The 5 greatest motion pictures new to streaming in December 2023

Joyful December, Polygon readers! The winter holidays are only some brief weeks away, however don’t fret: There’s loads of presents within the type of motion pictures new to streaming to get pleasure from within the meantime. With November now behind us, we’ve combed by way of the most recent motion pictures to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Max, and extra to carry you the most effective of what December has to supply.

This month, we’ve bought a bunch of DC Comics movies arriving this weekend on Netflix, together with Zack Snyder’s Man of Metal starring Henry Cavill and Matt Reeves’ explosive tackle Batman starring Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz. Hustlers, the comedy crime drama starring Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu, involves Hulu this week, whereas the fashionable slasher film The Strangers: Prey at Evening comes stalking its approach onto Max.

Let’s dive in and see what this month has in retailer!

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Editor’s choose

The Batman

Style: Superhero motion
Director: Matt Reeves
Solid: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano

It’s a frightening activity, creating a brand new incarnation of Batman. For the reason that character’s first look in 1939, the Darkish Knight has grow to be some of the iconic characters within the entirety of widespread tradition, with a number of characteristic variations having taken their very own distinctive crack at what makes Bruce Wayne, the person beneath the cowl, tick.

Matt Reeves’ 2022 reboot starring Robert Pattinson reveals audiences a Batman youthful and angrier than any they’ve seen earlier than — a costumed vigilante who’s solely two years deep into his marketing campaign as a caped crusader for justice. This shift affords Reeves the chance to commit extra time to Batman as a criminal offense fighter and detective, piecing collectively clues and surveilling suspects as he makes an attempt to uncover the reality behind a conspiracy on the coronary heart of Gotham Metropolis and apprehend a vengeful serial killer, the Riddler (Paul Dano). From the movie’s gothic modernist model of Gotham Metropolis to the ferocity of the movie’s close-quarters combat sequences, The Batman appears like a superb distillation of all of the qualities which have made the character such a permanent popular culture icon whereas carving its personal area of interest within the broader universe of Bat-media. We’re nonetheless two years out from the extremely anticipated sequel, but when it’s been some time because you final noticed it in theaters, The Batman’s arrival on Netflix is the right alternative to revisit it. —Toussaint Egan

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New on Netflix

Man of Metal

Style: Superhero motion
Director: Zack Snyder
Solid: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon

Stick with me as I share my journey with this film. Like many others, after I first noticed it, I hated it. I believed the violence and destruction have been extreme and with out thought, and it left a nasty style in my mouth. With the passing of time and the completion of the trilogy of flicks, I’ve finished an entire 180, and Man of Metal is now a film I unexpectedly and unabashedly adore.

It is a deeply private film about feeling alienated from the world round you and desirous to be accepted, and in regards to the failures of our mother and father whereas they attempt to look out for us. (Man of Metal is also known as “Inside You There Are Two Dads: The Film.”) All the weather that left me chilly the primary time round have since been contextualized thoughtfully within the motion pictures that comply with, particularly within the opening scene of Batman v Superman.

Henry Cavill appears born to play Superman, bringing his pure charisma and beauty to the position along with an undercurrent of melancholy as he tries to navigate a world that appears to don’t have any clear place for him. Michael Shannon is menacing as Zod, as is Antje Traue as his lieutenant Faora-Ul. With unbelievable combat scenes, a roaring rating from Hans Zimmer, and considerate meditations on the place our mother and father’ imaginative and prescient of our path in life differs from our personal, Man of Metal deserves your reconsideration (or a rewatch, should you’re already within the “this guidelines, really” camp). Now that it’s on Netflix (and with a brand new Superman on the way in which), that’s doubly true. —PV

New on Hulu

Hustlers

Style: Crime comedy-drama
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Solid: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles

Based mostly on an article from fellow Vox Media publication New York Journal (good day, my colleagues), Hustlers is a colourful, thrilling crime thriller a couple of group of strippers in New York Metropolis who rip-off rich purchasers. The film options one in every of Jennifer Lopez’s greatest performances because the group’s ringleader and mom determine, and Constance Wu, Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Lizzo, and Cardi B fill out the lovable group of girls simply making an attempt to make it on their very own phrases. From our overview when the film was first launched:

If something, the movie, based mostly on a real story, feels extra like the feminine reboot of a franchise than any of the particular remakes and reboots in that vein that we’ve gotten (Ocean’s 8, Ghostbusters, Males in Black: Worldwide, and many others.) in that it tells the sort of story often reserved for males with a solid full of girls. In contrast to these makes an attempt, Hustlers by no means as soon as feels prefer it’s simply “a heist film however with girls;” it’s a full-fledged epic, made by and about girls, and proof optimistic that female-centered movies can flourish with out being based mostly on a pre-existing male-based IP.

Lopez lately introduced a brand new album and brief movie due this February, which makes it a good time to revisit one in every of her greatest roles. —PV

New on Max

The Strangers: Prey at Evening

Picture: Aviron Photos

Style: Slasher horror
Director: Johannes Roberts
Solid: Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison

Director Renny Harlin is taking a web page out of the Concern Avenue playbook by spearheading a new trilogy of stand-alone sequels to 2008’s The Strangers, all scheduled to be launched all through 2024. What higher event may there be to revisit the final time the sequence’ sinister trio of masked murderers final stalked their approach throughout screens?

Bryan Bertino’s unique 2008 film was a success: a lean, imply psychological horror movie that felt like a much-needed back-to-basics serial killer thriller for audiences fatigued with particular effects-reliant spectacles and the “torture porn” traps of the Noticed franchise. The Strangers grew to become a sleeper hit amongst followers and noticed vital success on the field workplace, so it’s a marvel why it took over a decade for the sequel, The Strangers: Prey at Evening, to lastly come out.

Set 10 years after the unique, the film follows a household vacationing at a trailer park in Ohio who unexpectedly cross paths with three masked killers intent on including them to their physique rely. With no different recourse and determined to outlive, the household should band collectively to combat again and escape with their lives. The sequel leans extra into the tropes of slasher horror, and the sedate barebones aesthetic of the unique offers approach to a extra neon-infused modern grunge, however total, The Strangers: Prey at Evening remains to be a wickedly enjoyable and terrifying horror film. Right here’s hoping that Harlin’s trilogy is ready to push the carnage even additional. —TE

New on Prime Video

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Style: Motion comedy
Director: Doug Liman
Solid: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Adam Brody

Each on occasion, you’ll see individuals complaining about how there’s an excessive amount of intercourse in motion pictures and TV. The reality could be very a lot the alternative — our mainstream leisure has by no means been much less horny (even filmmakers in the course of the Hays Code period labored round these restrictive requirements to imbue sexiness into their work). Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a superb antidote to those occasions, a horny film about horny individuals doing horny issues.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie play a husband-and-wife murderer duo who’re within the midst of marital issues — seems, it’s arduous to maintain your property life spicy when your work life is as harmful because it comes. Once they’re each assigned to kill the identical particular person, issues go very improper.

It’s a really enjoyable time on the motion pictures, however there’s another excuse to look at Mr. & Mrs. Smith proper now — Prime Video is engaged on a TV adaptation starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine (Blue Eye Samurai), which is able to premiere subsequent February. —PV