The Holdovers
A curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).
RATED R FOR LANGUAGE, SOME DRUG USE, AND BRIEF SEXUAL MATERIAL.
“The Holdovers is a loving testament to the power of the human spirit, albeit one that favours subtle, melancholic grace notes over any need to shout. Though tinged with sadness – be prepared to shed a tear – it’s sure to become a feel-good, festive favourite.” – Emily Murray, Total Film
“Payne and Hemingson have really tapped into something special here, and I can see many viewers adding this to their regular seasonal rotation.” – Sean Farrell, AFPL Journal
“Filmed in subdued tones of burnished browns, The Holdovers might best be described as the movie version of that favorite pair of corduroys that miraculously still fit: stylish, if a little worn in places, softened by time and made more generous by the life lived inside them.” – Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Thanksgiving
After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the infamous holiday.
RATED R FOR STRONG BLOODY HORROR VIOLENCE AND GORE, PERVASIVE LANGUAGE, AND SOME SEXUAL MATERIAL.
“With Thanksgiving, Roth brings horror back to basics and reminds us that it can be nasty, gory, gnarly, and a ton of fun all at once.” – Emma Kiely, Collider
“Thanksgiving is less a cheap rollercoaster ride than a faithfully grisly throwback, complete with more than a few subtle (and not-so-subtle) shout-outs to Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
“Roth thinks in hooks and punchlines, which keeps the copious slayings inventive and gratifying while also enlivening the connective tissue between them.” – Charles Bramesco, The Guardian
Silent Night
A tormented father (Joel Kinnaman) witnesses his young son die when caught in a gang’s crossfire on Christmas Eve. While recovering from a wound that costs him his voice, he makes vengeance his life’s mission and embarks on a punishing training regimen in order to avenge his son’s death.
RATED R FOR STRONG BLOODY VIOLENCE, DRUG USE, AND SOME LANGUAGE.
“Woo is a virtuoso. This movie is music.” – Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
“This is suspenseful and cathartic, and even the schmaltzy stuff is so distinctly John Woo that it’s welcome.” – Glenn Kenny, New York Times
“Silly as it might be, Silent Night gives audiences reason to get excited about the Hong Kong innovator once again, ranking as one of the few bloody Christmas counterprogrammers since Die Hard that feels worthy of repeat viewing down the road.” – Peter Debruge, Variety
Journey to Bethlehem
A young woman carrying an unimaginable responsibility. A young man torn between love and honor. A jealous king who will stop at nothing to keep his crown. A live-action Christmas musical adventure for the entire family.
RATED PG FOR THEMATIC ELEMENTS.
“Palomo and Manheim are dynamic young performers, and Banderas’ scenery-chewing portrayal is outsized but manages not to tip too far into camp.” – Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media
“There’s just something so delightfully earnest and magical about Journey to Bethlehem. You’ll find yourself smiling for most of its runtime.” – Natasha Alvar, Cultured Vultures
“Surprisingly fresh & original. This Baby J story has pop-style songs and choreography that was light and fun. There is also a sharpness to the humor, with some Monty Pythonesque banter between the Three Kings and Herod. It’s razz ma tazz of All That Jazz!” – Patrick McDonald, WBGR-FM
Showing Up
A sculptor preparing to open a new show must balance her creative life with the daily dramas of family and friends, in Kelly Reichardt’s vibrant and captivatingly funny portrait of art and craft.
RATED R FOR BRIEF GRAPHIC NUDITY.
“In its minimalist quotidian way, Showing Up is a movie made by someone in masterly control of her medium.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“It’s a quiet, candid, sharply conceived and imaginatively realized masterwork, her first film of such bold and decisive originality; it’s Reichardt’s first great movie.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“Showing Up is a knowing nod at everyone who finds making creative work a nearly impossible task amid the mundane distractions of ordinary life.” – Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
Eileen
Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path. Based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s award-winning novel.
RATED R FOR VIOLENT CONTENT, SEXUAL CONTENT, AND LANGUAGE.
“Oldroyd lulled me into a false sense of expectation and then dropped a bomb into his movie that completely shifted the ground under my feet. I can’t remember the last time I was so energized by a surprise.” – Ben Pearson, /Film
“It’s both a tour de force for a cast led by Thomasin McKenzie and a sign that Oldroyd hasn’t lost his unsettling touch in the seven years since his last film.” – Steve Pond, The Wrap
“Rippling with sly humor and a bold command of the tropes of classic Hitchcockian suspense, this is a twisty and beguiling original, led by contrasting but expertly synced performances from Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
Earth Mama
A pregnant single mother, with two children in foster care, embraces her Bay Area community as she fights to reclaim her family.
RATED R FOR LANGUAGE, SOME DRUG USE, NUDITY, AND SEXUAL REFERENCES.
“There are moments in Earth Mama, a drama about motherhood at its most fragile, when the movie’s quiet intensity seems to settle in your chest, as if a heavy stone had been placed over your heart.” – Manohla Dargis, New York Times
“Bolstered by expert empathy, understated direction, and evocative performances, Earth Mama highlights resilience while whispers of social misogynoir are incorporated without abandon and confronted head-on by the film’s women.” – Peyton Robinson, RogerEbert.com
“By putting a mirror to Gia and placing us in her feet, shoes or not, Leaf beckons viewers to contemplate how contemporary society fails its Gias every single day, to face how this cycle of poverty continues, and to understand that Gia and women like her can’t conquer it alone.” – Ronda Racha Penrice, The Wrap
The Marsh King’s Daughter
Helena’s (Daisy Ridley) seemingly ordinary life hides a dark and dangerous truth: her estranged father is the infamous Marsh King (Ben Mendelsohn), the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. When her father escapes from prison, Helena will need to confront her past. Knowing that he will hunt for her and her family, Helena must find the strength to face her demons and outmaneuver the man who taught her everything she knows about surviving in the wild.
RATED R FOR VIOLENCE.
Mudbound
Set in the post-WWII South, Mudbound follows the McAllan family, newly transplanted from the quiet civility of Memphis and unprepared for the harsh demands of farming. Despite the grandiose dreams of Henry (Jason Clarke), his wife Laura (Carey Mulligan) struggles to keep the faith in her husband’s losing venture. Meanwhile, Hap and Florence Jackson (Rob Morgan, Mary J. Blige)—sharecroppers who have worked the land for generations—struggle bravely to build a small dream of their own despite the rigidly enforced social barriers they face. The war upends both families’ plans as their returning loved ones, Jamie McAllan (Garrett Hedlund) and Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell), forge a fast but uneasy friendship that challenges the brutal realities of the Jim Crow South in which they live.
RATED R FOR SOME DISTURBING VIOLENCE, BRIEF LANGUAGE, AND NUDITY.
“A hundred well-placed plot breadcrumbs lead us to our perfect ending, but apart from scriptwriting craft Rees gets in some bravura scenes of high tension.” – Jordan Hoffman, The Guardian
“What Dee Rees has done here is remarkable. The themes of racial injustice alone would make this movie ‘important,’ but what she’s done with her film makes it an epic.” – Mike Ryan, Uproxx
“To a degree that is both formally impressive and politically astute, Rees and her co-writer, Virgil Williams, have largely retained the symphonic, almost Faulknerian structure of multiple narrators that governed Jordan’s story. The radicalism of Mudbound thus lies in its inherently democratic sensibility, its humble, unapologetic insistence on granting its black and white characters the same moral and dramatic weight.” – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
Falling for Figaro
Millie (Danielle Macdonald), a brilliant young fund manager, quits her job and ends things with her longterm boyfriend in order to fulfill her dream of becoming an opera singer — in the Scottish Highlands. She begins intense vocal training lessons with renowned but fearsome singing teacher and former opera diva Meghan Geoffrey-Bishop (Joanna Lumley). It is there she meets Max, another of Meghan’s students who is also training for the upcoming “Singer of Renown” contest. The competition between Millie and Max gradually evolves into something different and deeper.
NOT RATED. CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE.
“It’s no surprise that Lumley is absolutely fabulous and will draw most of the audience, but it’s Macdonald who makes the biggest impression.” – Lynden Barber, Limelight
“You know where this is all heading, but Macdonald makes a pleasant presence and Lumley is a scream.” – Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News
“Director Lewin’s effortless appeal underscores every scene in this small story about big dreams. Figaro works largely because of his talent for casting actors more suited to the roles than to box-office appeal.” – Thom Ernst, Original Cin
The Royal Hotel
Americans Hanna and Liv are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called “The Royal Hotel” in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
RATED R FOR LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT AND SEXUAL CONTENT / NUDITY.
“Green is a storyteller with such control that we don’t leave the theater feeling patronized or hectored. She’s thought everything out, and planned it so that every scene in The Royal Hotel is as gripping as it is pointed.” – Amy Nicholson, Variety
“The fact that The Royal Hotel keeps its audience as captive as its leads until that final moment is an impressive and ultimately incendiary feat.” – Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail
“What makes The Royal Hotel brilliant, besides its heart-pounding performances, is how it illuminates the many ways in which men acting in socially acceptable, ordinary ways — playful catcalling, persistent passes, flexing power to be impressive — forms its own kind of horror house of mirrors in which it’s impossible to tell what’s truly sinister and what’s just someone acting like a guy they saw once in a Western.” – Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
Your Lucky Day
After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go and how much blood they’re willing to spill for a cut of the $156 million.
RATED R FOR STRONG VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT, AND SOME SEXUAL MATERIAL / GRAPHIC NUDITY.
“It works as a genre film; it’s thrilling and suspenseful, with enough twists to keep you guessing, but the pointed commentary is impossible to ignore.” – Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com
“Your Lucky Day finds Angus Cloud and the rest of the cast on sparkling form in a twisting, turning, and altogether unpredictably thrilling time.” – Scott Campbell, We Got This Covered
“It is very much an ensemble film, yet it also serves as one of the final demonstrations of how Cloud could command a scene like no one else. That alone makes Your Lucky Day a bittersweet gift, but the sharp film also has quite a lot else going on as well.” – Chase Hutchinson, Collider
My Sailor, My Love
Howard (James Cosmo) is a widowed sailor living alone on the coast of Ireland and struggling to care for himself. His daughter, Grace (Catherine Walker), hires Annie (Bríd Brennan) to help out around the house. Though Howard initially rejects this imposition, Annie’s charm and gentle care win him over, and the two fall in love. Annie’s large and loving family welcomes Howard into their lives, but these new relationships only serve to illuminate the depth of pain and hurt between Howard and Grace, who is facing challenges of her own. Grace’s resentment tears at Howard and Annie’s otherwise idyllic seaside love story.
NOT RATED. CONTAINS MILD LANGUAGE AND THEMATIC CONTENT.
“[A] touching story about a father and daughter dealing with the challenges of both giving and receiving care.” – Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat, Sprituality & Practice
“It doesn’t exactly subvert expectations, but the sharp writing and subtle acting make for a more satisfying experience than a bald synopsis promises.” – Donald Clarke, The Irish Times
“My Sailor, My Love is a proper tear-jerker which gradually envelops the audience in a multifaceted layering of buried and revived emotions.” – Nadine Whitney, AWFJ
The Puppetman
A convicted killer on death row maintains his innocence. His daughter suspects there is truth to her father’s claim when her loved ones begin to die in brutal ways.
NOT RATED. CONTAINS GRAPHIC VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE, DRUG USE, AND SEXUAL MATERIAL.
“A supernatural shocker that boasts some of the year’s most brutal moments in horror. Condenses an entire season of television into an hour-and-a-half feature.” – Jonathan DeHaan, Nightmare on Film Street
“It is all engaging, even if the presentation is uneven from time to time.” – Terry Sherwood, Film Threat
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