Welcome to See/Hear, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important cultural happenings, pop and otherwise. Every month, we round up the biggest upcoming movie, TV and album releases, ask some cool people to tell us what they’ve been into lately, make you a playlist we guarantee you’ll have on heavy rotation and recommend a classic (or unduly overlooked) piece of pop culture we think is worth revisiting.
MOVIES
The Merchants of Joy
Dec. 1, Prime Video
It might not be the first thing you think of when you hear about “the five families” of New York City, but this fun documentary follows the families who serve as the city’s Christmas tree vendors as they hustle to make a year’s worth of money in a single month. There’s sure to be some drama and competition along the way; the families consider themselves to be “frenemies.”
Oh. What. Fun.
Dec. 3, Prime Video
Michael Showalter’s forthcoming Christmas comedy sounds a bit like a reverse Home Alone: instead of a kid, it’s the underappreciated matriarch (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) who goes missing. Its stacked cast also includes Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dominic Sessa, Denis Leary, Danielle Brooks, Jason Schwartzman, Maude Apatow and more.
The New Yorker at 100
Dec. 5, Netflix
The New Yorker celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this year, and to mark the occasion, this documentary — directed by Marshall Curry and narrated by Julianne Moore — offers an in-depth look at the legendary publication’s history and legacy, along with a peek into its inner workings as we watch its team of editors work to put together its centennial issue (which came out in February).
100 Nights of Hero
in theaters Dec. 5
Based on the graphic novel The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg, this fantasy/romance tells the story of a woman (played by Maika Monroe) who finds herself caught in a love triangle with her maid (Emma Corrin) and her husband’s friend (Nicholas Galitzine) after her husband (Amir El-Masry) leaves her alone for 100 days to test her fidelity.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
in theaters Dec. 5
This horror sequel features a Scream reunion of sorts: Matthew Lillard reprises his role as serial killer William Afton, but this time around he’s joined in the cast by Skeet Ulrich. Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio and Theodus Crane also star.
Fackham Hall
in theaters Dec. 5 (limited release)
It’s been a long time since we’ve gotten a great genre parody movie a la Airplane!, but this Downton Abbey spoof looks promising. Written by comedian Jimmy Carr, it features Damian Lewis, Thomasin McKenzie, Ben Radcliffe, Tom Felton and more.
Merv
Dec. 10, Prime Video
Breakups can be rough when there are kids involved, but this rom-com posits that they can be just as rough on pets. When Anna (Zooey Deschanel) and Russ (Charlie Cox) call it quits, they’re left to co-parent their dog, Merv, who seems to be suffering from depression. To cheer up the dog, they take him on a vacation to Florida where, presumably, hijinks ensue.
Dust Bunny
in theaters Dec. 12
Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller makes his feature directorial debut with this tale of a young girl who enlists the help of her hitman neighbor (played by Mads Mikkelsen) to kill the monster under her bed. It’s been called a “family horror film,” but leave the little ones at home; it’s still rated R.
Ella McCay
in theaters Dec. 12
Academy Award-winning director James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, As Good as it Gets) is back with his first feature film in 15 years. Emma Mackey plays the titular character, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state who suddenly finds herself in the spotlight after her mentor, the incumbent governor (played by Albert Brooks) steps down to accept a cabinet position. Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Rebecca Hall, Kumail Nanjiani and Ayo Edebiri also star, and Julie Kavner — better known as the voice of Marge Simpson — serves as the narrator.
Not Without Hope
in theaters Dec. 12
Not Without Hope tells the true story of a 2009 fishing trip taken by Nick Schuyler (Zachary Levi) and Will Bleakley (Marshall Cook), who played football at the University of South Florida, and NFL players Marquis Cooper (Quentin Plair) and Corey Smith (Terrence Terrell). When a storm causes their boat to capsize, Coast Guard Captain Timothy Close (Josh Duhamel) must do everything he can to rescue them.
Murder in Monaco
Dec. 17, Netflix
Netflix’s latest true crime documentary examines the mysterious death of billionaire banker Edmond Safra in his Monaco penthouse in 1999. The real star of the trailer, however, is Lady Colin Campbell — better known as Lady C — who kicks things off by insisting she wants her interview to be “over with as quickly as possible” and wraps up by storming off set and insisting “This is at an end.” It’s unclear what exactly her involvement with the Safra case is, but it sure seems worth watching to find out.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
in theaters Dec. 19
The third installment of James Cameron’s Avatar series introduces a villainous tribe of Na’vi called the Ash People, but Cameron has said that Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri’s (Zoe Saldana) children are the real heart of the film. “Jake and Quaritch, they’d just be two guys trying to kill each other for six hours of two movies. Sorry, that’s boring,” the director explained. “It becomes much more nuanced as a result of these younger characters…. It’s not a family movie about the parents. It’s a family movie about the kids.”
Is This Thing On?
in theaters Dec. 19 (limited release)
After the success of 2023’s Maestro, Bradley Cooper is back in the director’s chair for Is This Thing On? Cooper also co-wrote the screenplay with Will Arnett, who plays Alex Novak, a man who turns to stand-up comedy as he navigates his divorce from his wife, Tess (Laura Dern). Cooper, Andra Day, Amy Sedaris and Sean Hayes also star.
Goodbye June
Dec. 24, Netflix
Kate Winslet makes her directorial debut with this film, and it’s a family affair: Her son, Joe Anders, wrote the screenplay. The Christmas drama centers around four siblings coping with the imminent loss of their mother (played by Helen Mirren) as her health takes a turn for the worse during the holiday season. Winslet also acts in the movie, along with Toni Collette, Johnny Flynn, Andrea Riseborough, Timothy Spall and more.
Father Mother Sister Brother
in theaters Dec. 24
Jim Jarmusch’s latest, which took home the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival over the summer, is an anthology of three distinct stories — one about a father, another about a mother, and one centered around a sister and a brother — that are all portraits of dysfunctional, complicated families. Its ensemble cast includes Tom Waits, Adam Driver (in his third Jarmusch movie after Paterson and The Dead Don’t Die), Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat.
Marty Supreme
in theaters Dec. 25
Back in February when he accepted his Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet made a refreshing admission. “I know we’re in a subjective business, but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness,” he said. “I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats. I’m inspired by the greats. I’m inspired by the greats here tonight. I’m as inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis, Marlon Brando and Viola Davis as I am by Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps. And I want to be up there.” It’s fitting, then, that he’s already getting Oscar buzz for his work as Marty Mauser — loosely inspired by real-life 1950s table tennis champion Marty Reisman — in Marty Supreme. The highly anticipated Josh Safdie film’s logline describes its protagonist going “to hell and back in pursuit of greatness,” and Chalamet seems like the perfect choice to portray such naked ambition. He’s joined in the cast by Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary (yes, the Shark Tank guy), Abel Ferrara, Tyler the Creator, Fran Drescher and Sandra Bernhard.
The Testament of Ann Lee
in theaters Dec. 25 (limited release)
A musical about Ann Lee, the founder of the 18th-century Shakers religious sect who advocated for gender equality, celibacy and communal living, might seem like an odd choice, but Amanda Seyfried has been earning praise for her performance as Lee since this film debuted at the Venice Film Festival. But don’t expect this to be anything like Mamma Mia. “A lot of it was animal sounds as opposed to melodic sounds,” Seyfried told Variety. “I understood that I didn’t have to sound beautiful in a way that is beautiful to me. It was more like a woman on her knees.”
Cover-Up
Dec. 26, Netflix
Produced and directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, Cover-Up documents the legendary career of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. Hersh famously won a Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for his reporting that exposed the My Lai massacre and its subsequent cover-up during the Vietnam War, and in 2004, he wrote a series of articles for The New Yorker that uncovered the U.S. military’s torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq War. The documentary will delve into how exactly he was able to masterfully report such consequential stories, as well as their lasting impact.
TV/STREAMING
5-Star
Dec. 2, Paramount+
The pressure on any college athlete is immense, but when you’re a five-star recruit, it’s on another level. This eight-episode docuseries follows four of them — No. 1 recruit Bryce Underwood (quarterback, University of Michigan), No. 5 recruit Devin Sanchez (cornerback, Ohio State University), No. 9 recruit Dakorien Moore (wide receiver, University of Oregon) and No. 19 recruit Malachi Goodman (offensive tackle, Penn State University) — as they experience their freshman seasons.
Christmas in Rockefeller Center
Dec. 3, 8 p.m. EST, NBC and Peacock
This year’s tree-lighting ceremony will feature performances of holiday favorites by Marc Anthony, Halle Bailey, Michael Bublé, Kristin Chenoweth, Laufey, New Edition, Brad Paisley, Carly Pearce, the Radio City Rockettes and Gwen Stefani.
The Abandons
Dec. 4, Netflix
The newest series from Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter has been in development for quite some time — since 2021, to be exact — and, like many great Westerns, it’s centered around a land dispute. Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey play the matriarchs of rival families in the Washington Territory in 1854, and they’re joined by the likes of Lucas Till, Michiel Huisman, Patton Oswalt, Nick Robinson, Lamar Johnson, Michael Greyeyes and Diana Silvers. One interesting wrinkle, however: Sutter left the production back in October due to creative differences with Netflix. Instead, the final few episodes were overseen by executive producer/director Otto Bathurst and co-executive producer Rob Askins. Will there be a noticeable dip in quality after Sutter’s exit, or will the cast and crew be able to successfully carry his vision over the finish line? We’ll have to tune in to find out.
30 for 30: Boo-Yah: A Portrait of Stuart Scott
Dec. 10 at 9 p.m. EST, ESPN
The latest installment of ESPN’s popular 30 for 30 series will highlight the life and legacy of one of their own: Stuart Scott, the iconic SportsCenter anchor who passed away in 2015 at the age of 49 after a battle with appendiceal cancer. The doc will feature interviews with Charles Barkley, Chris Berman, Vince Carter, Linda Cohn, Common, Shaquille O’Neal and other famous names and colleagues, along with Scott’s family.
Man Vs Baby
Dec. 11, Netflix
Sometimes you don’t need a particularly groundbreaking concept for a comedy, and something like “Rowan Atkinson gets stuck with a random baby” is enough. This four-episode series was created and written by Atkinson, and he plays Trevor Bingley, a school caretaker who finds himself tackling a little extra responsibility when no one comes to collect the Baby Jesus from the school’s Nativity play.
Sarah Squirm: Live + In the Flesh
HBO Max, Dec. 12
If you only know Sarah Sherman — aka Sarah Squirm — from her four seasons on Saturday Night Live, you may not fully understand just how unhinged (in the best possible way) her humor can get. (Although if you’ve seen this sketch where she plays a woman with a singing meatball attached to her neck, you probably have a pretty good idea.) HBO Max describes her new stand-up special, which was recorded at the Bell House in Brooklyn earlier this year, as “a festering hour of bodily fluids, open-wound confessionals and jokes that will leave skid marks on your soul.”
Fallout Season 2
Dec. 17, Prime Video
The second season of Amazon’s popular video-game adaptation adds Justin Theroux and Macaulay Culkin to the already-stacked cast (which includes Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan, Aaron Moten and Frances Turner) and will be set in in the Mojave Wasteland and New Vegas. Deathclaws, the monster species from the games, will also make an appearance after being teased in last season’s finale.
Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2
three episodes Dec. 25, series finale Dec. 31 on Netflix
If you haven’t started your binge of Volume 1 of the final season of Stranger Things yet, you better hurry up because Volume 2 will be here before you know it. The next three episodes drop on Christmas Day, and then the highly anticipated series finale will be released on New Year’s Eve. If it seems kind of crazy to stretch eight episodes out across several months, that’s because it is. But at least we’re that much closer to finally finding out what the hell is going on in the Upside Down.
The Copenhagen Test
Dec. 27, Peacock
In this eight-episode sci-fi thriller, Simu Liu plays an intelligence agent whose brain gets hacked (the same way, presumably, one might hack a computer), giving the infiltrators access to everything he sees and hears. Melissa Barrera and Brian D’Arcy James also star.
MUSIC
Dove Ellis, Blizzard
Dec. 5
You may have seen Dove Ellis recently opening up for Geese on their Getting Killed tour. Blizzard, the Irish singer/songwriter’s forthcoming debut album, was self-produced and recorded in London and Liverpool. If you’re a fan of Jeff Buckley, you’ll find something to latch onto here.
Melody’s Echo Chamber, Unclouded
Dec. 5
The latest effort from French musician Melody Prochet — aka Melody’s Echo Chamber — takes its name from a Hayao Miyazaki quote: “You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither side.” Prochet explains further in the album’s press materials, saying, “I used to feel nostalgic growing into adulthood, but now that I understand that concept of impermanence, I don’t take it as personally anymore.”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Live God
Dec. 5
Live God is — as you can probably guess based on the title — a live album from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds recorded in 2024 and 2025 during the tour for their excellent Wild God LP. Naturally, it consists primarily of Wild God tracks, but the album does also include live versions of classics like “Red Right Hand” and “Into My Arms.” It’s also worth noting that the live version of “Wild God” was recorded during a 2024 show in Paris that inspired none other than Bob Dylan to tweet out his stamp of approval: “Saw Nick Cave in Paris recently at the Accor Arena and I was really struck by that song Joy where he sings ‘We’ve all had too much sorrow, now it the time for joy,’” Dylan wrote. “I was thinking to myself, yeah that’s about right.”
Sam Fender, People Watching (Deluxe Edition)
Dec. 5
Back in October, Sam Fender won the U.K.’s prestigious Mercury Prize for his album People Watching, and now he’s putting out a new deluxe edition of the record that includes eight added tracks, including a collaboration with Elton John called “Talk to You.” “It’s a song about the end of a long relationship — about the regret, the mistakes and the lessons that come with it,” Fender explains in a statement. “It’s that feeling of losing your best friend and coming to terms with that. I was playing around with the riff and thought what I need is a really good pianist and then hmmm, I wonder who I can call? And of course, who better than Elton John.”
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Dec. 5
Jeremy Allen White did his own singing in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, and he did such a good job that The Boss himself reportedly couldn’t tell the difference between his voice and White’s when listening to it. Now those performances are forever immortalized in the movie’s official soundtrack, which includes White covering “Born in the U.S.A.,” “I’m on Fire,” “Atlantic City” and other Springsteen favorites along with Little Richard’s “Lucille” and John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” — two tracks that Springsteen has often performed live with the E Street Band.
YOUR MONTHLY PLAYLIST
It’s inescapable. With Christmas creeping closer and closer, you’ve no doubt already heard Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” at least once this year, whether you gleefully queued it up yourself or encountered it in the wild as you knocked out some holiday shopping.
As it celebrates its 31st anniversary this year, calling “All I Want for Christmas Is You” a holiday classic feels like an understatement. It’s got everything that makes a Christmas song great: sleigh bells, catchy backup vocals that are easy enough to sing along with for those not blessed with Carey’s range, plenty of yearning. At its core, it’s a love song wrapped up in green and red with a lacy silver bow on top. What’s more universal, after all, than “I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know”?
Mariah’s holiday opus is now a modern standard on par with other beloved classics like “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and, hell, even “Jingle Bells.” It’s hard to think of another holiday song in the last 30 years that’s had the same impact, which begs the question: Where are the other modern Christmas classics?
Below, we’ve put together a playlist of 30 strong contenders — some festive, some goofy, some sad, and all original compositions — that were penned and released in the years since 1994. If you need a break from “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” we’ve got you covered.
ARTIST RECOMMENDATIONS
Each month, we catch up with a few musicians, actors, comedians or otherwise cool people whose opinions we respect to hear about a piece of pop culture they’re particularly excited about. This month, it’s Dennis Ryan of Deer Tick, Molly Tuttle, and Joshua Ackley of The Dead Betties.
Billie Marten, Dog Eared
“The older I get, the deeper my love for music grows. However, the albums or pieces of music that enter heavy rotation become fewer. There’s so much out there, and so readily available. I tend to enjoy and move on, for better or worse. I didn’t know what to expect when a friend shared Billie Marten’s Dog Eared album with me. Immediately I was enamored with its sonic quality, but keep coming back for its depth and substance. The cover art perfectly portrays the hues and textures of the sound. Lyrics that are vivid, interesting, yet not too dense. There’s a nostalgia, an employment of negative space that affords personal interpretation and vast emotional resonance. Songs that could exist on their own without the thoughtful production. Thoughtful production that doesn’t overstate itself but is unique, confident and interesting. I don’t skip a song, share the album with everyone I can and continue to discover new facets that fascinate me.”
Geese, Getting Killed
“I’ve been loving the new album Getting Killed by the band Geese. I just watched their live ‘From the Basement’ performance of the whole album on YouTube and was totally blown away. I hadn’t been familiar with their music until this recent album came out but now I’m obsessed!”
DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ
“One of my favorite artists of the last decade is the mysterious and completely singular DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ. No one really knows who she is, and that only adds to the magic. Her album Destiny is a landmark. It’s four hours long and somehow not a single minute disappoints. It’s some of the most finely crafted dance music you can find, wildly meticulous and overflowing with detail. Every track feels engineered to shift your mood, open your mind and pull you into a better version of whatever moment you’re in. If you ever find yourself boxed into a dark corner, the song ‘Brave‘ will snap you back into the world instantly. The whole album is like that. It’s meditative and beautiful, but also euphoric, alive and deeply emotional.
“People love guessing who DJ Sabrina actually is. My husband swears it is Kylie Minogue. I truly have no idea. I’ve exchanged the occasional instant message with DJ Sabrina, which is always a delight, but the mystery remains intact. What I do know is that the music is five-star, first-class and unlike anything else being made right now. Destiny is transcendent. It’s mood-altering. It is life-shifting. It is perspective-changing. It is everything you want from an album and somehow more. It’s perfect.”
WORTH REVISITING
The Holdovers (2023)
Streaming on Apple TV and available to rent on Prime Video
There are large chunks of The Holdovers that look cold — literally and figuratively — by design, whether it’s the snowy New England landscape or the way curmudgeonly history teacher Paul Hunham instinctively keeps everyone around him at an arm’s length. But from the very first pops and hisses of a vinyl record player that open the 1970-set film, it feels warm. The Holdovers reunites director Alexander Payne with Paul Giamatti (who is absolutely deserving of his Golden Globe nomination as Hunham), and it follows a lonely trio as they bond over being stuck at the fictional Barton Academy over Christmas break. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is great in her Oscar-winning turn as Mary, a cafeteria worker at the school whose son has recently died in Vietnam, but the real breakout performance here belongs to Dominic Sessa, who landed the role of the angsty prep-school kid Angus Tully after Payne’s casting director showed up at Sessa’s real-life boarding school and plucked him from obscurity. (It sounds like a movie plot itself, doesn’t it?) Sessa is a natural talent, and despite only appearing in high-school plays prior to being cast in The Holdovers, he holds his own against Giamatti. The general conceit is nothing new — we can create our own family, lonely Scrooge-like characters have their hearts melted around the holidays, etc. — but it’s the kind of lovely, touching character study that rarely gets made these days, and it’s a worthy addition to your Christmas streaming queue.
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