Culture Crash: What’s New To Watch On HBO Max And Amazon Prime

While going to the theaters to soak in a movie is my preferred method of checking out new releases, this month saw the release of a couple of direct-to-streaming titles that were absolutely worthy of clearing out an evening to seek out.

First, Max released Turtles All The Way Down, an adaptation of the young adult novel of the same name by author John Green. You probably know Green’s other big titles, The Fault in Our Stars and Looking For Alaska, but Turtles All The Way Down is a wonderful addition to the Green Adaptation canon. ‘Turtles’ tells the story of Aza, a high schooler with obsessive compulsive disorder who is grappling with a budding romance and navigating her intense relationships with her best friend and her mother, all of which are complicated by her OCD. While the story itself isn’t necessarily anything groundbreaking, what really makes Turtles All the Way Down a worthwhile watch is its expert depiction of OCD and intrusive thoughts. Because Green himself has lived with OCD for most of his life, the novel and the film alike go to great lengths to not over simplify or valorize the condition, and Aza’s story is made all the richer for its nuanced portrayal of her mind.

Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video released a hotly anticipated new movie called The Idea of You starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galatzine. Also based on a book, The Idea of You is about an older woman falling in love with a young boy band superstar. The film is a lot of bit rom and a little bit com, but what I found really compelling was the perfectly calibrated casting. While Galatzine’s character Hayes is a world-renowned superstar and Hathaway’s Solene is an unknown in the reality of the movie, for most viewers at home, the opposite will be true, as Hathaway has been famous for decades and Galatzine is a younger up and comer. As a result, even as the movie’s characters sometimes struggle to understand Hayes’ attraction to Solene, viewers at home will have no problem understanding why a 24 year old pop star would want to date Anne Hathaway. In the end, The Idea of You is a bit of escapist fun that is immediately rewatchable in the streaming movie landscape.

Turtles All the Way Down is now on Max, while The Idea of You is streaming on Prime Video. I found a lot to love in both.