It’s not an active week for streaming services as the pickings are fairly slim, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some great watches to choose from. If you’re eager to get in the mood for the holidays, start off with Meet Me Next Christmas for a romantic and fun quest for love, and Pentatonix tickets. Or maybe you’re still clinging to any semblance of warmer weather, and maybe some wild adventure, you can catch Outer Banks now that the second half of season 4 is out. Of course, if you want something a little more relatable, without getting too intense, catch Aubrey Plaza in My Old Ass now that it has landed on Prime Video.
On the other hand, maybe you’re in the mood for something grounded entirely in reality. First, check out Game Changers, a limited docuseries based around the video game industry and some of the most important games and developers that created the landscape we know today. After that, check out an exploration of the sunken ship Endurance, which was lost during an attempt to cross the Antarctic. Finally, if you didn’t get enough scares during October, Shudder has you covered with Black Cab, starring the incredible Nick Frost.
6 My Old Ass
Prime Video — Movie — November 7
Let’s be honest, we can probably all use some (semi-)innocent laughs, and a little Aubrey Plaza might be just the ticket. My Old Ass is a coming-of-age story that kicks off with eighteen-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) going out with her friends for a night livened up by some magic mushrooms in the woods. Rather than the trip she was expecting, she meets… herself, but older.
It’s the perfect time for a little sage wisdom from the perfect person, even if she’s only barely qualified to give it. Reviews have widely praised the on-screen chemistry between Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Rec) and Maisy Stella (Nashville), and the relatable story and direction by Megan Park. My Old Ass hit theaters earlier this fall, and it’s now rolling over to Amazon Prime Video for your streaming enjoyment.
5 Outer Banks
Netflix — Season 4, Part 2 — November 7
While summer is over and many of us are feeling the much cooler winter weather coming on, what better time to spend watching a show with perpetual warm island weather, and plenty of high stakes adventure. Outer Banks follows John B and his crew of friends on a series of treasure hunts, sure to include dangerous and sometimes illegal antics.
It’s a turn-off-your-brain show with ambitious and far-fetched plots, not to mention casting choices and acting that would seem perfectly at home on the CW; but sometimes that’s what makes a show fun to watch. Netflix released the first half of the fourth season back in October, but now the second half is available, so it’s a perfect time to binge through Outer Banks on Netflix. Oh, and it’s already renewed for a fifth and final season.
4 Meet Me Next Christmas
Netflix — Movie — November 6
We make fun of stores for rolling out Christmas decorations before kids are even done collecting Halloween candy, but it’s probably time to get used to streaming services doing the same. Nevertheless, if you’re ready for a romantic holiday flick, Meet Me Next Christmas is here to brighten up your weekend.
Layla (Christina Milian) and James (Kofi Siriboe) had the cutest of meet cutes last year, but when she revealed that she had a boyfriend, he proposed a second chance meeting scheduled for one year later at the annual Pentatonix Christmas concert. When Layla suddenly becomes single, she decides to make the meet-up and try again. That is until she finds out the concert is sold out, so she has to go on an urgent quest for a ticket. This brings her back into contact with Teddy (Devale Ellis), whom she shared a brief encounter with on the same night as meeting James, and now she might find herself having feelings for him too.
Hey, you know what you’re getting with Meet Me Next Christmas. Netflix is here with the sweet embrace of escapism.
3 Game Changers
Max — Docuseries — November 5
Gaming has driven much of the computer industry to advance far faster than it ever did, both in attracting new users and driving up the demands on hardware. Not to be confused with the comedy game show by the same name, Game Changers is a new eight-part documentary series on Discovery (and streaming on Max) about the history of some of the most influential and historically interesting games and companies.
The first episode focuses on Nintendo and its origins making 19th-century Japanese playing cards before making its storied shift into electronic gaming. The second episode explores a collaboration between Electronic Arts (now EA) and American football legend John Madden to create one of the most popular games in history.
Future episodes of Game Changers will be covering Pac-Man, Call of Duty, Sonic the Hedgehog, World of Warcraft, and Minecraft, plus notable board games Monopoly and Scrabble as they’ve made the transition to video games.
2 Endurance
Disney+ — Documentary — November 2
Follow along as a team sets out to find the sunken ship Endurance, once captained by Ernest Shackleton, the explorer determined to cross the continent of Antarctica. Recapture the steps that led to the loss of the ship over 100 years ago, and then the crew’s expedition over the ice that ultimately led to their rescue.
The documentary is a work of National Geographic, and streaming on Disney+ and/or Hulu (depending on region).
1 Black Cab
AMC+ / Shudder — Movie — November 8
Just because Halloween is in the rear view, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a little horror around the next corner. Nick Frost stars as a twisted and malicious driver in Shudder’s new movie, Black Cab, streaming on AMC+. And as always, AMC+ subscribers can also watch through Apple TV+, Prime Video, and YouTube.
At the end of the night after Anne and Patrick have just announced their plans to get married, they’re not in the best mood, but they hail a cab and are picked up by a chatty driver. Things seem to be going alright, if a bit annoying to the couple, until the driver begins revealing he may know private details about the couple. Soon it’s clear he isn’t about to let them out, and as he drives them deeper down a haunted road into the woods, things in the cab take a turn from bad to worse.