What to Watch This Week: 'Willow,' 'Violent Night,' 'Gossip Girl,' and More
Check out our choices for what you should be watching in theaters and TV this weekend, from 'Violent Night,' to 'Willow,' 'Gossip Girl,' and more.
Image via Universal Pictures
We took a little break from What to Watch to celebrate Thanksgiving the way it should be celebrated—binging TV, eating turkey, and doing nothing at all. Now that the holiday has come to pass, we’re in the full Christmas spirit. What better way to kick off the season than with a little film about a terrible, awful, bad Santa? Violent Night is hitting theaters this weekend and it promises all the gore that you usually don’t expect from a holiday movie but it seems to be a fun ride anyway.
Disney+ is still churning out show after show and this week saw the debut of Willow. Last week, they delivered their Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special so this is a good time to get a Disney+ subscription. HBO Max premiered Gossip Girl Season 2 this week, and half of the episodes are available to stream now. If you missed Netflix’s Wednesday, one of the most talked about shows of the year (and it’s only been a week!), we’re telling you why the show is an absolute must-see. The show didn’t make our Best Shows of 2022 list this year, but that’s OK. It's still a personal favorite for me and millions of others who have already tuned in. Check out our choices for what you should be watching this weekend below, and come back next week for what the rest of 2022 has in store.
'Violent Night'
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When: Friday, Dec. 2
Where: In theaters
“Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho.” That iconic line was the moment that Die Hard became one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time.
And this year, Violent Night becomes the latest movie in that tradition—to mix gratuitous violence with sentimental Christmas cheer. Stranger Things’ David Harbour stars as a cynical, hard-drinking Santa Claus, who’s tired of his annual gift-giving and the kids who no longer believe in him. But when St. Nick stumbles upon a robbery/hostage situation in progress, he sets out to save Christmas for a wealthy family and their true-believing little girl.
It’s exactly as crass as you’d suspect; this movie does not hold back on the violence and gore. It takes a lot of its inspiration from Die Hard, of course, but also from Home Alone. Only this time, the robbers don’t just get a boo-boo from these booby traps; they get maimed and painfully punished. –Kevin Wong
'Willow'
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When: Wednesday, Nov. 30
Where: Disney+
The original 1988 film Willow, directed by Ron Howard and starring Warwick Davis (who also plays Wicket in Return of the Jedi), was a dark fantasy milestone. Based on a story by George Lucas, it told the tale of an aspiring sorcerer named Willow who must protect an infant, prophesied to end the reign of the evil Queen Bavmorda.
The new Willow television series on Disney+ picks up the story years later; the queen’s son has been kidnapped, and again, Willow must lead a party of heroes to save the prince from the Withered Crone, who lives in Immemorial City. Two episodes are currently available for streaming; there will be eight in all. New episodes drop every Wednesday on Disney+. —Kevin Wong
'The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special'
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When: Friday, Nov. 25
Where: Disney+
After a temporary cancellation, James Gunn is back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His first new project is The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which he wrote and directed and is currently streaming on Disney+. The Guardians hear a very sad story about how Yondu Udonta ruined Christmas for Peter Quill. And so, Mantis and Drax go to Earth to kidnap Kevin Bacon (played by the man himself) and bring him back to Nowhere as a Christmas present.
The best part of the special is the chemistry between the leads. There are no budget-busting action scenes and no greater multiverse implications. And there’s something very light and freeing about its non-essentialness. The stakes are low, but the fun factor is very, very high. This dropped last week on Black Friday but we took a week off to enjoy the Thanksgiving break and didn’t want to leave this wild adventure out. So check it out now if you haven’t already! —Kevin Wong
'Gossip Girl' Season 2
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When: Thursday, Dec. 1
Where: HBO Max
Eight years after the original Gossip Girl ended, a new generation took over the Upper East Side. HBO Max’s reboot of the beloved show was well received when it debuted in 2021, and now a different group of New York private school teenagers are being hounded by the social surveillance of Gossip Girl. This time around, it is the teachers of their high school that are out to get the students and teach them a lesson or two. Season 1 was full of drama, popularity contests, fashion, sex, and all the shenanigans that come with a show about teenagers. The stakes are higher in Season 2, with more antics, new faces, and scandals galore. If this is your kind of thing, go ahead and hit play. —Karla Rodriguez
'Wednesday'
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When: Wednesday, Nov. 23
Where: Netflix
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have already heard the rumblings going on about Netflix’s Wednesday. The show dropped the day before Thanksgiving so we are bringing it back this week to remind you that this is something you should absolutely be watching. But to be real, you probably already did. The show quickly surpassed Stranger Things Season 4 for the most hours viewed in a week with 341.2 million hours. Some were wondering why Netflix didn’t drop this on or close to Halloween but it looks like dropping it during the Thanksgiving break was a genius plan. What else is there to do while eating leftovers than watch a little TV?
So far, the show has people talking on social media, and with good reason. Tim Burton made his TV directorial debut with the series about Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) that centers on her being sent away to Nevermore Academy after she can’t seem to stay out of trouble in regular schools. Nevermore’s students are not your average teenagers. Instead, they are mermaids and werewolves, and more. Trouble seems to find Wednesday wherever she goes and now she is left with a huge mystery to solve. Ortega delivered a career-defining performance in this role and it shows what we here at Complex have known all along—she is about to be a problem. It really is only up from here for her and we are thrilled to have been able to watch her journey from the start. —Karla Rodriguez.
