The long Thanksgiving weekend is here, which means its time to settle in and do some streaming. That also means it’s the unofficial arrival of holiday movie season, but whether you’re looking for a full-on Christmas movie, something seasonal but less holiday-centric, or just a modern classic or two, there’s a great batch of new movies streaming on Paramount+ in November.
Below, you’ll find a curated guide to the must-watch movies streaming on Paramount+ this month.
A Christmas Carol (1999)
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that “The Muppets Christmas Carol” is the best modern adaptation of Charles Dickens’ quintessential Christmas tale, but dang if this 1999 made-for-TV film doesn’t come close with a different, darker spin on the material. The great Patrick Stewart stars as Ebenezer Scrooge — and certainly knows the material inside and out, having previously done a one-man-show stage adaptation and narrated the audiobook — embodying the archetypical nightmare boss and Christmas grump with his signature gravitas. Originally a made-for-TV movie, the film has some dusty CGI, but the same cannot be said for it’s stacked cast, which also includes Richard E. Grant, Joel Grey, Saskia Reeves, Dominic West and Laura Fraser.
Blades of Glory (2007)
If you’re simply craving something silly to wash the incoming winter blues away, you can’t get much sillier than the 2007 ice skating comedy “Blades of Glory.” Starring Will Ferrell and “Napoleon Dynamite” star Jon Heder, and famously sampled by Jay-Z and Kanye West, the film features the duo as former rivals who team up as an unlikely skating pair to get back into the Winter Olympics. It’s a good pick if A) you want something completely ridiculous or B) you’re looking for something wintery, but not ready to move into Christmas movies yet.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
If the election has you feeling in the mood for a vehement rebuke of Nazism, you can’t do much better than Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.” Considered by many the filmmaker’s magnum opus, the alt-WWII history sends Brad Pitt’s Allied officer Lt. Aldo Raine to Germany-occupied France, where he assembles a team of Jewish soldiers to hunt down and scalp Nazis as retribution. It’s one of Tarantino’s best; tense, funny and cathartic, full of unforgettable characters and performances to back them up — including an Oscar-winning breakthrough turn from Christoph Waltz.
The Social Network (2010)
Alternatively, the election might have you in the mood to reflect on the genesis of social media, and while it’s likely going to be some years before we get the film adaptation of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, you can glimpse the undercarriage of how we started to create reality through social media in David Fincher’s brilliant “The Social Network.” Jesse Eisenberg stars as Mark Zuckerberg in the Aaron Sorkin-scripted Oscar-winner, which charts the messy genesis of Facebook.
Out of Sight (1998)
With the weather cooling off, you might need to heat things up, and Stephen Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight” is steamy enough to get the job done. George Clooney stars as bank robber Jack Foley, who strikes up a connection with the U.S. Marshall (played by a magnetic Jennifer Lopez) he kidnaps when he breaks out of jail. Nobody does effortlessly cool like Soderbergh — particularly Clooney under Soderbergh’s direction — and the crackling chemistry between the two leads only elevates this witty, gorgeously shot Elmore Leonard adaptation.
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
A ’90s rom-com classic that doubles as a feel-good holiday movie, “While You Were Sleeping” is also insane. Sandra Bullock stars as a transit token collector who saves her crush’s life after he’s pushed onto the tracks — and then poses as his fiancée, bonds with his family and falls in love with his brother (a very swoon-worthy Bill Pullman) while he’s in a coma. They don’t make ’em like they used to, folks. Somehow, “While You Were Sleeping” pulls it all off — no small thanks to Bullock’s star-making charm and geniality — wrapping up a heart-warming found family narrative in a truly wild rom-com premise.
