What I love most about HBO Max is that even though I’ve been watching its shows and movies for more than 25 years, when I start digging back into its library, I’m amazed to uncover things I’ve never heard of or had nearly forgotten about. Of course, it also continues to crank out excellent new shows, but the breadth of options it provides is still impressive.
Speaking of impressive (see what I did there?), for this weekend’s binge-watch, I’ve got three doozies for you—monster waves, silly music, and John Cena. Let’s go.
Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara is a legend of the sport. Not only has he ridden the biggest swells the planet has to offer, but perhaps most significantly, he is the pioneer who turned the surfing world’s attention to the tiny Portugal town of Nazaré, home of the biggest surfable waves in the world.
The HBO Max docuseries 100 Foot Wave chronicles McNamara’s obsessive quest. From being the first surfer to conquer Nazaré’s freakishly large waves in 2011 to putting the quiet coastal fishing town on the big-wave surfing map and drawing the sport’s elites to its waters, the series centers around McNamara, his resilient and supportive wife, and their chosen family made up of the greatest big-wave surfers ever to ride.
If you’re like me and could watch surfing videos all day long, 100 Foot Wave‘s gobsmacking photography and aerial footage will just blow you away. I’m not gonna lie—it’s a nailbiter, as you watch surfing elites like McNamara, Kai Lenny, Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca, Justine DuPont, and more push themselves to the limits as the unforgiving Nazaré waves punish and reward them—none more than McNamara himself, however. Over the course of the show’s three seasons, the series’ drama shifts focus to the injury-ravaged Garrett as he ages and comes to terms with the fact that he may never realize his dream of riding the 100-foot wave.
2
Flight of the Conchords
If you didn’t catch an earlier weekend roundup of mine where I swooned over comedy-band pioneers Tenacious D, then consider this another love letter to a close second, Flight of the Conchords.
Created and written by then-unknown comedic actor/musicians Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows) and Brett McKenzie (The Muppets), Flight of the Conchords aired on HBO from 2007 to 2009, and follows fictionalized versions of the pair as their titular two-man novelty band struggles to make it in New York City. It’s a hilarious fish-out-of-water tale as the New Zealanders, and their well-meaning but moronic manager Murray (Rhys Darby), get themselves into all kinds of misadventures, weird romances, and failed gigs.
Of course, the best part of the show is that their bizarre trials and tribulations are all dramatized through the duo’s insanely hilarious original music that parody’s everything from hip-hop (Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros) and Pet Shop Boys’ West End Girls (Inner City Pressure) to the brilliant electro-folk number The Humans Are Dead, a song about a post-apocalyptic world where robots rise up.
Kristen Schaal (The Last Man on Earth) also features in the show as Mel, the band’s weirdo superfan (and only fan, really). Flight of the Conchords is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen on HBO, with short, half-hour episodes that are easily bingeable. I also highly recommend checking out the band’s self-titled album, which features many of the songs from the show, polished up and recorded.
3
Peacemaker
OK, now that Peacemaker‘s second season is all wrapped up on HBO Max, if you have yet to dig into James Gunn’s epically-cheesy Suicide Squad spinoff, now is the perfect time to binge the whole weird and wonderful DC series.
John Cena is brilliant as the painfully self-aware, narcissistic, and violent antihero Peacemaker, who, after nearly dying in Suicide Squad, is released from prison and joins up with a black-ops team run by the secretive government agency A.R.G.U.S. The ragtag team, which consists of A.R.G.U.S. agents Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), John Economos (Steve Agee), and Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), as well as cheerful killer Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), are brought together to stop a global network of alien parasites known as “Butterfliles” that have been taking over the minds and bodies of world leaders.
But never mind all that. You’re going to love Peacemaker for several reasons: It has probably the best opening theme song-and-dance sequence of any show ever; its soundtrack is made up of incredible ’80s metal; the fight scenes are excellently choreographed and full of over-the-top blood and comedy gore; and last but not least, Peacemaker’s awesome pet Bald Eagle, Eagaly.
Peacemaker
- Release Date
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January 13, 2022
- Network
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HBO Max, Max
- Showrunner
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James Gunn
HBO Max is home to all kinds of series and movies that have been a cut above the rest for decades. And while the service does still maintain those high standards today, I’m still impressed by its deep well of older, classic titles, many of which I have somehow never heard of—which is always a nice surprise.
- Subscription with ads
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Yes, $10/month
- Simultaneous streams
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2 or 4
