There isn’t much that’s better than curling up under a blanket on a cold Winter night with a warm drink and a good movie. This month’s new releases offer a host of excellent viewing choices, ranging from family fare to horror and everything in-between. Many of this year’s Oscar nominees are arriving on home video this month as well, and last year’s Netflix nominee Roma is also finally getting a blu-ray release. Scroll through the list to see what’s coming and get yourself on hold today!
PLAYING WITH FIRE
When straight-laced fire superintendent Jake Carson (John Cena) and his elite team of expert firefighters (Keegan-Michael Key, John Leguizamo and Tyler Mane) come to the rescue of three siblings (Brianna Hildebrand, Christian Convery and Finley Rose Slater) in the path of an encroaching wildfire, they quickly realize that no amount of training could prepare them for their most challenging job yet – babysitters. Unable to locate the children’s parents, the firefighters have their lives, jobs and even their fire depot turned upside down and quickly learn that kids – much like fires -are wild and unpredictable.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“The comedy is broad and slapstick, but ultimately the film is heartwarming and lovely. You’ll find yourself laughing in spite of your initial reaction to the goofiness of the premise. It’s also a fun way to spend an afternoon with the kids.” – Jenna Busch, IGN
“Key, Leguizamo, Greer, and Haysbert actually look like their having a good time and investing their acting talent in this silly story without flinching. No one’s phoning it in.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat
“It’s an unchallenging movie, but as far as unchallenging kids movies go, the actors ensure this one doesn’t fall into soullessness.” – Teo Bugbee, New York Times
Available Formats (2/4):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
LAST CHRISTMAS
Kate (Emilia Clarke) harumphs around London, a bundle of bad decisions accompanied by the jangle of bells on her shoes, another irritating consequence from her job as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. Tom (Henry Golding) seems too good to be true when he walks into her life and starts to see through so many of Kate’s barriers. As London transforms into the most wonderful time of the year, nothing should work for these two. But sometimes, you gotta let the snow fall where it may, you gotta listen to your heart.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Even on my most Ebenezer of days, I wouldn’t have been able to resist this sentimental journey.” – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
“With Paul Feig in the director’s chair, this unapologetically sentimental film provides viewers with opportunities to laugh and cry while morphing into something a little different than what the trailers and marketing material suggest.” – James Berardinelli, ReelViews
“Clarke has been angling at legit leading lady status ever since she got called Khaleesi, to varying degrees of success. Last Christmas feels like the young actress is in full form. Forget the perceived genre limitations, this is a good performance. Her Kate is cutting, manipulative, charming, broken and funny. All at once! She’s fully human, a refreshing departure from some of her recent roles.” – Dan Mecca, The Film Stage
Available Formats (2/4):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
DOCTOR SLEEP
Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality. Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before—at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Doctor Sleep is a monumental achievement of tension, suspense, forgiveness and sacrifice I’m not soon to forget.” – Sara Michelle Fetters, Seattle Times
“Doctor Sleep offers a shockingly nuanced and human story of social longing, spiritual rehabilitation, and existential redemption.” – Brian Roan, The Film Stage
“This is sharp blockbuster filmmaking, coming at a time when IP is seemingly the only thing that gets any door open in Hollywood these days. Rather than churn out something cynical or pandering, though, Flanagan has instead taken that IP and instilled it with heart. Not just the chummy heart he’s hallmarked in past efforts, but the kind that comes from a creator who’s offered a chance to truly honor his influences and run with them.” – Michael Roffman, Consequence of Sound
Available Formats (2/4):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
THE GOOD LIAR
Career con artist Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) can hardly believe his luck when he meets well-to-do widow Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) online. As Betty opens her home and life to him, Roy is surprised to find himself caring about her, turning what should be a cut-and-dry swindle into the most treacherous tightrope walk of his life.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“This movie rattles along with terrific energy and dash and the flashback sequences show that it’s actually far more daring and ambitious that you might expect. It’s a great duel between McKellen and Mirren.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“The pleasure of The Good Liar, and it’s a major one, is the chance to watch Mirren and McKellen act together in a cat-and-mouse duet that turns into an elegant waltz of affection and deception.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“Together, they redefine rapture.” – Rex Reed, Observer
Available Formats (2/4):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
ARCTIC DOGS
Swifty the Arctic Fox (Jeremy Renner) works in the mailroom of the Arctic Blast Delivery Service, but he has much bigger dreams. He yearns to become a Top Dog, the Arctic’s star husky couriers. To prove he can do it, he commandeers one of the sleds and delivers a mysterious package to a secret location. Once there, he stumbles on a hidden fortress overseen by the nefarious Otto Von Walrus (John Cleese). The blubbery evil genius commands an army of oddly polite puffin henchmen. Swifty discovers Otto Von Walrus’ villainous plan to drill beneath the snow-packed surface to unleash masses of ancient gas to melt the Arctic and become the world’s supreme ruler. To stop this sinister scheme, Swifty enlists the help of his friends: PB (Alec Baldwin), a neurotic polar bear, Lemmy (James Franco), a scatterbrained albatross, Jade Fox (Heidi Klum), a brainy engineer, Leopold (Omar Sy) and Bertha (Heidi Klum), two conspiracy theorist otters and Magda (Anjelica Huston), his curmudgeonly boss.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Arctic Dogs is a functional, distracting kids flick that’s only remarkable in how unremarkable it is.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
“There are some wry, self-referential jokes and the animators are good at facial expressions and powdery, polar landscape textures.” – Leslie Felperin, The Guardian
Available Formats (2/4):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
WAVES
Set against the vibrant landscape of South Florida, Waves traces the epic emotional journey of a suburban African-American family—led by a well-intentioned but domineering father—as they navigate love, forgiveness and coming together in the aftermath of a loss.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“To say this film doesn’t follow a conventional narrative is putting it mildly. One can understand how some viewers will be thrown off, maybe even put off, by the radical change in plot course midway down the stream. I found it to be a fresh and bold and immensely effective choice.” – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
“Waves is as exhilarating and terrifying as the roller-coaster ride of adolescence itself, plunging viewers into a world brimming with music and color and movement and hair-trigger reflexes that feels exterior and interior at the same time.” – Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
“Waves is unexpectedly ambitious and confident, the work of a filmmaker in complete control of his talents and using them to challenge himself. This is a deeper and more profound film than your average character drama, a masterpiece that’s hard to walk away from without checking your own grievances and grief. The ripple effect continues.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
Available Formats (2/4):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT
Boundary-pushing cinematic visionary Lars von Trier returns with one of his most daring, masterfully provocative works yet. In five audacious episodes, failed architect and arch-sociopath Jack (Matt Dillon) recounts the elaborately orchestrated murders—each, as he views them, a towering work of art—that define his “career” as a serial killer. Mixing pitch black humor, transcendent surrealism, and renegade musings on everything from history to architecture to cinema, von Trier fashions a radical, blazingly personal inquiry into violence, art, and the twin acts of creation and destruction.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Some people, including a couple of people I watched the film with, may see The House That Jack Built as pretentious nonsense. Others will see it as the glorification of violence. I see it for what it was intended to be, a work of complicated, violent, hilarious art.” – Lorry Kikta, Film Threat
“The House That Jack Built is an often-horrifying, sadistic dive into a psychotic internal monologue, with intellectual detours about the nature of art in the world today, and puts considerable effort into stimulating discomfort at key moments. If you meet the work on those terms, or at least accept the challenge of wrestling with impeccable filmmaking that dances across moral barriers, it’s also possibly brilliant.” – Eric Kohn, IndieWire
“The House That Jack Built is more than just an epic piece of cinematic trolling; it’s von Trier taking a microscope to his creative process in all its obsessive ugliness, creating a sophisticated meta-commentary on his art and daring the audience not to be entertained by his extreme indulgence in all the predilections for which he’s been roundly criticized.” – Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic
Available Formats (2/4):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
THE NIGHTINGALE
Set during the colonization of Australia in 1825, the film follows Clare (Aisling Franciosi), a 21-year-old Irish convict. Having served her 7-year sentence, she is desperate to be free of her abusive master, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin) who refuses to release her from his charge. Clare’s husband Aidan (Michael Sheasby) retaliates and she becomes the victim of a harrowing crime at the hands of the lieutenant and his cronies. When British authorities fail to deliver justice, Clare decides to pursue Hawkins, who leaves his post suddenly to secure a captaincy up north. Unable to find compatriots for her journey, she is forced to enlist the help of a young Aboriginal tracker Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) who grudgingly takes her through the rugged wilderness to track down Hawkins. The terrain and the prevailing hostilities are frightening, as fighting between the original inhabitants of the land and its colonisers plays out in what is now known as “The Black War.” Clare and Billy are hostile towards each other from the outset, both suffering their own traumas and mutual distrust, but as their journey leads them deeper into the wilderness, they must learn to find empathy for one another, while weighing the true cost of revenge.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Rooted in an especially lawless moment of Australia’s past, Jennifer Kent’s impressive follow-up to The Babadook finds a new kind of scary.” – Stephen Garrett, Time Out
“There’s a tragic, moving resonance to the film’s vision of two marginalized characters—one Black, the other a woman, both stripped of everything—finding common ground in their parallel trauma and resistance. It’s there in the scenes between Franciosi and first-time actor Ganambarr, forging empathy and a mutual respect in the fire of survival, without a hint of bathetic sentimentality.” – A.A. Dowd, The A.V. Club
“This is a profound and difficult film, an attempt to grapple with the existence and mindless perpetuation of evil, and to suggest both the fleeting satisfaction and the eternal futility of vengeance. Nothing about it is easy, and everything it shows us matters.” – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
Available Formats (2/4):
DVD
FORD V FERRARI
Visionary American car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and fearless British-born driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) battle corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company and take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“The movie is an old-fashioned rouser with a lot of new-fashioned virtuosity.” – David Edelstein, Vulture
“It’s a new and emotionally complex model of an old-fashioned audience-pleaser, with wonderful performances by Christian Bale and Matt Damon and a resonant soul to go with its smarts.” – Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
“Ultimately, Ford v Ferrari is about art versus commerce, devotion versus cynicism, and inspiration versus deadness. It’s one of the year’s great films, and of all the great films so far, the most accessible.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Available Formats (2/11):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
ROMA
Roma follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. Delivering an artful love letter to the women who raised him, Cuarón draws on his own childhood to create a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst the political turmoil of the 1970s.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Roma gives you so much to see in each new vignette, in every individual composition, in fact, that a second viewing becomes a pleasurable necessity rather than a filmgoing luxury.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
“Like all the best films, Roma is achingly specific while constantly opening up to the universal.” – Ty Burr, Boston Globe
“Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma is a wondrously pure example of one of the great gifts that cinema can give us: to drop us into a time, a place and a life; immersing us in the sounds and the sights and the emotions, large and small, experienced by someone we’re not.” – Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times
Available Formats (2/11):
Blu-ray
A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Tom Hanks portrays Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. After a jaded magazine writer (Matthew Rhys) is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about empathy, kindness, and decency from America’s most beloved neighbor.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“There are some very funny lines in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, much of it predicated on the outwardly ludicrous meeting of profound cynicism and hope. Lloyd’s character arc is well handled by Rhys (The Americans), and the denouement is one only a Scrooge could call humbug.” – Jim Slotek, Original Cin
“It’s the rare biopic that doesn’t wander into predictability.” – Sara Stewart, New York Post
“In an era that seems fatally mired in fear, anger and mistrust, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood arrives as something more than a movie. It feels like an answered prayer.” – Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Available Formats (2/18):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
JOJO RABBIT
A lonely German boy’s (Roman Griffin Davis as JoJo) world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Jojo Rabbit succeeds even with a high degree of difficulty, given the sensitivities of the subject matter, the emotional undercurrent of a mother’s devotion to her son and the breaking down of artificial walls to let love in. As much as it makes you laugh, Waititi’s must-watch effort is a warm hug of a movie that just so happens to have a lot of important things to say.” – Brian Truitt, USA Today
“Waititi infuses a level of humanity into WWII without blindly forgiving those responsible, nor hiding behind the guise of good guys in bad situations, or allowing even a 10-year-old boy to get away with hate without swift retribution and thorough self-examination.” – Joelle Monique, Paste
“Waititi… finds such strange, sweet humor in his storytelling that the movie somehow maintains its ballast, even when the tone inevitably (and it feels, necessarily) shifts.” – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Available Formats (2/18):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
MIDWAY
Midway centers on the Battle of Midway, a clash between the American fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy which marked a pivotal turning point in the Pacific Theater during WWII. The film, based on the real-life events of this heroic feat, tells the story of the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome the odds.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“On the sliding scale of war movies, Roland Emmerich’s Midway is obviously no prestige film like The Hurt Locker or Saving Private Ryan. It belongs more to the school of the original Midway, with Tora! Tora! Tora! as its exemplar. Tell the story of a battle, offer up some sketched-out characters, played with aplomb, add a dash of soap opera and fire when ready. On that scale, for what it’s worth, Midway is a much more solid piece of entertainment than the Pearl Harbor directed by Emmerich’s fellow master-of-disaster Michael Bay.” – Jim Slotek, Original Cin
“The effects work rivals the likes of Saving Private Ryan and, well, Independence Day. It’s spectacular and realistic-looking. That’s to be expected. What’s not expected is how serious-minded and well-acted the picture is.” – Soren Andersen, Seattle Times
“The film’s drama is B-movie basic. But the destructive colliding metal-on-metal inferno of what war is makes Midway a picture worth seeing.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Available Formats (2/18):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
21 BRIDGES
An embattled NYPD detective (Chadwick Boseman) is thrust into a citywide manhunt for a pair of cop killers after uncovering a massive and unexpected conspiracy. As the night unfolds, lines become blurred on who he is pursuing, and who is in pursuit of him. When the search intensifies, extreme measures are taken to prevent the killers from escaping Manhattan as the authorities close all 21 Bridges to prevent any entry or exit from the iconic island.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“There’s a pulpy, comic-book noir to this highly enjoyable thriller, whose rules and parameters are clear.” – Simran Hans, The Observer
“It’s A-actors in a B-movie shot by competent craftsmen. Amazing what holding the camera steady can do, isn’t it? Simple pleasures delivered simply — there’s nothing wrong with that.” – Vince Mancini, Uproxx
“It’s this kind of mindful direction and editing that helps make 21 Bridges one of the most entertaining and thoughtful American policiers in recent memory.” – Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
Available Formats (2/18):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SEASON 1
The reboot of the anthology series is hosted and narrated by Jordan Peele.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Peele’s riff on The Twilight Zone is mesmerizing and unforgettable… This is smart, challenging television, designed to provoke conversation as much as startle audiences.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
“Clever, addicting and weird in a good way, this is the type of reboot for which viewers hope. It’s one that honors the legacy of something great but moves it in a new direction.” – The Gazette
“Serling would be proud. And I’m hooked again.” – Matt Roush, TV Guide
Available Formats (2/18):
DVD
FROZEN II
Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf go far into the forest to learn the truth about an ancient mystery of their kingdom.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Frozen II is funny, exciting, sad, romantic, and silly. It has great songs and a hilarious recap of the first movie, and then it is all of that all over again.” – Nell Minnow, RogerEbert.com
“No sequel is essential, but Frozen II makes the argument that, even in the fairy tale land of Disney, they can still be important.” – Kate Erbland, IndieWire
“What you get out of Frozen II over the original is Anna and Elsa’s stronger relationship. They are together throughout most of the film, and their sisterhood is strong, fun to watch, and remains the heart of the film. Frozen II is a worthy sequel, and you’ll be glad Disney got greedy and made it.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat
Available Formats (2/25):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
KNIVES OUT
When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“An entertainment that’s as smart, witty, stylish and exhilarating as any movie lover could wish for. It’s tempting to call it the sort of movie they don’t make any more, but they didn’t make all that many way back when, because it’s really hard to pull off a production of such startling quality. If there’s a false note from start to finish I must have been laughing or gasping when it sounded.” – Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
“This is a movie in which expertise and good sense win the day; no one is rewarded for stupidity or cruelty. And in that sense, Knives Out isn’t just a beautifully made diversion. It’s also a utopian vision.” – Stephanie Zacharek, TIME
“Pound for pound, actor for actor, laugh for laugh, Knives Out may be the most entertaining movie of the year.” – Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Available Formats (2/25):
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack
COLOR OUT OF SPACE
After a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farm, Nathan Gardner (Nicolas Cage) and his family find themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism as it infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“The film is a vivid depiction of how a confrontation with the unknown can so easily shatter the fragile bonds that hold us together.” – Jake Cole, Slant
“The addition of Cage to the already heady cinematic brew definitively puts it over the top, making it the kind of cult movie nirvana that was its apparent destiny from the moment the cameras started rolling.” – Peter Sobczynski, RogerEbert.com
“Using shape-shifting as a messy metaphor for sickness and childhood trauma, Stanley and Cage leap so far over the psychological top that they never come back to earth. By the end, my own eyeballs hadn’t changed color, but they must have looked like pinwheels.” – Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times