Staying Fit

’Tis the season for prestige streamers like Netflix to unwrap the precious projects they’re hoping the Academy will bless with Oscar love. This year that includes a Leonard Bernstein biopic starring (and directed by) Bradley Cooper, a tabloid-worthy drama featuring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, and an otherworldly drama with Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali possibly facing down the end of the world. Plus, Queen Elizabeth II returns for the final six episodes of that long-standing Emmy darling The Crown. Mark your calendar with these top 12 picks now!
Coming Dec. 1
May December (R)
Director Todd Haynes’ unsettling new drama has earned raves — and Oscar buzz — since premiering at the Cannes Film Festival last spring. Natalie Portman plays an actress who preps for a splashy new role by embedding herself with the real-life tabloid subject: a teacher (Julianne Moore, 62) who, at age 36, seduced a seventh-grade boy who’s now all grown up and her husband (played by Riverdale alum Charles Melton).

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Coming Dec. 7
Analog Squad, Season 1
This Thai series, set in pre-internet 1999, centers on a middle-aged man who tries to make good with his estranged and dying father. He recruits his ex-girlfriend and two younger wannabe actors to pose as his wife and children — but the makeshift insta-family quickly discovers that there are consequences to any act of deception.
The Archies (G)
Imagine a Bollywood version of Riverdale, with Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead from the classic American comics all transported to 1960s India to lead the fight against developers (led by Veronica’s ultrarich dad) who want to destroy the teens’ beloved Green Park.
Coming Dec. 8
Leave the World Behind (R)
Sam Esmail, best known for creating Mr. Robot, directed and co-adapted the unsettling bestseller about a family of four (led by Julia Roberts, 56, and Ethan Hawke, 53) who rent a ritzy vacation home on Long Island — only to be interrupted by a man and his daughter (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la) who turn up, claiming the house is really theirs and that a cyberattack has forced them to seek shelter in a familiar place. Prepare to be unnerved in all the right ways.
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