HBO Max continues to kill it in July by adding a steady stream of new movies and TV shows that make the high subscription cost worth it.
Watch With Us can barely keep up, but we’ve selected a few new films you should watch over the weekend.
At the top of the list is Marc by Sofia, a fascinating new documentary about renowned fashion designer Marc Jacobs by Oscar-winning director Sofia Coppola.
If high fashion isn’t your thing, go lowbrow and spend some time with Brendan Fraser and a horde of undead zombies in The Mummy.
School’s out for most people, but we recommend you enroll for two hours and watch Up the Down Staircase, an unjustly neglected film about a new teacher who struggles to connect with her students in an inner-city high school.
‘Marc by Sofia’ (2026)
Marc Jacobs is one of the world’s most successful – and famous – fashion designers, but few know him quite like Sofia Coppola. The Lost in Translation filmmaker first met Jacobs in the early ‘90s, and they’ve been friends for over 30 years. It’s that friendship that takes center stage in the documentary Marc by Sofia, which showcases Jacobs’ evolution as a designer and gives a glimpse into his creative process – and provides insight into Coppola’s as well.
Set primarily during the lead-up to Fashion Week in 2024, Marc by Sofia probes its subject’s early years as an upstart dressmaker at Perry Ellis to his controversial period as Louis Vuitton’s creative director. But the film transcends traditional biography by showing Jacobs putting together his collection and staging his runway show, which is set in a large room with an oversized table and chair.
The result is a fascinating exploration of what makes an artist tick; for Jacobs, it’s memories of hanging out with his grandmother and their shared love for film icon Elizabeth Taylor. For Coppola, it’s Jacobs himself, and this documentary showcases both designer and filmmaking as one-of-a-kind artists who frequently share the same muse – each other.
Marc by Sofia is streaming on HBO Max.
‘The Mummy’ (1999)
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy debuted on HBO Max earlier this month, but those looking for undead thrills should beware – it’s not really a mummy movie. For ancient beings wrapped in gauze, you’re better off watching 1999’s The Mummy, an action-adventure that combines Old Hollywood horror thrills with modern-day (well, for 1999) CGI spectacle.
Brendan Fraser stars as treasure hunter Rick O’Connell, who is hired by brother-sister duo Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and Jonathan (John Hannah) to find an ancient Egyptian artifact. In the process, they unwittingly awaken Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a cursed high priest who was buried alive because of his affair with the Pharaoh’s mistress, Anck-su-namun (Patricia Velásquez). A now supernaturally powerful Imhotep has only one goal – to resurrect Anck-su-namun, and the only way to do that is by sacrificing Evelyn.
The Mummy’s plot is creaky and the effects haven’t aged well, but the film remains giddy fun that evokes memories of ‘80s classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Goonies. Fraser pioneered the snarky action hero long before Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, and he makes Rick an everyman who can’t believe he’s fighting undead mummies in 1920s Egypt. Weisz and Hannah are also good as two English twits who can’t help but be excited by all the danger around them, while Vosloo is appropriately intimidating as a pissed-off Mummy.
The Mummy is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Up the Down Staircase’ (1967)
Sylvia Barrett (Sandy Dennis) is a recent graduate student who is just starting her career as a public high school teacher in New York City. Yet on her first day at Calvin Coolidge High School, she discovers a classroom filled with shattered windows, broken desks and over two dozen unruly teenagers. That sets the stage for an eventful year for Sylvia, who has to contend with a crumbling education system and fellow teachers who don’t seem to care what happens to their students. Sylvia does, especially with the intelligent but delinquent Joe (Jeff Ferone), but can she devote enough time and energy to him – and the rest of her class – to ensure they have some hope for a bright future beyond high school?
Inspirational teacher stories are largely a cliché by now, but Up the Down Staircase is one of the few films to portray the harsh reality of being an inner-city school teacher without resorting to easy sentimentality. Largely shot on location in Harlem, the film looks and sounds authentic, and most of the student extras were actual students. Dennis is superb as a young teacher who is disillusioned by her everyday reality but has enough hope to try to change it, one student at a time.
Up the Down Staircase is streaming on HBO Max.
