Whats on TV Friday: Santa Claus and Sonny Liston – The New York Times

KLAUS (2019) Stream on Netflix. The abrupt drop in temperatures across the Eastern United States this week may make this animated Santa origin story uncomfortably relatable, as it is set on an island above the Arctic Circle. The movie centers on Jesper, a mailman voiced by Jason Schwartzman who partners with a hermitlike toymaker named Klaus (J.K. Simmons) to deliver trinkets to children on the island. It is the first feature directed by Sergio Pablos, an animator and screenwriter whose decades-long history working with Disney informs this movies look. It all moves along so amiably, and offers such consistently delightful visuals, that the conventional plot points, up to and including an inevitable but I can explain bit, are entirely digestible, Glenn Kenny wrote in his review for The New York Times. These clichs inhibit Klaus from achieving instant-classic status, but the film is winning enough that its worth a place in a family Christmas-movie library (not that, as a Netflix offering, it will take up any physical space).

SNOOPY IN SPACE Stream on Apple TV Plus. For a secular alternative to Klaus, consider this new animated series with characters from Charles M. Schulzs Peanuts comics. Charlie Brown enthusiasts will be glad to hear that, while this story involves space travel and is delivered via Apples shiny new streaming service, the series sticks to the familiar animation style and jazzy score.

IT COMES AT NIGHT (2017) Rent on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube. The 31-year-old director Trey Edward Shults is back in theaters this week with Waves, an intense family drama set in contemporary Florida. His previous movie, It Comes at Night, also dealt with family matters though it did so in a less recognizable world. The movie centers on a mother and father (played by Carmen Ejogo and Joel Edgerton) who, along with their teenage son (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), hole up in a country house amid an apocalyptic epidemic. The drama ramps up after the arrival of another family. What happens is both shocking and, in retrospect, brutally inevitable, A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The Times. It Comes at Night is pretty terrifying to sit through, but it may be even scarier after its over, when you sift through what youve seen and try to piece together what it may have meant.

PARIAH: THE LIVES AND DEATHS OF SONNY LISTON 9 p.m. on Showtime. After the 1962 boxing match in which Sonny Liston defeated Floyd Patterson to become the heavyweight champion of the world, Liston was asked whether or not beating Patterson was as easy as he had expected. No, The Times quoted Liston as having said. I thought it would be easier. He was rubbing it in: The victory had come after only two minutes and six seconds of boxing. The famously mysterious fighters career and eventual premature death are the subjects of this documentary series.

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Whats on TV Friday: Santa Claus and Sonny Liston - The New York Times