Max. Just Max now as opposed to HBO Max. It's been about a month since the change, and time has not made it sound like any less of a strange choice than when it first happened. The goal was to open up the platform to more content as well as make parents more at ease with parking their kids in front of it. Whatever the case, they didn't have to change the nice purple color they had for the app.
Despite the weirdness, there are still some pretty good movies coming and going from the platform. This month Amazon called them up and said they want all the Bond films, no exceptions. So now would be a good time to binge all your favorite spy movies if you can and decide who your favorite Bond is.
Casino Royale (July 31)
If you only have time to watch one Bond film, Casino Royale is perhaps the best of the bunch. It's a pretty perfect marriage between old and new Bond where you have gripping action and smart-ass remarks from Mr. Bond, but the real climax of the movie is just a high-stakes poker game as opposed to a gunfight—a sheer battle of wits with everyone's favorite Dane Mads Mikkelson.
Daniel Craig's Bond is so unrefined in this movie compared to other actors' portrayals. He's not quite cool and suave yet. Instead, he's far more arrogant and a loose cannon. This makes for a Bond who makes mistakes and has to learn things the hard way. Add to that a pretty fiery chemistry between him and Eva Green, and this is arguably the best overall Bond film.
Gremlins 1 and 2 (July 31)
These movies are great examples of what's referred to as high concept. There's not a lot going on in complexity, but the idea and effort behind it is great enough that that's all you really need for the movie. The gist is a little kid gets a small hamster thing that looks a lot like a tribble from Star Trek or a Furby. If you feed the little critter after midnight, it turns into a much more sinister Gremlin, and every time these things are exposed to water, they hatch six more of themselves.
The most fun part of the movies, though, is all the elaborate creatures that the team designed for the film. They seem cuddly and cute at first, but then the team gets to have fun by making them horrifying, greasy, and ugly looking. There's something darkly funny about these little monsters causing chaos by singing Christmas carols and cutting the brakes on cars. The second one, in particular, has more of the Gremlins just destroying everything and causing havoc in creative ways.
Kung Fu Panda (July 31)
No list is ever complete without a solid animated movie. Most people should remember this one fondly as the story of a panda who does, well, Kung Fu. Definitely a high watermark for Dreamworks animation studio fresh off Madagascar, but shortly before How to Train Your Dragon.
Jack Black kills it as Po, and Ian McShane is responsible for a fair few amount of memes as Tai Lung. Sit down with a bowl of noodles and watch this one before it's gone.
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (July 31)
You might love this film. You also might hate this film. It has that divisive reputation about it, which is a rare mark for director Ron Howard, who is perhaps the king of making big-budget movies that everyone likes. It's kind of incredible just to witness how well this movie works, given how many extras there are in it and all the elaborate costume designs that went into the creation of Whoville.
It's a movie that shouldn't really work but does in short. But you can get your Christmas in July on and see for yourself if you're in the love-it-or-hate-it camp.
National Lampoon's Vacation (July 31)
Or just Vacation to many. While many will remember the sequel of Christmas Vacation rather fondly, the original had a far more dark and subtle approach to Clark Griswold than the more lighthearted cousin. This most likely came from genius director Harold Ramis whose films often had a cynical slant to them, as seen in his other movies like Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day.
No exception here as it's a comedy of errors of Clark just trying to get his family to Walley World with the deck absolutely stacked against the poor man. They'll experience dying Aunt Edna, car breakdowns, vandalism, and Cousin Eddie, of course. The viewer, however, will experience that pain as well as lots of laughs and an incredibly catchy opening theme written by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.