The strange, sleepy stretch between Christmas and New Year’s is here, when the calendar slows down, the daylight barely shows up and the idea of curling up with new movies and TV shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Peacock and other streaming services feels less like procrastination and more like self-care. It’s deep winter, the year is almost over, and there’s no better excuse to let the couch win.
On the TV side, “Stranger Things” season 5 part 2 pushes toward the finish line with higher stakes and heavier emotions, perfect for a long, uninterrupted binge. Meanwhile, “Goodbye June” offers a quieter, more sentimental counterpoint for the holidays.
On premium video-on-demand, you can find the darkly absurd swings of “Bugonia” or the lighthearted rom-com vibes of "Eternity." Here's our guide on what to watch this weekend.
New TV shows
‘Stranger Things’ season 5 volume 2 (Netflix)
The rules of the Upside Down are shifting, and nothing feels stable anymore. As the final season’s second chapter unfolds, Hawkins teeters on the brink, while Will’s long-buried connection to Vecna finally detonates into something far more dangerous.
The Duffer brothers are still guarding their secrets, but what they’ve shown so far is pure nerves: demogorgons loose, soldiers in over their heads, and Dustin and Steve locking in a chilling, all-or-nothing pact. Vecna’s talk of “new worlds” sounds ominous enough, yet the biggest unknown may be Will himself. Steel yourself — with the finale set for New Year’s Eve, this volume feels destined to end with a brutal cliffhanger.
Episodes 5-7 are streaming now on Netflix
‘Copenhagen Test’ (Peacock)
“Copenhagen Test” opens on a nightmare scenario that’s all too modern: discovering your own mind is no longer private. Simu Liu plays Alexander Hale, a first-generation Chinese American analyst who slowly realizes that every sentence, twitch and decision is being monitored by an unseen force.
Trapped in a dangerous balancing act, Alexander has to follow the rules of his invisible captors while quietly trying to outmaneuver them. Melissa Barrera enters as a wildcard, with intentions that never fully come into focus. What follows is a sleek spy thriller where personal agency slips away, surveillance is absolute, and paranoia becomes the only rational response.
All 8 episodes premiere Saturday, Dec. 27 at 3 a.m. ET on Peacock
New movies
‘Goodbye June’ (Netflix)
Netflix’s final Christmas movie of 2025 swaps twinkly rom-com fluff for a box of tissues and a stiff drink. Directed by Kate Winslet in her feature debut and written by her son Joe Anders, it gathers an absurdly stacked cast — Helen Mirren, Toni Collette, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Flynn, Timothy Spall, plus Winslet herself — as a messy, grieving family whose sharp-tongued matriarch’s health takes a turn.
The film is earnest, occasionally cloying and absolutely engineered to make you cry in front of your relatives. But for families ready to lean into the feelings, it’s a solid holiday catharsis.
Streaming now on Netflix
‘Bugonia’ (Peacock)
![BUGONIA - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters October 24 - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bd_5HcTujfc/maxresdefault.jpg)
Yorgos Lanthimos is back with another film, and of course, it’s weird — but not his weirdest nor his best. Still, as usual for his movies, it makes you think. “Bugonia” turns a conspiracy podcast spiral into a pitch-black comedy, as two unhinged would-be saviors (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) kidnap a pharma CEO (Emma Stone) they’re convinced is an alien bent on ending humanity.
An English-language remake of the Korean drama “Save the Green Planet!,” the film unfolds largely as a tense, talk-heavy standoff that’s simmering with paranoia, class resentment and Lanthimos’ signature deadpan wit.
Streaming now on Peacock
‘Eternity’ (PVOD)
Rom-coms don’t usually begin with death, but the happily ever after in “Eternity” takes place in the great beyond. Elizabeth Olsen stars as Joan, who wakes up in a very organized afterlife hotel and gets seven days to decide where — and with whom — she’ll spend forever.
Waiting for her are Larry (Miles Teller), the husband she built a life with, and Luke (Callum Turner), the first love who died young in the war and has been waiting for her for decades. One of the best rom-coms in years, it features sharp writing, playful world-building and real chemistry.
Streaming now with purchase on Apple TV or Prime Video
‘Sentimental Value’ (PVOD)
One of the quiet heavyweights of this awards season finally hits streaming this week. “Sentimental Value,” from Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier, is an intimate family drama about old wounds, bad timing and the stories parents tell themselves.
Renate Reinsve plays Nora, an actress still circling grief, whose estranged director father (Stellan Skarsgård) wants her to star in a film ripped from their shared history. She refuses. Cue resentment, a Hollywood interloper (Elle Fanning) and emotional landmines that detonate slowly and painfully.
Streaming now with purchase on Apple TV or Prime Video
‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ (PVOD)
Hollywood keeps cranking out musical biopics, but “Deliver Me From Nowhere” takes a refreshingly restrained swing. Instead of a greatest-hits montage, it zeroes in on Bruce Springsteen (played by Jeremy Allen White) as he makes “Nebraska,” a cassette-born album full of ghosts, murder ballads, and dead-end dreams.
It’s a quieter and moodier film than most rock biopics, more interested in discomfort than flash. That won’t be for everyone, but it’s an interesting slice of the Boss’s story.
Streaming now with purchase on Apple TV or Prime Video
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.
More from Tom's Guide
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
