5 Movies to Watch on HBO Now

The new streaming service HBO Now went live yesterday, offering HBO content independent of a cable subscription for the first time ever. As part of the launch, the $15-a-month service is offering a 30-day free trial to new subscribers. So once you’re done watching the Game of Thrones premiere, what should you do with the other 29 days? How about catching up on some movies? Here are five films available on HBO Now to make that free month fly by.

Bradley Cooper and Amy Poehler

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

With a prequel TV series premiering on Netflix in July, now is the perfect time to revisit David Wain’s cult classic about counselors on the last day of summer camp in 1981. The absurdist ensemble film baffled critics when it was released, but its wacky meta humor anticipated the Judd Apatow era of comedy. The movie remains hilarious and the cast is mind-boggling, featuring such then-little-known actors as Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Banks, and Bradley Cooper.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Fox Searchlight Films, Jaap Buitendijk, File)

12 Years a Slave (2013)

We get it: You don’t want to watch 12 Years a Slave. You’ve been meaning to see it, but it just seems like such a downer, and did it really deserve Best Picture? First of all, yes to that last thing. (And Chiwetel Ejiofor was robbed!) Second, you should know that 12 Years a Slave is a thrilling movie. Deeply disturbing and sometimes difficult to watch, yes. But think of it this way: It’s one of the scariest horror films you’ll ever see, made scarier because everything in it is true.

Paul Giamatti (Fine Line Features)

American Splendor (2003)

As we all breathlessly await the Avengers sequel, here’s a different kind of comic-book movie to enjoy. Paul Giamatti gets one of his career-best roles as Harvey Pekar, the writer and artist who documented his very ordinary life as a Cleveland file clerk in his long-running independent comic American Splendor. Filmmakers Shari Springer Bergman and Robert Pulcini — best known for their documentary work — have fun blasting apart the conventional biopic formula, placing Giamatti’s scenes side-by-side with footage of the real Pekar and illustrations from his comics.

Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

HBO Now doesn’t offer much in the way of films made before 1970, but you could do much worse than The Manchurian Candidate. A dark thriller about a Korean War veteran (Frank Sinatra) whose nightmares unlock a Communist plot, director John Frankenheimer’s movie transitions perfectly into our political-conspiracy-obsessed era. And if most of your ideas about Angela Lansbury come from Murder, She Wrote re-runs, you owe it to yourself to see just how sinister she can be.

Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise (AP Foto/Warner Bros. Pictures, David James)

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

The failure of Edge of Tomorrow was one of the big mysteries of last summer’s movie season. Was it the generic title? Was it bad marketing? Was it Tom Cruise? Regardless, the clever, action-packed movie — about a future soldier (Cruise) caught in a time loop while fighting aliens — deserved to be a hit. (And we should note that “failure” is relative; the movie grossed over $300 million worldwide.) The sci-fi homage to Groundhog Day features a solid action-hero performance from Cruise, and an even better one from his co-star Emily Blunt. If you missed the movie last summer, now’s your chance.

Watch a clip from ‘Edge of Tomorrow:’