Movies Update: The Golden Globe nominations ignite awards season.

Plus, in praise of the bad Christmas movie

View in browser|nytimes.com December 13, 2024 By Mekado Murphy Hey, movie fans! Remember when the Golden Globe nominations were announced? This only happened Monday, but with news coming at a rapid end-of-the-year pace, it already seems like weeks ago. To refresh your memory, the swing-for-the-fences musical "Emilia Pérez" topped the list with 10 nominations, including nods for its three leads, Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez. (Gomez made some other exciting news this week, but I won't get sidetracked.) "The Brutalist," "Conclave," "Wicked" and "Anora," which all regularly pop up in the Oscar conversation, also received multiple nominations. And the twisted satire "The Substance," a movie that very much stuck with me this year, got four nominations and started a debate over whether it's a comedy (as the Globes categorized it). In theaters this week, more awards contenders are rolling out, including the acclaimed drama "Nickel Boys," which the critic Manohla Dargis called "a stunning achievement." And "Maria," starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas, is now available to stream on Netflix. The critic Alissa Wilkinson was left a little less than moved. In her review, she wrote, "Jolie is committed, but the camera spends almost all its time observing her unendingly desperate expression at close range." And you have plenty more options this week, including a new "Lord of the Rings" anime adventure and a superhero film in "Kraven the Hunter." (Though you might want to check out a review or two before heading to that one.) Enjoy the movies! Orion Pictures Critic's pick 'Nickel Boys' Review: Childhood's Brutal End This visually inventive adaptation of a Colson Whitehead novel follows two boys at an abusive school in Jim Crow-era Florida. By Manohla Dargis Pax Jolie-Pitt/Netflix 'Maria' Review: A Diva in Decline Angelina Jolie plays the opera star Maria Callas in a movie that can't figure her out. By Alissa Wilkinson The Projectionist Sex, Death, and Nicole Kidman Between her experience on "Babygirl" and her mother's death, the star has come to understand a lot about women in unfulfilled lives. By Kyle Buchanan and Thea Traff Netflix Critic's Notebook How I Aged Into the Bad Christmas Movie One December morning, a millennial critic awoke to discover that she had been begrudgingly charmed by an onslaught of Hallmark and Netflix holiday films. By Amanda Hess CRITICS' PICKS Jürgen Olczyk/Paramount Pictures Critic's pick 'September 5' Review: When the Munich Games Changed Our News Tim Fehlbaum's journalism procedural, starring Peter Sarsgaard, tracks the broadcast coverage of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics. By Manohla Dargis Janus Films Critic's Pick 'It's Not Me' Review: Entering the Mind of Leos Carax This personal film is a dynamic, even chaotic, collage of moments that bring the director back to his beginnings. By Nicolas Rapold MOVIE REVIEWS Warner Bros. Pictures 'Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim' Review: Side Quest This anime adaptation, drawn from Tolkien's appendices, focuses on a shield maiden, but mostly it serves as an excuse to revisit Middle-earth. By Maya Phillips Jay Maidment/Columbia Pictures/Marvel/Sony Pictures 'Kraven the Hunter' Review: A Seriously Silly Movie Aaron Taylor-Johnson's buff Marvel hero is overshadowed by unabashedly fun villains. By Robert Daniels Netflix 'Carry-On' Review: Travel Nightmares Amplified In this tense thriller, Taron Egerton plays a T.S.A. agent who goes up against an implacable terrorist (Jason Bateman). The man has a funny idea of what he wants to bring on a plane. By Glenn Kenny Ziv Koren/Jigsaw Jolt 'The Bibi Files' Review: The Case Against Netanyahu This documentary about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel looks at the corruption investigation and his enduring grip on the government. By Ben Kenigsberg HBO 'Nature of the Crime' Review: Yearning for a Second Chance Two incarcerated men navigate parole boards in a documentary that asks the question: Should the guiding principle of criminal justice be retribution or rehabilitation? By Sheri Linden Rico Torres/Lionsgate 'Dirty Angels' Review: Women on a Mission In this heavy-handed action movie, Eva Green plays a Marine who leads a squad trying to rescue schoolgirls in Afghanistan. By Natalia Winkelman Relativity 'The Man in the White Van' Review: Sleazy Rider In this derivative thriller, set in the early 1970s, young women are stalked by an anonymous killer. By Jeannette Catsoulis Peter H Stranks/Lionsgate 'Young Werther' Review: Updating an 18th-Century Love Triangle This charming film, starring Douglas Booth and Alison Pill, bridges the gap between Goethe's novel and the adaptation's modern city setting. By Brandon Yu NEWS & FEATURES Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures Critic's Notebook What 'Wicked' Has to Say About Our Current Political Moment By breaking the story into two movies, the emphasis in "Part One" shifts to a nation's potential decline into authoritarianism. Sound familiar? By Salamishah Tillet Warner Bros. What to Know About 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim' You don't have to know an orc from a Mumakil to enjoy the new animated adventure, though it'll certainly help. By Sarah Bahr Universal Pictures; Getty Images; Netflix Critic's Notebook It's Ariana Grande vs. Selena Gomez at the Oscars, at Least in Fans' Minds Stan armies are waging war over which pop star is the "better" actor. Movie lovers used to awards-season maneuvering haven't seen anything like this. By Esther Zuckerman Argot Pictures Documentary Lens Who Better to Explore the Mysteries of the Brain Than Werner Herzog? In "Theater of Thought," he talks to scientists and other experts about consciousness, quantum computing and whether parrots understand human speech. By Alissa Wilkinson MGM 36 Things That Stuck With Us in 2024 The movie scenes, TV episodes, song lyrics and other moments that reporters, critics, editors and visual journalists in Culture couldn't stop thinking about this year. By The New York Times Jumer Productions, Inc. Elaine May Makes a Rare Appearance to Talk About 'Mikey and Nicky' At a screening of the gangster tale starring Peter Falk and John Cassavetes, the director recalls her battle with Paramount to get the film released. By Lindsay Zoladz STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS Warner Bros. The Best Genre Movies of 2024 We look at the finest in science fiction, horror, action and international films, all available to stream. By Elisabeth Vincentelli, Erik Piepenburg, Robert Daniels and Devika Girish Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. 5 Children's Movies to Stream Now This month's picks include a sequel to a 1980s Tim Burton classic and an animated tale of a Christmas nearly gone wrong. By Dina Gachman Authored Works Five International Movies to Stream Now This month's picks include an Irish drama about a pirate-queen, a found-footage movie made from lost Palestinian films, a coming-of-age thriller from Mexico and more. By Devika Girish How are we doing? We'd love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to moviesupdate@nytimes.com. Like this email? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. 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