The Midnight Sky follows Augustine, a scientist with a dumb girl by his side in the post-apocalyptic arctic, and his journey to contact a group of astronauts returning to the decimated Earth. Directed and starring George Clooney, as well as Felciity Jones and Caoilinn Springall, The midnight sky it crosses the loneliest spaces for man – space and frozen land – and what life means for those who inhabit them. (Available in Netflix.)
Talented jazz musician and high school band teacher Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) learns what it really means to have a soul when you find yourself in another realm after a near-death experience. Trapped in a coma, Joe’s ghostly “soul” ends in what they call The Great Before, a place where souls take on a personality before going to their bodies on Earth. There, he meets 22 (voiced by Tina Fey), who is reluctant to start a life beyond the Great Before. While Joe looks for a way to get home, he also teaches 22 the joys and the value of living. (Available in Disney + December 25th.)
Gal Gadot returns as Wonder Woman, who now lives among mortals in 1984 and remains discreet. Working as a curator of ancient artifacts, she returned to action not only to face Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), but also The Cheetah (Kristen Wiig), Diana’s former friend who became an enemy. (Available in HBO Max on December 25)
Arianadores, get up and force your whole family to attend the Ariana Grande movie concert excuse me i love you. Instead of matching holiday blouses, try on large sweatshirts, long boots and high ponytails for the perfect festive outfit. While you’re at it, open a bottle of champagne in celebration of the pop star’s engagement and blow up his Christmas, Christmas and Relaxation EP. Yuh. (Available in Netflix.)
The hand-drawn animation brings medieval magic to life in Wolfwalkers, which tells the story of Robyn, the daughter of a revered wolf hunter. When tasked with helping him eliminate the last flock in the interior of Ireland, she meets Mebh, a wild child with a deep connection to the wolves. Robyn soon discovers his own destiny within the pack and the two begin to save themselves and their families, new and old. (Available in Apple TV +.)
In the hot New York summer of 1957, Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha) and Sylvie (Tess Thompson) spend the season working together at Sylvie’s father’s record store, quickly falling in love. Years after their dreams of music and television took them to separate paths, the two paths crossed, unable to shake feelings for each other. (Available in Main Video.)
What else should a group of Broadway stars do, other than travel to a small town in Indiana to save the dance of a girl facing homophobia? Starring James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Andrew Rannells as the group in question, The prom follow our stars as they try to teach the Midwest a thing or two about acceptance, love and a good number of musical dances. Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story, Pose) gave us many projects to reflect on this year (911: Lone Star, Hollywood, Boys in the Band, Ratched), but he just gave us a rap by Meryl Streep about Michelle Obama. (Available in Netflix.)
America’s Paddington, also known as Lucas Hedges, plays Tyler Hughes, the nephew of the famous writer Alice Hughes (Meryl Streep), in Let everyone talk, in which he must fight with her and her two friends on a trip where she should be finishing her next book. Their literary agent (Gemma Chan) joins them on the trip to keep track of Hughes’ manuscript and, along the way, gets closer and closer to Tyler. (Available in HBO Max.)
David Fincher offers another view of 1930s Hollywood and all the social and economic forces working on it through the lens of alcoholic screenwriter and gambler Herman Mankiewicz, nicknamed Mank, while working to finish writing Citizen Kane. Starring Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried and Lily Collins, Mank introduces the audience to one of the minds behind the film classic. (Available in Netflix.)
In the aftermath of her husband’s last criminal transgression, Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) must flee with a baby in the drama set in the 1970s I am your wife. With the help of a man named Cal and his family, she learns how to navigate her husband’s mess alive. (Available in Main Video.)
Viola Davis personifies Ma Rainey, one of the first professional black blues singers, in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Considered the “Mother of the Blues”, the film follows her career as a musician, dealing with the management of whites and her ambitious horn player, played by the late Chadwick Boseman. (Available in Netflix.)
Nora Ephron knew how to write a romantic comedy tucked away on holidays. Sleepless in SeattleMeg Ryan’s story begins on Christmas Eve, with Meg Ryan’s character, Annie Reed, engaged and on her way to her fiance’s family party. When listening to the radio on the way, however, she finds herself in tears listening to Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) talking about his wife, who died the year before. From there, fate works even harder than Jonah, Sam’s 8-year-old son, to put them together. (Available in Main Video.)
For all that is sacred, clean your eyes from the horror that has been The Grinch Musical Live by Dr. Suess! (which is still available for streaming) and dive back into the original (and better) live action version How Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), starring Jim Carrey and Taylor Momsen. There’s Jeffrey Tambor playing the mayor of evil, Christine Baranksi sounding at the Christmas kill, and no Matthew Morrison in sight. (Available in Netflix.)
In the most mischievous of almost Christmas movies, horror and comedy find harmony in the adorable-until-destroy-your-city Gremlins. The scene in which the transformed monsters sit in a cinema singing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Christmas Eve, reveling in its own destruction? Comic genius. (Available in Main Video.)
One of the biggest names in Nancy Meyers’s cinematic universe, The holiday stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, two unhappy women who decide to change their homes for the Christmas holiday. He has a dream boat, Jude Law, Cameron Diaz running through the snow in high heels and a hot (hot?) Jack Black. (Available in Freeform.)
Think of it as the heterosexual predecessor of the year Happiest Season, but if Kristen Stewart’s character ended up running away with Aubrey Plaza’s. (Available in HBO Max.)