
TV OT: Why streaming has become the home for serious movies -- and previewing the latest batch
CNN
A look at "The Tender Bar," "The Lost Daughter," "Swan Song," and "The Tragedy of MacBeth." Plus, let Dwayne Johnson bring you Christmas cheer and what "The Great British Bake-Off" and "The Great Pottery Throw Down" have in common, besides greatness.
Each of those films come with the pedigree of having actors behind the camera (a publicity bonus on the talk-show circuit), with George Clooney directing "The Tender Bar" (Amazon), an adaptation of journalist J.R. Moehringer's memoir featuring Ben Affleck as the protagonist's colorful uncle; and "The Lost Daughter" (Netflix), based on "My Brilliant Friend" author Elena Ferrante's book, starring Olivia Colman in the first film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

More than two decades ago, on January 24, 2004, I landed in Baghdad as a legal adviser, assigned an office in what was then known as the Green Zone. It was raining and cold, and my duffle bag was thrown into a puddle off the C-130 aircraft that had just done a corkscrew dive to reach the runway without risk of ground fire. Young American soldiers greeted me as we piled into a vehicle, sped out of the airport complex and then along a road called the “Highway of Death” due to car bombs and snipers.












