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Christmas comes early on Max, as the streamer adds a bevy of holiday movies to its library for the month of November, alongside new TV debuts, a noteworthy documentary and more. “Elf,” “Christmas Vacation,” “Arthur Christmas,” “The Shop Around the Corner” and “Four Christmases” are some of the holiday films arriving on the streaming platform on Nov. 1.

This month also sees the Season 2 premieres of “Rap Sh!t” (on Nov. 9) and “Julia” (on Nov. 16) and the series premiere of “Two and a Half Men” creator Chuck Lorre’s new sitcom “Bookie” starring Sebastian Maniscalco (on Nov. 30).

On Nov. 11, check out the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” in which the comedian, actor and filmmaker’s best friend Rob Reiner peppers him with questions about his life and career.

And Chip and Joanna Gaines renovate a 100-year-old building in “Fixer Upper: The Hotel,” which premieres on Nov. 8.

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It’s a lean month for new original content on HBO/Max. November will see the return of two scripted series in Julia and Rap Sh!t, both of which are debuting their respective second seasons, but this month’s fresh highlight is likely to be Bookie, a new comedy series from the partnership of The Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre, and Nick Bakay. The show tracks an LA bookie called Danny (Sebastian Maniscalco), whose business is in peril as California movies to legalize sports gambling.

Elsewhere in November, there quite a few interesting documentaries to keep an eye on, and two that jump out as “must watch”. The first is Albert Brooks: Defending My Life, which chronicles the aging comedian’s life and career. The second is the previously-released Little Richard: I Am Everything, which tries to peel back the whitewashed canon of Richard Penniman in a true...

It’s the hardest thing to wait to see them after hearing about the movies that debuted at Sundance. But if you live in the Southeast, there’s no better way to cut that wait short than a trip to the Sarasota Film Festival, running this year from March 24 to April 2. Want to see the moving doc “A Still Small Voice”? Or the near-future pregnancy satire “The Pod Generation” with Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor? Not to mention the Alexandria Bombach Indigo Girls documentary “It’s Only Life After All,” “Aum: The Cult at the End of the World,” “Judy Blume Forever,” and “Fairyland”? This festival’s got you covered.

Some titles not yet available to the public from the fall festivals will screen as well, such as Paul Schrader’s “Master Gardener,” Daniel Goldhaber’s Neon title “How to Blow up a Pipeline,” and Kelly Reichardt’s “Showing Up,” as...