What to watch on Netflix in December

The surfeit of streaming options today can often overwhelm those looking to settle in front of the TV for an evening, from the casual viewer to the aficionado of the arthouse. So, with time being precious, after all, especially in an age in which attention spans are being buffeted by the day, we’ve done the bulk of the research for you by focusing specifically on Netflix and creating a tightly considered selection of the best films, series and documentaries that will be added to the platform in the month ahead…

Six-part spy thriller in which Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw star as an assassin-spy duo. To keep things festive, à la Die Hard, it’s all set to the backdrop of London during Christmas.

In this stand-up special, the Hollywood hero takes to the stage to address and discuss the medical emergency that struck him in spring last year. “I said, ‘If I can stay funny, I could stay alive’… I’m back,” Foxx says in the teaser.

A young airport security guard (Taron Egerton) is in pursuit of a mysterious figure (Jason Bateman) who strong-arms him into letting a suspect package on to a flight.

Robert Pattinson’s goth/emo take on the Caped Crusader has been one of the finest appearances in modern superhero cinema. Paul Dano, Colin Farrell and Jeffrey Wright also star.

The follow-up to Netflix’s most-watched show. Here, Gi-hun returns to the horrors of the bloody competition.

David Chang, one of the most seminal chefs in the US, takes an unfiltered approach to live cooking – there are no edits, no cuts, no re-dos; burnt food and flawed food are very much staples – as he prepares an onslaught of courses for his dinnertime panel, with past guests including Steven Yeun and Rashida Jones, Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, and Terry Crews and Fortune Feimster. For a true flavour of the freewheeling spirit, catch the episode featuring Seth Rogen and Ike Barinholtz, in which caviar is liberally slapped around the kitchen.

One of the latest additions to Netflix’s bursting list of sports docs is this feature that revolves around the infamous Luis Rubiales moment during the FIFA Women’s World Cup final trophy presentation. This is the first time Spanish footballers have gathered on screen to discuss the incident that overshadowed the tournament.

The most absurd boxing event this year will be shown live on the platform, as Jake Paul, 27, trades jabs with former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, a fighter more than three decades older than his opponent.

This biopic, starring James Norton and Bill Nighy, tracks the pioneering scientists who brought the first IVF baby into the world.

Based on the 1987 stage play, and folding Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington into the cast, The Piano Lesson follows a Pittsburgh family, a precious heirloom, and the weight of their past.

For this Netflix original, Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone takes on the role of Ayrton Senna, the hero of F1 who won three world championships, with the series depicting the driver’s life from his early karting days to his tragic death at 34.

When it first arrived on screens, Chef’s Table pioneered food television by underpinning restaurant stories with high-tone camerawork and audio. This is the first instalment from the series in two years, and will hone in on the ‘cultural significance and culinary artistry of noodles’ across the globe. Evan Funke, Guirong Wei, Peppe Guida and Nite Yun will all be given the grandiose treatment.

Adding to its roster of superb sports offerings (Formula 1: Drive to Survive, Break Point), Netflix’s Starting 5 takes viewers into the lives of NBA’s five biggest stars – Anthony Edwards and LeBron James among them – as each athlete, all at different stages in their career, navigates the 2023-24 campaign.

A Joseon-era-set thriller in which two childhood friends end up as post-war adversaries. With director Kim Sang-man (Girl Scout) and writer-producer Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) on the rudder, it’s a decent bet for a Saturday-evening watch.

The third instalment of the popular legal drama that revolves around defence attorney Mickey Haller, who, rather idiosyncratically, operates from within his Lincoln. “While season three of The Lincoln Lawyer is based on Michael Connelly’s novel The Gods of Guilt, we decided that a fun (and poignant) way to come into the season would be via a flashback sequence that gave us some insight into how Mickey Haller became Mickey Haller… Not just the brilliant criminal defence lawyer but the husband, the father, and the man that he would come to be,” said exec producers Ted Humphrey and Dailyn Rodriguez.

Here, we see Biles’s glorious return to the Olympics chronicled in great detail and how, over those two weeks in summer, she solidified her place as the greatest ever in her field.

Drawing heavily upon from-the-time footage, this documentary chronicles NASA’s third attempt to land on the moon and the trouble that came with the space mission.

The seminal climate-change disaster film in which a new ice age envelopes the planet. Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal star.

A five-episode series in which the tech magnate delves deep into the pressing issues of today, from AI to income equality. “I have always loved learning,” Gates said. “Whether at school, Microsoft, or now, as a philanthropist, I consider myself a student.”

Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale) steers the cameras in this thriller starring Liam Neeson, who stars as Alex, an assassin who becomes the target and begins to struggle with memory loss.

The follow-up to 2022’s Dahmer, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s new Monster instalment draws focus on Lyle and Erik Menendez, two brothers convicted of the murder of their parents in the summer of 1989.

In this father-son collab, John Owen Lowe plays the introverted Jackson Dragon who goes to work for his offbeat tech billionaire father, Ellis Dragon (Rob Lowe). Following season 1’s success – which showed Ellis fight off a corporate coup – a new slew of episodes will see him set out a ‘series of challenges and mind games for Jackson to see if he has what it takes to succeed him as the heir to the Dragon empire’. A challenger, however, might have other plans.

Despite having a gritty flavour to his film portfolio (Boogie Nights; The Departed), Mark Wahlberg often plays a fine hand when it comes to big-screen showings that marry comedy with a touch of action (The Other Guys). In The Union, he plays a construction worker living a content, simple life until high-school sweetheart Roxanne (Halle Berry), who now works for a left-field government agency, re-appears in his life, recruiting him for an intelligence mission that takes him far away from his comforts in New Jersey.

A contemporary take on Greek mythology, Kaos is headlined by the ever-quirky, ever-cool Jeff Goldblum who depicts Zeus, the omnipotent king of the gods. One day, he finds a wrinkle on his forehead, something he interprets as the beginning of his downfall. It is, as Goldblum says, “this triggering thing of, ‘Uh-oh, nature is a chicken that’s coming home to roost’… The longer that [thought process] goes on, the worse it is. It’s like hungry dogs – when they’re left unfed in the cellar, they just start barking louder and louder. And when they’re finally let out, oh boy.”

With a summer of sports now underway, it feels apt that Netflix is releasing a slew of productions whose topics range from the NFL to gymnastics. Kicking things off is this docuseries – made by the people responsible for Drive to Survive – that focuses on the high-octane world of sprinting, with the sport searching for its next global icon, a void that has been apparent since Usain Bolt’s retirement seven years ago. Noah Lyles, Shericka Jackson and Sha’Carri Richardson – among others – will be the focus here, as all involved gear up for the Paris Games.

40 years since that iconic electronic riff first hit screens, Eddie Murphy reignites his role as the freewheeling Axel Foley, much to the pleasure of comedy fans. Returning to Beverly Hills following a threat to his daughter, Foley is thrown back into the mixer, and reunites with old heroes John Taggart and Billy Rosewood. “He’s still on the streets. He’s still doing what he does. Obviously with age you get wiser. But he still has the twinkle in his eye,” says producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Documenting five of the finest catchers throughout the 2023-24 NFL season – Amon-Ra St. Brown, George Kittle, Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson and Deebo Samuel – this eight-part follow-up to Quarterback shows life on the other end of the play.

Adding to the all-access roster is a behind-the-scenes look at life during the 2023-24 campaign in La Liga, considered one of the greatest football leagues in the world. Not only a breakout year for English footballer Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid, the season also featured the surprise title challenge mounted by Girona, former Barcelona manager Xavi’s turbulent time in the dugout, and the winding down of careers such as that of midfielder Ivan Rakitić.

Simone Biles did much to focus attention on mental-health in the world of sports when, during Tokyo 2020, she withdrew from the women’s gymnastics team final due to not being in the right frame of mind. Each episode in this four-parter (aired in two stages) will chronicle the athlete’s highly anticipated return to the biggest stage, and all the complexities and pressures that come with unparalleled talent.

Oscar-nom director Richard Linklater makes a savvy move by utilising man of the moment Glen Powell in this noir comedy about a professor who doubles as a fake hitman. All starts to head off the rails, however, when Powell’s undercover mole gets caught up with a potential new client.

After featuring Barack Obama, George Clooney, Jay-Z et al., in previous seasons of his current talkshow, David Letterman’s newest instalments are set to zone in on music great Miley Cyrus and NBA legend Charles Barkley, each of who is interviewed, both inside and outside the studio, about their life and career.

Ever since his directorial debut with Get Out, Jordan Peele has earned himself the reputation as one of Hollywood’s most original storytellers, a creator of innovative horror in which discomfort, dark humour and leftfield narratives fuse into a cohesive feature. Nope is his most recent work, released in 2022, and features the bankable names of Daniel Kaluuya, Steven Yeun and Keke Palmer, all of who star in this paranormal neo-Western that begins with a violent chimpanzee attack…

Jeff Daniels is one of America’s finest on-screen leads, the one who moved from easy-feeling roles (101 Dalmatians; Dumb and Dumber) to characters with a determined grit (The Newsroom; Steve Jobs). This Netflix series sees him add to the latter category, as he plays a property-developing mogul from Atlanta who faces imminent bankruptcy and an onrush of allies turned foes.

Hot off the Curb Your Enthusiasm finale, Jerry Seinfeld writes, directs and stars in this comedy about Post and Kellogg's – the cereal juggernauts – and their rush to invent an innovative breakfast pastry (Pop-Tarts). Set in Michigan, 1963, the cast is padded out by Hugh Grant, Melissa McCarthy, and Max Greenfield.

On a high-speed train rushing from Tokyo to Kyoto, Brad Pitt plays the out-of-luck assassin Ladybug whose on one final job. Four other for-hire killers are also onboard, as each one tries to undertake their own separate assignment, before finding out that their missions are intertwined. One particular highlight within the film is Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s run out as Tangerine, a gruff Cockney hitman whose packed punches are matched by his comedic chops.

An occasion that promised so much – a European Championship title; a squad that would be immortalised alongside the greats of 1966 – ended in penalty pain and hooliganism. This docufilm’s focus is on the latter issue, and features first-hand testimonies on how 6,000 ticketless fans caused an eruption of chaos and stormed Wembley Stadium on the day of the Euro 2020 final.

Segmented into six parts, Eric stars Benedict Cumberbatch who takes on the role of Vincent, the maker of a beloved children’s TV programme and a renowned puppeteer. His life – set in 1980s New York – is upended rather horrifically when his nine-year-old son goes missing on the way to school, an incident that leads Vincent into an unsettling mission to get his child back.

Since his time as manager of Barcelona, Pep Guardiola has shaped football all over the world, innovating tactics and styles that now trickle from the top tiers down to the amateur leagues. This docuseries, split into six parts, follows him and his Manchester City side during their treble-winning 2022–23 season, starting from the signing of Erling Haaland in the summer to the Champions League final against Inter Milan.

For years, Andrew Scott has seemingly been the actor of the moment, and his most recent big-screen hit was the soft, poignant All of Us Strangers. Here, he returns to TV as the titular, sociopathic role in the limited series adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley. Of course, we’re looking forward to Scott’s performance, as well as those of Dakota Fanning and Johnny Flynn, who play Marge Sherwood and Dickie Greenleaf, respectively, but it’s the effortless, boxy wears that we’re looking forward to seeing most.

Late 2019 saw Prince Andrew at the centre of one of the most infamous interviews in modern memory as he spoke publicly for the first time, on Newsnight, about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. In Scoop, a Netflix original, we see how BBC managed to secure airtime with the now disgraced royal, with a punchy cast that features Rufus Sewell taking on the role of Prince Andrew, Gillian Anderson as the journalist and former newsreader Emily Maitlis, and Billie Piper who plays Sam McAlister, the Newsnight guest booker who secures the opportunity.

Continuing his beeline towards more ‘serious’ roles (Uncut Gems, Hustle), Adam Sandler stars in this Netflix film as Jakub, a Czech astronaut who’s half a year into his solo expedition to the outer spheres of the solar system. Here, all by himself, he ponders his in-the-dumps marriage back on Earth – but he soon finds connection with an ancient arachnid-like creature that's also onboard.

Netflix’s next major live sporting event will see tennis veteran Rafael Nadal, a winner of 22 grand slams, play against Carlos Alcaraz, the current Wimbledon champ and the figure likely to dominate clay, grass and hard surface in the next decade plus. The match, which could be seen as a sort of changing of the guard between the two Spaniards, will stream live from the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas. Court greats Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick will bring further colour with their on- and off-court commentary.

The streaming giant is in no short supply of sports content at the moment, with the latest Drive to Survive instalment having just been released. For those looking to prolong their behind-the-scenes fix, you'll be glad to know that season two of Full Swing, which provides an inside look into the high-stakes world of golf, is about to tee off. New episodes will focus on the surprise proposed agreement between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the backers of the controversial LIV Golf.

Lead by The White Lotus’s Theo James (who, as Eddie Horniman, inherits a vast family estate that’s also home to a cannabis empire), this series is a world of Guy Ritchie hallmarks: guns, east-end career gangsters (Ray Winstone), Vinnie Jones and stretches of ruthless scenes. With members of Britain’s dark underbelly wanting a bit of the action, Horniman finds himself going deeper down an unsavoury rabbit hole.

Set six decades after Revolutions, the fourth instalment of The Matrix sees Thomas Anderson (better known as Neo) now living a conventional life as a videogame developer – however, following difficulties to tell reality from fiction, he soon finds himself plugged back into the simulated reality that once upended his life. Though it didn’t receive the warmest of receptions, the film is worth seeing just for the on-screen reunion of Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves, both of who continue to instil scenes with a simultaneous warmth and cool.

Speed and unwavering intent meet in this film about driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale), car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and their mission to mastermind a Ford supercar that'll pip Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

More than three decades on from when the OG film was released, Pete Mitchell, AKA Maverick, continues to be at the cutting-edge of naval aviation. In this smash-hit of a follow-up, we see him confronted with dark reminders of the past as he trains a blazing detachment of Top Gun graduates for a one-of-a-kind mission.

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