Thanksgiving is a time to feast, and I don’t just mean food.
That’s right, with most people on vacation, it’s prime time to watch a lot of movies, and Prime Video has plenty of them.
The Watch With Us team has selected three great movies that are perfect to watch over the long weekend: The Family Stone, Casino Royale, and Knives Out.
So whether you’re in the mood for a heartwarming comedy, a thrilling action flick, or a puzzling mystery, these three films will satisfy your cinematic cravings.
“The Family Stone” (2005)
Career woman Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) is anxious when she finally meets that of her long-time boyfriend, Everett (Dermot Mulroney) family during the holidays and for good reason: they don’t like it and are not afraid to show it. Meredith tries to convince them, but it’s clear they think she’s not for Everett. As she lurches from one disaster to the next, Meredith begins to suspect they might be right: she’s more compatible with Ben, Everett’s chill brother (Luke Wilson), even if he is the complete opposite of her. In the middle of all this romantic drama is family matriarch Sybil (Diane Keaton), who is hiding a secret from his children.
It doesn’t matter what you think The family stone is good or bad – you need to watch it at some point around Thanksgiving and rewatch it through December 26th. It’s a must-see holiday movie because it gives us what we all want – a big family in a big house eating great food while finding or reaffirming true love. It’s as fantastic as Villain: for goodand the best part of the movie is watching its slightly wicked witches – Parker, Keaton and Rachel McAdams as Sybil’s daughter who listens to NPR – fight you with veiled insults and eye rolls.
“Casino Royale” (2005)
Look James Bond The movies are a Thanksgiving tradition for many people, even though the British spy series has nothing to do with this typically American holiday. Blame Ted Turner for this – its cable channels TNT and TBS aired 007 marathons in the ’90s and ’00s, so a generation was raised expecting to see daring, action-packed exploits while digesting a buttered turkey and spicy pumpkin pie.
Streaming allows you to continue this tradition, and you can’t go wrong watching Casino Royaleone of the best in the long-running franchise. A top-to-bottom reboot, the film launches Daniel Craig in the role of the world-famous English agent, who must hunt and capture the arms dealer Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) before financing a new terrorist act. To do this, he must participate in a top secret poker game in Montenegro and he needs the help of Vesper Lynde (Eva Green), a handsome Treasury agent who hates him. But can he trust Vesper even if she seems to be hiding a secret?
Casino Royale is Bond at an embryonic stage – he’s not yet the smooth operator everyone knows and loves, and his way of handling problems is often as subtle as a punch in the face. This is what makes Casino Royale so fascinating to watch that it chronicles in real time the birth of a pop culture icon. It helps that Craig and Green are easy on the eyes and manage to create three-dimensional characters that you really care about. Take this, Roger Moore!
“Knives Out” (2019)
Who would have thought that Daniel Craig would have another iconic character to play in his career? That’s what happened when he first took on the role of master detective Benoit Blanc in the 2019 surprise hit, At loggerheads. When bestselling mystery author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead one morning in his sumptuous estate, Blanc suspects foul play even though the police consider his death a suicide.
Benoit has good reason to be suspicious: Harlan’s family, which includes his daughter Linda, a shady real estate developer (Jamie Lee Curtis) and his lazy but handsome son Ransom (Chris Evans) — is a nest of vipers, with Marta as its only nurse (Ana de Armas) seeming to care about Harlan’s death. When it appears she killed him to take the family inheritance, everyone wants her thrown in prison – except White, who believes she is innocent. But who killed Harlan? And will they kill again to prevent Marta and Harlan from solving the mystery?
At loggerheads has already spawned two critically successful Netflix sequels, but the first remains the best. The setup is ingenious, the mystery is truly puzzling, and the casting of well-known actors makes At loggerheads one of the best modern thriller films ever made. Almost as important, the New England fall decor and proliferation of chunky, chic sweaters give you that much-desired Thanksgiving-to-Christmas vibe.
