U.S. Release Date: 2016-11-18
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Fantasy violence)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Director: David Yates
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Ron Perlman
"Fantastic Beasts" is an enjoyable stand-alone but its position as the progenitor of a new franchise remains unclear.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-11-23
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Sexual Content, Nudity, Profanity)
Genre: Thriller/Drama
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris, Lizzy Caplan
"Allied" probably isn’t prestigious enough to attract much Oscar buzz but it’s too good to be tossed into theaters without a publicity push.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-11-23
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Animated
Director: Ron Clements & John Musker
Cast: Auli’I Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Jermaine Clement, Temeura Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Alan Tudyk
If "Moana" seems like a throwback to the animated Disney films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, it’s not a coincidence.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-12-09
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: John Madden
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Allison Pill, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Lacy, Sam Waterston, John Lithgow
As a dramatic thriller, it does what it needs to do to keep the audience involved and interested.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-12-16
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence)
Genre: Science Fiction/Adventure
Director: Gareth Edwards
Cast: Felicity Jones, Peter Cushing, Jimmy Smits, Mads Mikkelsen, Riz Ahmed, Forest Whitaker, Wen Jiang, Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk, Ben Mendelsohn, Diego Luna, James Earl Jones
As one of 2016’s most anticipated films, it doesn’t let down the legions who have been waiting for it.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-12-21
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Animated
Director: Garth Jennings, Christophe Lourdelet
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Tori Kelly, Taron Egerton, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman
An ephemeral pleasure but a pleasure nonetheless.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-12-21
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity, Sexual Content, Brief Nudity)
Genre: Science Fiction
Director: Morten Tyldum
Cast: Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne
An odd movie but its central questions and dilemmas are compelling and there’s enough here of substance for the impressions to linger.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-12-25
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Drama
Director: Theodore Melfi
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell
An old-fashioned inspirational tale about the undertrodden overcoming.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-12-25
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Adult Themes)
Genre: Drama
Director: Garth Davis
Cast: Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Sunny Pawar, Abhishek Bharate, Pryanka Bose
Flaws aside, it’s an amazing tale of resilience and determination.
U.S. Release Date: 2016-12-25
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence)
Genre: Drama
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, Issei Ogata, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Yoshi Oida, Yosuke Kubozuka
In "Silence", moments of brilliance punctuate an otherwise sluggish, self-indulgent narrative.