9 Things To Stream This Thanksgiving Break That Aren't Deadpool & Wolverine

Out earlier this year, Transformers One is a computer-animated prequel to the whole saga, focused on Optimus and Megatron’s early relationship on their home planet of Cybertron. It has a star-studded ensemble cast but some real uneven moments, with animation that rarely holds a candle to that in the 1986 movie. The action sequences are great, though, and the climactic ending is worth the build-up. — Ethan Gach

Where to watch: Paramount+

Gladiator II is currently in theaters and won’t hit streaming anytime soon. Luckily the first one is a an all-time classic, and not just because dads the world over can’t help but finish the whole thing while standing uncomfortably to the side of the couch anytime they walk into the room when it’s on. Russell Crowe’s Maximus gives everyone a reason to keep thinking about Rome, or at least the dream of what it could be. — Ethan Gach

Where to watch: Paramount+

If, like me, the only thing that keeps you sane when returning to your hometown for the holidays is reminders that the world is bigger than the smallest town that ever existed, you might find Heartstopper to be just what you need. Three seasons of delightfully saccharine queer teen drama, this mostly low-stakes, breezy show has a lot of great young talent you’ve probably seen in things like Agatha All Along and The Wild Robot. It’s just a really sweet watch that I go back to every now and then like comfort food. Season 3 gets into some heavier subject matter, though. Like any high school love story, don’t expect it to stay sweet forever. — Kenneth Shepard

Where to watch: Netflix

I cannot recommend The Lincoln Lawyer enough. The legal thriller based on the Michael Connelly books just wrapped up its third season. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo stars as the win-at-all-costs Mickey Haller, a lawyer whose noble intentions and love of good food absolve him of all sins. The support cast is all S-tier, and the show offers a idyllic but convincing view of a healthy workplace where everyone has each other’s backs and is always working toward a better version of themselves. It sounds saccharine but it’s played just right. This show rules. — Ethan Gach

Where to watch: Netflix

Trap is an M. Night Shyamalan thriller about tricking you into writing it off before it pulls the rug out from under you. Josh Hartnett plays a loving dad and sociopathic killer trying to keep his world from falling apart by sowing chaos at the weirdest recreation of a pop concert you’ve ever seen. If you don’t try to take it too seriously it’s actually pretty funny, with plenty to appreciate on various levels no matter where on the Shyamalan hate meter you fall. — Ethan Gach

Where to watch: Max

Often, confronting your own family’s quirks around the holidays can be exasperating. What’s so great about Shrinking, the Apple+ series which just reached the end of its second season, is that it knows how complicated and exasperating so many of us can be, but examines life’s challenges in a way that just makes you love and laugh at humanity, which you may not be liable to do when the inescapably flawed person you’re dealing with is not a character on TV but your real-life uncle who’s been making the same obnoxious jokes since you were 5 years old. Jason Segel is great as Jimmy, a dad and therapist who’s been having a hard time of it lately, but the show’s real treasure is Harrison Ford as Paul, Jimmy’s gruff but fundamentally compassionate colleague who offers hard-earned wisdom and guidance but also needs some help himself sometimes. After decades of seeing Ford make bristly talk-show appearances that showed him to be a far cry from the roguish heroes he’s so often portrayed, it seems like the role, at long last, he was born to play. — Carolyn Petit

Where to watch: Apple TV+

Looking for something funny that you only have to sort of pay attention to while dealing with your family? Try the Simpsons Movie! It’s packed with jokes that work regardless of how much you’ve watched the show, plus everyone in your family is likely familiar with the cartoon and its characters and will probably enjoy it. Maybe they’ll even be quiet and you can cook or clean in peace for a moment while they watch Homer being a buffoon. — Zack Zwiezen

Where to watch: Disney+

From is a Stephen King-approved examination of small-town horror in the mold of Lost. It recently wrapped up its third season and got renewed for a fourth. Kotaku contributing editor John Walker loves it. Here’s an excerpt from his review:

From is very much about how different people manage to survive in such a bizarre reality. There are those who see a chance to live a life without society’s rules, albeit by following new rules that let them survive the nights. There are others who try to make the best of a terrible situation through acceptance and attempts to carve a new normality. And there are those who just want to escape. It’s the latter that are most feared, and the most likely to get themselves and others killed.

Where to watch: MGM+

Silo is another great show nobody is talking about. The sci-fi mystery series about a post-apocalyptic future in which humankind tries to survive in tiny underground cities is refreshingly anti-prestige TV. It’s aimed squarely at the episode-to-episode discoveries about what lies beyond the titular silos and why no one can ever leave them, and the small, inter-personal dramas driving characters’ motivations. No one is winning an Emmy here. Instead, the show harkens back to an era when sci-fi could be unabashed genre TV. The result is humble ambitions and super-charged watchability. — Ethan Gach

Where to watch: Apple TV+