The end of the year is the perfect time to curl up with hot cocoa and a good rom-com. After wrapping what seems like an endless number of presents, cooking up a storm, and decorating the house, you deserve it. Now comes the decision: what to watch?
There are three rom-coms on Prime Video you need to watch in December. Two are Christmas-themed, and both lean a bit more to the romance side than comedy. A third is a classic Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore pairing that will have you in stitches. Don’t like any of these three options? Check out the best rom-coms on Amazon Prime for more great options.
On the heels of the success of Game of Thrones and Crazy Rich Asians, respectively, Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding teamed up for this holiday-themed romantic comedy. It’s about aspiring singer Kate (Clarke), who works a dead-end job in a Christmas store and falls for a handsome, mysterious man named Tom (Golding).
Kate spends more and more time with Tom, both because she’s intrigued by him and to get away from her own troubled life and family situation. The two eventually take time apart when Kate realizes there’s a lot of strange things about Tom that don’t add up. She wants to work on herself as well. The plot twist in the end of Last Christmas is something fans won’t see coming. The movie drums up all the emotions you’d expect from a traditional rom-com, and then some.
Stream Last Christmas on Prime Video.
One of many times Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore have teamed up for the big screen, Blended is yet another hilarious comedy featuring the pair’s off-the-charts chemistry. They star as single parents: Lauren (Barrymore) is divorced and Jim (Sandler) is widowed. After they go on a terrible blind date, the worst possible twist of fate happens and they end up at the same safari resort on vacation with their kids.
It’s a predictable comedy about two people who finally get to know one another without the pressures of dating and judgment in the way. But the laughs to get to that point are what truly make this movie. Seeing the pair forced together for various outings and dealing with the other eccentric couples is pure fun. Also starring Bella Thorne, Terry Crews, Kevin Nealon, Bridesmaids actress Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Joel McHale, Blended is silly humor at its finest. If you’re a fan of other Sandler projects, including ones that also starred Barrymore like 50 First Dates and The Wedding Singer, Blended is worth a watch.
Not to be confused with the new Amazon Original movie EXmas (or the 2014 movie of the same name), Merry Ex-Mas takes a very different spin on the concept. Instead of two battling exes, the movie is about two former high school sweethearts who are randomly stranded at the same hotel during a snowstorm. What else to do but hang out at the bar and talk? Was it fate? It might be. As the pair relive their old memories and talk about their new adult lives, they realize a spark might still exist between them.
Starring Kieren Hutchison and Vanessa Angel, Merry Ex-Mas won’t offer any crazy twists or turns. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a holiday-themed rom-com. But it’s one of those movies that will have viewers reminiscing about their own first loves.
Stream Merry Ex-Mas on Prime Video.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.