Watching in a Winter Movieland: There are many films to choose from this Christmas 2021 | Movies | San Antonio
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If your true love really wanted to give you something special, they would forget about the French chickens and lovebirds and turn the next few weeks into a huge movie marathon with some of the most anticipated releases of the year.
Unfortunately, the studios of Current didn’t allow the Marvel sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home to release in theaters on December 17th or the sci-fi sequel Matrix: Resurrections on December 22nd, but we were able to be to see many other features being rolled out this holiday season 2021.
Here are capsule reviews of eight new features that will hit theaters or streaming services between December 17th and 29th. If you start now, you can probably get through them all just before it’s time to open presents on Christmas morning.
Nightmare Alley
With exquisite, Oscar-worthy production design and a strong lead performance by Bradley Cooper, this modern noir from Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro is a sight to behold. Even devoid of his usual cinematic monsters, del Toro has invented a fascinating story of human barbarism and delivers one of the most satisfying, if predictable, cinematic endings of the year. In theaters December 17th.
3.5 STARS OUT OF 5
The beginner
The actress Isabelle Fuhrman delivers an intense and physically brutal performance in this sports drama with hints of horror. Fuhrman plays a college freshman obsessed with perfection who makes her university’s rowing team. The unhealthy drive that marginalizes them is only hindered by parts of the script that don’t fully explain the motivation behind their madness. In selected cinemas and on request 17 Dec.
3 OF 5 STARS
Don’t look up
Filmmaker and Oscar-winning screenwriter Adam McKay has an obvious agenda in his satirical science fiction disaster film, and sometimes the sharp stabs from the script hit the mark. Others swing wildly in hopes of revealing the humor behind some of society’s most blatant problems. The all-star cast, which includes Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep, are ready, but they can only wear the silliness so far. Debuts on Netflix December 24th.
3 OF 5 STARS
Parallel mothers
Spanish director and Oscar-winning screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar meets Oscar-winning Penélope Cruz, this time for a melodrama about two women whose lives intersect in a hospital maternity ward. Almodóvar’s script combines a story about the sins of the past with the story of a hopeful future for a family in a mature and thought-provoking way. In theaters on December 24th.
3.5 STARS OUT OF 5
Licorice pizza
Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson has already explored romantic stories between characters in Punch-Drunk Love, Phantom Thread, and even Magnolia, but this 1970s movie in the San Fernando Valley is love at its purest and most lighthearted. Cooper Hoffman (the son of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Alana Haim (member of the Grammy-nominated trio HAIM) exude a charming chemistry. In theaters on December 25th.
4 OF 5 STARS
American underdog
You probably won’t hear the story of the St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner again, but as a movie it feels familiar and trite. As for inspirational sports films, it’s hard to make an underdog movie sound any different when so many similar films have hit the same beats. Warner was a star. His biopic is just your average backup QB. In the cinemas on December 25th
2.5 STARS OUT OF 5
The tragedy of Macbeth
Oscar-winning director Joel Coen is venturing into a film without his brother for the first time and does a first-class job with this Shakespeare adaptation. Anchored in a captivating performance by Oscar winner Denzel Washington, the traditional narrative is reinforced by Bruno Delbonnel’s haunting black and white cinematography. In limited theaters on December 25th. Streaming on AppleTV + January 14, 2022.
3.5 STARS OUT OF 5
jockey
In a career best, actor Clifton Collins Jr. (Traffic, Pacific Rim) takes the reins of this emotionally resonant sports drama and lets it skyrocket. The film follows an aging jockey in the twilight of his career who is looking for another chance at fame. It’s a low-key character study that is moving, authentic, and passionate. Collins goes deep and comes out on the other hand as a legitimate leading man. In selected cinemas on December 29th.
3.5 STARS OUT OF 5
Other films opening during this time include Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Lost Daughter, Mother / Android, Swan Song, The Tender Bar – December 17th; The Matrix Resurrections, Sing 2 – December 22nd; and A Journal for Jordan – December 25th.
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