Movies Update: Streaming Recommendations and More

Plus, Martin Scorsese directs a Netflix series.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story 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 Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT 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 Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT 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 Benjamin Loeb/Netflix Critic’s Pick ‘Pieces of a Woman’ Review: A Raw, Ragged Study of a Loss Vanessa Kirby gives an intensely physical performance as a woman whose life and marriage are upended by the death of a child. By Jeannette Catsoulis How are we doing? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to moviesupdate@nytimes.com. Like this email? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Movies Update from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018