Happy holidays, everyone! We’re inching toward the finish line of 2023, and we have a whole slew of opinions on the best of everything that’s come out this year. But since the year isn’t exactly over yet, how about we suggest a whole other slew of recommendations to keep you, your family, your in-laws, your friends (the list goes on) entertained during the break? From a biopic by director Bradley Cooper to one from Michael Mann, to new takes on The Color Purple and a beloved YA novel about teenage Greek demigods, and — oh yeah — the “end” of the DCEU, here are our recs for what to watch this joyous Christmas weekend. —Savannah Salazar
Featured Presentations
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Ferrari
Dads, rejoice. Adam Driver plays Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann’s latest film, which follows the automotive icon during a rough patch when he decides to enter his racing team in the 1957 Mille Miglia. Car go vrrrrooooommm! —J.G.
➽ Adam Driver playing an Italian? What is this, House of Gucci?
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American Fiction
Lies are at the heart of American Fiction, a new satire by first-time director Cord Jefferson (Watchmen, Succession) skewering the racism that undergirds the book and entertainment industries. Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, an author who doesn’t write books “Black” enough for mass appeal, according to his editors, until he writes one as a joke that spirals into a national sensation. —Eric Vilas-Boas
➽ It’s good that Westworld died so Jeffrey Wright could be free.
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All of Us Strangers
Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal playing lovers is probably enough of a sell to get a certain sect of fans to watch director Andrew Haigh’s latest. But All of Us Strangers isn’t a light rom-com as much as it is a fascinating drama on love and grief as Scott’s character Adam, a screenwriter, develops a relationship with his neighbor (Mescal) that causes him to rethink his relationship with his deceased parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell). Buckle up for some sad hot guys. —S.S.
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Maestro
At long last, time to cue up Bradley Cooper’s biopic of the conductor Leonard Bernstein, Maestro, which has been highly anticipated since its debut at Venice Film Festival earlier this year. “The focus here is on his marriage to Felicia, his homosexuality, and his conducting, all of which are emotionally intertwined,” our colleague Bilge Ebiri summed up in his review from the festival. All that, yes, and a nose. —E.V.B.
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The Iron Claw
In the swolest Larkinesque family drama of this awards season, Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson star as the oldest brothers of the Von Erich family — a clan of pro wrestlers haunted by a curse and their domineering dad. It’s a true-ish story directed with A24 sheen by Sean Durkin, whose last film The Nest ruled. —E.V.B.
➽ Another stone-cold movie based on a true story, Society of the Snow, is making the rounds in select theaters before it hits Netflix on January 4.
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Anyone But You
This movie should’ve been a summer release, but here we are in December, and, you know what? I’ll still take it. Sydney Sweeney and Top Gun Maverick’s Glen Powell play two people who meet and immediately dislike each other, only to find themselves needing to pretend to be a couple while on a destination wedding in Australia. A classic enemies-to-lovers rom-com, starring two hot people who can’t (or won’t?) convince the world that they’re not actually dating IRL. —J.G.
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The Boys in the Boat
George Clooney’s boating bonanza has launched. Based on the book by Daniel James Brown, the movie covers the life of Joe Rantz, a rower at the University of Washington whose team overcame hardscrabble beginnings to compete at the 1936 Summer Olympics. —E.V.B.
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The Color Purple
Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Colman Domingo star in this latest adaptation of Alice Walker’s book-turned-beloved stage musical. There’s chatter that the movie, which follows a Black woman named Celie as she grows up in the American South, could be a major Oscars contender in an already crowded field this year. —J.G.
➽ That other purple musical, Wonka, is still in theaters.
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Dr. Death season two
Health-care-related fraud is a particular horror. This series, based on a podcast of the same name, focuses on thoracic surgeon Paolo Macchiarini (played by Edgar Ramírez), whose misleading research led to patients’ deaths. Mandy Moore co-stars as a journalist who begins asking questions Paolo can’t adequately answer, and their blurred-lines relationship might lead to some unethical behavior on her part, too. —Roxana Hadadi
Break Out the Nog
Doctor Who Holiday Special: The Church on Ruby Road
The latest Doctor is in. The Church on Ruby Road is the latest of a string of specials this season and the first that puts Ncuti Gatwa (last seen in Barbie and Sex Education) front and center as the Fifteenth Doctor. Early reviews have been kind, praising the chemistry between Gatwa and Millie Gibson, who plays his companion, Ruby Sunday. —E.V.B.
➽ Plus, a ton of festive new holiday movies and TV shows — perfect for taking a break from family time.
Genre Fare
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
You: staring down the barrel of many days without child care. Your kids: so deep down a Roblox/YouTube rabbit hole that they risk becoming one with the algorithm. Consider your TV savior, two episodes of a brand-new Percy Jackson series with a tricked-out cast of character actors in supporting roles, a Greek-mythology bedrock that will be fun the next time you go to the Met, and an author with better politics than that other blockbuster children’s fantasy-series writer. —Kathryn VanArendonk
Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire
There are two types of people: those who hear “Zack Snyder movie based on a rejected Star Wars pitch” and think “not for me,” and those who aren’t lame. Sofia Boutella and Charlie Hunnam star in this Netflix sci-fi epic, which is set up to be the first of a two-parter. —J.G.
➽ Oh, buddy, you better believe there’s slow-mo!
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
It can be hard to remember as superhero fatigue sets in and the DCEU takes its last gasps before James Gunn reboots the whole thing, but the first Aquaman made one billion American dollars. It was a huge hit! The sequel doesn’t seem like it will make as big a splash, but it looks just as colorful and dumb (complimentary). —J.G.
Animation Station
What If …? season two
Both the original comic-book title and the animated adaptation of Marvel’s What If …? imagine the multiversal mayhem that could occur if long-standing character death, clout, or characterization were tossed out the window. Killmonger could be an Avenger, Thanos could win (but, like, for real), and Hulk could … grow a beard? Anyway, it’s back for another nine episodes. —E.V.B.
Migration
The studio behind Minions and The Super Mario Bros. Movie closes out the year with this tale about a family of ducks who try to head South for the winter only to wind up in the Big Apple. Ayy, I’m quackin’ here! —J.G.
By Popular (On) Demand
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
2023 may go down as the year franchises found themselves in a funk, but The Hunger Games seemed to do just fine. It may have helped that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes came out after an eight-year rest, its source material was written by the series’ original author Suzanne Collins, the original crew of The Hunger Games returned, and it had a stellar cast. This is all to say it was pretty good, and also, Ballads lands on top VOD! —S.S.
➽ Saltburn is on Prime Video now, you freaks.
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of December 15.
