What to watch this weekend Jan. 3, 2025: Movie awards contenders

This week’s top pick, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, is likely to earn a Best Animated Feature nomination at the Oscars. But it likely won’t join its predecessor, 2005’s Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, in actually winning the award.

Pioneering “claymation” studio Aardman’s second Wallace & Gromit feature finds the innocent inventor and his more skeptical dog re-encountering the dastardly penguin thief Feathers McGraw, whose jewel heist they thwarted back in the 1993 short The Wrong Trousers. Imprisoned in a zoo ever since Wallace and Gromit stopped him, McGraw has come back for revenge. It’s a sequel 30 years in the making, and the whole family will love it.  It’s now streaming on Netflix.

Here are some other movies to stream this weekend:

Wicked: There are technically higher-tier contenders now available to watch at home than Wallace & Gromit, but they’re only available on VOD, not subscription streaming, and we try to stick to subs where we can. But one of those films is projected Best Picture nominee Wicked, which you’re going to have to watch at some point. The musical sensation is still in theaters, but it’s also now available to rent or buy on your preferred on-demand service. If you haven’t held space for “Defying Gravity” yet, now is your chance.  

A Real Pain: Another high-level contender now available on VOD is Jesse Eisenberg’s road dramedy, which is a lock for Best Original Screenplay (Eisenberg) and Best Supporting Actor (Kieran Culkin) nods and could also snag a Best Picture nomination. Eisenberg and Culkin play cousins with very different personalities who take a trip across Poland in honor of their late grandmother, who survived the Holocaust. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll check in with your own cousins to see how they’re doing. 

The Front Room: Brandy Norwood stars in this scatalogical A24 horror comedy now on Max from Max and Sam Eggers, brothers of horror maestro Robert. She plays a new mother whose life and sanity start to unravel when her husband’s previously estranged stepmother, Solange (Kathryn Hunter), moves in with them, and she learns firsthand why their relationship was strained. Solange is gross, abusive, and possibly has supernatural powers. It’s one of A24’s weakest horror efforts, but if you like listening to Newton’s singular croak, you’ll get a kick out of it.