3 underrated HBO Max movies you should watch this weekend (June 6-8)
Fans of Succession will be surprised to see that Jesse Armstrong has returned from his brief hiatus with a new project, Mountainhead. The movie was written and filmed earlier this year. It's now on HBO Max. Now that's efficiency. No one knows how to dump on the rich better than Armstrong.
One of the highlights this month is the first four Hunger Games movies. One of the entries, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, is on this list of underrated movies to watch this weekend. Check out all of our picks below.
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We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
Looking back at the 2010s, the Hunger Games franchise dominated pop culture thanks to memorable phrases like 'I volunteer as tribute' and the arrival of Jennifer Lawrence as an A-list star. The first two movies are significantly better than the final two in the quartet. That being said, Mockingjay — Part 1 is arguably the most politically charged of the four movies.
After escaping the arena in Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) is transported to the underground District 13, where the rebels prepare their attack against the Capitol. Katniss must embrace her Mockingjay identity and become the symbol of hope. The Hanging Tree scene and the final cliffhanger with Peeta are two of the top 10 moments of the franchise.
Stream The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 on Max.
Tangerine (2015)
Sean Baker became the talk of the town this past year with Anora. The off-the-rails dramedy won five Oscars, with Baker becoming the first person to win four for one movie. With Baker's Oscar win still fresh, revisit Tangerine, the movie considered by many as his breakthrough.
Like most of Baker's protagonists, Tangerine features sex workers at the center of the story. Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is a trans sex worker fresh out of a short stint in prison. After finding out her pimp cheated on her, Sin-Dee and fellow trans sex worker Alexandra (Mya Taylor) set out on a journey across Los Angeles to find him. Tangerine highlights Baker's best qualities — do-everything filmmaking, innovative style, visual flair (shot on iPhones), and expertise in balancing comedy with drama.
Stream Tangerine on Max.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)
Before he investigated the Yellow King and piloted a mission across the galaxy, Matthew McConaughey was Mr. Rom-Com. Ghost of Girlfriends Past is the final movie in his rom-com run before taking a break to reevaluate his career. In this interpretation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, McConaughey plays Connor Mead, a playboy bachelor who holds multiple relationships with women at once. The day before his brother's wedding, Connor runs into Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner), the one who got away.
After making a fool of himself, Connor encounters the spirit of his late uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), who says he will be visited by ghosts of his romantic past, present, and future. Dickens' fans can rest easy knowing Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is not better than its source material. However, the B-movie is a charming showcase for McConaughey and Garner.
Stream Ghosts of Girlfriends Past on Max.
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Forbes
29 minutes ago
- Forbes
‘Brandy' Singer-Songwriter Elliot Lurie Talks Enduring Popularity Of Proto-Yacht Rock Hit More Than 50 Years Later: ‘Good, Tight Storytelling'
Fifty-three years ago today, a New Jersey-based band called Looking Glass debuted its first and self-titled studio album. The second track on the LP told the story of a heartbroken barmaid pining after a sailor who refused to give up his nomadically maritime lifestyle for her. That song, of course, was 'Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)", a primordial yacht rock hit that quickly shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1972. 'I guess a romantic tragedy is a good way to describe it,' Looking Glass founder, songwriter, and frontman, Elliot Lurie tells me over Zoom. 'From the sailor's point-of-view, it's about a guy who really does love a woman but can't get tied down … I think it's a really good, really short story. The challenge of telling an entire story with a beginning middle and end — and two characters you can relate to in a musical setting that lasts three minutes — I think that's pretty good, tight storytelling." While some artists come to revile their most popular compositions after a few decades of playing them non-stop in front of crowds, Lurie says his fondness for 'Brandy' has never waned in the last half century. In fact, he even named his publishing company 'Braided Chain Music' after the piece of Spanish jewelry the sailor gifted to Brandy. 'It's my one really big hit and if anybody comes out to see me, that's what they want to hear. I'm perfectly happy to play it for them,' he says. "I always enjoy doing it. I mean, people love it.' Lurie later adds: 'I always get emails and notes on social media saying, 'I was in the Navy in 1972 when it came out. Everybody played it all the time and we loved it.' I get a lot of that from people who are associated with the Navy or shipping or sailing.' Filmmaker James Gunn isn't a salty sea dog, but he loved the song so much, that he made it a crucial part of both the screenplay and soundtrack in his Marvel Studios sequel: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Lurie, who 'loved the way that all the '70s music was used' in the first movie, admits he disappointed that his retro chart-topper was not included in Peter Quill's (Chris Pratt) initial 'Awesome Mix Vol. 1' tape. 'I was a little bit upset that they hadn't used 'Brandy,'" he shares. 'I said, 'I had a great '70s song, why didn't they use it?' And then about a year later, I got an email from my publisher saying that they wanted to use it in the second movie. I was thrilled. Then I started to see the script pages they sent me and it was fantastic because not only was it used as the opening song in the movie, but they discuss the lyrics [later] In particular, the lyrics are ruminated on by Quill's long-lost father, Ego (Kurt Russell), a living planet and god-like being who empathizes with the sailor in the story, owing to the fact that he's visited countless worlds and fallen in love, but never stayed to put down roots. Well, proverbial roots, anyway. 'When my wife and I saw the clip of that before they released the movie, our mouths were hanging open,' Lurie remembers. 'We were like, 'What?!' There's a line in the movie where [Ego] calls it 'Perhaps Earth's greatest composition.' My wife and I heard that and went, 'Whoa!'' Lurie wrote the song shortly after graduating from Rutgers University with a degree in sociology, which 'left lot of time for rehearsing,' he quips. 'We played all the fraternity parties and all the local bars. Those were our main gigs.' Before going out into the real world to find jobs, however, he and his three bandmates — two of whom were also Rutgers graduates — rented 'a big old farmhouse' in Glen Garden, New Jersey, in which to write, practice, and record demos. 'We would occasionally drive up the Jersey Turnpike and try to get a record deal in New York City,' Lurie adds. Their big break ultimately came in the form of producer Clive Davis, who signed them up at Epic Records, a subset of Columbia Records. Lurie crafted 'Brandy' with an acoustic guitar in one of the farmhouse's upstairs bedrooms, relying on his usual method of experimenting with guitar chords 'until I get a couple of chords that go together that I'm kind of liking. And while I'm doing that, I'll sing nonsense lyrics over the music," he explains. The name of the titular character, meanwhile, was inspired by a high school girlfriend he'd had named Randye. 'I was just singing her name along with some other things. And when the song started to come together, I said, 'Well, I can't use Randye, because that could either be a male or female name, and if it's going to be a bartender, she should be Brandy.' So that's where the name came from and then the story continued to evolve from there.' He subsequently brought the song downstairs to hone it further with the rest of the rest of the group, though 'the final recording that you hear on the radio was a little different than the way we worked it up in the living room,' he reveals. 'We added the background vocals and the groove to it and all. But then in the production of the final record, we added a horn section, opened up a lot more background vocals, and mixed it six or seven times before we got the version we wanted. So it went through quite a few changes, but the song basically stayed the same." Davis knew the song would be a hit, but the band, not wanting to be mistaken as a pop-focused group, decided to release the bluesy, rock and roll-inspired "Don't It Make You Feel Good" as a single first. 'It didn't do a thing,' Lurie says of the highly underrated track. 'So then they released 'Brandy,' and that made a big difference.' The song began to pick up traction after being played on the radio in the Washington, D.C. and a handful of other American cities. After calling the band into a meeting the executives at Epic proclaimed, 'Your record is going to go to Number One. It's going to sell a million copies,' Lurie recalls. 'And we asked, 'How do you know that?' They said, 'Listen, we do this for a living, and we can tell you that if it's getting the kind of reaction it's getting in that city and a couple of others, it's going all the way.'' He modestly continues: 'I don't consider myself a great singer, but my tone is kind of distinctive, and it worked very well on the radio — especially back then on the AM radio, it cut real well. And also, the production on the record is interesting. When you listen to some other slick pop records from that era, the production on 'Brandy' is a little different [by comparison]. It sounds a little bit garage band-y, it sounds a little bit pop. It's kind different-sounding than some of the other records from the era. That may be part of the reason why it's hung in there.' 'Brandy" continued to gain momentum until it was ubiquitous on AM stations that summer. The public loved it while the guys of Looking Glass understandably felt a little burnt out. 'We had worked on it for so long, that we wound up changing the station when it came on, because we were sick of it at that time,' Lurie confesses. In the decades since its release, 'Brandy' has been deemed an early example of yacht rock, a form of soft rock that didn't become a prevalent genre until later in the decade. Lurie, on the other hand, thinks it falls more into the pop category, but has 'no problem" if others want to consider it a yacht rock antecedent, particularly because its story centers around nautical exploits. 'Sometimes I'm surprised that it's included [in that genre],' he says. 'I guess it has to do with the lyrics [but] it's a little early for yacht rock. It came out in 1972 and most yacht rock stuff is from the late '70s and early '80s. Also, most of the great yacht rock singers are high tenors like Daryl Hall and Michael McDonald. I'm a baritone. So it's little different than a lot of yacht rock songs, but I'm happy to be on the list.' Starting in the 1980s, Lurie left the recording side of the industry when he became head of the music department at 20th Century Fox (now branded as 20th Century Studios under Disney's ownership). For close to three decades, he worked on such high-profile projects as 9½ Weeks, Die Hard, Home Alone, and the Lizzie McGuire television series (for which he wrote the main theme). 'I hadn't really played or sung in 25 years. When I retired from that, I got back into performing, and I'm still doing it fairly regularly," he says. "It's very cool to have been able to have those two separate careers and then come back to the writing and performing.' The musician concludes our interview by mentioning the fact that his self-titled solo album (released in 1975, two years after Looking Glass's second and final record: Subway Serenade), is now available to stream via Spotify after years of being unavailable to the public. 'The solo album didn't sell anything, but it used some of the great session musicians in LA, many of whom were in that yacht rock documentary,' he finishes. 'So I'm going to plug the Elliot Lurie solo album from 1975 which, after 50 years, is finally available again — and includes some really, really great yacht rock session players from LA." Information on Lurie's live shows can be found on his official website
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Jennifer Lawrence Just Wore the Coolest Comfy Clogs
Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. In a fashion landscape where minimal effort reads as maximum style, the humble clog has quietly climbed the ranks to become the shoe du jour. No longer relegated to cottagecore fantasies or functional gardening gear, clogs are now a bona fide fashion flex. They've been endorsed by editors, models off-duty, and most recently, Jennifer Lawrence. The Oscar-winning actress was spotted walking through New York City in a pair of Rothy's Casual Clogs, a minimalist, eco-conscious, and machine washable take on the silhouette that's quickly becoming a favorite among in-the-know fashionistas. Styled with a sophisticated cream coat, slouchy trousers, and a flash of cherry-red socks, Lawrence achieved a chic, nonchalant, and unmistakably modern look. The resurgence of the clog has been bubbling for a few seasons, thanks in part to high-fashion iterations. Dior made waves with its 2022 collaboration with Birkenstock, elevating the orthopedic staple with buckled hardware and couture-level embroidery. More recently, clogs have clomped down the runways at brands like Hemès, Bode, and The Row, each interpreting the silhouette through their own lens—equestrian elegance, Americana nostalgia, and minimalist luxury, respectively. So why clogs, and why now? Well, we are living in an era that appreciates the art of understated luxury and intentional comfort, and clogs check every box: They're sculptural, easy to slip on, and strikingly versatile. Whether crafted from leather, felted in wool, or rendered in rubber, today's best clogs are less about hippie heritage and more about a grounded, grown-up coolness. They're the kind of shoes that suggest you know what you're doing—even if you didn't try very hard. Why Trust ELLE Every product featured on is independently researched, tested, or editor-approved. We only recommend products that we stand behind, and the merchandise featured on our site is always driven by editorial and product testing standards, not by affiliate deals or advertising relationships. Any content created in partnership with advertisers is marked as such.
