December Is Your Last Chance To Watch These Hidden Gems
This content was paid for by Netflix and created by Looper.
At long last, 2020 is approaching its end — but the year isn't over quite yet. Good thing, too, because you still have a whole bunch of movies to watch. Yes, while you'll probably spend most of December eating Thanksgiving leftovers and celebrating the holidays however you see fit, make sure you carve out some time to watch some movies, too. The following films won't be available to stream forever. In fact, each and every one of them will be gone by the end of the month.
That's a shame, because this month's collection of departees cover everything from century-spanning love stories to raunchy historical comedies. You'll find movies designed to make you laugh, make you think, and make you scream. If you're old enough, you'll find a few flicks that you haven't seen since childhood. And if you aren't, well, you'll finally get a chance to see why your parents love these films so much.
In other words, like the holiday season itself, there's something here for everyone to enjoy. Just make sure you act fast. After the ball drops at midnight on New Year's Eve, they'll be nowhere to be found.
Coneheads (expires 12/31)
If you came back from your holiday gatherings thinking your family was weird, just wait until you meet the Coneheads. In this early '90s comedy, which is in turn based on a series of classic Saturday Night Live sketches from the '70s, original SNL castmembers Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin star as Beldar and Prymaat, two aliens from the planet Remulak. Originally, the duo head to Earth to stage an invasion. However, when their ship is shot down, Beldar and Prymaat do the only logical thing: move to the suburbs and start a family.
The Coneheads' ill-fated attempts to blend in with regular humans quickly attract the attention of two Immigration and Naturalization Service agents, played by two more SNL alums Michael McKean and David Spade, but Prymaat and Beldar have plenty of other problems to deal with. For one thing, their teenage daughter Connie (Michelle Burke) is getting serious with her boyfriend, Ronnie — portrayed by Saturday Night Live icon Chris Farley — much to her parents' chagrin. Meanwhile, Beldar has his eye on the local country club's golf tournament trophy, while Prymaat begins to worry that her marriage is in trouble. And complicating matters even further, a rescue ship's arrival is imminent, threatening to take Connie away from the only home she's ever known.
Coneheads is basically a live-action cartoon, which explains why it's a favorite guilty pleasure for many '90s kids. These days, it also doubles as a time capsule. Coneheads is crammed full of '90s comedy stars, including Seinfeld castmates Michael Richards and Jason Alexander, comedy legends Sinbad, Drew Carey, Ellen DeGeneres, and a whole slew of other SNL cast members like Adam Sandler, Julia Sweeney, Kevin Nealon, Tim Meadows, Phil Hartman, and Jon Lovitz. You will enjoy it — just make sure you do before it leaves on December 31.
Definitely, Maybe (expires 12/31)
Around the same time that Ted Mosby began telling a long, winding story to his children about how he met their mother, Ryan Reynolds took to the big screen to do pretty much the same thing. Sure, there are a few differences. Definitely, Maybe's Will Hayes is a divorcee, not a widower, and as he tells the story he's intentionally hiding his ex-wife's name, leaving his precocious daughter, Maya, to guess her true identity. Is her mom Will's college girlfriend, Emily? Is it Will's co-worker-turned-lover April? Is it Summer, a top-notch reporter who happens to be Emily's old college buddy?
You won't find any spoilers here, but rest assured that Definitely, Maybe is a charming, low-key romantic mystery that'll keep you guessing up until the very end. Don't be too shocked. Writer/director Adam Brooks is romantic comedy royalty, having helmed classics like French Kiss, Practical Magic, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and plenty of others. He's aided by an incredibly game cast — Emily, April, and Summer are played by Elizabeth Banks, Ilsa Fisher, and Rachel Weisz, respectively — and a script that throws out the regular rom-com formula in favor of something that's much more structurally interesting.
If you're looking for a cozy way to ring in the New Year, Definitely, Maybe will do the job. Just don't wait much longer — Definitely, Maybe leaves Netflix on December 31, 2020.
Frost/Nixon (expires 12/31)
Frost/Nixon, which dramatizes the real-life television interviews between dishonored American president Richard Nixon and British journalist David Frost, comes down to two performances: Masters of Sex and Good Omens star Michael Sheen as Frost, and Frank Langella as Nixon. That's not all that surprising. A couple of years earlier, Langella and Sheen played those same roles in the stage play the movie is based on, which earned Langella a Tony Award for Best Actor and Sheen his fourth Olivier nomination.
It helps that Frost/Nixon is surprisingly exciting. Three years after the Watergate scandal forced him to resign the presidency, Nixon sees the three interviews as his last chance to reclaim his legacy. Frost, meanwhile, has everything riding on the broadcast. Not only did he buy TV airtime with his own money, but by trying to get a confession out of Tricky Dick, the former comedian hopes to prove his journalistic bona fides once and for all.
The battle of wits that follows is nothing short of thrilling. The machinations of supporting characters with their own agenda, like Nixon's literary agent and his unflinchingly loyal chief of staff, complicate things even further. No, Frost/Nixon isn't entirely historically accurate, but it doesn't matter. It's still a fascinating look at what motivates people in power — especially after they lose that power — and is well worth catching before it departs on New Year's Eve.
The Little Hours (expires 12/22)
A trio of horny nuns. A runaway servant who was caught sleeping with his master's wife. An alcoholic priest. Mix them all together, stick them in a 14th-century Italian convent, and what do you get?
According to The Little Hours, a black comedy written and directed by I Heart Huckabees scribe Jeff Baena, you get nothing but trouble. The problems begin when the nuns, which include Alison Brie's Alessandra, Kate Micucci's gossipy Ginevra, and Aubrey Plaza's violently unstable Fernanda, torment the convent's gardener so badly that he quits. They get worse when Father Tommasso, played by John C. Reilly, replaces him with Dave Franco's Masseto, who pretends to be deaf and mute while hiding from his master's wrath. By the time Girls star Jemima Kirke shows up as Marta, one of Fernanda's friends, and convinces everyone to get drunk on communion wine, things go completely off the rails — and we haven't even gotten to the witches yet.
Oh, and by the way, did we mention that this is all loosely based on a work of classic Italian literature, meaning it's irreverent, hilariously dirty, and, in its own way, kind of classy? And despite its historical setting, The Little Hours' characters speak and act like modern men and women, which all adds up to give you quite the unconventional comedy. If you want something a little different to kick off the Christmas season in earnest, The Little Hours will get the job done quite well, as long as you catch it before its December 22nd farewell date.
Possession (expires 12/31)
If you're planning to look for love in 2021, get in the mood a little early with Possession, which leaves Netflix on December 31. Neil LaBute's romantic drama, based on A. S. Byatt's Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, has not one but two steamy love affairs, split across two separate timelines.
In Possession's modern-day story, American academic Roland Michell — played by Aaron Eckhart — discovers a love letter from Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash to a woman that's decidedly not his wife. This sends his peer Maud Bailey — played by Gwyneth Paltrow, sporting a very convincing English accent — into a tailspin. See, the lives of Ash and his maybe-lover Christabel LaMotte are her specialty, and Bailey is desperate to know the truth. And so, the two scholars journey across England to discover the truth.
Meanwhile, Possession also delves into the affair between Ash, played by costume drama mainstay Jeremy Northam, and LaMotte, portrayed by Jennifer Ehle, the star of 1995's critically-acclaimed Pride and Prejudice miniseries. At first, the two couldn't be more different. Ash is a conservative, happily married man, while LaMotte is an unabashed feminist currently in a relationship with another woman. Still, their attraction is undeniable, and as Michell and Bailey unravel the mystery surrounding their affair, sparks begin to fly between them, too. It's complicated but clever, and LaBute does an excellent job drawing parallels between Possession's twin romances. It is, quite literally, a love story for the ages.
Splice (expires 12/31)
If the sugary-sweetness of the holiday season is starting to get to you, cut through the fluff with Splice, Vincenzo Natali's sci-fi horror film, before it disappears on New Year's Eve. After all, genetic engineering? Human experimentation? There's nothing holly or jolly about that.
Splice begins when two scientists, Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast — played by Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley — successfully splice together animal DNA to create a new species. That's when they announce that they're ready to move onto trials using human genetic material. But when their bosses tell them no, Clive and Elsa go ahead and do it anyway. The product of their research, which they name Dren, ages super-fast, has wings, is amphibious, and turns out to be incredibly smart. She is, in short, a marvel.
She's also incredibly dangerous, which doesn't stop Elsa, and later Clive, from treating her like a surrogate daughter. Still, the makeshift family's uneasy domestic bliss doesn't last for long. Not only does Dren consume all of Elsa and Clive's attention, making them neglect their other experiments, but Dren's innate animalistic tendencies grow increasingly more pronounced. No spoilers, but yeah, you can probably see where this one is going — it's incredibly icky.
WarGames (expires 12/31)
Matthew Broderick tried to warn us. All the way back in 1983, years before the internet took over everyday life, Broderick and director John Badham, who's also responsible for Saturday Night Fever and the kids' robot comedy Short Circuit, released WarGames, a techno-thriller about a teenage hacker who almost ends the world. In WarGames, Broderick's character, David Lightman, accidentally hacks into a military computer designed to predict what'll happen in the case of nuclear war. Lightman mistakes the system for a game, and takes on the role of the Soviet Union in one of the computer's simulations.
Unfortunately, David's playful actions have real consequences. Unbeknownst to the teen, NORAD has recently automated America's nuclear missile launch centers, and when the computer mistakes David's actions for actual Soviet aggression, World War III seems all but inevitable. Naturally, the government gets involved, forcing David to escape with the help of his attractive classmate, track down the scientist responsible for the system, and save the world.
These days, WarGames' depiction of computers and online tech feels a little dated, but that's part of its charm. And its underlying themes are still all too relevant. Still, that doesn't stop WarGames from being a fun, early-'80s romp, and with its December 31 sunset date, it serves as an excellent reminder that as chaotic as 2020 was, it could've been way, way worse.