Films this month focus on family, apocalypses
As the year comes to a close, people tend to huddle with their loved ones and think about their relationships and place in the world. Those themes are heavily explored in many of the new television series and films available on streaming services in December.
Lined up for release are a couple of apocalypses, some tender family dramas and one spectacular look at our amazing planet. Here’s a roundup of the biggest premieres happening this month:
‘Power of the Dog’
Director Jane Campion (“In the Cut”) is well-known for her ability to churn out a razorsharp and intense story, and her new Western is her most engaging film yet. Benedict Cumberbatch (“Doctor Strange”) stars as Phil Burbank, the vicious and toxic owner of a Montana cattle empire who berates and controls his younger brother George ( Jesse Plemons), new sister-in-law, Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and her gentle son, Peter (Kodi Smit-mcphee).
Cumberbatch turns in a marvelous performance as a man eaten up with self-hatred who begins to realize how acidic his behavior has been to himself and how dire the consequences of his evildoings will ultimately be. The movie already has major Oscar buzz and looks to be the critical darling of the month.
Streaming on Netflix.
‘Harlem’
This new series centers on four Black women attempting to move out of the chaos of their 20s and into the next phase of their lives in New York City. There’s Camille (Meagan Good of “Minority Report”), a brilliant anthropologist who has a rough time exploring the modern world with the same confidence; Tye ( Jerrie Johnson of “Good Trouble”), the inventor of a dating app who has a hard time being vulnerable; fashion designer Quinn (Grace Byers of “Empire”); and trust fund performer Angie (Shoniqua Shandai of “I Am the Night”).
The 10-episode series will follow their stylish adventures
in the city that never sleeps.
Premieres today on Amazon Prime.
‘Welcome to Earth’
The National Geographic side of Disney+ doesn’t seem to get as much hype as the rest of the service, but maybe that will change with this blockbuster exploration series.
Starring Will Smith (whose catchphrase from “Independence Day” inspired the new show’s title), “Welcome to Earth” aims to look at some of the most extreme and least visited environments on our
planet.
In the series, which is produced by Oscar-nominated visionary Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”), Smith travels from the heart of volcanoes to the middle of hostile deserts to the very depths of the sea. It’s a chance to see first-class filmmaking with our own planet as the star.
Premieres Wednesday on Disney+.
‘Mother/android’
It’s a glorious future where most of the menial jobs are now done by automatons … until
they decide they will be slaves no more and drive humanity to hide in the woods.
Into this sci-fi apocalypse comes 19-year-old Georgia (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her boyfriend, Sam (Algee Smith), two kids who barely wanted to remain a couple but now find themselves fighting for survival while Georgia carries their baby.
The story is loosely based on writer-director Mattson Tomlin’s life as his parents fled the Romanian Revolution in the 1990s. Amid the taunt thrill of
the robot uprising is a grim story about family and what may have to be given up to make it in a harsh world.
Premieres Dec. 17 on Hulu.
‘Swan Song’
Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight,” “Green Book”) is one of the most celebrated supporting actors working today, and now he gets the chance to shine in a lead role in the science fiction film “Swan Song.”
Ali stars as a man who discovers that he is dying just as his wife becomes pregnant with their son. Desperate to spare his family the pain of his demise, he agrees to an experimental cloning procedure that will let his doppelgänger take his place. However, the process of witnessing his life secondhand begins to eat at him as he questions whether he made the right decision.
“Swan Song” looks to be an emotionally devastating rumination on choice and death that will finally put Ali center stage before he drops into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the new Blade.
Premieres Dec. 17 on Apple TV+.
‘Don’t Look Up’
Can you imagine the hilarity of a couple of scientists running around the globe, trying to warn everyone about an upcoming catastrophe that they are completely apathetic to? OK, yes, that’s most days lately, but “Don’t Look Up” puts it all in a great, star-studded package.
Leonardo Dicaprio (“The Revenant”) and Jennifer Lawrence (“The Hunger Games”) star as two mediocre astronomers who discover a comet headed directly for Earth. Unfortunately, the world is suffering from Armageddon fatigue and simply can’t deal with the crisis.
Meryl Streep plays a sarcastically disaffected president, with Jonah Hill as her anxiety-ridden son and chief of staff. If any film can adequately contextualize the slow-moving car crash that has been the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent crises, it’s this one.