Streaming

The best of the new streaming offerings on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney Plus and more.

Welcome to Boston.com weekly streaming guide. Each week we recommend five must-watch movies and TV shows available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO MaxPeacock, Paramount+ and more.

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For more great streaming options, check out previous editions of our Must-watch list here.

Stream new movies

“hand luggage”

Die Hard had just the right amount of Christmas lights and holiday cheer to make the question of whether or not it was a Christmas movie a worthwhile discussion. There’s no doubt about Carry-On, a new Netflix film that owes a huge debt of gratitude to John McClane – it’s 100 percent a Christmas movie.

Taron Egerton plays Ethan, a TSA agent whose pregnant girlfriend tries to get him to pursue his dreams and reapply to the police academy. He’s a little distracted when he’s suddenly confronted by a faceless criminal (Jason Bateman) who blackmails him into letting a deadly package through security. Director Jaume Collet-Serra has dabbled in thrillers that are better than they should be with Liam Neeson (“The Commuter,” “Non-Stop”), but this is his best work yet, a tense thriller starring Egerton, a capable replacement for Neeson in the role of the hunted hero.

How to watch: “Carry-On” is streaming on Netflix.

“Hundreds of beavers”

In the winter of 2019, independent filmmaker Mike Cheslik gathered a small crew in Wisconsin to make a micro-budget film called Hundreds of Beavers. Set in the harsh frontier of the 19th century Midwest, the comedy follows the misadventures of Jean Kayak, a drunken applejack salesman who must figure out how to trap and kill hundreds of beavers (portrayed by people in mascot costumes) – at first just to survive, but to eventually win his lover’s hand from her gruff father.

The film is a wild slapstick adventure, an homage to the pranks and stares of Charlie Chaplin and the Three Stooges, the death-defying stunts of Buster Keaton, and the cartoon logic of Tom and Jerry or Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. This is the most I’ve laughed at a movie in 2024. “Hundreds of Beavers” is free to watch on YouTube, but do yourself a favor and catch the midnight performance at Coolidge Corner Theater on Friday for the best viewing experience.

How to watch: “Hundreds of Beavers” streams for free with ads on YouTube.

“Juror No. 2”

Juror #2 is the kind of mid-budget drama that played in theaters every weekend 20 years ago. Instead, Warner Bros. decided to release the Clint Eastwood-directed film in fewer than 50 theaters nationwide in a single weekend before making its streaming debut on Max this weekend.

A twist on 12 Angry Men, Nicholas Hoult plays a juror who slowly realizes he may be connected to the case he is assigned to judge and grapples with the moral dilemma that arises. Unlike the Sidney Lumet classic, there is no Henry Fonda in a white suit posing as the voice of conscience. There is only Hoult asking many Americans the same question: Are truth and justice objective or is power the ultimate arbiter?

How to watch: “Juror #2” is streaming on Max.

Stream new TV shows

Gilmore Girls Christmas Collection.

Earlier this year, a colleague asked for a list of “comfortable” TV shows to watch in cold weather. After some discussion, we realized that she was actually looking for a list of shows similar to Gilmore Girls, of which there are basically none. Given our first big snowfall of the year, there’s no better show to curl up with on the couch than Amy Sherman-Palladino’s warm, funny dramedy.

Luckily, Hulu got the memo and put together a nine-part list of Gilmore Girls Christmas episodes so you can watch as Lorelai (Lauren Graham) invites the entire town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, to the festive Bracebridge dinner, Rory (Alexis Bledel ). ) are adapting to the addition of a new father figure to Christmas and more Christmas fun.

How to watch: The Gilmore Girls holiday collection is streaming on Hulu.

“Laid”

Ruby (Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”) experiences her midlife crisis a little early when the 33-year-old learns that her college boyfriend has died. She hasn’t had the best relationship luck – and, as it turns out, neither have her ex-partners, who all seem to die mysteriously.

The eight-episode series begins to resemble a fun-house mirror version of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as Ruby, unable to understand what’s happening, visits her former lovers to warn them of the apparent curse that follows her .

How to watch: “Laid” is streaming on Peacock.