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Culture & Living
As we get started with a new year, here are all the movies and TV shows people loved and talked about in December
December promised to end this year from hell on a high note with the release of some of the year’s best and most-anticipated titles. Vikramaditya Motwane’s irreverent dark comedy AK vs AK, starring Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap, released this month to rave reviews. People who were starved for a good mix of romance and drama had Shonda Rhimes’ Bridgerton, an adaption of Julia Quinn’s bestselling novels. There were also remakes of beloved originals, like Disney’s Mulan, that made their way to the OTT platforms. All in all, it was a good month to stay inside and binge-watch movies and TV shows. Here’s a quick round-up of all the movies and TV shows that people watched, and talked about, this month.
This Netflix original, starring Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap, has director Vikramaditya Motwane bringing the two unlikely figures together in a way that’s never been seen before. The two AKs star as themselves in the movie about their very (fictional) public spat that leads to Kashyap hatching a dark plan involving kidnapping Sonam Kapoor, the actor’s daughter, and then filming him search for her in real time. The race against time is chock-full of self-referential humour and irreverence and there are a handful of celebrity guest appearances that will keep you hooked.
Streaming on Netflix
Romance books enthusiasts across the world were thrilled when it was announced that Shonda Rhimes would be adapting author Julia Quinn’s bestselling regency novels for Netflix. The unabashedly steamy and feminist series is best described as a mix of Pride and Prejudice and Gossip Girl, complete with stunning fashion, good looking people being good looking, and swoon-worthy romance. It focuses on the Bridgerton family, a well-known and respected family with nine children, and the other families surrounding them in 1813 London.
Streaming on Netflix
Directed by George Clooney, the post-apocalyptic movie is based on the 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. It stars Clooney as a scientist who is on a race against time to warn a crew of astronauts from returning home following a mysterious global catastrophe. It also stars Felicity Jones and David Oyelowo.
Streaming on Netflix
This Swara Bhasker-starrer was immediately compared to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel when the trailer for the former dropped. Both shows have the leading ladies break free from the shackles of mundane domesticity and marriage and take up the daunting task of performing stand up comedy on stage. But that’s where the similarities between the two end. In the show, Bindiya (Bhasker) calls off her engagement after deciding to pursue stand-up comedy seriously, leaving her fiancé and family shocked. The show also marks the debut of social media star Dolly Singh, who stars as Beanie’s best friend.
Streaming on Netflix
This Ryan Murphy musical comedy is packed with stars, including Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kerry Washington. It follows a group of down-on-their luck Broadway stars as they rally behind a small-town teenager who wants to go to the prom with her girlfriend. If you want a delightful and entertaining way to end the year, then this is the way to go.
Streaming on Netflix
This Korean romantic drama features three couples and their unique love stories. There’s Park Jae-won (Ji Chang wook), an architect who fell in love with a woman who he calls ‘camera thief’ and is unable to find her, then there’s Lee Eun-oh (Kim Ji-won), the ‘camera thief’ who is a marketer but has an alter ego that she was using when she met Park Jae-won. Choi Kyung-joon (Kim Min-seok) and Seo Rin-yi (So Joo-yeon) are a steady couple. The third couple has Kang Geon (Ryu Kyung-soo), a novelist who falls in love with every woman he dates, and Oh Sun-young, a gym teacher who doesn’t like commitments. The drama is ongoing so if you don’t mind waiting for episodes to drop every week, this one is highly recommended.
Streaming on Netflix
This docuseries focuses on the titular kabaddi team, owned by Abhishek Bachchan, and follows them through the seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League. It charts the dramatic journey the players have had to make to get to where they are now and presents a balance between their personal stories and their incredible professional achievements.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
This horror thriller is a remake of the Telugu film Bhaagamathie and remains faithful to the original. A murder convict Chanchal (Bhumi Pednekar) is brought to a remote, abandoned mansion for an off-the-books interrogation about her former boss, a seemingly perfect politician (Arshad Warsi) who is very vocal in his criticism of the ruling party. Soon strange events start happening around them as Chanchal starts to behave oddly as if possessed by the spirit of Durgamati, the ancient queen who still haunted the mansion according to legends.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Director David Fincher’s critically acclaimed biographical drama stars Gary Oldman as the titular Mank, or Herman J Mankiewicz. The film charts the alcoholic screenwriter’s life as he struggles to finish the screenplay for Orsen Welles’ Citizen Kane, a film that is widely considered to be one of the best movies in the history of movies. Cinephiles should definitely not give this one a miss.
Streaming on Netflix
Based on a play by Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson, the movie marks Black Panthor actor Chadwick Boseman’s final appearance on screen. It follows the rising tensions between legendary Blues singer Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her trumpet player Levee (Chadwick Boseman), and the white management that wants to control her. The movie is set in 1927 and explores themes of systematic racism and commercial exploitation of black talent.
Streaming on Netflix
The much-talked about, and controversial, live action remake of Disney’s classic Mulan is finally available to stream online. The story, in case you haven’t seen the original, follows the titular Mulan as she disguises herself as a male warrior to prevent her sick father from being enlisted in the army to protect China from a dangerous attack. The remake doesn’t stick religiously to the source material and has new mystical elements that will surprise the fans of the classic.
Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar
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