What to Watch: 8 Podcasts, Movies and Shows to Stream Over Holidays

New Releases: ‘The Holiday Movies That Made Us,’ ‘A Toy Store Near You’

( Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube)

In addition to countless documentaries on serious history, streaming services offer a growing subgenre about less weighty chapters from the past.

Producer Brian Volk-Weiss specializes in what he calls “pop history,” shows about the origins of cultural ephemera that many people now hold sacred. His Netflix series “The Toys That Made Us” has explored the development of He-Man, Barbie and other figures over three seasons. “It’s not about little kids playing with plastic,” he says. “It’s about how that plastic affected their souls, hearts and minds.”

His Nacelle Company’s newest series for Netflix, “The Holiday Movies That Made Us,” looks at the making of classic films such as “Elf” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Among the tidbits it offers: “Elf” producers initially wanted Chris Farley for the now-classic Christmas movie, which ended up starring Will Ferrell.

Meanwhile, new episodes of Mr. Volk-Weiss’s series “A Toy Store Near You” are making a debut Christmas Day on Amazon Prime Video and YouTube. The show profiles independent toy stores, examining their most-prized items and their quest to stay in business through the pandemic. Because of travel and shooting restrictions, the producer used footage shot by the shop owners themselves, and says he is sharing profits from the show with participating stores.

Mr. Volk-Weiss has produced more than 200 stand-up comedy specials, and fed streamers’ demand for the genre with specials by breakout comics (Iliza Shlesinger, Ali Wong) and established stars (Jim Gaffigan, Kevin Hart). Despite his clout in that category, Mr. Volk-Weiss says, it took him seven years to sell “The Toys That Made Us,” which was inspired by his passion for toy collecting.

“Producers,” he says, “get stereotyped just like actors. ‘Why is the stand-up comedy guy coming to us with a toy show?’”

Critical Consensus: ‘Another Round’

(Amazon, Apple TV)

The Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen has ripped off a militia group (“Casino Royale”), designed the Death Star (“Rogue One”), and is replacing Johnny Depp in the next installment of “Fantastic Beasts.” But the feat he attempts in the new Danish-language film “Another Round” might be his most precarious: teaching a class of teenagers after he’s had a couple drinks.

“Another Round,” available to buy and rent, is Denmark’s entry for the 2021 Academy Award for best international feature. It’s about a group of schoolteachers who experiment with the theory that mankind’s ideal blood alcohol level is .05 and attempt to maintain a buzz throughout the day. The experiment has surprising results that go well beyond the obvious, as does the film, which Mr. Mikkelsen says enlists alcohol merely “as an excuse to make a film about embracing life.”

“In my case, it’s a middle-aged man who’s standing on the platform, he’s watching the train and the train has just left him,” the actor says of his character, adding: “Ten minutes into the film it dawns upon him that he didn’t achieve what he wanted.”

An Expert Recommends: ‘The Bright Sessions,’ ‘In Strange Woods,’ ‘Moonface’

(Apple Podcasts, Spotify and others)

Rob Herting is the CEO of Qcode Media, a podcast company that specializes in scripted fiction. Here, he recommends fiction podcasts from outside the Qcode family. Edited from an interview.

“Lauren Shippen’s ‘The Bright Sessions’ was an early standout for fiction podcasts. It had a great concept and hook—it’s about a group of therapy patients and each one has a different supernatural ability—but also had the element of mystery. The show felt really polished and professional and the writing and the performances really jumped out. She’s produced a new podcast, ‘In Strange Woods,’ which started releasing episodes earlier this month. After a boy dies in the forest near a rural Minnesota town, his sister and her friends enlist the help of a gruff old man to teach them survival skills and prepare them for a journey into the woods. It’s part docu-fiction, part straight fiction and part musical. I love the ambition of it. There might be another fictional docuseries musical out there, but I certainly haven’t heard it.

‘Moonface’ is so fresh and original, it feels like the Sundance hit of fiction podcasts. It was created by James Kim and released last year. It’s a coming-of-age story about a young Korean-American man named Paul who lives in Los Angeles. Paul’s gay and really struggling with communicating that to his parents. You get this very intimate, brisk look at an immigrant story with that element layered in. It’s super poignant and it feels very raw, in a good way. Just very honest, almost like you’re listening to real life. It has this texture of ‘Oh, wow, I just dropped into this story and I’m listening to this guy’s life and listening to what he’s dealing with on his journey.’ I hadn’t heard a podcast capture that quite so well. And at six episodes, you just breeze right through it.”

Family Hour: ‘Soul,’ ‘Wonder Woman 1984’

(Disney+, HBO Max)

“Trolls World Tour” (Peacock) signaled a sea change in the movie business when it bypassed theaters in April and went straight to the living room. At the time, director Walt Dohrn told the Journal: “I’m an optimist. I feel like there’s going to be room to have both experiences and they’re both of equal value.”

Now Warner Bros. is releasing the highly-anticipated “Wonder Woman 1984” in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day, a strategy the studio adopted for its entire slate in 2021. But Patty Jenkins, the sequel’s director, is also rooting for the brick and mortar movie experience.

“Wonder Woman 1984” is one of the season’s only would-be blockbusters that didn’t put off its theatrical premiere to 2021. “The theaters very much asked us to do this, and I believe in it for that reason,” Ms. Jenkins told the Journal recently. “I hope we are super helpful to the theater business as well as the film industry by showing people are dying to go back to the movie theaters when they can.”

For now, most families will be sticking to their living rooms over the holidays. In addition to the new “Wonder Woman,” in-home Christmas blockbuster releases include Pixar’s “Soul” on Disney+, starring Jamie Foxx as a teacher and jazz pianist whose body has been separated from his soul.