Netflix is adding just 8 new shows and movies to the streaming service this week. But when one of those shows is the final season of “Stranger Things,” it’s tough to focus on much else. Especially with four-and-a-half hours worth of episodes dropping the night before Thanksgiving.
However, the Christmas season is also upon us, and that means that the Christmas movie season is also here. Netflix has never been one to shy away from a Christmas rom-com, and this week it’s giving us a new one: “Jingle Bell Heist.”
Malcolm McMillan
Malcolm has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. Every week, he hunts down the top shows and movies to watch on Netflix.
New on Netflix this week: Top picks
‘Stranger Things’ season 5: Volume 1
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This week marks the beginning of the end for “Stranger Things.” The show is finally ending after nearly a decade, starting with the four episodes of volume 1 dropping at 8 p.m. ET this Wednesday (Nov. 26). Volume 2 will arrive next month on Dec. 25 with three episodes, and then volume 3 will conclude the series with a massive final episode on Dec. 31, which will also be shown in theaters.
If you’ve never seen “Stranger Things,” the show is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the mid-1980s. It’s home to the fictional Hawkins National Laboratory, and those mad government scientists secretly opened a portal to an alternate dimension known as the “Upside Down.”
This quickly causes some issues for the residents of Hawkins, including Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), who disappears into the Upside Down in season 1. He’s rescued by his friends and a young psychokinetic girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), but has still maintained a connection to the Upside Down as the show has gone on. This season is set four years after those events in season 1, and has the Hawkins crew headed into the Upside Down one last time to defeat the evil entity known as Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
Watch on Netflix starting Nov. 26 at 5 p.m. PT
‘Jingle Bell Heist’
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“Jingle Bell Heist” stars Olivia Holt as Sophia, a retail worker stuck working long hours and forced to clean up vomit. She finds common cause with Nick (Connor Swindells), a repairman who was hired to upgrade the security system at the department store Olivia works at, but was then stiffed on payment for the job. Plot twist: they’re both fed up, and they both want to rob the store.
Will this movie be good? Well … that remains to be seen. But if you like a Christmas rom-com and are tired of seeing the same story about a big city woman falling for a small town man during the holidays, then this movie at least looks like something different. Even if it’s ultimately not that good, it could still be fun.
Watch on Netflix starting Nov. 26
‘Is It Cake? Holiday’ season 2
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Chances are you’ve heard of the show “Is It Cake.” In this show, based on a viral internet sensation, contestants are instructed to bake a cake that looks like it could be anything from a common object to a non-cake food item. If you can fool the judges into guessing whether your cake is (or isn’t) cake incorrectly, then you can win some serious cash.
In “Is It Cake? Holiday” season 2, the premise is the same, but the theme is now festive, with bakers making cakes shaped like animals, gingerbread men, Christmas trees, etc. They’ll need to fool some serious celebrity judges, including Kristen Bell, Lacey Chabert, Michael Urie, Dustin Milligan, Kel Mitchell, Lamorne Morris and more. Like in season 1, the holiday special will be hosted by “Saturday Night Live” cast member Mikey Day.
Watch on Netflix starting Nov. 25
‘Left-Handed Girl’
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“Jingle Bell Heist” may be the most buzzy movie hitting Netflix this week, but “Left-Handed Girl” is the movie I’m most excited for. Starring Shih-Yuan Ma, Janel Tsai, Nina Ye, and Teng-Hui Huang, this movie tells the story of a single mother and her daughters, who have moved back to Taipei, Taiwan, after several years living in the country.
At first, things seem promising, with the mother opening and running a night market. But the story quickly becomes a more complex story of surviving in this new world, particularly for the young, left-handed girl at the heart of it, who catches flak from some of her older, more traditional relatives for using her “devil hand.”
Produced and written by Shih-Ching Tsou (who also directs) and Sean Baker (“Anora”) “Left-Handed Girl has already been selected as the Taiwanese entry for Best International Feature Film at next year’s Academy Awards. I can’t wait to watch it this week.
Watch on Netflix starting Nov. 28
‘Missing: Dead or Alive?’ season 2
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“Missing Dead or Alive?” is returning for its second season this week on Netflix. This documentary series explores a collection of real missing persons cases, and centers around the officers at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department Missing Persons Unit in Columbia, South Carolina, who are looking for answers.
Unfortunately, investigations sometimes prove that these people aren’t always just missing. In some instances, something far more sinister has occurred. In “Missing Dead or Alive?” season 2, the show explores a young woman who disappears in the dead of night and a man who vanishes without his possessions. True crime fans won’t want to miss this one.
Watch on Netflix now
‘The Stringer: The Man Who Took The Photo’
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“The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo” is a documentary film from this year’s Sundance Film Festival that focuses on the Vietnam War photograph, “The Terror of War.” This famous photo, commonly referred to as “Napalm Girl,” depicts Phan Thi Kim Phuc running from a napalm attack during the war. The photo has always been credited to Nick Ut, but after a two-year investigation, this documentary posits that it was a photo stringer (freelanceer) named Nguyen Thanh Nghe who really took the iconic image.
This movie is not without controversy. The Associated Press rebutted this film’s claims with evidence, primarily in a lengthy report written over the course of six months. Statements from Ut, who is considering a defamation suit, and his colleagues, have also been cited as evidence against the conclusion this movie reaches. Regardless, it’s been hailed as a masterpiece by critics, currently rated “100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Watch on Netflix starting Nov. 28
‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’
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Can you watch “Aquaman” on Netflix? Well … no, you can’t. But starting this week, you can watch the 2023 sequel to the 2018 superhero movie, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” So if you caught the first movie but missed the second, now is your chance to complete Jason Momoa’s duology as the iconic superhero.
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” has Momoa reprising his role as half-human/half-Atlantean Arthur Curry aka Aquaman. At the end of the first movie, Aquaman defeated Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and earned the support of his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) and Orm’s followers. Now, he has to team up with Orm, breaking him out of prison so they can prevent Black Manta from killing their family and using the cursed Black Trident to overheat the world. But that’s not their only quest. They’re also searching for the lost seventh kingdom of the seas.
Watch on Netflix starting Nov. 27
Everything new on Netflix: Nov. 24-30
NOVEMBER 24
“Missing: Dead or Alive?” season 2 (Netflix documentary)
Follow officers from a South Carolina sheriff’s department as they urgently search for individuals who’ve disappeared under troubling circumstances.
NOVEMBER 25
“Is It Cake? Holiday” season 2 (Netflix series)
Is It Cake? Holiday returns for another festive season with Mikey Day and six All-Star cake artists! Three Is It Cake alum and three baking heavy hitters try to fool celebrity judges with their incredible hyper-realistic cakes. Each episode, the bakers will compete for their share of the $75,000 prize pot and a coveted spot in the finale. This holiday season the stakes, the bakes, and the cakes are better than ever!
NOVEMBER 26
“Jingle Bell Heist” (Netflix film)
Sophia (Olivia Holt), a sharp-witted retail worker, and Nick (Connor Swindells), a down-on-his-luck repairman, are small-time thieves with their eyes on the same Christmas Eve score: robbing London’s most notorious department store. Forced into an uneasy alliance, as secrets surface and feelings for each other deepen, Sofia and Nick put their relationship and the heist in jeopardy.
“Stranger Things” season 5: Volume 1 (Netflix series) (Releasing at 5 p.m. PT)
The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.
NOVEMBER 27
- “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”
NOVEMBER 28
“Left-Handed Girl” (TW) (Netflix film)
When a mother and her two daughters relocate to Taipei to open a night market stall, they encounter challenges and secrets that threaten family unity.
“The Stringer: The Man Who Took The Photo” (Netflix documentary)
A former Saigon photo editor reveals a secret he’s been plagued with for 52 years, setting off a gripping two-year investigation into the truth behind one of the Vietnam War’s most iconic photographs. Acclaimed conflict photographer Gary Knight and a small team of journalists embark on a relentless search to locate and seek justice for a man known only as “the stringer.”
Leaving Netflix This Week
Good news! Nothing is leaving Netflix this weekend, so enjoy not having to scramble to watch your favorite show or movie before it’s gone.
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