You’d miss Christmas counting all the movies on Netflix, but most estimates put it at around 7,000 at any given time. Some are obviously more worthwhile than others. I’ve put on my streaming cap to recommend a few for the week, using metrics like popularity, ratings on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, and personal preference. As families gather for the winter holidays, I picked out some offerings that everybody can enjoy (within reason), as well as the #1 movie on Netflix right now. Here’s what you should watch this week.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Daniel Craig’s absurd Detective Benoit Blanc is a modern-day Poirot, using deductive skill and wild personal charm to unravel twisted conspiracies of menace and murder. Wake Up Dead Man brings him into the world of religion when a small-town priest is killed, and he has to team up with his apprentice to clear his name. It’s been getting rave reviews after the slight misstep of 2022’s Glass Onion, with a great Josh O’Connor performance and some surprisingly earnest explorations about the meaning of faith. It’s the #1 movie on Netflix right now.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
One of the absolute best family movies released by Netflix this year was the latest Wallace & Gromit outing. The clay Englishman and his disobedient dog come into conflict with their penguin arch-enemy once more, and when Wallace invents a robotic gardening gnome, it kicks off a chaotic chase through England. Stop-motion animation hits different in the CGI era, and nobody does it better than Aardman.
-
Directors: Merlin Crossingham, Nick Park
-
Cast: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel
-
Genre: Comedy
-
Rating: PG
-
IMDb Rating: 7.5/10
Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday
For most of my life, the go-to Christmas special was the one from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, with brilliant and bizarre performances from Grace Jones, Little Richard, and Oprah. This year, why not revisit 2016’s Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, where the iconic character returned to the screen for a cross-country journey. After his band breaks up, Pee-Wee gets convinced to travel to New York for a celebrity birthday party, only to get tangled up with bank robbers, the Amish, and other kooky characters.
Paddington 2
One of the best family movies of all time leaves Netflix on Dec. 31, so watch Paddington 2 while you still can. The lovable bear has settled in with the Brown family, but when he tries to buy a special book for Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, it gets stolen, and he’s framed for the crime. Will Paddington become radicalized behind bars, or does the power of marmalade sandwiches and a bear’s warm heart save the day?
Recommended by Our Editors
Want to see everything that’s new on Netflix this month? We’ve got you covered.
Get Our Best Stories!
Your Daily Dose of Our Top Tech News
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
About Our Expert
K. Thor Jensen
Contributing Writer
Experience
K. Thor Jensen is a writer and cartoonist living in the Pacific Northwest. He has contributed to dozens of prestigious outlets, including PCMag, Tested, Clickhole, and Newsweek. His second graphic novel, Cloud Stories, was released in 2017.
Read Full Bio
