Movies Update: Streaming Recommendations and More

January 8, 2021

By Mekado Murphy

Movies Editor

Hey, movie fans!

It’s a bit of a slow first week in the movie world, but plenty of new options still await. Noel Murray gives a rundown of the best movies and shows to look for this month on streaming services. On Netflix, Martin Scorsese has directed a series called “Pretend It’s a City” that takes a stroll around New York with the humorist Fran Lebowitz. (Read an interview with the two.)

Looking for a killer-bear movie that features George Clooney, Laura Dern and Charlie Sheen? “Grizzly II: Revenge” may be your thing. Then again, maybe not: Filmed in the early 1980s, the picture is just getting a release. Jeannette Catsoulis calls it “too inept to qualify as camp or cult.”

Other options this week include the art-lovers documentary “My Rembrandt,” an adaptation of Naoki Higashida’s book “The Reason I Jump” and the friendship drama “If Not Now, When?” Enjoy the movies.

Criterion Collection

Gateway Movies

What Makes a French Comedy One of the Greatest Films of All Time?

“The Rules of the Game,” directed by Jean Renoir, may not seem revolutionary, but thanks to its balance of form and content, it’s an enduring classic.

By Ben Kenigsberg

Netflix

Fran Lebowitz and Martin Scorsese Seek a Missing New York in ‘Pretend It’s a City’

The Netflix series, featuring Lebowitz and directed by Scorsese, offers acerbic commentary and a sense of yearning for a pre-pandemic metropolis.

By Dave Itzkoff

STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS

The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Netflix in January

Every month, the streaming service adds a new batch of titles to its library. Here are our picks for January.

By Noel Murray

The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Amazon, HBO Max, Hulu and More in January

Every month, subscription streaming services add a new batch of titles to their libraries. Here are our picks for January.

By Noel Murray

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MOVIE REVIEWS

‘Grizzly II: Revenge’ Review: Bear Atrocity

Completed after almost four decades in limbo, this unerringly awful sequel places a killer bear in a park filled with clueless concertgoers.

By Jeannette Catsoulis

‘Beautiful Something Left Behind’ Review: Young Children and the Trauma of Lost Parents

In her new documentary, Katrine Philp takes us into Good Grief, a facility that helps the very young deal with unspeakable loss.

By Glenn Kenny

‘If Not Now, When?’ Review: Weak Bonds Make for a Flimsy Film

Friends struggle to make sense of romance, purpose and family in this meandering drama.

By Teo Bugbee

‘Blizzard of Souls’ Review: A Soldier’s Tale From the Front

This beautifully shot film from Latvia displays too much good taste when depicting the horrors of World War I.

By Glenn Kenny

‘The Reason I Jump’ Review: Portraits of Autism

Adapted from Naoki Higashida’s book of the same title, this documentary, from Jerry Rothwell, shares portraits of five nonspeaking autistic people on four continents.

By Ben Kenigsberg

‘My Rembrandt’ Review: Seeing a Dutch Master Everywhere

This documentary looks at art collectors whose interests in Rembrandt have taken on faintly obsessive dimensions.

By Ben Kenigsberg

‘White Lie’ Review: In Sickness and in Stealth

A young woman grows increasingly desperate to maintain the illusion of her illness in this restrained drama.

By Jeannette Catsoulis

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NEWS & FEATURES

Rankin/Bass Productions

Critic’s Notebook

Listen to Rudolph: A New Year Is Both a Comfort and a Fiction

A 1976 TV movie that imagined years as people is a helpful reminder that a new page on the calendar is an arbitrary creation.

By Maya Phillips

Michelle Groskopf for The New York Times

The Force (and a Lenient Disney) Is With ‘Star Wars’ Fan Filmmakers

Whether as tribute or corrective, these movies have proliferated in recent years in part because the studio’s trilogy has inspired strong reactions.

By Ian Prasad Philbrick

Disney+

Marvel’s Latest Frontier? In ‘WandaVision,’ It’s the Suburbs

Marvel’s first series for Disney+ is part drama, part homage to vintage sitcoms, following the misfit heroes played by Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany to some weird places.

By Dave Itzkoff

Molly Matalon for The New York Times

Drew Barrymore Is Keeping It Clean

When you’ve acted, directed, written, produced, married, divorced, mothered and sold lipstick, what do you do next in America? Host a talk show, of course.

By Abby Ellin

CRITICS’ PICKS