Only a handful of movies have reached 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and even Taxi Driver has fallen short of that mark.
Taxi Driver is one of the new films on HBO Max this month, but it’s not one of the few that hit that fabled score on RT.
Truthfully, HBO Max only has three this month because two of them are critically acclaimed A24 films, both of which feature Oscar Isaac.
You can find those films among Watch With Us‘ roundup of three new HBO Max movies with at least 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘A Most Violent Year’ (2015)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90 percent
A Most Violent Year is the first Oscar Isaac film on this month’s list that cracked the 90 percent mark on Rotten Tomatoes. This film is set in the early 1980s, with Isaac starring as Abel Morales, an oil businessman whose life is under siege. That’s not an euphemism, because rivals are hijacking Abel’s trucks and a crusading district attorney named Lawrence (David Oyelowo) is putting his activities under the microscope in the hope of finding any illegal activity.
Abel’s wife, Anna Morales (Jessica Chastain), recognizes the crisis for what it is and urges him to fight fire with fire. But if Abel answers the escalating violence with his own attacks, it may make things even worse and destroy his dream of achieving legitimate power in the business world.
A Most Violent Year is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Ex Machina’ (2015)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92 percent
Isaac’s second movie in this roundup is Ex Machina, in which he plays billionaire Nathan Bateman, the CEO of a tech company called Blue Book. Nathan has created something extraordinary in Ava (Alicia Vikander), an android whose artificial mind is so advanced that she’s passed almost every test to determine her level of sentience and humanity.
Domhnall Gleeson plays Caleb Smith, a lowly programmer at Blue Book who finds himself unexpectedly drawn to Ava. Nathan wants Caleb to determine if Ava is truly more than her programming and whether he can emotionally relate to her despite knowing who and what she is. No one asked Ava what she wanted, and she’s got her own ideas about what her life is supposed to be. Nathan may have created the ultimate AI, but he’s a fool if he thinks that he can control her forever. Caleb’s walked into a battle of wills, and there can be only one winner.
Ex Machina is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Fargo’ (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95 percent
The 30th anniversary of Fargo is just two months away, and its legacy as one of the greatest movies of the ’90s is secure even if it didn’t win the Best Picture award at the Oscars. Frances McDormand, however, did take home the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Marge Gunderson. Joel and Ethan Coen also won for Best Original Screenplay.
This crime comedy was groundbreaking for its day, and it arguably changed the perception of what an indie film could be. McDormand’s character felt like a revelation as well, as the unassuming sheriff of a small town found herself investigating a kidnapping gone wrong. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) didn’t actually want his wife, Jean (Kristin Rudrüd), to be harmed. He just picked the wrong criminal partners, Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) and Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi), both of whom leave violence and bodies in their wake. It’s up to Marge to sort out this mess and bring any survivors to justice.
Fargo is streaming on HBO Max.
