11 movies to check out on Netflix in December

In Luc Besson’s sci-fi action film Lucy, Scarlett Johansson plays the titular character who develops psychokinetic abilities after an experimental drug enters her bloodstream. The blockbuster also includes Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, and Amr Waked. The A.V. Club’s Ignatiy Vishnevetsky writes, “The sheer weirdness of Lucy’s imagery—a telekinesis-assisted car chase, a USB stick containing all the knowledge of the universe, people growing animal limbs—prevents it from registering as run-of-the-mill summertime ‘dumb fun.’ It comes across, instead, as a directorial flight of fancy, an imaginatively goofy take on an already goofy idea, exaggerated by Besson’s blunt style and an uncommonly fast pace.”

Fans of director Zack Snyder have much to look forward to in December. First up is Man Of Steel, a Superman origin story starring Henry Cavill as the titular Kryptonian. The movie kicked off the DC Extended Universe, which continues this month—and simultaneously wraps up the Snyderverse—with Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. The A.V. Club’s Ignatiy Vishnevetsky writes, “Cavill—whose performance involves more posing than acting—is alternately presented as an alien messiah, a superweapon, and an American flag flapping in the wind; the one thing he never gets to be is a character. As a result, Man Of Steel sometimes feels like arty advertising—the tentpole movie equivalent of a car ad that invokes images of freedom or luxury without ever mentioning the price or specifications.”

The December DC party continues on Netflix with Shazam! Fury Of The Gods, the superhero sequel starring Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, D. J. Cotrona, Grace Caroline Currey, Meagan Good, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, and Helen Mirren. The A.V. Club’s Matthew Jackson writes, “The good news, though, is that the cast and crew haven’t lost their sense of fun. The Shazam! films are, after all, stories about literal children being gifted the power of gods, and the various missteps and tonal contrasts that can pop up thanks to that premise. It’s there that the film shines brightest, and when the movie takes a few minutes to breathe and let the heroic family just be together, it’s a lot of fun.”

The universe didn’t need another Batman movie in 2022, especially with Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton suiting up to play the Dark Knight in different timelines in other DC movies. Yet in the anything goes era of superhero multiverses The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson and directed by Matt Reeves, is a surprisingly moody and effective reboot. The movie follows Batman two years into his crime-fighting days in Gotham City. It also stars Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell. The A.V. Club’s A.A. Dowd writes, “And if we didn’t exactly need another Batman movie, there’s a charm to seeing one relatively steeped in the language of the original medium… even if a part of that language is a portentousness suitable only for tortured costumed orphans or goth kids of all ages.”

Directed by Todd Haynes and loosely inspired by the story of Mary Kay Letourneau, the Netflix original May December stars Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton. The film tells the tale of what happens when an actress researching a role disrupts the lives of a married couple, 20 years after their scandalous romance became tabloid fodder. The A.V. Club’s Manuel Betancourt writes, “May December, a prickly story about performance and persuasion, about prejudgments and predation, is a triumph. Its final moments alone will be rattling in the viewer’s head for days, if not years, to come. And its trio of performances, all perfectly calibrated to Haynes’ tricky tonal tightrope, are a wonder to behold and the better, perhaps, to be savored upon repeat viewings.”

The highest-grossing film based on video game, the animated adventure The Super Mario Bros. Movie follows beloved game characters Mario and his brother Luigi as they set out to rescue a captured princess. The movie features the voices of Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Kevin Michael Richardson, Sebastian Maniscalco, Fred Armisen, and Seth Rogen. The A.V. Club’s Matthew Huff writes, “Nintendo fans are sure to find the second Mario film (unlike the first) well worth a trip to the cinema, and with a runtime of only 92 minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. But to swipe a metaphor from the original NES Super Mario Bros. game, while the film may complete the level, it doesn’t quite nail the leap to the top of the flagpole.”

Writer-director Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) spins up Leave The World Behind, an apocalyptic thriller starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke as a married couple who rent a luxury home with their kids for the weekend. When two strangers, including one played by Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali, show up on their doorstep with news of a mysterious cyberattack, the group must confront the terrifying disaster. The Netflix original is based 2020 novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam.

The adventure film Love And Monsters recounts the journey of Joel (Dylan O’Brien) as he leaves his bunker seven years after he survived the monster apocalypse and embarks on a quest to find his high school sweetheart. The Michael Matthews-directed movie also stars Jessica Henwick, Dan Ewing, Michael Rooker, and Ariana Greenblatt. It had a botched theatrical rollout due to the COVID-19 pandemic but still garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics ... except for The A.V. Club’s Mike D’Angelo, who writes, “If nothing else, it does at least come up with a new (albeit ludicrous) twist on the killer-asteroid premise.”

The stop-motion animated comedy Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget is the long-overdue sequel to the surprise 2000 hit Chicken Run. In the followup, when the chickens back on the mainland are threatened, Ginger and her pals decide to return home from their sanctuary and pull off a rescue mission. The Netflix sequel features the voices of Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi, Bella Ramsey, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, David Bradley, Jane Horrocks, and Miranda Richardson.

The Oscar-begging biographical drama Maestro stars Bradley Cooper as composer Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as his wife, Felicia Montealegre. Cooper directed and cowrote the movie about the couple’s complex relationship, especially Montealgre’s acceptance and tolerance of her husband’s romantic trysts with men. The A.V. Club’s Manuel Betancourt writes, “Ambitious in scope and featuring two powerhouse performances at its center, the Netflix release makes good on the promise shown in Cooper’s debut, A Star Is Born, another behind-the-scenes musical romance two-hander that explored the promise and price of ambition.”

After wearing out his welcome, er, parting ways with DC, Zack Snyder has taken his talents to Netflix, where his latest big-budget effort is the epic space opera Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child Of Fire. reads: “When the ruthless forces of the Motherworld threaten a quiet farming village on a distant moon, a mysterious outsider becomes its best hope for survival.” The sci-fi adventure about a mysterious outsider who rides to the rescue of remote farming village stars Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman, Jena Malone, Fra Fee, Ed Skrein, and Anthony Hopkins. The film makes a limited theatrical debut on December 15 before premiering on Netflix one week later. The sequel, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, is expected to premiere April 19, 2024, on Netflix.