HBO Max is soaring to new heights this weekend. Why? Well, it’s streaming movies that — sometimes — take place in the sky.
2025’s Superman movie featuring David Corenswet did well at the box office, but the Watch With Us team is fans of the underrated DC Comics movie, Superman Returns.
Miss the Bruce Willis action classic, Die Hard? Then watch Daisy Ridley kick some terrorist butt in a tall London skyscraper in Cleaner.
The quiet drama Nobody Walks is more earthbound, but it’s still worth a watch for anyone craving a juicy film about a complicated love triangle that goes terribly wrong.
‘Cleaner’ (2025)
We’ll never get a great action movie set in a building like Die Hard ever again, but we’ll continue to get copycats, and Cleaner is one of the better ones. Daisy Ridley stars as Joey Locke, a former soldier-turned-window-cleaner (just go with it) who is caught in the middle of a hostage situation involving a terrorist environmental activist group led by Marcus Blake (Clive Owen). With the police helpless, it’s up to Joey to stop Blake and his goons from killing innocent hostages.
Cleaner isn’t all that original, but it makes up for it by staging one well-executed action sequence after another. Thank director Martin Campbell for that — he helmed two of the best James Bond movies ever made, Goldeneye and Casino Royale, and he shows a similar flair here for ridiculous action that defies the laws of physics. Cleaner is often silly, but it’s all in good fun, and it’s nice to see Ridley flex her action chops after her crowd-pleasing work as Rey in the Star Wars sequels.
Cleaner is streaming on Max.
‘Superman Returns’ (2006)
This summer, the iconic DC Comics character Superman has been in the news for all kinds of reasons. Dean Cain, who starred as the Man of Steel on TV in the ‘90s, became a real-life Lex Luthor, while another reboot, aptly titled Superman, conquered the box office in July. A previous redo, Superman Returns, has been all but forgotten about, and while it’s flawed, it’s an adventure movie that has its heart in the right place.
After leaving Earth five years ago, Superman (Brandon Routh) returns to see what his Daily Planet friends and one-time lover, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), are up to. To his shock, they’ve all moved on without him, with Lois romantically attached to Richard (James Marsden) and mom to a five-year-old son, Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). Even more worryingly, his old nemesis, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), is up to no good, having stolen some Kryptonian crystals to grow land in the middle of the ocean. But does the world need Superman to save them? Or, like Lois, are they seemingly better off without the iconic superhero?
While Superman Returns is a little too long at 154 minutes, it’s largely an entertaining comic book spectacle filled with eye-popping set pieces, like Superman saving a space shuttle from crashing into a baseball field. Routh is underrated as Clark Kent and Superman— he’s convincing as an awkward reporter and a powerful hero no longer sure of his place in his adopted world. The movie is a spiritual sequel to Richard Donner’s previous Superman movies, and it largely earns its place alongside those classics by the time the final credits roll.
Superman Returns is streaming on Max.
‘Nobody Walks’ (2012)
Martine (Olivia Thirlby) is a recent college graduate drifting through life. Looking for a place to complete her art film, she ends up staying at a rich family’s pool house in Silver Lake. But things get complicated when Martine becomes close to the father, Peter (John Krasinski), who is drawn to her eccentricity. Will Martine’s presence break apart a family that, on the outside, has everything? Or will she bring out the truth that Peter and his wife, Julie (Rosemarie DeWitt), have long denied to each other — and themselves?
Nobody Walks is a playful dramedy that treats sex and infidelity somewhat seriously. Martine is old enough to wield her sexuality as a weapon, but still too young to really know how it impacts her and those around her. Krasinski’s Peter should really know better, but still can’t help himself be drawn to what Martine represents — a fresh start and a dream that can never come true. Nobody Walks isn’t perfect, but it’s an interesting examination of the power of possibility and the consequences of giving in too easily to temptation.
Nobody Walks is streaming on Max.
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