Cozy up inside a movie theater this weekend and check out one of these 22 noteworthy films picked by our critics (yes, 22—more details about Star Wars are also on the list). For even more movies, check out our movie times listings.
LIMITED RUNS
1. Elf
Elf pulls off the “family movie” flawlessly. Will Ferrell bumbles around like a drunk toddler, unaware of social norms and full of hilarious wonder, and it’s rewarding for both kids and adults—but most importantly, it stands up to the tedious, repetitive re-watching the young at heart may insist upon.
2. It’s a Wonderful Life
“Paralyzing joys are the very heart of George Bailey’s dilemma; they are, to borrow words from George’s father, ‘deep in the race.’ The sacrifices George makes for being ‘the richest man in town’ resonate bitterly even as they lead to the finale’s effusive payoff. Those sacrifices are what make It’s a Wonderful Life, in all its ‘Capraesque’ glory, endure.” – Sean Nelson
3. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
You know this cult classic—and if you don’t, it’s really about time to take in Tim Curry’s captivating portrayal of the transvestite scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Be prepared to participate; maybe watch Fame for a preview if you’re really nervous.
NEW RELEASES
4. The Danish Girl
“The real Lili Elbe deserves credit for forging ahead where few before her had gone, but Hooper’s decision to leave out crucial details feels more dishonest than respectful (and if he really wanted to strike a blow against Hollywood’s heteronormative hegemony, he would have hired a transgender actor to play her).” – Kathy Fennessy
5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
“The Force Awakens does not offer much of a new story but simply and brilliantly retells much of the old one. It’s also very faithful to the images, the technologies, the economy, and the wardrobe of the founding films in the Star Wars series. Indeed, the more you know about the first three films, the more pleasure you will get out of The Force Awakens.” – Charles Mudede
6. Room
“Room rewards a close viewing as well as a casual one—watch it as a sensitive and insightful character study, and notice the care Ma puts into turning the shed into a home for her son, the well-drawn family dynamics straining what should be a happy reunion with Ma’s parents, the depression Ma suffers after she escapes. Or watch it for “Daring Escape from Rape Shed!”—the action sequences are about as tense and nail-bitey as it gets. Either way, it works.” – Alison Hallett
7. Sicario
“When so many movies and TV shows disappear from memory as soon as you’re finished watching, Sicario lingers. It clots. In short, Denis Villeneuve’s new drug thriller is phenomenal. Its story is both personal and political, a scathing portrait of the drug war, as well as an elemental allegory in which moral dilemmas are depicted by characters crashing violently into each other. The performances are terrific across the board. Know that Sicario is one of the smartest, most suspenseful movies you’re likely to see. Good luck trying to shake it.” – Ned Lannamann
8. Sisters
“In Sisters, Poehler and Fey play against type: Fey’s the irresponsible manicurist to Poehler’s type-A nurse. They’ve traveled different paths in life, but when they host one final party slash awkward high school reunion in their parents’ just-sold house, they find they aren’t really so different after all. Spoiler alert: That house gets wrecked. Type A Lady finds the courage she needs (in a joint) to make bad choices. Loose Cannon learns that being responsible SUCKS. And if you’re wondering, why yes, that IS basically the plot of Sam Shepard’s classic True West. Except I liked Sisters better, because it’s funny.” – Megan Burbank
9. Youth
“Paolo Sorrentino’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning The Great Beauty, Youth, is set in an Alpine spa for the very rich and famous. Here where the air is crisp and good for the lungs, movie stars, celebrated composers, legendary screenwriters, and Saudi princes with lots of petro dollars to spend are rubbed, bathed, muddied, monitored, entertained, and sometimes fucked by the spa’s staff…In the end, Youth, like Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty, is the work of a second-rate Fellini.” – Charles Mudede
CONTINUING RUNS
10. Ant-Man
“While the first and second acts aren’t as engaging as I’d like, and the female characters are woefully underdeveloped (surprise!), when the final blockbuster battle materializes (in miniature), Ant-Man turns into a smart, knowing parody of all the overblown superheroics that have preceded it. It’s a display of self-awareness from Marvel that frankly, after all this time, is a relief.” – Wm. Steven Humphrey
11. Brooklyn
“It’s refreshing to see this largely internal, cerebral journey of an introverted young woman play out onscreen, and Nick Hornby’s screenplay, never afraid of sentimentality, keeps such a contained narrative from feeling too cold or distant. That’s right: Brooklyn is good because it’s so wholesome, so emotive, so free of irony, without qualifiers, and your grandma will probably like it a lot.” -Megan Burbank
12. Creed
“If you loved the original Rocky—and its heart, and the sometimes unbearable tension it provided—Creed is a fun and worthy film-going experience. And an exception to the rule that lightning never strikes in the same place twice.” -Wm. Steven Humphrey
13. The Good Dinosaur
“A boy-and-his-dog story where the boy is a talking dinosaur and the dog is a little grunting caveman, The Good Dinosaur is one of Pixar’s best.” -Erik Henriksen
14. In the Heart of the Sea
“On the surface, it exploits the familiarity of Moby-Dick, but instead of Ahab, Ishmael, and Queequeg, all it offers are stiff clichés. The one through line is that the whole film feels both drawn out and rushed, lurching from scene to scene. In the Heart of the Sea clocks in at only two hours, but those two hours feel long enough to reread Moby-Dick.” – Erik Henriksen
15. Macbeth
“While the Big Scenes are rendered with a ravishing starkness, the connective tissue that’s allowed to remain tends to fall away into a low-toned dirge. Scholars and purists may still be left clutching their chests at what has been chucked over the side, but those roaring final moments ultimately make this Macbeth hard to shake. What it gets right is almost enough to convince you that you’re watching a masterpiece.” – Andrew Wright
16. The Martian
“I don’t know how high you’d have to be to not want to see a Ridley Scott film about Matt Damon getting stranded on Mars, based on Andy Weir’s startlingly sharp novel, and costarring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, and Jeff Daniels, among others.” -Sean Nelson
17. The Night Before
“The Night Before might be the only Christmas movie that offers both a whole lot of dick pics and the sad, lonely sense of desperation that defines the holidays. But then Seth Rogen throws up all over a midnight mass, and all is right with the world.” -Erik Henriksen
18. The Princess Bride Quote-Along
Think you know all the words? Now’s your chance to prove it—although there will be subtitles for “all the best lines.” Plus, free inflatable swords and ROUS.
19. Spectre
“Spectre has all the evidence that director Sam Mendes is trying to make a movie that is simultaneously both a good movie and a good Bond movie, despite those things being mathematically and mutually exclusive phenomena.” -Sean Nelson
20. Spotlight
“It’s one thing for a reporter to break a story few people know about. It’s another thing entirely to tear the lid off a story everyone knows something about but whose true dimensions are too horrifying to imagine. Actor-turned-filmmaker Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight, which re-creates the Boston Globe’s 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning exposure of the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse scandal, looks at a case of the latter with riveting results.” -Kathy Fennessy
21. Trumbo
“Award season must be around the corner, because movies like Trumbo come out only when they can be considered. This kind of movie tends to be set in some yesteryear and plays jazz, smokes heavily, and wears a long silk dress as it approaches. Not to suggest that Roach doesn’t do a quality job here—as biopics go, this representation of Dalton Trumbo, a golden age screenwriter, is up there with the best.” -Jacob Lichty
22. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in Smell-O-Vision
There will be free “Wonkariffic goodie bags” at SIFF’s “smell-o-vision” screenings to make this classic actually delicious.
