Best New Movies to Stream on Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, and Hulu (December 2022)

Finally, the last month of the year has arrived, and with it comes a bumper crop of new movies available on streaming to lead us through the winter season.

We’ve highlighted the best new movies on Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Hulu, and other streaming platforms in December 2022. Our list includes Express trainthe new outrageous comedy from John Wick Co-director David Leitch starring Brad Pitt, 2004 Aquatic Life with Steve Zissou Starring Bill Murray, this 2019 romantic thriller about two men and a cow, a new thriller and a revisionist classic Western drama to spice things up. If there’s a certain mood you’re looking for, we’ve got a movie for you.

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Editor’s picks

First fix

year: 2017
the show length: 1h 53m
Director: Paul Schrader
Throw: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer

If I were asked to pick my favorite movies of the 21st century, I would spend a great deal of time trying to figure out my top pick. But I know First fix will be in contention.

Paul Schrader is a filmmaker obsessed with contradiction, often pairing unlikely combinations of themes or characters to fantastic effect. We saw that early with taxi driver and recently with Card counter (or movies like flagrantAnd the auto focusAnd the Patty Hearst), but for me, the pinnacle is First fix.

It is based on a masterful performance from Ethan Hawke, First fix It follows a priest (Hawk) from a small, old New York congregation. His church is more of a museum than an actual congregation, and it’s funded by a local megachurch run by a famous pastor (Cedric the Entertainer). For many filmmakers, that struggle alone would be rich enough to delve into. But Paul Schrader is unlike many filmmakers.

Schrader delicately weaves a story of climate change, grief, and the challenges facing us, as individuals and as a society. What could be just melancholy (and it’s somber at times) for me instead shows a very human connection, even in desperation. It’s a great movie, and I’m now excited for more people to see it. –people house

First fix Available to stream it HBO Max.

Thief

year: 1981
the show length: 2h 3m
Director: Michael Mann
Throw: James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Robert Prosky

The new crime thriller Michael Mann 1981 is an exceptional one. The late great James Caan (The Godfather) plays Frank, a safe-haven expert and ex-convict who dreams of retiring from his life of crime to pursue a normal life and raise a family. After losing money from his last major robbery, Frank agrees to sign another heist with a major gangster who, without his knowledge, plans to con him again. Even if you’ve never seen the movie, you can probably put two and two together and guess how well that worked for the gangster. With stunning Nighttime cinematography by Donald Thorin and a pulsating synth score by Tangerine Dream, Thief It is a bona fide wonder anchored by incomparable flagship performance. The end of the blurb. – Toussaint Egan

Thief Available to stream it Prime Video.

New to Netflix

Express train

year: 2022
the show length: 2 h 7 d
Director: David Leach
Throw: Brad Pitt, Joey King, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

One of the great traditions of action movies is to take a common everyday location – say, a train – and promise the audience about two hours of gruesome violence in this mundane setting. With that in mind, Express train – named after Japan’s famous high-speed railway – it didn’t have to do much to succeed; A few good fights with a fun cast and a tidy ending should suffice. But Leach, with the help of an all-star cast that includes Brian Tyree Henry, Bad Bunny, Joey King, and the leadership of Brad Pitt, turns Express train In a tangled dollop of misunderstandings and complications that builds into a steady stream of jokes and violence, gaining so much momentum that the only way to stop it is to blow it all out. –Joshua Rivera

Express train Available to stream on Netflix starting December 3.

New to Hulu

Aquatic Life with Steve Zissou

year: 2004
the show length: 1h 59m
Director: Wes Anderson
Throw: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Cate Blanchett

You know what you’re getting from a Wes Anderson comedy, and Zissou It is one of his best.

Dedicated to legendary French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, Murray plays Cousteau-like documentary filmmaker Steve Zissou, who embarks on a stubborn quest to find and kill the shark that killed his best friend.

Featuring a sprawling cast of Anderson regulars and an excellent soundtrack of David Bowie hits by Brazilian singer-songwriter Seo Jorge, Zissou It excels not only because of the hilarious gags delivered by some of the funniest actors in the business, but because of Anderson’s exemplary attention to detail in his compositions. it is a great movie And the funny. This is not an easy combination. —PV

Aquatic Life with Steve Zissou Available to stream on Hulu.

I prefer the rest

The first cow

the year: 2019
the show length: 2h 2m
Director: Kelly Richart
Throw: John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones

One of my favorite movies of the decade, The first cow is a tender love affair about two men in 1820s Oregon, the unlikely friendship that shrouds them, and a very sweet cow they meet and steal milk from (in a friendly way). They use this milk to bake some foods, with their eyes set on a life of comfort and security. –PV

From our glowing review:

The way Cookie and King-Lu’s story fits into the bigger picture of American history isn’t quite as important or impactful as the way their relationship blossoms on screen. Both are eccentric ducks at Fort Tillicum, where the ability to strike and get roared is a dominant force in securing social status. King-Lu is more of a dreamer, while Cookie is more practical, but they are kindred spirits, despite their occasional arguments. […]

It’s the little things that make life worth living. The key to this hike is how well Magaro and Lee fit each other. Magaru’s sad eyes and soft voice convey softness and warmth, as he speaks politely to the cow as he milks it. His vulnerable sense of uncertainty is offset by Lee’s self-confidence. Even when King-Lu has moments of doubt, Lee speaks with a reassuring timbre, expertly flipping the dial between King-Lu’s professional acuity and his genuine affection for Cookie as their situation becomes more complicated.

The first cow Available to stream it peacock.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller

the year: 1971
the show length: 2h 1m
Director: Robert Altman
Throw: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, René Auberjonois

In a group of films that includes undisputed classics such as The long farewell And the mashThis revised 1971 Western drama stands out as the only Robert Altman work that Roger Ebert has championed as “perfect.” It’s not hard to see why – McCabe and Mrs. Miller is a historical drama buoyed by the shared charisma of Warren Beatty and Julie Christie as a notorious gambler and street prostitute, respectively, who join forces to run a successful brothel in a Pacific Northwest mining town in 1902. When a mining company attempts to buy out McCabe and subsequently blackmails him, he is forced to Resorting to desperate measures to fend off a trio of bounty hunters and protect what belongs to him.

Featuring beautiful cinematography of the woods and hills of West Vancouver by Vilmos Zsigmund, sharp dialogue, compelling characters, and wistful scores composed for songs by the only Leonard Cohen, McCabe and Mrs. Miller is an exhilarating and tragic portrayal of frontier life on the fringes of civilization and is perfect for any fan of shows like dead wood or movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. -The

McCabe and Mrs. Miller Available for streaming on Criterion Channel.