargo" stars Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson, the police chief of Brainerd, Minnesota. She crosses paths with car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) in nearby Minneapolis when Jerry's wife, Jean (Kristin Rudrüd), is kidnapped. Marge thinks that the kidnapping is connected to a triple homicide she's investigating, so she comes to Jerry looking for clues.
There's just one problem: Jerry is the one who hired the pair of hitmen (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his own wife. Despite being a crime film, though, hilarity ensues in "Fargo," albeit with a fair amount of violence. Come for the people being "Minnesota nice," stay to watch a man feed body parts into a wood chipper.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Stream "Fargo" on HBO Max now
'Love Crazy' (1941)
"Love Crazy" is another acclaimed classic coming from the days of old Hollywood to HBO Max. Unlike the incredibly dramatic "Baby Face," though, this screwball comedy is a far easier-to-stomach story.
The movie stars William Powell and Myrna Loy in their 11th film together as a starring duo. In "Love Crazy," they play architect Steve Ireland and his wife, Susan, respectively. They're in their fourth year of marriage and things seem to be going fine. But that all changes when Steve's old flame, Isobel (Gail Patrick), shows up in their apartment building.
Not long after Isobel's arrival, Susan's mother (Florence Bates) manages to convince Susan that Steve is having an affair. Will Susan trust her husband? Or is Susan's mother onto the truth? You;ll have to watch to find out.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Stream "Love Crazy" on HBO Max now
''Moonlight' (2016)
"Moonlight" is a tale based on playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semi-autobiographical play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue." Told in three parts, it's centered around Chiron, a young Black man from Miami.
In the first part of the movie, he's a child who goes by the nickname "Little" (Alex Hibbert) and develops a father-son relationship with Juan (Mahershala Ali), who is a drug dealer in the South Florida city. Then, as a teenager (Ashton Sanders), he adopts his given name and starts to discover his sexuality, developing a relationship with his childhood friend, Kevin (Jharrel Jerome). Finally, the movie's third act focuses on Chiron as an adult (Trevante Rhodes), now a drug dealer like his childhood father figure, Juan, and coming to terms with the traumas of his life in Miami by visiting his mother Paula (Naomie Harris) and reconnecting with Kevin (André Holland).
This coming-of-age drama is now best known for being the movie that briefly lost the Best Picture race to "La La Land" before being revealed as the true winner for Hollywood's biggest award. But it's important to remember that it's a great movie, not just the answer to a trivia question, and there's no better time to watch it than now that it's on HBO Max.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Stream "Moonlight" on HBO Max now
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