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by Julian Spivey “Mank” (Netflix) – Friday, December 4 “Mank” is the type of movie that really makes a classic film buff giddy with excitement. It’s the story of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, who may or may not have written the majority of “Citizen Kane,” considered by the American Film Institute to be the greatest American film ever made, what inspired him to do so and the battle with that film’s director Orson Welles over a writing credit. “Mank” is director David Fincher’s (“Fight Club,” “The Social Network”) first film since 2014’s “Gone Girl” and is already considered by many as a possible front-runner for Best Picture at the 2021 Academy Awards. “Mank” stars Oscar-winner Gary Oldman in the titular role with Amanda Seyfried drawing Oscar buzz for her supporting role. “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Prime) – Friday, December 4 Director Darius Marder’s “Sound of Metal” stars Emmy-winner Riz Ahmed (“The Night Of”) as a heavy metal drummer who’s beginning to lose his hearing and the struggles of accepting his hardship. Critics have been raving about Ahmed’s performance and he could be in the running for a Best Actor Oscar nomination as a result. “Sound of Metal” won the Golden Eye for Best Film in the International Feature Film Competition category at the Zurich Film Festival. “Mad About You” Complete Series (Amazon Prime) – Tuesday, December 8 In a month that is featuring numerous premieres of films with Oscar-buzz surrounding them (literally everything else on this list this month) it’s an NBC sitcom from the ‘90s that’s among the most exciting things coming to streaming for me. I absolutely love “Mad About You,” which starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt and ran originally from 1992-1999. The first few seasons have the series have been streaming on Amazon Prime Video for a while now, but for the first time the entire series will be available in one place – and most excitingly for me – this includes the revival season that aired on the little viewed Spectrum Originals late last year that many of us “Mad About You” fans have been waiting desperately to see. “Let Them All Talk” (HBO Max) – Thursday, December 10 “Let Them All Talk,” the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh (who feels like the hardest working man in the film industry), gets three of the best actresses of the last half century together for a comedy-drama about trying to revive old friendships. Three-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep stars as an award-winning author who invited two old friends from college (played by two-time Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest and five-time Emmy-winner Candice Bergen) on a cruise with the hope of rekindling relationships and repairing old wounds. The idea of Streep, Wiest and Bergen together is frankly delicious. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix) – Friday, December 18 Based on August Wilson’s play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” directed by George C. Wolfe and co-produced by Denzel Washington who previously directed and starred in “Fences,” another Wilson adaptation to great reviews, is drawing Oscar-buzz for its lead Viola Davis (who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for “Fences”) and for the late Chadwick Boseman, who makes his final film appearance in the movie. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” sees tensions rising over the course of a recording sessions in 1920s Chicago with “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey (played by Davis) and an ambitious young trumpeter (played by Boseman) looking to make his mark. “The Midnight Sky” (Netflix) – Wednesday, December 23 George Clooney pulls double threat action on “The Midnight Sky,” a science fiction film about a scientist in the Arctic on a post-apocalyptic Earth who tries to contact the crew of a space mission out to find another habitable home and warn them not to return. Clooney both stars as the scientist and directed the film, which is based off a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton. “The Midnight Sky” features a superb supporting cast that features Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo and Kyle Chandler. “Soul” (Disney+) – Friday, December 25 I have a feeling the latest movie from Pixar will be a huge family viewing experience for folks this Christmas as it premieres on Disney+ to no extra cost to subscribers of the streaming service (unlike “Mulan” in September). “Soul,” directed by Pete Docter (“Up,” “Inside Out”), is about a music teacher who has always wanted to perform jazz onstage and finally gets his chance when an accident causes the separation of his soul from his body and then needs help reuniting the two. The voice cast of “Soul” features Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey and should be your typical heartwarming fare from Pixar.
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