At the end of the year, minds naturally cast themselves back to a 12 months at the cinema full of euphoric highs (Sinners, One Battle After Another) and crushing lows (Tron: Ares, Captain America: Brave New World anyone?). But what’s that stomping over the horizon in a mech suit? It’s another outsized ‘Avatar’ movie, here to hoover up all the box office and remind us that the year isn’t over until James Cameron says it is. Of course, Hollywood lore tells us never to bet against Cameron, but don’t bet against a number of December’s quieter releases either, including this year’s Palme d’Or winner and a heartsore gem for lovers of Joachim Trier’s line in Scandi lyricism.
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More mascot mayhem awaits this month as the video-game spinoff and viral sensation gets a sequel. Piper Rubio is back as Abby, younger sis to Josh Hutcherson’s security guard Mike Schmidt, as the story picks up a year later with Freddy Fazbear and his animatronic pals likely to be no less violent. The first film was a mega hit. This one will be too.
In cinemas Dec 5
This absolute heartbreaker of a docudrama tells the story of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab who was trapped under fire from the IDF and the desperate attempts to rescue her before it was too late. Kaouther Ben Hania, the director of excellent meta doc Four Daughters, pushes the boundaries of the documentary form again to devastating effect. A stack of prizes at this autumn’s film festivals is testament to its power.
In cinemas Dec 5
An afterlife romantic-comedy that’s a little A Matter of Life and Death and a little Spike Jonze, Eternity asks: if you have to spend forever with one of your ex-lovers, who are you going with? It probably helps if the choice is Miles Teller and Callum Turner, as it is for Elizabeth Olsen’s also deceased woman – who gets a week to pick. Luckily, The Holdovers’ Da’Vine Joy Randolph is there to help.
In cinemas Dec 5
If Christmas movies are a bit jolly for your tastes, dig in to a yuletide slasher that remakes the 1984 horror of the same name and is also firmly in the spirit of 1974 genre classic Black Christmas. Rohan Campbell plays a vengeful Santa who doesn’t give a shit who’s been naughty or nice, he’s sticking an axe into them anyway. Merry, erm, Christmas!
In cinemas Dec 12
Kate Winslet makes her directorial debut with a bittersweet Christmas-set drama about a waning mum whose ill health brings her adult kids and their dad together for the kind of festive chaos even those little sausages with bacon can’t fix. The director co-stars with a proper wish list of a cast: Toni Collette, Johnny Flynn, Andrea Riseborough, Timothy Spall and Helen Mirren. Written by Winslet’s son Joe Anders, it’s a family affair of its own.
In cinemas Dec 12 and on Netflix Dec 24
A Hollywood legend of the 1980s and ’90s, James L Brooks gave us classics like Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good as It Gets. Now 85, the three-time Oscar winner is back with his first film in 15 years, hoping to find more magic in another liberal-minded romantic drama. This one has Sex Ed’s Emma Mackey as a thrusting politician torn between her career and family life. Jack Lowden, Woody Harrelson and Jamie Lee Curtis co-star.
In cinemas Dec 12
This little indie effort lands in a few cinemas – okay, all of them – to draw in audiences like a Death Star tractor beam. James Cameron, a blockbuster genius who has yet to miss, is faced with the daunting challenge of reviving interest in his Na’vi heroes and the 3D format from a standing start. He’s thrown what he describes as ‘a fuck tonne of money’ at the problem. Expect new threats, epic scale and more supersized spectacle.
In cinema Dec 19
Not a remake of the J-Lo giant-snake movie of the same name but a meta-quel! A group of eager filmmakers head to the Amazon to film an amateur remake of that 1997 movie, only to run smack into a real killer anaconda. If you’re going to try to pull this sort of high-concept silliness off, you could an awfully lot worse that get Paul Rudd, Jack Black and Steve Zahn to do it.
In cinemas Dec 26
Fans of his Oslo Trilogy – especially The Worst Person in the World – will be all in on Joachim Trier’s latest collaboration with Renate Reinsve. The premise is a provocative one: Stellan Skarsgård’s filmmaker is making a movie about his deceased wife and wants his actress daughter (Reinsve) to play her. When she turns him down, he opts for Elle Fanning’s American star instead. Lacerating friction is guaranteed.
In cinemas Dec 26
He missed out for A Complete Unknown but could this Josh Safdie sports drama be Timothée Chalamet’s passport to an Oscar? Early word is overwhelmingly positive on his performance as real-life table tennis star Marty Mauser, whose showmanship lit up the sport in the 1950s.
In cinemas Dec 26
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