This week we have a festive treat: a bumper episode for a bumper crop of new Netflix films.

Heavyweight drama Power of the Dog goes for the awards. Action blockbuster Red Notice goes for the masses. Somewhere in between is Don’t Look Up, a star-studded satire with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep(!). 

With all the talent and hype, we were “excited … but concerned.” Which should you watch over the holidays?  

First: Don’t Look Up (02:14), which “goes very broad very quickly” but has “Veep vibes” and “a lot of cool symbolisms.”

• Why would every actor sign up for this? (11:39)
• Favorite characters and actors, if any (15:30)
• Ariana Grande’s “stomach-churning” song and a mysterious Friends cameo (20:01)
• Stream It or Leave It? (23:32)

Second: Power of the Dog (24:35), a “feminist There Will Be Blood” directed by Jane Campion, whom we “love,” but had concerns about the amount of time "Benedict Cumberbatch was going to chew”: 

• Who kills it among Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, and Kodi Smit-McPhee (27:55)
• Spoiler Alert! (32:11) Does it nail the heavy themes? 
• Did it earn its controversial ending? (38:16)
• Religious and mystical meanings of the title (42:58)
• Stream It or Leave It? (48:02)

Last and definitely least, we gab Red Notice (48:35):

“If Power of the Dog was ‘misery porn’ then … Red Notice is just misery.”

We break down the three films’ awards-season chances (53:08).

Bonus: What else we’re watching (54:36)

• Jeff: Alanis Morrissette doc Music Box: Jagged (HBO Max); docu-series Coming Out Colton (Netflix)
• Mat: mammoth Beatles documentary Get Back (Disney+)
• Shindy: And Just Like That (HBO Max) and the new Dune (VOD)

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Follow the crew: 

Shindy Chen: @shindychen on Instagram and Twitter, @realshindychen on TikTok

Mat Sanchez: IG @matflixx, Twitter: @mrmatsanchez

Jeff Kuns: