Tree species Despite Max’s pivot to purging films and TV shows from its programming library, the platform still has plenty of excellent new releases to check out during this year’s holiday season. Whether you’re into live-action dramas, sci-fi spectacles, or animated epics, the streamer has a little bit of everything to offer. Naturally, we’ve put together a handy list of some of our favorites we think you might get a kick out of.
The Penguin
It sounded like Warner Bros. and DC were having a laugh when they started referring to The Penguin’s central mobster as “Oz Cobb,” as if that has ever been that character’s name. It also seemed odd that the studios were bullish about airing a series spun off from Matt Reeves’ The Batman when all signs have suggested that those characters won’t make it into James Gunn’s new universe of DC films. Somehow, though, The Penguin proved to be a surprisingly compelling return to Gotham as it explored the inner workings of Oz Cobb’s (Colin Farrell) mind and reframed him as a twisted underdog fighting to keep up with fellow crimelord Sofia Gigante (Cristin Milioti).
By largely removing Batman from the equation, The Penguin was able to present its murderous gangsters as people (rather than costumed weirdos) who were really just trying to get by in a city that was all too ready to throw them away. And by the show’s season 1 finale, The Penguin establishes itself as one of the better Batman stories that DC has produced in recent years — one that definitely deserves a second chapter.
Invincible Fight Girl
There’s nothing fun about getting punched in the face, but in Invincible Fight Girl’s world, where everyone is a superpowered professional wrestler, it’s the kind of thing that lights a fire within young brawler Andy (Sydney Mikayla). Even though her parents would rather she live a quiet life of accounting, Andy knows in her heart that she’s a born wrestler who just needs a trainer who can bring out her inner greatness. And while Quesa Poblana (Rolonda Watts) is none too pleased about the idea of taking on a newbie mentee, she, too, can see that Andy has what it takes to become a legend.
The way Invincible Fight Girl borrows elements of classic shonen shows like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Pokémon, and Hajime no Ippo feels like it could almost be too much at first. But the show blends its influences together brilliantly to tell its own unique story and create fight sequences that are cool as hell.
Like Water for Chocolate
By easing up on the magical realism of Laura Esquivel’s novel, Francisco Javier Royo Fernández’s new adaptation of Like Water for Chocolate makes it somewhat easier to appreciate the depth of its central love story set during the Mexican Revolution.
There is still something otherworldly about Tita de la Garza’s (Azul Guaita) ability to channel her emotions into the food she cooks. Tita’s sisters Rosaura (Ana Valeria Becerril) and Gertrudis (Andrea Chaparro) and her forbidden love Pedro Muzquiz (Andrés Baida) can attest to the way her culinary creations leave people overwhelmed as they experience whatever feelings were roiling inside of her. But that detail is really just one small ingredient the new Like Water for Chocolate adaptation uses to enhance its rumination on the ways that class conflict and war have shaped the arc of Tita’s life.
Dune: Prophecy
In Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films, the Bene Gesserit order is so shrouded in mystery that it’s hard to tell whether their strange abilities are rooted in the supernatural. But Dune: Prophecy dives into the Sisterhood’s ancient history to unpack the many ways in which secret science rather than sorcery is what turned them into one of the most influential forces in the entire spice-addicted Imperium.
The show’s exploration of how Valya (Emily Watson / Jessica Barden) and Tula (Olivia Williams / Emma Canning) Harkonnen reestablished their family as one of the galaxy’s Great Houses adds new depth to the Dune franchise’s larger story about the rise of a long-awaited messiah. Through the Harkonnen sisters, Prophecy demystifies some of the legend of the Kwisatz Haderach and reveals how ruthless the fight to control spice has always been. And it makes for an excellent way to get your sandworm fix while we wait for the next Dune feature to premiere.
Creature Commandos
Though James Gunn and Peter Safran are mostly starting over fresh for Warner Bros.’ new cinematic universe of DC films, a tiny portion of the old DCEU is being reborn through the animated Creature Commandos series. After the events of The Suicide Squad and season 1 of Peacemaker, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) can no longer force teams of superhumans to covertly do her bidding under threat of death. But there are no laws forbidding her from recruiting a squad of supernatural monsters like Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao), Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour), the Bride (Indira Varma), and Circe (Anya Chalotra) to go on suicidal missions that Waller would rather the public not know about.
Part of what’s intriguing about the show is the way characters like Waller, Weasel (Sean Gunn, who will also voice G.I. Robot), and Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) will establish a narrative continuity between DC’s old films and many of its upcoming live-action projects. And with Gunn going all in on actors reprising their roles across different mediums, Creature Commandos seems like it might be the start of an era worth tuning in to.
Civil War
Though there’s a certain degree of absurdity to the political details of Alex Garland’s Civil War, its depiction of the United States descending into chaos after a tyrannical president refuses to leave office feels like a haunting vision of a future that isn’t as improbable as we’d hope. As a respected war reporter, Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) feels she has a duty to document the reality of what has become of her country in the time since the president (Nick Offerman) came into power.
Lee’s years of reporting from the front lines of conflicts all over the world have taught her how important it is for people to be able to see how war ruins lives and pushes societies to (if not over) the brink of collapse. But as Lee sets out to secure the interview of a lifetime, she quickly realizes that no amount of reporting has prepared her to see war unfolding in the place she calls home. And with rookie journalist Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) by her side, the only thing that keeps Lee grounded is her hope that she can pass her skills on to the next generation.
I Saw the TV Glow
One doesn’t need to be queer or a Buffy fan to appreciate the neon-drenched strangeness of Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow. But the movie’s story about two lonely teens bonding over a cheesy sci-fi show might hit differently for anyone who grew up in the ’90s feeling like they would be more at home in Sunnydale than living their own humdrum lives.
Even though young outcasts Owen (Justice Smith / Ian Foreman) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) don’t initially have the words to articulate what it is that makes them different from other kids, there’s something about The Pink Opaque that speaks to them both. The teens don’t understand why they feel such a powerful, instinctive kinship to the TV show’s monster-fighting heroines or how the program is influencing the way they see the world. But by the time they’ve both grown up a bit, they can’t shake the feeling that The Pink Opaque has changed something within them — something that might mean everything they’ve been raised to believe is a lie.
Trap
In any other M. Night Shyamalan movie, you would expect the big twist to come closer toward the end in order to leave audiences reeling, but Trap does something much more intriguing with its story about the cops tracking down a famous serial killer. Family man Cooper (Josh Hartnett) prides himself on the way he’s able to keep his double life secret from his loved ones. His daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) and wife Rachel (Alison Pill) have no idea that he has other houses than the one they live in. And they would never guess that he spends much of his free time watching a livestream feed of a man he has tied up in a secret basement.
Cooper seems like exactly the sort of Good Guy™ who would surprise his daughter with a trip to see her favorite singer Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) in concert because that’s what he wants people to see. But what Cooper doesn’t realize is that the concert is an elaborate trap and the centerpiece of one of Shyamalan’s most fun thrillers yet.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
There are only a few choice scenes in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that achieve the kind of horror-comedy brilliance that made Tim Burton’s original 1988 film such a batshit revelation. Those fleeting moments and a pitch-perfect performance from Michael Keaton just manage to make the sequel feel like a film that has something to offer fans beyond nostalgia for the Deetz family and their favorite incorporeal dirtbag.
Years after Lydia Deetz’s (Winona Ryder) first encounter with Beetlejuice (Keaton), she has become the host of a paranormal television show and mother to a sullen teenager of her own. Though Astrid (Jenna Ortega) is certain her mom can’t actually see ghosts, Lydia knows that her eyes aren’t playing tricks on her when she spots Beetlejuice during one of her tapings. And when Lydia’s overbearing boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) tries to prove that she’s just imagining things, his thrice-over utterance of Beetlejuice’s name sends them all straight to the afterlife for an unhinged reunion of sorts that none of them are prepared for.
Joker: Folie à Deux
In the grand scheme of Warner Bros.’ decision to greenlight a gritty, Batman-free Joker film that had nothing to do with its core cinematic universe of DC films, there’s a certain kind of poetry to the way things played out with Todd Phillips’ Folie à Deux. At first blush, the idea of a jukebox musical about the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) falling in love with Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) while they’re both doing time in Arkham Asylum sounded inspired. And you could see how, with the right story, a song-filled take on the iconic criminals might make for an enjoyable change of pace from WB’s previous forays into Gotham.
Between its lackluster songs and middling story, Folie à Deux dropped the ball in terms of doing anything truly inspired or making clear what Phillips has to say about these characters. But the film is so messy and bafflingly inert that it ends up being the kind of train wreck that feels worth seeing for yourself at home — if only out of morbid curiosity.