It’s the end of the year, the holidays are here and that means you may need some options for streaming movies and TV to watch with or without family and friends. If you’ve already exhausted all the Lifetime, Hallmark and other seasonal movies, here are some other options to queue up for whatever mood you might find yourself in.
Arriving on all digital platforms Tuesday is one of the most lauded feature directorial debuts of the year, Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun.” Paul Mescal of “Normal People” (streaming on Hulu) and the excellent “God’s Creatures” (on all digital platforms to rent), stars as a young single dad on vacation in Turkey in the early ‘90s with his 11-year-old daughter (Frankie Corio). The film is a cinematic memoir in which Wells utilizes the medium of film and video to extrapolate and interrogate the fleeting memories of her father. Mescal delivers one of the very best performances of the year in this restrained and gentle film that slices so gently you don’t even realized you’ve been cracked open until it’s over. Rent it on all platforms Dec. 20.
For something a whole lot lighter and frothier, the inexplicably addictive Netflix series “Emily in Paris” returns for its third season Wednesday. The highly bingeable treat starring Lily Collins and Lucas Bravo is the ideal silly escape to France. Will fashion influencer Emily choose hunky chef Gabriel or naughty Brit Alfie? This is the kind of low-stakes drama the holiday season needs. Stream it on Netflix Dec. 21.
For something that will delight the whole family, hit play on Rian Johnson’s latest whodunit, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” the Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery that’s a follow-up to his 2019 ensemble “Knives Out.” “Glass Onion” features detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) traveling to Greece with an eclectic group of friends to a tech billionaire’s compound for a weekend away. The film co-stars Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Bautista and an excellent Janelle Monae. Stream it on Netflix Dec. 23.
Another Thanksgiving theatrical title will be available to stream Friday: animated Disney film “Strange World” will be on Disney+ and other digital platforms. The family adventure features the voices of Gabrielle Union, Jaboukie Young-White and Jake Gyllenhaal.
For the after-Christmas, pre-New Year’s streaming, check out “White Noise” on Netflix, streaming Dec. 30. Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel stars Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig as a married couple and parents to four kids surviving apocalyptic events in their small Ohio town in the 1980s. It’s a strange, amusing film with existential struggles swirling around the fear of death and the desire to find love and connection. It’s the kind of bold, daring, auteur-driven filmmaking that Netflix has supported over the past few years (see also Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” now streaming on the platform), though it does feels like Netflix’s blank check era may be coming to a close. Enjoy it while it lasts!
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(Katie Walsh is the Tribune News Service film critic and co-host of the "Miami Nice" podcast.)
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