Thanksgiving isn’t only about family, food and football. It also can be a great escape from reality, a needed time to just chill out at home and watch a movie, series or short film. To accommodate that rejuvenating mood, here are five recent streaming options. Some will warm your heart; one will add sexy sizzle to your holidays.
“Dear Santa, the Series”: Here’s a way to boost your spirits and make you feel better about today’s crazy world. Palo Alto’s Dana Nachman and her crew continue to follow the 112-year-old United States Postal Service’s Operation Santa program, which presents children’s letters to Santa and enlists elves to deliver gift requests. The award-winning Nachman has a knack for telling inspiring and touching stories, including the heartwarming documentary “Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World,” a Bay Area favorite and worth renting. The five-episode second season of “Dear Santa, the Series,” which recently aired on ABC and comes to Hulu on Nov. 29, features the letter writers, postal workers, children and groups and individuals making kids’ wishes for items from train sets to pet goldfish come true. The heart-melting stories show that there indeed are good people helping bring smiles to children’s faces each holiday season.
“Holidazed”: No one constructs holiday films better than the Hallmark Channel (although Netflix is trying its darndest). Hallmark+’s first Christmas-themed series sticks to a foolproof formula. The eight-episode “Holidazed,” streaming now, is as comforting as a cup of hot tea on an extra-cold night. The “action,” if you could call it that, revolves around six families that live on a very cute cul-de-sac in smalltown Oregon right before Christmas Day. The diverse broods encounter road bumps in the form of a longstanding neighborhood feud, a gay code switch that goes haywire, one “mom’s” hunky, younger new boyfriend, and so on. As is the Hallmark norm, the bothersome predicaments are resolved in the end, with plentiful saccharine tossed in. Actors in the veteran cast, including Virgina Madsen, Loretta Devine and Dennis Haysbert, are good company, too.
“An Almost Christmas Story”: This bittersweet 20-minute animated Disney+ stop-motion beauty from David Lowery, director of “The Green Knight” and “Pete’s Dragon,” gives credence to the adage that good things come in small packages. It’s about a mischievous little owl named Moon that inadvertently destroys his family nest and gets carted off in a tree bound for Rockefeller Center. Lost and uncertain, he runs afoul of bossy pigeons (are there any other kind?) and chums around with a lonely, also lost, girl named Luna. The animation style of “An Almost Christmas Story” has a “Pinocchio” vibe, echoing but not mimicking Guillermo del Toro’s 2022 take on the Carlo Collodi classic. This classy potential Oscar nominee boasts top talent, including a producing credit from Alfonso Cuarón, whose provocative Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer” is proving divisive (I loved it). “An Almost Christmas Story’s” distinctive vocal cast features Natasha Lyonne, John C. Reilly, Jim Gaffigan and an outstanding newcomer, youngster Estella Madrigal, as Luna. I’d watch this one every year.
“Thelma”: For a mood adjuster that won’t cost much, rent this 2024 movie, an upbeat charmer starring the inimitable June Squibb. The 95-year-old acting treasure deserves to be in the Oscar conversation for her performance as a vengeance-seeking Los Angeles victim of a phishing scam. Inspired by Tom Cruise, Thelma gets her “Mission: Impossible” game on and even recruits an old pal (late Richard Roundtree of “Shaft” in one of his final roles) so she can collar the jerks who hoodwinked into thinking her endearing but clueless grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) was in grave danger. “Thelma” is guaranteed to make you smile and wash away your cares for about 90 minutes. Writer-director Josh Margolin hands the film over to Squibb; what a smart move that turned out to be. (On Amazon Prime, AppleTV+, Hulu)
“My Old Ass”: Need a good laugh and a good cry? You can do no wrong with Megan Park’s sparkler of a dramedy that’s hilarious and surprisingly profound. Aubrey Plaza is terrific, but Maisy Stella as 18-year-old Elliott is the main star. The premise of a peppy 18-year-old reckoning with her grumpy 39-year-old self might sound like another age-swapping comedy with predictable yuks and sentiments, but Park’s film is much more. Watching Elliott, who must make a tough decision about a gangly cute guy (Percy Hynes White) she meets the summer before she goes off to college, had me blubbering by the movie’s end. And though I’m tearing up just thinking about it again, “My Old Ass” isn’t depressing; it reminds us to cherish what we have. (On Amazon Prime)
“Rivals”: If you’re in the mood for something frisky, frothy and addictive, uncork Hulu’s bubbly eight-parter based on a sassy series of novels from British author Jilly Cooper. But be prepared for something naughty rather than nice. In this 1980s-set adult romp, the life of Lothario-like former Olympian Rupert Campbell-Black (a steamy hot and very funny Alex Hassell) overlaps with the family of brassy, rising-star TV host Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) and the cunning head of a new indie TV station, Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant). Add in neighbors, an amorous stagnated actress, a daughter who catches the eye and maybe the heart of Campbell-Black and a super-efficient producer in a compromised relationship and you have all the fixings for a soapy, in-your-face comedy-drama that doesn’t take itself seriously and entertains the heck out of you. (On Hulu and Disney+)
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