What to Watch with Your Dad during the Holidays
What to Watch with Your Dad during the Holidays
Every year around this time, I have to compile a list of film and TV to watch with my dad. I know I’m not the only person who just can’t watch The Dirty Dozen with Ron Swanson over and over, so here’s my list to help out my fellow cinephiles as we approach Falling Asleep after Overeating while Rewatching The Godfather with Local Commercials Season.
Here’s what “dad movie” means in our context:
There are no sex scenes (or, minimal).
It’s a fast-paced thriller, so I can talk about what I think is going to happen.
There’s violence, so he can tell me how inaccurate the guns and fighting are.
There’s nothing overtly political or religious.
Almost all of them are streaming by the end of the year.
And there are probably (definitely) a few westerns or deep history cuts in here, for the true “dad movie” lovers. So if you’re looking for thrillers streaming now on Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, or even HBO and Apple, here’s the list I’m considering this holiday season.
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Films streaming now:
Roofman image provided by Paramount Pictures
Roofman directed by Derek Cianfrance – streaming on YouTube
Jeffrey Manchester —a real Army veteran—made a living robbing McDonald’s restaurants by breaking in through the roof. He then escaped his prison sentence to live in a Toys “R” Us for months. When he falls for one of the employees (Kirsten Dunst) romantically… his situation gets compromised. This one is pretty light-hearted, all things considered.
Black Bag directed by Steven Soderbergh – streaming on Amazon
This one is a tight, 90-minute British heist among MI6 agents working in Russia. George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) suspects his loving wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) of collusion, but because they’re both spies, they’re both also adept at counter-espionage!
A House of Dynamite image provided by Netflix
A House of Dynamite directed by Kathryn Bigelow – streaming on Netflix
What happens when U.S. Alaska Army base detects an unidentified missile heading straight for Chicago? They try to dismantle it by “shooting a bullet with a bullet” before it completely levels Chicago. This one is HIGH suspense. Not to be half-watched.
Dumb Money directed by Craig Gillespie – streaming on Hulu
This movie is so interesting! Remember when GameStop stock soared? This movie is about that phenomenon, how it happened, and who made it happen. I would put this one at the top of my dad movie list.
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Series streaming now:
Black Rabbit image provided by Netflix
Black Rabbit (minus one episode with the one mild sex scene) – streaming on Netflix
Brothers Jake (Jude Law) and Vince (Jason Bateman) opened the Black Rabbit as a high-end NYC bar and restaurant… but when Vince’s gambling debt to a local crime syndicate (as well as other crimes of his) comes back to haunt him, Jake can’t help but help, and then the whole enterprise starts caving in. This is a great one to watch if you’re visiting for a few days, or if there are brothers to watch with.
Untamed – streaming on Netflix
This one follows Yosemite National Parks Service Agent (Eric Bana) as he investigates the death of a woman who fell off El Capitan. It’s a classic whodunnit style mystery, and I’d recommend this one, too, if you’re in town for a while or if your family is full of nature-lovers.
Task – streaming on HBO
Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) is a middle-aged priest-turned-FBI agent in Philadelphia’s working-class Delaware suburbs taken off desk duty by his soon-to-retire boss and assigned to the case of a missing child. And Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) is a big-hearted sanitation worker who robs drug dealers. I feel like that’s all I need to say… this one is great for the dad who loves an underdog, honor among thieves, or a Good Ol’ Boy.
1883 – streaming on Paramount+
Look, I do not watch Yellowstone. And I don’t listen to contemporary country music. But I did play The Oregon Trail in school, and I do love to look at Martin Sensmeier. So, here we have the Venn diagram of those interests in the package of a limited series. Trail guides (like Sam Elliott and LaMonica Garrett) take families of Civil-War-soldiers and sharecroppers (like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill) and immigrants (like James Landry Hebert and Gratiela Brancusi) alike west to Oregon. There are cowboys and Indians and so much more nuance than any old timey western. Y’all, it is action-packed and fascinating and I cannot oversell it. If y’all haven’t watched this, do it! (I seriously can’t believe Tim McGraw didn’t win awards for this performance.)
Slow Horses, Season 5 image provided by AppleTV+
Slow Horses – streaming on AppleTV
If you love British wit and espionage and Gary Oldman, you have five seasons of Slow Horses to get into. It’s set in Slough House, which is the London office where all the MI5 agents go when they’ve gotten into trouble. The seasons are short, brash, dynamic, and awesome. There are no sex scenes, but there is lots of swearing, British style, so keep that in mind when you’re listing stuff to watch with your dad.
Death by Lightning image provided by Netflix
Death by Lightning – streaming on Netflix
For the American history buff, but also the viewer who appreciates the irony of the worst parts of history repeating themselves. This one is about how President James Garfield (Michael Shannon) was elected to office sort of on a lark—especially since he had the likes of Chester Arthur (Nick Offerman!), his ultimate VP, working against him. And despite according to the film, him being maybe the best candidate for president we’ve ever seen, he was still assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen). Note: there is one very brief sex moment it the background of the first episode, and there are many scenes of drunken revelry and much swearing throughout.
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Dad Movies now in theaters:
Nuremberg – directed by James Vanderbilt
This one is for the history buff dad. To recap, the Nuremberg trials set the precedent for trying war criminals despite the ambiguity of international law. Here, psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) speaks with extremely high-ranking Nazi party officials, like Hermann Goring (Russell Crowe), to determine “if they’re fit to stand trial.” The job is essentially a suicide watch—by this time three leading officials had already killed themselves—but Douglas sees opportunity in his assignment: if he learns what sets these men apart, he can help prevent this level of atrocity from ever happening again.
The fall-back awesome dad movies:
On the off-chance you haven’t watched either of these classic dad movies with your dad, don’t forget about these!
There Will Be Blood directed by P.T. Anderson
Oil tycoon Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) buys up a whole town while battling its small-town church and preacher. Look: it won awards for a reason.
No Country for Old Men directed by Joel and Ethan Coen – streaming on Paramount+
Good Ol’ Boy and Vietnam veteran Llewllyn (Josh Brolin) goes hunting, but he happens upon a drug shoot-out… and two million unaccounted-for dollars. So he takes it. And the people he stole it from hire a bounty hunter, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) to retrieve it. To quote Llewellyn himself, “Baby, at what point would you quit lookin’ for your two million dollars?” This is the kind of masterpiece that happens when the Coen brothers adapt a Cormac McCarthy novel that he almost wrote as a screenplay to start. This one won so many awards (including four Oscars!), too…
All right, that ought to set you up for a movie to watch with dad!
If you like them, let me know!
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