Are you ready to fight?
Not literally, of course – the Watch With Us crew is all about peace and brotherhood. But that doesn’t mean we can’t stream movies on HBO Max with people tearing each other apart.
The streamer just added the 2026 sequel Mortal Kombat II, which pits ninjas and movie stars against shape-shifting monsters with metallic teeth.
The cult classic Evil Dead II depicts a different type of fight – a battle between lead star Bruce Campbell and his sentient severed right hand. My bet is on the hand.
While there’s no physical fighting in Dumb Money, there’s still a battle between Paul Dano’s middle-class stock investor and Seth Rogen and Sebastian Stan’s financial bros over the future of GameStop and, in a way, America’s economy.
‘Mortal Kombat II’ (2026)
CJ Bloomfield, Tati Gabrielle, Adeline Rudolph, Tadanobu Asano, Karl Urban, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Damon Herriman in Mortal Kombat II. Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
2021’s Mortal Kombat didn’t exactly score a flawless victory when it was released in theaters as the COVID-19 pandemic was still in full force. The reboot was more of a tease than a faithful adaptation and seemed more concerned with setting up the inevitable sequel than telling an entertaining story.
With no major movies scheduled for wide release this weekend, streamers like HBO Max and Prime Video have taken full advantage of that programming gap and opted to debut some high-profile films. Thank You! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Enter your email Please enter a valid email. Subscribe By signing up, I agree […]
Five years later, that sequel has finally arrived, and surprisingly, Mortal Kombat II is actually decent because it gives its fanbase what it wants – nonstop battles between some of their favorite characters. There’s a story, too: the evil Shao Khan (Martyn Ford) rules Edenia and stages a Mortal Kombat tournament to determine if he’ll take over the Earthrealm. Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) don’t want that to happen, which is why they try to recruit movie star Johnny Cage (The Boys‘ Karl Urban) to their cause. But Johnny wants nothing to do with their shenanigans and rejects their pleas.
Will Johnny change his mind and join the tournament? Probably! You don’t hire an actor like Karl Urban and have him sit on the sidelines. Mortal Kombat II is nothing more than a series of fights between characters who wield all sorts of weapons and magical powers. It’s a bit sophomoric, but that’s what made the original games in the ‘90s so fun. Urban stands out as the vain Johnny, who finds his purpose in life by beating various ninjas and monsters to a pulp.
Mortal Kombat II is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Dumb Money’ (2023)
Shailene Woodley and Paul Dano in Dumb Money Claire Folger / © Sony Pictures Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
The YouTuber known as Roaring Kitty is onto something. The alias for middle-class financial analyst Keith Gill (Paul Dano), Kitty has been buying up stock for the troubled video game company GameStop for a small amount of money. His followers do the same, which causes the stock to skyrocket in value. This attracts mass media attention, which exposes a hedge fund investment firm’s attempt to short-sell the company’s stock for profit.
Based on real-life events, Dumb Money is a spiritual – if not literal – sequel to 2015’s The Big Short. Like that film, it takes the unsexy topic of stock trading and makes it interesting by putting a human face on it. With an ensemble cast that includes Seth Rogen, Shailene Woodley, Pete Davidson, Sebastian Stan and America Ferrera, the film tells its story using a variety of different viewpoints that encompass the 1 percent and everyone else. The result is a fascinating movie that shows how America’s widening economic gap was briefly overcome by an average dude with a dream and a YouTube channel.
Dumb Money is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Evil Dead II’ (1987)
Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead II. Everett
All Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) wants is to spend some quality time with his girlfriend, Linda (Denise Bixler). He thinks a weekend at an isolated cabin will do the trick, but something unexpected happens: Linda becomes possessed by an evil spirit and attacks Ash. Ash has no choice but to decapitate her with a shovel and bury her in a shallow grave nearby, but that’s just the beginning of a nightmare that seemingly has no end.
HBO Max is the home to a lot of great fictional series like House of the Dragon and Hacks, but it’s also a great platform for true crime shows. That’s especially true in June, when the streamer premiered one of the most talked-about reality shows of 2026. Thank You! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to […]
Evil Dead II shouldn’t work; it’s a virtual remake of the original, 1981’s The Evil Dead, and has a small cast, one location and a relatively simple concept that shouldn’t sustain a full-length feature film. But due to Sam Raimi’s go-for-broke direction and Campbell’s wildly unhinged performance, Evil Dead II works – as a horror movie with all kinds of gore, and as a comedy with moments of unexpected hilarity. When Ash is forced to battle his severed hand, the sequel attains a kind of blissed-out excellence no other horror movie has ever quite matched.
