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We may earn a commission from links on this page.I've looked into everything coming to Max this month, and the below TV shows and movies are the best of the bunch, or at least the most interesting. The premiere of the third season of HBO's beloved dark comedy series The White Lotus tops the listeveryone will be watching this one. There's also a new season of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and the premiere of Common Side Effects, an animated drama series that looks fascinating. The White Lotus, Season 3 Mike White's Emmy-winning series The White Lotus is the best. Its mix of biting commentary on wealth and privilege, well-drawn (but nearly always reprehensible) characters, and pitch-black humor add up to a nothing-else-like-it TV series. Season 3 sees a new group of pampered Americans arriving at a White Lotus luxury resort in Thailand. I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing they'll have unexpected and troubling times instead of a restful vacation. Season 3 also see the return of Natasha Rothwell, who played the spa owner from season oneone of the few sympathetic characters in the show's run. Other notable cast members include Walton Goggins (The Ghoul in Prime's Fallout series), Carrie Coon, Scott Glenn, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, and Parker Posey.Starts streaming February 16.Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,season 12 There's a new season of Last Week Tonight premiering this month, and I'm pretty sure sardonic host John Oliver will to have a lot to talk about in 2025 America. Oliver promises to ask the hard questions, like "Have two presidents ever kissed?" and "Did Tucker Carlson's mom really leave him $2 in her will?" (She actually left him $1.) Don't miss it if you like pointed political humor, because who knows how long pointed political humor will remain legal.Starts streaming February 16.Common Side Effects This Adult-Swim-produced cartoon looks intriguing. Common Side Effects' executive producer, Mike Judge, created both King of the Hill and Beavis and Butthead, but Common Side Effects is not really a comedy. It's a moody, stylish looking drama about a pair of high school friends who discover both a drug that cures literally everything and a vast conspiracy from the pharmaceutical industry and the government to cover up its existence. Starts streaming February 3.Have I got News for You, Season 2If John Oliver doesn't provide enough comedic news coverage, why not give Have I Got News for You a try? Hosted by Roy Wood Jr. with Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black, this show takes the grinding misery out of "following the news" and makes it fun. Each episode features a different pair of celebrity guests who compete against each other in games and quizzes that test their knowledge of current events. It's a little like a TV version of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Starts streaming February 15.We Live in Time (2024) If you're in the mood for a tragic drama about doomed romance in the vein of The Notebook, this is the movie for you. Anchored by solid performances from Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, We Live in Time takes risks with structure, jumping around in time to tell the story of Pugh's character's cancer diagnoses and her decision to skip treatment to live her last days as fully as possible instead. We Live in Time was produced by A24, a company that rarely misses. Starts streaming February 7The Takedown: American Aryans This HBO original docu-series details law enforcement's battle with the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a neo-Nazi street and prison gang responsible for dozens of murders and hundreds of other crimes, including the brutal killing of Breanna Taylor. Through interviews with cops, Taylor's family, and members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, The Takedown: American Aryans examines the investigation, arrests, and trials that crippled the notorious criminal enterprise. Starts streaming February 6.We are the Best! (2014) There are no recognizable actors in We are the Best! It was made for very little money in Sweden. Although it got good reviews, hardly anyone saw itit barely broke a million dollars at the box office. It's hard to explain why anyone would care about three twelve-year-olds in Stockholm starting a terrible punk rock band in 1982, but I promise you will care if you watch it. It captures something elusive and true about youth and hope in a way that few films ever have. Seriously, watch this movie. Starts streaming February 1.How I Left the Opus DeiI was brought up Catholic, but it was "try to go to church on Sunday because it makes your mom happy" style Catholicism, a world of the difference from the hardcore Catholics in Opus Dei: They mean it. Among other things, they sleep on boards instead of beds and are into "mortification of the flesh," and not in a fun/kinky way. Anyway, How I Left Opus Dei is a docu-series that tells the story of 13 women who got sick of being abused and left the group. I'm definitely checking it out. Starts streaming February 7Puppy Bowl XXIIf you want a little break from the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Philadelphia Eagles, you can switch over to HBO's coverage of The Puppy Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday, and watch cute little puppies on Teams Ruff and Fluff play with dog toys and wrassle around with each other, totally unaware that they're on TV and people are saying, "awwwwww." Don't miss the cat-centric halftime show, either. Starts streaming February 9.Last week's picksThe Pitt HBO Originals medical series The Pitt was created by ER producer R. Scott Gemmill. The tense, realistic drama takes viewers into the charged emergency room of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. Each of The Pitt's 15 episodes is presented in real time: one episode is one hour of the same shift at the E.R. Noah Wyle stars as Dr. Michael Robby Robinavitch, chief attending physician, who's having trouble dealing with the stress and trauma of his position. He's not alone: The Pitt delves into its characters' personal lives as well as the life-or-death decisions and day-to-day drama of the emergency room. Starts streaming January 9.A Different Man (2024) If you like your comedy pitch black and shot through with absurdity and social commentary, A Different Man is the movie for you. Sebastian Stan plays Edward, a struggling actor with an extreme facial deformity. A medical procedure transforms him into a handsome dudea different manbut he's only pretty on the outside. Edward soon learns that beauty is skin deep, but ugliness can go right down to the marrow. Like just about everything released by A24, A Different Man received well-deserved raves from critics. Starts streaming January 17.Harley Quinn, season 5 The fifth season of adult cartoon Harley Quinn sees the titular character, voiced by Kaley Cuoco, moving to Metropolis with her friend Poison Ivy, voiced by Lake Bell. The pair soon find that something serious is going down in Superman-town, and Quinn will meet up with Lex Luthor, his sister, Lena Luthor, Brainiac, and other comic book favorites in this irreverent take on the DC Universe. Harley Quinn has a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it's definitely worth your time. Starts streaming January 16. The Leopard Man (1943) Just as Leopard Man producer Val Lewton's most famous film, Cat People, didn't have any cat people in it, Leopard Man is not about a leopard man. Lewton spent most of his career as the head of B-movie production company RKO's horror department, where studio heads dictated their movie's titles, but let Lewton film whatever he wanted. Lewton chose to make Leopard Man an atmospheric, creepy, surprisingly progressive examination of misogyny and violence instead of a cheesy monster flick. Leopard Man is arguably the first movie about a serial killer, and remains among of the best examples of the genre ever made. Starts streaming January 1.The Front Room The directorial debut of Max and Sam Eggers, half-brothers of Nosferatu director Robert Eggers, The Front Room is a surrealist domestic horror story in which the worst mother-in-law imaginable moves in to "help" her pregnant daughter-in-law and her son. Despite the seriousness of the trailer, The Front Room is lightened by dark humor throughout. Solange, played by Kathryn Hunter, is a true nightmare, and will do anything to drive a wedge between her son Norman, played by Andrew Burnap, and his wife Belinda, played by Brandy Norwood. Starts streaming January 3.Sons of Ecstasy This documentary examines the rivalry between English stockbroker Shaun Attwood and Gerard Gravano, son of notorious New York mobster Salvatore Sammy the Bull'' Gravano. The conflict played out in the 1990s against the backdrop of the ecstasy boom in Arizona, with both men fighting for control of a desert drug empire built on the rave scene's insatiable appetite for Molly. That's what I call a good subject for a documentary series!Starts streaming January 9.An Update on our FamilyAll "family YouTubers" are weird, but the Stauffer family were next-level reprehensible. This three-part documentary series examines how Myka and James Stauffer built a small vlogging empire by presenting themselves and their children as a perfect family, but took it a step too far when they adopted a baby from China with severe neurological problems. They tried to turn two year-old Huxley into the centerpiece of their content, but he soon disappeared from the family channel and the family.Starts streaming January 15.C.B. Strike: The Ink Black Heart This four-episode British series is based on the best-selling novels by J.K. Rowling, but there's not a wizard to be found. Instead, C.B. Strike: The Ink Black Heart offers the detective team of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, who are hired to investigate a murder involving the creator of a cult TV cartoon and an anonymous online troll called Anomie. The case reveals a complex web of online intrigue, shadowy business interests, and family conflicts that will test the limits of Strike and Robin's investigative skills and might cost them their lives. Starts streaming January 23.Look Into my Eyes I'm inclined to think of "psychics" as cynical ghouls who exploit grief for profit, but Look into my Eyes' director Lana Wilson has a more nuanced view of the craft. Her documentary examines the relationship between small-time, New York psychics and their clients without weighing in on whether the mediums' claims are true. Instead of exploitation, Wilson finds healing, faith, and human connection. No matter how skeptical you are, it's a fascinating take on the subject. Starts streaming January 10.