It’s DEZEMBA! When you want to take a break from the endless partying though, you can also stream the likes of Xmas comedy Candy Cane Lane, local murder mystery Trompoppie, blockbuster Fast X, or more!
SERIES
Sweet Home S2
1 December 2023 – Netflix
When South Korean webtoon-turned-live-action-series Sweet Home debuted in 2020, it came screaming out the gates like a… well a monster out of hell, to become the first series from the region to debut in Netflix’s Top 10 in the US. Unfortunately, it’s tale about a suicidal high schooler caught up in a mysterious apocalypse in which he gains monstrous powers, lost a lot of steam and devolved into genre cliches by the end of its first season. However, there was still a lot of potential there, which the much-anticipated second season will now be realizing!
My Life with the Walter Boys S1
7 December 2023 – Netflix
Let’s not mince words here. Coming from some of the same people behind The Kissing Booth and even boasting similar plot beats, you know exactly what to expect from coming-of-age love-triangle romantic drama My Life with the Walter Boys. And so, before you’ve barely made it through the trailer above, you probably already know whether this is a series for you or not. For me, it definitely is not, but I know a lot you love these soppy teen dramas so here’s your next fix.
Trompoppie S1
7 December 2023 – Showmax
Batons! Music! Murder! Usually when people speak about the cut-throat world of elite high school drum majorettes, there aren’t actually any throats at risk of being cut. Unfortunately for Luna and the rest of the talented kids at the prestigious and very expensive high school she’s just joined – all thanks to a bursary as she could never afford it – the threat of a gruesome death turns very real after a hazing ritual goes very wrong and bodies start turning up, threatening to rip apart a seemingly picture-perfect community.
MOVIES
Candy Cane Lane
1 December 2023 – Prime Video
The first of what is sure to be many, many high-profile Christmas movies hitting streaming services over the next few weeks, Candy Cane Lane sees funnyman Eddie Murphy as Chris Carver, a competitive family man determined to win his neighbourhood’s Christmas home decorations contest. However, when his competitiveness leads him into ignorantly making a deal with a mischievous elf, Chris gets a whole lot more Christmas magic than he expected as decorations come to life, mayhem descends on his small town, and Chris and his family are forced to try and put it all right again.
The Naughty Nine
1 December 2023 – Disney+
If you’re looking for less Christmas lark and more Christmas larceny, well then I have just the movie for you and your kids. The Naughty Nine is a heist movie with a difference, following fifth-grade troublemaker Andy, who wakes up on Christmas morning to find that he hasn’t made Santa’s moral cut for getting a gift. Upset at being stiffed, Andy assembles a team of eight other Naughty List offenders who were similarly slighted – unfairly, according to these rabblerousers – to pull off an elaborate heist in the North Pole, robbing ol’ Saint Nick of the gifts they feel they deserved!
The Shepherd
1 December 2023 – Disney+
I spent most of my teenage years buried in books written by Frederick Forsyth. However, I had much more of a predilection for the master author’s espionage thrillers like Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, and The Fist of God, and thus never actually read his 1975 novella The Shepherd (written as a festive gift to his first wife Carrie) which became a schooling curriculum staple and frequent Christmas radio play in the decades since in Canada, the UK, and more. Now I get to finally experience this much-beloved tale though thanks to a new Disney+ short film adaptation (only 38 mins long), telling the story of a young RAF pilot, finally granted leave to fly home to his love on Christmas Eve, 1957, whose aircraft suddenly suffers a complete electric failure over the North Sea, leaving him with low fuel and barely a chance of survival. But just when things look the most dire, a mysterious good Samaritan shows up in the sky, offering to guide him home.
Fast X
4 December 2023 – Showmax
GRRRR! VROOOOM! FAMILY! CARS! CORONA BEER! VIN DIESEL! EXPLOSIONS! MORE FAMILY! JASON MOMOA! VROOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM! CHARLIZE THERON! NO GRAVITY! JOHN CENA! FAMILY AGAIN! GROWL! PUNCHES! DRAMA! FAMILIA!
The Amazing Maurice
7 December 2023 – Showmax
And if you’re looking for something less cartoonish and fantastical than a Fast & Furious movie, then how about an animated movie about a street-smart talking cat who, accompanied by a gang of rats and his pied-piper human friend Keith, travels across the countryside staging elaborate rat plague hoaxes in order to rob unsuspecting villages? Boasting a star-studded voice cast that includes Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clark, Himesh Patel, Gemma Arterton and more, The Amazing Maurice is an adaptation of the 2001 novel The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by the late, great Terry Pratchett, and something for the whole family to enjoy!