All The Cool Titles On Netflix In December 2023

Hooray, the SAG-AFTRA membership has voted to ratify their new contract!  This strike is officially over.  As an added bit of karmic justice, Netflix, who’s part of SAG-AFTRA’s opposite number the AMPTP, is dealing with the fallout of foolishly handing over $55 million to a director who failed to produce a single episode of a proposed science fiction show rather than pay their striking writers and actors fairly.

But enough with the schadenfreude celebrations.  There are some interesting things to be found this month on Netflix.  Natalie Portman stars in two of the month’s best films: one about a ballerina in danger of losing her mind, and one about an actress researching a woman who became tabloid fodder thanks to her engaging in underage lover sex..  Julia Roberts plays a vacationing woman more disturbed by the strange Black man (Mahershala Ali) on her doorstep rather than the terrifying signs of the Apocalypse’s occurrence.  Or how about playing catch up with an acclaimed animated kids’ show set in the “Star Trek” universe?  For those who want a dose of real life horror, how about a documentary about a supposed innovative wilderness survival program for rebellious teens that turned out to be little better than an abusive boot camp on steroids?

Whether you want to dream of evading rabid revenge-seeking camels or see the ARchie Andrews gang in a Bollywood musical, here are some intriguing if sometimes off the wall suggestions.

Now Available

Black Swan–In this psychodrama directed by Darren Aronofsky (“Requiem For A Dream”), classical ballerina Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) wants to be the lead ballerina in autocratic director Thomas Leroy’s (Vincent Cassel) re-imagining of “Swan Lake.”  In Leroy’s revision, the lead ballerina will play both the White Swan and the Black Swan.  While Sayers is clearly the best White Swan in the company, Leroy feels she lacks the feeling needed to play the Black Swan.  When new dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) joins the company, the virginal Nina sees in the newcomer both a professional rival and a personal rebuke to her sexually repressed lifestyle.  As Sayers struggles to earn Leroy’s nod, what is she willing to personally lose to land the lead role?

May December

Christmas As Usual–In this Norwegian comedy, Thea returns to her rural hometown to celebrate a classic Norwegian Christmas with her family.  But she also wants to use the occasion to announce her engagement to her Indian boyfriend Jashan.  Can the clash between Jashan’s Indian roots and the Norwegian traditions celebrated by Thea’s family result in everyone moving past their preconceived beliefs?

L.A. Confidential—This acclaimed adaptation of James Ellroy’s novel of the same name is set in 1953 Los Angeles.  A multiple homicide at the Nite Owl coffee shop brings together three different LAPD cops, each with sometimes clashing interests in the case.  They are: Detective Lieutenant Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), the ambitious son of a murdered detective; Bud White (Russell Crowe), a brutish cop who hates domestic abusers and Lt. Exley in equal measure; and Sergeant Jack Vicennes (Kevin Spacey), a narcotics cop who moonlights as technical adviser to the popular “Badge of Honor” TV show.  Their paths will lead them to a high-end prostitution ring where the women are surgically altered to resemble famous film stars and the discovery of deeply entrenched corruption within the LAPD itself.

May December–Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) gets a visitor, actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman).  The actress has been chosen to portray Gracie for an upcoming independent film about her notorious past.  Back in 1992, Gracie was discovered having sex with her son’s schoolmate Joe Yoo…who was 13 at the time.  23 years later, after serving a prison sentence and birthing Joe’s child, she’s now married to her younger lover.  So why has Gracie agreed to let Elizabeth shadow and observe her?  Is she hoping to influence the actress’ film to make her illicit actions more sympathetic?

Radical Wolfe–In the late 1960s, journalist Tom Wolfe spearheaded a movement called the New Journalism.  Instead of reporting that kept professionally distant from its subjects, the New Journalists would not only submerge themselves into their subjects but recount what they learned by employing tricks previously used only by novelists such as scene-by-scene construction and dramatic dialogue.  Wolfe’s radical approach to reporting would make him a celebrity during his lifetime.  Director Richard Dewey’s guide to Wolfe’s life is writer Michael Lewis (“The Big Short”), who became first a fan then a friend of the late New Journalist.

Tale Of The Nine-Tailed Season 1—In this Korean urban fantasy, Lee Yeon is a former mountain guardian spirit who has left the countryside to become a city dweller.  Working with Afterlife Immigration Officer Taluipa, he eradicates supernatural beings that threaten mortals.  His newest case, to find and kill a fox that has already slain many humans and eaten their livers, gets compromised when he’s fingered by TV producer Nam Ji-ah as a supernatural being.  It turns out that the TV producer and the supernatural protector have an unexpected history together, but the details of that history will surprise both of them.

The Archies

Who We Become–PJ Raval’s documentary follows three young Filipino-American women during the first year of the COVID pandemic.  Using footage shot by the film’s subjects, the film follows their efforts to both stay connected to their families and to talk with them about identity and injustice.  Monica Silverio and Jenah Maravilla become involved with the Black Lives Matter movement, which their parents don’t support 100%.  Lauren Yap’s return to the family home for virtual graduation is equally turbulent.

December 7

The Archies–You’ve probably seen “Riverdale”’s unusual spins on the Archie Comics characters.  But are you ready for Archie and gang to get the Bollywood musical treatment?  That’s what you’ll get with this new comedy set in 1960s India.  In the Anglo-Indian community of Riverdale, Archie and friends navigate romances, friendships, feuds, and a developer’s plan to destroy Riverdale’s beloved park.    

Fermat’s Cuisine–In this live action adaptation of the manga of the same name, Gaku Kitada’s dreams of turning his gifts for math into a mathematical career have curdled into an aimless existence.   But an encounter with genius chef Kai Asakura leads Gaku into the culinary world.  When he joins the staff of Asakura’s restaurant K, not only does Gaku learn from chefs from around the world but he’s inspired to develop his own recipes derived from mathematical thought.

Naga–Sarah is a young Saudi woman who convinces her incredibly conservative father to let her go on a shopping spree among the stores in Riyadh…but only if she meets him outside a particular store by 10 PM curfew.  However, the shopping spree is actually a cover for Sarah’s secret meeting with her possible suitor Saad.  Heading out to a secret underground party in the desert seems like a great way for the two young people to have quality time together.  But things start going south when the duo encounter an armed man in a jeep, a devious poet, and a rabid revenge-seeking camel.  Maybe if Sarah and Saad weren’t utterly drunk during these encounters, they’d have better luck…

World War II: From The Frontlines–John Boyega narrates this British-produced documentary series which provides a panoramic recounting of the Second World War by relying on colorized vintage footage, enhanced audio, and first person accounts from participants from all sides of the big battles.

Naga

December 8

Leave The World Behind–Sam Esmail (“Mr. Robot”) wrote and directed this adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s apocalyptic psychological thriller.  Advertising executive Amanda (Julia Roberts) has taken her family to a luxurious Long Island holiday rental for a vacation.  When Black father GH (Mahershala Ali) and daughter Ruth knock on Amanda’s front door at midnight, she thinks there’s cause for panic.  But that turns out to be a minor incident compared to (for starters) the cargo ship that nearly runs Amanda’s family over, the East Coast power outage, and the sight of planes plummeting from the sky. 

December 12

Singles Inferno Season 3—The Korean reality dating show changes things up for the new season.  The initial set-up is still the same: a group of attractive single men and women are stranded on a desert island dubbed Inferno with no ability to communicate with the outside world.  The only way to escape the island and go to the luxury hotel called Paradise is for two contestants to choose each other and become a match.  The new season makes things interesting by having contestants who are a bit more open with their feelings…and providing an incentive to pair up by making life on Inferno more inconvenient and cramped.

Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team–This new docuseries recounts the U.S. Women’s World’s Cup Team’s attempt at a third straight World Cup win at this past summer’s series.  The series would be Megan Rapinoe’s third and final run at a World Cup title.  Could the American team have performed better if top scorer Mallory Swanson hadn’t been sidelined by a knee injury?  Did manager Vlatko Andonovski make some bad substitute choices?  Will the American right-wingers openly gloating over the team’s defeat be addressed in the series?  Tune in and find out.

December 13

1670 Season 1–In this satirical comedy, zany 17th century Polish nobleman Jan Adamczewski yearns to become Poland’s most famous figure.  But he’s unlikely to achieve his goal when he has to contend with family feuds, a conniving neighbor, clashes with peasants, and the decline of the Polish Republic.   

December 15

Carol & The End Of The World– Dan Guterman (“Community”) created this adult animated science fiction dramedy.  Humanity faces utter extinction thanks to a mysterious planet set to collide with Earth in several months.  In response, much of humanity decides to go hell for leather pursuing their wildest dreams.  Quiet and unassuming Carol, on the other hand, tries to find meaning in life as the clock ticks down to imminent disaster.

Leave The World Behind

Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget–In this sequel to the Aardman Animations stop-motion classic “Chicken Run,” it’s been years since Ginger and Rocky successfully led a mass escape of chickens from the villainous Mrs. Tweedy’s farm.  The chickens have established a self-governing community.  Ginger and Rocky now have a teenage daughter named Molly, who possesses her mother’s rebellious streak.  So when Ginger warns her daughter not to investigate a strange company doing something with chickens, Molly decides to disobey.  What the young chicken discovers is a strange holiday world for chickens.  Why do all the chickens here have a blank, hypnotized stare?  And why does it look as if Mrs. Tweedy is involved with this facility?

Martin—Martin Lawrence’s classic 1990s TV sitcom is back to enchant new audiences.  Detroit disc jockey Martin Payne (Lawrence) lives with his girlfriend Gina Walters.  But he frequently gets into trouble thanks to his selfish nature, his lack of a personal filter, and his cocky and wisecracking behavior.

December 18

Bank Of Dave–Dave Fishwick (Rory Kinnear) has become a self-made millionaire by selling vans.  When the 2008 financial collapse hits, he decides to try setting up a community bank in his hometown of Burnley which will fund local enterprises with local money and help keep the local businesses alive.  However, for Dave’s scheme to work, he has to receive a new banking license.  But such licenses haven’t been issued in over 100 years, and London’s elitist financial institutions prefer keeping things that way.  Based on a true story.

December 20

Maestro–Bradley Cooper directed and stars in this biopic of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein.  Bernstein (Cooper) is the man who popularized classical music for midcentury America and composed the music for “West Side Story.”  The film dramatizes the decades of his sometimes tumultuous marriage with actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) and his closeted bisexuality.

December 21

Like Flowers In Sand–The Korean city of Geosan has won renown for its inhabitants’ love of the traditional wrestling sport known as ssireum.  Kim Baek Doo, who hails from a family of ssireum wrestlers, is a talented wrestling up-and-comer who’s thinking of retiring from the sport.  But when childhood friend Oh Yoo Kyung walks back into Kim’s life and takes over leading the team to keep it from disbanding, the young wrestler has second thoughts.  The odd title refers to the efforts of the series’ young characters to bloom in the context of Geosan life.

Star Trek: Prodigy

December 25

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1–Catch up with this animated kids’ adventure series set in the “Star Trek” universe before Netflix unveils a new season of episodes.  In a mining colony in the Delta Quadrant, Dal, Gwyn, and several other assorted alien teens work as prisoners of the mysterious Diviner.  One day, the alien teens accidentally discover the derelict Starfleet ship U.S.S. Protostar.  With the help of the ship’s holographic computer assistant Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the prisoners successfully escape the colony’s confines.  The escapees learn their vessel is from a civilization of peaceful explorers known as The Federation, located on the far side of the galaxy.  They set off to join The Federation organization known as Starfleet in hopes of securing a better future for themselves.  But the Diviner is not one to tolerate escapees running freely around the galaxy…

Zom 100: Bucket List Of The Dead (new episodes)–At long last, the first season of this popular manga adaptation finally concludes.  For newcomers to this dark horror comedy: 24-year-old office drone Akira Tendo thought he’d be doomed to a hellish existence.  Three years of getting worked to the bone by the exploitative ZLM corporation has left him drained of life or even caring about his future.  But when an accidental bioweapon release causes Tokyo to be overrun by zombies, Tendo sees his sudden liberation from his job as an opportunity to live life to the fullest.  Now he sets out to fulfill his bucket list of to-do items while avoiding as long as possible having the undead chomp on his brains.

December 27

Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare–Back in the 1980s, a lot of concerned American parents believed that the youth of America were taking a disastrous wrong turn in their lives.  Former military special forces officer Steve Cartisano offered a solution in the form of his Challenger Foundation.  The foundation ran a program which would use a two-month-long wilderness survival camp in the Utah desert to wear down the kids’ defiance out of them.  Adults of the time thought Cartisano was an alleged genius who was ahead of the curve.  However, after one teen died from exertional heat stroke, it turned out Cartisano’s alleged therapy horrifically included deliberate starvation of kids, forced strip searches, and even physically dragging teens.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

December 29

Money Heist: Berlin–In this prequel to the “Money Heist” series, viewers learn about a caper jewel thief Berlin pulled off in Champs-Elysees, Paris before he led the Royal Mint of Spain heist.  The theft involved a particular French auction house and a stash of 434 diamonds worth $44 million.  But complicating Berlin’s operation would be his emotional vulnerability and his romantic involvement with the wife of his target.

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