Sentimental journeys into holiday season

Confounding weather patterns aside, we are slipping into winter. Our screens are happy to oblige our hibernation urges with movies and series that might give the gift of a smile or a wee sniffle. Plus a sexy hockey drama! Whoa. Let’s have a look at some new viewing options.

● The Assassin (series premières in Canada on Thursday, Nov. 20, on Prime Video/AMC+)

Brothers Harry and Jack Williams (Fleabag, The Missing) have a new series that mashes up family drama, comedy and thriller. Mom (Keeley Hawes, Line of Duty) wants to be a former killer-for-hire, but the job just keeps pulling her back in. Complication: her estranged son Edward (Freddie Highmore, The Good Doctor) is part of her latest and hopefully last assignment. Neither are very happy about the arrangement. And you thought your holiday family socializing was complicated!

● Train Dreams (movie premières Friday, Nov. 21, on Netflix after limited theatrical release)

Back in the early 20th century, the train presented what looked like a golden opportunity for transcontinental community-building and commerce across North America. This adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella asks, in the guise of logger/railroad worker Robert Grainier, about the devastating cost to not only old-growth forest butconnection to family and the natural world.

The toll on the environment and on Indigenous Peoples and their view of the land is represented, but mostly this is about Grainier. As played by the great Joel Edgerton (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Grainier struggles to come to terms with work that fells beauty in the name of progress while also depriving him of time with family. William H. Macy (Shameless) plays a fellow logger with similarly deep thoughts.

● The Great Escaper (movie premières Sunday, Nov. 23, on PBS/Passport) and Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember (documentary premières Sunday, Nov. 23, on National Geographic and Disney+/Hulu)

Memory is the common thread in these two selections. In The Great Escaper (a 2023 release making its PBS debut), Michael Caine plays a 90-year-old U.K. war veteran who slips security at his seniors home in 2014 to pay tribute to fallen comrades at the 70th anniversary of D-Day landings in Normandy. That era’s equivalent of a viral sensation, he was cheered by millions, including his frail wife (Glenda Jackson; it was the last film for both of them).

More recent is Hemsworth’s very personal documentary, retracing adventures from his family’s past to connect with his father, diagnosed with dementia. Tissue warning!

● Jingle Bell Heist (movie premières Wednesday, Nov. 26, on Netflix)

Disgruntled workers in low-level jobs hatch a plan that will not only relieve financial pressures but satisfy a keen desire for revenge against a London department store. On Christmas Eve. And they’re not very good criminals. It sounds like a good-enough plot from the holiday-movie department but there are other promising signs. It’s directed by Michael Fimognari (To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You), co-written by Abby McDonald (Bridgerton) and — especially good — stars Connor Swindells (Sex Education) and Olivia Holt (Heart Eyes). Let’s get larcenous!

● Heated Rivalry (series premières Friday, Nov. 28, on Crave/HBO)

“So, you’re not going to tell anyone about this, are you?” one sweaty professional hockey player asks another in the trailer for what is described as a new “gay sports romance.” From Montreal writer/director/producer Jacob Tierney (Letterkenny), this series covers eight years of fragile flirting and denial between superstars Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). It’s adapted from Rachel Reid’s bestselling cult classic novel. I really want this to be good.

Broadcast dates subject to change. Questions, comments to denise.duguay@winnipegfreepress.com.