Also new this week
• Catvideofest 2021: The allnew 2021 edition of Catvideofest is a compilation of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and animations, music videos and internet sites. It plays 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec.
19, at Detroit Film Theatre. Tickets are $7.50 members, $9.50 nonmembers at dia.org.
• “A California Christmas: City Lights”: Callie and Joseph are happier than ever running their dairy farm and winery when business and family obligations call him back to the city — and threaten to derail their romance, in this holiday dramedy streaming Dec. 16 on Netflix.
• “Fortress”: Bruce Willis stars as Robert, a retired CIA agent, whose secret resort in the woods is besieged by an attack by his old nemesis, Balzary (Chad Michael Murray, “One Tree Hill”). It’s rated R for violence and language, available in select theaters and on demand Dec. 17, on DVD and Blu-ray Dec. 21. — Nicole M. Robertson
• “The Hand of God”: Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, who directed the luminous Oscar-winning Roman odyssey “The Great Beauty” turns southward to his hometown of Naples for an autobiographical film based on his 1980s childhood. In my review, I wrote that “Sorrentino, a melancholy but ecstatic filmmaker with an eager, energetic camera, is in much the same mood here, finding divine splendor in the everyday and the profane.” “The Hand of God,” which begins streaming Dec. 15 on Netflix, was the Golden Lion winner at the Venice Film Festival, and a pick for The Associated Press’ best films of 2021.
— Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer
• In an unusual twist, the recent Walt Disney Co. release “Ron’s Gone Wrong” will land Dec. 15 on both Disney+ and HBO Max after its theatrical run. The unusual arrangement is because of a soon-to-be-phased-out output deal between 20th Century Fox (which Disney acquired) and Warner Bros. But for now you have the choice of either platform for streaming this comic animated adventure about technology addiction and human companionship. While all the other kids have sleeker, high-functioning computerized sidekicks, Barney Pudowski (Jack Dylan Grazer) has a damaged, malfunctioning bot that can’t connect to the Internet (voiced by Zach Galifianakis). In his review, the AP’S Mark Kennedy said the movie “thinks it’s being subversive when it’s really being very corporate.” — Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer