The best movies to watch this Thanksgiving weekend

(Image credit: Illustrated | Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images, Fourleaflover/iStock)

published 27 November 2019

If you have one of those families that fights over the TV remote after Thanksgiving dinner, then you've come to the right place. There is something out there for everyone this holiday weekend, whether you're looking to watch a movie that puts you in the Christmas spirit, a special that you can sing along to, or a TV show that will creep you out when you go down for midnight leftovers.

Assuming you can get mom to turn off The Irishman and the cousins to take a break from making Baby Yoda gifs, here is what The Week recommends you watch this Thanksgiving weekend.

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The most fun you can have at the movies this holiday season is the madcap Knives Out, starring an ensemble cast including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, and Ana de Armas — just to name a few. A classic whodunit that will draw inevitable comparisons to Clue, you don't want to have this one spoiled for you (it's out Wednesday). The script has enough twists and turns to throw off even the sharpest armchair detectives in your family, while still pulling ample inspiration from other classics of the murder-mystery genre.

You might already be familiar with first-time director Melina Matsoukas due to her incredible music videos, including Beyoncé's "Formation." Queen & Slim is Matsoukas' first feature, and is described by The Week contributor Jesse Hassenger as a powerful and political work "that acknowledges the tragedies of life as a black person in the United States, without becoming a lecture." When a black man and woman are pulled over at the end of a lackluster first date, they nearly become another set of statistics in America's epidemic of police violence against unarmed people of color. Instead, there is a scuffle and the police officer ends up dead. The couple decide to run rather than turn themselves in, resulting in a black Bonnie and Clyde story that Slate calls a "close cousin" of Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk.

If you have young children, you've likely already been dragged to see Frozen 2, which blew into theaters last weekend with the biggest opening for an animated film outside of summer. For those not yet caught up on the latest adventures of the princesses Anna and Elsa, the sentient snowman Olaf, the iceman Kristoff and his reindeer pal Sven, though, you won't likely be let down by this sequel. "Rest assured ... Frozen 2 is no soulless retread [of 2013's Frozen], but rather a much more narratively complex, visually inventive, and thematically interesting follow-up than anticipated," writes our critic. "Its reach at times exceeds its grasp, but the effort is consistently admirable."

The latest role Tom Hanks was "born to play" is that of Mr. Rogers, the beloved children's television show personality whose capacity for love and kindness overflowed the bounds of the small screen. Based loosely on a true story, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood follows Esquire writer Tom Junod (Matthew Rhys), who has a reputation for producing incisive pieces of investigative journalism and despairs when he's assigned a puff piece that sends him to Pittsburgh to profile Mr. Rogers. In Pennsylvania, though, Mr. Rogers appears to see something in Tom and shakes the cynical journalist to his core. What sounds, in summary, cheesy and sentimental is sharp, moving, and even surprisingly dark; it is a must-see that even grandpa will enjoy.

Another year, another absurdly premised Vanessa Hudgens Christmas movie. This time around, Hudgens plays a kindly schoolteacher who takes in a literal medieval knight (Josh Whitehouse) after he is transported through space and time by an old crone. Sure, it's all very silly, and you'll have to get past its ridiculous Alexa product placement, but it's also the perfect Christmas movie to watch once you're finally sick of The Holiday (or secretly just can't wait for The Princess Switch: Switched Again — I won't tell).

Kacey Musgraves' Album of the Year-winning Golden Hour was one of the best things to come out of 2018, and the pop-country star is back to bless us again this year with a holiday special. "My vision was to bring my old [2016] Christmas album to life visually and create a modern and fashionable, fresh take on a classic format," Musgraves has said. "It's a nostalgic, Wes Anderson-inspired reimagining of the holidays." The project features, among others, Lana Del Rey, Zooey Deschanel, Kendall Jenner, Fred Armisen, and the Radio City Rockettes. Clearly a believer in the maxim that "Christmas doesn't start until after Thanksgiving," Musgraves won't be releasing the special until Friday.

For those who prefer "the gloomy clouds of night" to "shiny and bright," Apple's new streaming service has you covered. Servant, a psychological thriller created by Tony Basgallo and produced and partially directed by M. Night Shyamalan, will premiere in full on Thanksgiving. The show centers on the wealthy Turner family after they lose their only child, Jericho, when he is still an infant. The mother, Dorothy, is given a lifelike baby doll to emotionally fill the void left by her dead son, and she goes as far as to hire a creepy young nanny to help her with "childcare." "The show pretty quickly proves that it's able to synthesize its initial premise into a larger story worthy of serialization," writes Den of Geek, noting that Servant "doesn't just feel like a movie spread out over several episodes to match the preferred TV format."

If Knives Out left you craving more Daniel Craig (we've all been there), then next-day-deliver yourself the brand-spanking-new crystal-clear 4K Ultra HD blu-ray collection of his work as everyone's favorite MI6 agent. Featuring Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre, this box set will have you all caught up for No Time to Die's release next year (plus, it'll occupy you and your cousins for a good 541 minutes over the weekend). You won't have to worry about buying too many additional blu-rays to complete your set, either; Craig insists he is very, very done playing 007.

Start clearing off shelf space: Cinephiles who want to fully commit to the Thanksgiving Weekend Binge Watch can't go wrong with the gorgeously-packaged Criterion Collection Godzilla box set, which contains all 15 Godzilla films made between 1954 and 1975. Watch the original Japanese Godzilla, the so-called "grandfather of monster movies," side-by-side with its "Americanized" remake, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, or jump straight into the weird stuff with Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, in which our kaiju hero fights ... a giant crab? If you don't get through all 15 movies in one long weekend, don't worry; you have until Thanksgiving next year before the release of Godzilla vs. Kong. If you still need help getting started, browse Den of Geek's list of the Showa-Era Godzilla films ranked.

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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