Run Time: 2:04
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.
Has a strong premise and well-defined characters but is missing too much connective tissue to fully satisfy.
Run Time: 1:50
U.S. Release Date: 2023-10-27
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence)
Genre: Horror
Director: Emma Tammi
Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, Elizabeth Lail, Matthew Lillard, Mary Stuart Masterson
As a motion picture, it is disjointed and ultimately unsatisfying but as part of a larger cog in a cross-platform franchise, it does everything expected from it.
Run Time: 2:05
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.
Run Time: 2:13
U.S. Release Date: 2023-10-27
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Alexander Payne
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The manner in which director Alexander Payne and writer David Hemingson approach this familiar trope imbues it with freshness, honesty, and warmth.
If someone was going to make a "Hunger Games" prequel, this is about the best one might hope for.
Run Time: 1:58
U.S. Release Date: 2023-11-10
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Thriller
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sala Baker, Endre Hules
Engages in a typically perverse David Fincher fashion, exerting its pull as much by the development of the plot as by the magnetic presence of Michael Fassbender.
Run Time: 1:45
U.S. Release Date: 2023-11-10
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Profanity)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Nia DaCosta
Cast: Brie Larson, Toyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Seo-Jun Park
Instead of offering engaging storytelling, it give us flashes, bangs, bad dialogue, and a mountain of fakery.
Run Time: 1:57
U.S. Release Date: 2023-11-17
MPAA Rating: "R" (Sexual Content, Nudity, Profanity, Drugs)
Genre: Drama
Director: Todd Haynes
Cast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Gabriel Chung, Elizabeth Yu, Piper Curda
Highlights the ability of director Todd Haynes to explore complex and dysfunctional human relationships with insight and intelligence.
Run Time: 2:37
U.S. Release Date: 2023-11-22
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahir Rahim, Ben Miles, Matthew Needham, Rupert Everett, Anna Mawn
This portrait of Napoleon is more muddled than nuanced, interweaving impeccably recreated battle sequences with soap opera-ish romantic angst.
Challenges the kind of by-the-numbers approach that has dominated multiplex fare this year; it is brave, unconventional, and unique.
Run Time: 1:53
U.S. Release Date: 2023-11-03
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content, Drugs)
Genre: Drama
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Ari Cohen, Dagmara Dominczyk, Tim Post
This mean-spirited and unpleasant production is unlikely to find favor with many either inside or outside of the Elvis fan base.
The film is just bonkers enough to be wildly entertaining and completely disturbing in equal parts.
Run Time: 1:44
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.
It will fill the bellies of those yearning for inventive killings and a menu of viscera.
Run Time: 1:45
U.S. Release Date: 2023-11-03
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity)
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Meg Ryan
Cast: Meg Ryan, David Duchovny
Like most rom-coms, it is comfort food although it lacks the fantasy element associated with characters who are less seasoned.
Run Time: 1:32
U.S. Release Date: 2023-11-22
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Animated
Director: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn
Cast: Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama
This may be the worst major animated film Disney has released in the past 40 years and its lack of creative energy doesn’t augur well for the immediate future.