A hop, skip and Megalopolis later, we're facing the end of another year with all the trimmings and festivities. Alongside the last-minute shopping, copious amounts of food and family bickering, the chilly days and frosty nights demand hours spent rotting on the couch.
This year, the streaming holiday offerings are banging. Keira Knightley brings us a spy thriller for the "Die Hard is a holiday movie" apologists among us, the children of Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese feature in a family Christmas indie, while Lacey Chabert and Lindsay Lohan offer up Hallmark-like rom-coms.
Wishing everyone a fantastic holiday season and a happy new year filled with happiness, good health and, just as importantly, great movies and shows!
Be sure to read our past editions of Tune In or Turn Off here for more streaming hits and misses.
Tune In: Black Doves
(Netflix)
For too long, Keira Knightley was pigeonholed as a Victorian-era beauty, and while we fell in love with her in those iconic roles, her badass spy era is something to behold. A thrilling espionage series with all the British dry wit Ben Whishaw can muster, Black Doves is an excellent option for those wanting a Christmas-but-not watch, and even for those who don't.
Tune In: Christmas Eve in Miller's Point
(MUBI)
The most indie take on a Christmas film I've seen in a long while, Christmas Eve in Miller's Point brings an off-kilter sensibility to the annual pilgrimage home for festive eats and gift giving. Come for the ensemble that includes Francesca Scorsese and Sawyer Spielberg, the daughter and son of two of cinema's most revered directors, but grab a plate and stay a while for the charm and banter a Long Island, Italian-American, multi-generational dinner brings.
Turn Off: Dear Santa
(Prime Video)
Absolutely infuriating in its ability to completely waste an incredibly comical premise, Dear Santa is void of comedic value. A Farrelly brother effort seeing Bobby in the director's chair and Peter as a screenwriter along with Ricky Blitt and Jack Black, Dear Santa follows a dyslexic preteen who accidentally summons Satan when writing a letter to Santa. Black clearly enjoys relishing in the Satan/Santa confusion, but he's the only one. Neither a movie for kids nor one for a more Farrelly-appropriate demographic, Dear Santa has us wishing for some laughs.
Tune In: Hot Frosty
(Netflix)
Filmed in Brockville and Ottawa (and featured in "Netflix in Your Neighbourhood"), Hot Frosty proves that Netflix can actually do Hallmark holiday movies well — who knew! Poaching the Hallmark queen herself, Lacey Chabert leads the film as a widowed cafe owner in small-town New York who brings a muscly snowman to life with a jauntily placed scarf. The key to Hot Frosty's success is its self-awareness as a broad, goofy holiday delight — the perfect film to chill out with as we're nursing the inevitable food baby.
Turn Off: Nutcrackers
(Disney+)
Breaking from his attempts at reviving beloved horror franchises, David Gordon Green takes a crack at the feel-good holiday tradition. Unfortunately for Green (and us), Nutcrackers is more The Exorcist: Believer than Halloween — that is, clichéd, messy and all-around forgettable. Ben Stiller does his best with the material and he prevents the film from becoming completely unbearable, but there are far better ways to spend the winter days.
Turn Off: Our Little Secret
(Netflix)
Lindsay Lohan made her return to acting with a Netflix contract andm so far, the rom-com formula has worked in her favour with 2022's Falling for Christmas and this year's Irish Wish. Unfortunately, third time isn't the charm in this contrived and bland romantic Christmas movie. Regardless, we're all still here for LiLo's renaissance and anxiously anticipating the return of the freakier Anna Coleman.
Tune In: The Sticky
(Prime Video)
More "snowy season" than "festive season," The Sticky still makes for highly entertaining hibernation viewing. Loosely based on the true events of the Great Maple Syrup Heist of 2011, the fabulous Margot Martindale leads Chris Diamantopoulos and Guillaume Cyr in pulling off the most Canadian of Canadian heists. Superbly French Canadian in every way possible, The Sticky does everything I want a dark comedy and a Canadian comedy to do. Eccentric and just peculiar enough, The Sticky's a delectable series to tap into.