Screens

Where: Netflix
What: Movie, 129 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Drama
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Great performances from Bradley Cooper and Carry Mulligan in a surprisingly narrow telling of the life and times of legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. Cooper directed and co-wrote the film, which focuses almost exclusively on the challenging relationship between Bernstein (Cooper) and his performer wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). If you’re looking for the big biopic that features the couple’s Black Panther dinner, inside looks at his television specials and more, this isn’t it. Instead, we get a tortured couple that endures Bernstein’s same-sex relationships as the couple navigates life in the spotlight. Features great art direction that powerfully captures the decades of their lives.

Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 105 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Drama
Rating: NNNNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Powerful film shows how easily even holocaust horrors can be normalized by the oppressors. A German family’s everyday lives carry on just steps from the horrors of Auschwitz, which is run by the family’s father. A certain contender for Best Picture. Read the full review.

Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 130 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Drama
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Masterfully tells the fact-based story of a wrestling family plagued by “a curse” as inseparable brothers navigate a corrosive father and showbiz wrestling world. Great performances from Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White as two of the Von Erich brothers who battled for supremacy atop the hooky but brutal and demanding world of ’80s wrestling. Read the full review.

Where: In theatres
What: 3D Movie, 93 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Documentary
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Not a traditional documentary but one that takes you inside the process and artwork of sometimes controversial German visual artist Anselm Kiefer. The 3D helps create an immersive experience of Kiefer’s bleak but beautiful artwork that leaves viewers eager to explore the artist himself — with answers subtly supplied. Read the full review.

Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 102 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Documentary
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: See the musicians behind most of the white, mostly L.A.-based, soft-rock hits from the ’70s, including the Sweet Baby James and Tapestry albums. Made by the same director as The Wrecking Crew, a ’60s group of underacknowledged musicians, Immediate Family lacks the dramatic tension of the earlier film because this story is a happy one. The musicians were well treated, which makes for a great life but somewhat dull filmmaking. Read the full review.

Where: Apple TV+
What: Movie, 118 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Drama
Rating: NN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Mark Wahlberg plays a family man with a secret in a disappointing release from Apple TV+. It’s a film that’s significantly below the usual high standard of the original programming on this streamer. Car salesman dad Dan Morgan (Wahlberg) is forced to face his secret past as an assassin in an almost laugh-free film that is going, unsuccessfully, for a comic caper-flick vibe. It’s poorly acted with a cliché-riddled script and characters that routinely make really silly choices. Not the holiday season fluff and fun we were looking for.

Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 141 min.
When: Now
Genre: Drama
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Provocateur Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest film is a lush but ultimately simplistic reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It casts the “monster” as a horny woman with childlike impulses expertly played by Emma Stone. Read the full review.

Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 130 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Drama
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Fresh from his Gucci role, Adam Driver continues to mangle an Italian accent as the titular car manufacturer while Penelope Cruz provides the film’s strongest performance as Ferrari’s tough-as-nails wife and business partner. Features gorgeous and gut-churning racing scenes that show up too late in an otherwise disappointing film. Read the full review.

Where: Crave
What: Series, 8 episodes, 44 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Dramedy
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Sitcom king Chuck Lorre’s fingerprints are on his latest series but comedian Sebastian Maniscalco in the lead role keeps Bookie from descending into the producer’s trademark schlock. Danny (Maniscalco) is a bookie determined to head off California’s imminent legalization of sports betting with the help of ex-NFLer Ray (Omar J. Dorsey). Mishaps, broken bodies and near-disasters pile up with deadpan comedy as the ever-earnest and perplexed Danny tries to do the right thing. We’d watch anything with Maniscalco, and Dorsey is a great sidekick.

Where: Netflix
What: Movie, 117 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Dramedy
Rating: NNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: Strong performances power auteur director Todd Haynes’s latest. Actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) is researching her role as headline-grabbing schoolteacher Gracie (Julianne Moore), who was convicted of seducing her student Joe Yoo (Charles Melton) — whom she later marries — by hanging out with the principals. Moore is icy and disturbing as she tries, unsuccessfully, to control what she reveals about herself to the actor. Tension is ever present as we grow to fear what the actor’s inquiry might uncover. It’s not exactly enjoyable viewing but unleashes (slow-motion) car-crash curiosity.

Where: AppleTV+
What: Series, Season 3, 6 episodes, 44 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Drama
Rating: NNNNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch:  One of AppleTV+’s best series is just wrapping up an excellent third season. It sees Gary Oldman lead a stellar cast of Security Service (a.k.a. MI5) rejects exiled to Slough House, a decrepit office in which these “slow horses” are kept busy. Turns out the rejects, led by foul-mouthed, foul-smelling Jackson Lamb (Oldman) may be more trustworthy than the “legit” spies icily led by Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas). If you’re new to the series, start with Season 1; the characters evolve and there are some relevant narrative details. Regular viewers will not be disappointed by this latest season, perhaps the most thrilling and complex yet. Binge away over the holidays.

Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 117 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Dramady
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: A comic look at well-intentioned white wokeness as a struggling author, told his new work isn’t “Black enough,” pens a cliche-riddled “urban” novel as a prank only to see it become a bestseller. One of the year’s best films. Read the full review.