U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-15
MPAA Rating: "R" (Disturbing Images, Adult Content – Cannibalism)
Genre: Adventure/Drama
Director: J.A. Bayona
Cast: Matias Recalt, Rafael Federman, Esteban Kukuriczka, Andy Pruss, Agustin Berruti, Tomas Wolf, Felipe Gonzalez Otano, Agustin Della Corte, Agustin Pardella, Esteban Bigliardi
A breathtaking motion picture that enthralls across the length of its 140+ minute running time.
U.S. Release Date: 2023-11-22
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content, Smoking)
Genre: Drama
Director: Bradley Cooper
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Sarah Silverman, Tim Rogan, Maya Hawke
This telling of the life story of Leonard Bernstein contains moments of cinematic passion and poetry that make it worth seeing even if specific choices create an underlying sense of frustration.
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-15
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Adult Themes)
Genre: Drama
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Cast: Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, Soya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi, Yuko Tanaka
Challenging but neither inaccessible nor impossibly dense; director Kore-eda invites intellectual engagement but does not leave the viewer unrewarded.
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-15
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Musical/Fantasy
Director: Paul King
Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Jim Carter, Tom Davis, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Matt Lucas, Matthew Bayton
"Wonka" is a fun and imaginative family film – certainly better than one might expect from a production crassly viewed by some as a "cash grab."
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-15
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Thematic Material, Suggested Violence)
Genre: Drama
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Cast: Christian Friedel, Sandra Huller
Powerful but dramatically inert. A certain level of artistic pretentiousness overlays much of the film, at times undercutting its effectiveness.
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-15
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity)
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Cord Jefferson
Cast: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Myra Lucretia Taylor
As a calling-card, one could not imagine something more combustible than the one offered by Cord Jefferson with his feature debut.
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-08
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence)
Genre: Animated/Fantasy
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Takuya Kimura, Shohei Hino, Ko Shibasaki
"The Boy and the Heron" is a wonderful gift for everyone who expected "The Wind Rises" to be the swansong of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-08
MPAA Rating: "R" (Sexual Content, Nudity, Profanity)
Genre: Fantasy/Comedy
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Mark Ruffalo, Kathryn Hunter, Christopher Abbott, Margaret Qualley, Hanna Schygulla, Jerrod Carmichael
Challenges the kind of by-the-numbers approach that has dominated multiplex fare this year; it is brave, unconventional, and unique.
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-01
MPAA Rating: "R" (Bloody Violence, Drugs)
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: John Woo
Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kid Cudi, Harold Torres, Yoko Hamamura
"Silent Night" is the antithesis of fun. Whatever the director is trying to do with the movie, it makes it for one big lump of coal in the 2023 cinematic stocking.
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-01
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence)
Genre: Science Fiction/Adventure
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando
"Godzilla Minus One" is not just a good Godzilla movie. It is an excellent Godzilla movie – arguably among the best ever to grace the screen.