Three overlooked films to watch on HBO Max: Misery, 65 and Blood Simple

Polygon reports that three lesser-seen films — Misery, 65 and Blood Simple — are currently available on HBO Max. The piece notes Sinners and One Battle After Another are also on the service and were two of the best movies from 2025. Misery, a Stephen King adaptation directed by Rob Reiner, centers on novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) after a car accident leaves him in the care of Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates).

The film contains no supernatural elements and leans on the performances of its two leads; Bates won an Oscar for the role, the only Stephen King adaptation to win an Academy Award. The piece adds that viewers are revisiting Reiner’s work following his recent, tragic death. 65 is set 65 million years ago as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs approaches.

It follows pilot Mills, who crash-lands on Earth with one surviving passenger and must reach an escape shuttle while confronting dinosaurs and period hazards; the film’s 90-minute runtime keeps the action tight. The review highlights both familiar dinosaurs and more obscure creatures like Oviraptor and Nothosaurus, and flags scientific anachronisms such as Nothosaurus belonging to the Triassic and the absence of feathers on some species.

Key Topics

Culture, Misery, Blood Simple, Stephen King, Coen Brothers, Rob Reiner