HBO Now December Highlights (Including ‘Isle Of Dogs’ And ‘Blockers’)

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Bring on the cold weather because HBO is giving us plenty to bundle up with this December.

Look, there’s no shame in admitting that when the sun sets before 5 p.m. and the temperatures drop below freezing, we all say goodbye to our social lives. It’s just a fact. The good news is HBO’s keeping us entertained on the long, cold lonely nights with some fresh new content. A ton of great movies are making their way to the streaming service this month including some blockbusters that just left theaters. And if you’ve gotten hooked on original shows like Camping and Room 104, be sure to catch their finales this December.

We’ve got a roundup of everything coming to (and leaving) HBO this month. Good luck watching it all.

Isle of Dogs

Wes Anderson’s latest work of stop-motion animation may just be his best to date. Isle of Dogs combines the quirkiness of a classic Anderson film — a story about talking dogs banished to a place called Trash Island by a cat-loving mayor — with the director’s meticulous love of style. There are some big names in this one including Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, and Tilda Swinton, who plays a pug with psychic powers, which should be all the incentive you need to check this one out.

Blockers

Kay Cannon’s Blockers is the kind of raunchy rom-com that follows in the vein of films before it’s time, like American Pie. The film follows three parents played by John Cena, Leslie Mann, and Ike Barinholtz who discover their teenage daughters have made a pact to lose their virginity on prom night. You’d be right in thinking that plot sounds a bit problematic, but the film does a decent job of turning tropes on their head, poking fun at overbearing, clueless parents like Cena (a comedic goldmine in this one) and presenting the teens as capable, smart individuals who have their sh*t together, at least in comparison to their adult guardians.

Inception

Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending sci-fi flick may have come out almost ten years ago but the film holds up, mostly thanks to some great performances by a then-unknown Tom Hardy, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Good luck keeping up with everything that’s going on, though the basic outline follows a group of dream architects who invade the subconscious of a powerful business magnate in order to earn their lives back. It’s a trippy, CGI-filled jaunt that’s so fun, you’ll forgive the running time.

Camping (season one finale)

This new comedy starring David Tennant and Jennifer Garner from writing duo Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner comes to a close this month. Watching Garner play against-type as a neurotic wife and mother who plans a camping trip to celebrate her husband’s (Tennant) birthday with some of their closest friends is the real treat here. Garner’s at her comedic best when she plays these kinds of phobic control-freaks, and she gets plenty of material to work with here as the group ultimately strays from their strict itinerary, and Kathryn officially loses her sh*t.

Momentum Generation

Surfing icons Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Taylor Knox, Ross Williams, and others contribute to this documentary from directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist. The film explores the early beginnings of surfing and the ragtag bunch of athletes who contributed to its rise in popularity. You’ll wish you could catch a wave with these guys after watching this thing.

Here are all the titles coming and going on HBO NOW in December:

Season Finales:
Camping, Season 1 (12/2)
My Brilliant Friend, Season 1 (12/10)
Vice, Season 6 (12/14)
Magnifica, Season 3 (12/16)
Room 104, Season 2 (12/14)
Sally4Ever, Season 1 (12/23)

Original Programming:
Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland (12/3)
HBO First Look: Mortal Engines (12/4)
Ice Box (12/7)
Momentum Generation (12/11)
Pete Holmes: Dirty Clean (12/15)
Vice Special Report: The Panic Artists (12/10)
My True Brilliant Friend (12/10)
Bleed Out (12/17)

Theatrical Premieres:
Rampage, 2018 (12/1)
Traffik, 2018 (12/6)
Ready Player One, 2018 (12/8)
Blockers, 2018 (12/15)
Isle of Dogs, 2018 (12/22)
Life of the Party, 2018 (12/29)

Estrenos:
Mi tesoro (AKA My Treasure), 2018 (12/1)
Vida en Marte, 2016 (AKA Life on Mars (12/1)
High & Mighty, 2018 (12/14)
En El Septimo Dia, 2017 (AKA On the Seventh Day) (12/21)

Starting December 1st:
An Innocent Man, 1989
The Best Man, 1999
The Book of Eli, 2010
Bootmen, 2000
Dave, 1993
Dawn of the Dead, 2004
George A Romero’s Land of the Dead, 2005
Get Him to the Greek, 2010
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, 2009
The Hangover, 2009
He’s Just Not That Into You, 2009
Inception, 2010
The Land Before Time, 1988
The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, 1994
The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving, 1995
The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists, 1996
The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, 1997
The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, 1998
The Land Before Time VII: Stone of Cold Fire, 2000
The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze, 2001
The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water, 2002
The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration, 2003
Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga’Hoole, 2010
Light It Up, 1999
Lost River, 2015

Ending December 16:
Wolves at the Door, 2017

Ending December 23:
All About Steve, 2009
Marmaduke, 2010

Ending December 24:
Jennifer’s Body, 2009

Ending December 26:
Whip It, 2009

Ending December 31st:
A Perfect World, 1993
Away We Go, 2009
Black Sea, 2015
Blade Runner 2049, 2017
Blood Work, 2002
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, 2010
Death Warrant, 1990
Dolores Claiborne, 1995
Dude Where’s My Car?, 2000
Dunkirk, 2017
Fifty Shades Darker, 2017
Garden State, 2004
Mr. Mom, 1983
Napoleon Dynamite, 2004
Ninja Assassin, 2009
Oscar, 1991
Owning Mahowny, 2003
Pattie Cake$, 2017
Rock Dog, 2017
Run Fat Boy Run, 2008
Sweet Dreams, 1985
The Full Monty, 1997
The Sandlot, 1993
The Sandlot 2, 2005
The Turning Point, 1977