The best movies new to streaming in December

We’re in the final weeks of 2024 and there are still a lot of exciting new releases lurking around the corner for you to enjoy before the end of the year. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, Sonic the Hedgehog 3and Robert Eggers’ Nosferatuare some of the biggest films hitting theaters this month. But what about the movies you can watch from the comfort of your couch?

As usual, we’ve studied this month’s latest movies to bring you the best movies to watch on streaming this December. This month we have Christopher Nolan’s classic neo-noir MementoDenis Villeneuve’s chilling crime thriller SicarioPeter Jackson’s enduring adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy epic, and much more.

Here are the new streaming service movies you should watch this month.

Where to watch: Criterion channel
Genre: Psychological thriller
Director: Christopher Nolan
Form: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano

Before Christopher Nolan made big-budget biopics or some of the most fun and inventive blockbusters ever, he experimented with bizarre little thrillers like Memento. However, the one thing that seems to be consistent across all of his work is that he just can’t seem to make time flow normally.

Because Memento follows the story of a man who has a condition that causes him to struggle with his short-term memory; Nolan plays the entire film in two separate pieces; one set of black and white scenes plays out in chronological order, while the other set of color scenes plays out in reverse, with the entire story coming together at the end to reveal itself to the viewer. It’s almost tedious to describe on paper, but in practice Nolan makes the format feel fun and inventive, constantly finding new ways to introduce details into the film’s mystery and keep us on our toes.

It’s not nearly as polished as Nolan’s later work, but it’s an undeniably fun and fascinating early work from one of the world’s most important filmmakers. —Austen Goslin

Genre: Comedy
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Form: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Emma Roberts

Normally I’m not into comedies. That’s not to say I don’t like to laugh – I love to laugh – but I’m just not someone who thinks, “I could really do a comedy right now” as I sit on the couch and scour Netflix for something to watch. to laugh. watch. That said, I pulled in We are the Millers for the first time and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) stars as David, a low-level cannabis dealer in Denver who is robbed of his entire stash. To pay back his boss, he agrees to transport a shipment of weed from Mexico to the United States. After coming up with the idea to pose as a vacationing family, David recruits his two neighbors and a local runaway as his pretend family. Is it high cinema? No, but it’s highly entertaining to watch this dysfunctional group of misfits stumble from one crisis to the next and grow together over that shared experience. It’s the best Netflix has to offer this week in terms of new movies, and in that regard it’s absolutely fine. —Toussaint Egan

Genre: Romance fantasy
Directors: Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz, David Slade, Bill Condon
Form: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

In recent years, there has been no shortage of praise for Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson’s beautiful performances and films, and every bit of that praise is well deserved. In fact, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to hear someone suggest that the pair are two of the best and most interesting actors working today. What’s perhaps more surprising is this: every bit of the talent that makes them great was also on display in the Twilight films. And if you don’t believe me, then you definitely owe the series a rewatch.

Each film is full of specific, often bizarrely daring acting choices rather than the kind of safe, generic ones that fill the most surefire hit adaptations – like most performances in the Hunger Games or Harry Potter franchises. I’m not saying these films are incredible, or that Pattinson or Stewart’s performances here are among the best of their careers, but they are undeniably interesting. So if you haven’t been to Twilight lately, you should, even if it’s just to appreciate the big break for two of our best young movie stars. —A.G

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Genre: Epic fantasy
Director: Peter Jackson
Form: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom

Are the Lord of the Rings movies Thanksgiving movies, Christmas movies, or New Year’s Eve movies? The answer is of course yes. No matter when you choose to marathon watch Peter Jackson’s era-defining adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s beloved fantasy epic, you’re about to embark on an adventure that will demonstrate the power of film as a medium to inspire, to fascinate and yes, even possibly to embrace. ennoble their audience.

If you’re reading this, a sentence written on a website that dedicated an entire year to writing about The Lord of the Rings, I don’t need to tell you why you should watch The Lord of the Rings. Instead, take this as an excuse that now is the best time to watch Peter Jackson’s classic fantasy, because honestly, as has been proven time and time again in the twenty years since the trilogy ended, there’s never a bad moment to look at it. -AT

Genre: Crime thriller
Director: Dennis Villeneuve
Form: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin

Sicario follows the journey of FBI agent Kate Mercer (Emily Blunt), who is recruited for a quasi-legal joint task force to fight drug cartels by any means necessary. As she becomes more involved in the group’s operations, she encounters increasingly shady people, including a CIA agent who is more than capable of working outside the law (Josh Brolin) and a Colombian assassin (Benicio del Toro), who is one of the most terrifying cold-blooded murderers ever. put on film.

The film is beautifully shot by director Denis Villeneuve and master cinematographer Roger Deakins, who present Kate’s journey into the darkest depths of American foreign affairs as a descent into hell. The film plays every moment of heightened tension and violence into the audience’s ears until it’s all we can hear. One part law enforcement thriller and one part horror film about the overreach of American law enforcement. Sicario is a tightly packed bundle of nerves that feel like they could burst at any moment. —AG