Imagup General Magazine 2024
With so much trouble in the world, millions of us have turned to our television sets in search of entertainment to take our minds off things for a while. We’re happy to say that we’ve rarely been disappointed with what we’ve seen. While filming new television shows and movies hasn’t been easy for the people who make them, fortunately, there were enough new shows in the can to keep us going all the way through the pandemic.
In even better news, Netflix isn’t done yet! The world’s most popular streaming platform is looking to finish off the year with a bang with some great original content due to become available during the final months of the year. Obviously, there will be a lot of Christmas-specific content uploaded, but that doesn’t account for all of the content that we’re going to get. If you’ve already planned out your binge-watching schedule for November and you’re starting to wonder what might come after it, we’re here for you. Sit back, relax, and allow us to guide you through the best that Netflix has to offer for December 2024!
1. MANK
This arthouse production won’t be for everybody, but if you like black and white films that echo back to the golden age of Hollywood, you’re in for a treat with MANK, which is the latest release from celebrated director David Fincher. Even if you’ve never seen the 1941 movie “Citizen Kane,” you’ve almost certainly heard of it. It’s regularly hailed as the greatest film of all time, even though the majority of people who make that assessment have probably never seen it with their own eyes. One thing that most people don’t know about that movie is that finishing it was a monumental task, and it almost never got finished at all. This made-for-Netflix feature tells the story of the dramatic final days of that arduous screenwriting task and boasts an all-star cast, including Gary Oldman, Lily Collins, and Amanda Seyfried.
2. The Big Show Show (Christmas Special)
You might know the Big Show from the pantomime world of pro wrestling, where he’s been a main event performer for WWE for more than twenty years. The seven-foot-tall wrestler is a surprisingly good actor, as he demonstrated in the full series of “The Big Show Show” that went live on Netflix earlier in the year. It speaks volumes of his value to WWE that he’s been chosen for inclusion in their range of wrestling-themed online slots that will be released right at the end of the year. Unfortunately for the Big Show, his value as a professional wrestler and an attraction at online slots websites isn’t mirrored by his value to Netflix, who canceled the show after the full season aired. Before we say goodbye to the (Show) show forever, we get one last hilarious look at the giant and his family in the Christmas special. We suppose that’s the nature of playing slots on websites like KongCasino.com – sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.
3. The Prom
Proms were canceled across much of America (and the other places in the world where they’re a key moment in high school life) in 2024, but that doesn’t mean we won’t still get a prom to enjoy as the year comes to a close. You might have seen this already if you took a trip to Broadway in 2018, but even if you did, we suspect you won’t mind watching it again. This musical comedy contains all the usual high school cliches you’d expect. It’s fun, it’s frothy, and it’s a fine way to spend an evening when you’ve got nothing else to do. It tells the story of a girl banned from attending prom with her girlfriend, and a musical production that’s fallen on hard times. How do the two things marry together? You’ll have to watch it and find out! The ensemble cast features Meryl Streep, Kerry Washington, James Corden, and Nicole Kidman. Not everyone is thrilled about the presence of James Corden in another musical after the utter disaster of “Cats,” but if you can cope with that, you should be fine.
4. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Watching this film is going to be a sad, poignant experience, regardless of the subject matter. It’s the final film that Chadwick Boseman appeared in before he passed away at far too young an age earlier this year. For those who don’t know, Ma Rainey was a real-life blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s and one of the first women in history to commit their singing voice to a recording. This George C. Wolfe film picks up her story in the mid-1920s as Rainey suffers a fall out with her management team and tension in her career. Like “The Prom,” this film is based on a stage show – albeit a very different kind of stage show. Viola Davis is cast opposite Boseman in the lead role, with support from Colman Domingo and Glynn Turman.
5. Robin Robin
A Christmas schedule wouldn’t be complete without a cute animation for all the family to enjoy, and “Robin Robin” looks like the perfect choice to scratch that itch. Made by the same people who created “Chicken Run,” this adorable-looking movie tells the story of a bird that’s abandoned by its parents but is found and raised by a family of mice. It grows up believing that it’s a mouse, with predictably hilarious consequences. It’s a voyage of self-discovery told from the point of view of a robin, and it promises heart-warming moments, a cuteness overload, and perhaps even a few tears. It’s also only thirty minutes long, so you won’t have to persuade your children to spend too long sitting in the same place to watch it. Just be prepared for them to ask to watch it again multiple times in the run-up to Christmas Day.
While those five options represent a good range (to our eyes at least), there’s far more than that arriving on Netflix during the month. The fourth series of “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” is due to go live, as is a new period drama called “Bridgerton,” a space-based thriller called “The Midnight Sky,” and a biopic of popular Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla. Don’t worry if you can’t go outside – there’s clearly still more than enough to keep you occupied on television!
