HOLIDAY MOVIES
WHAT'S COMING TO CINEMAS
For the third Christmas in a row, Star Wars arrives in cinemas (on December 15) to colonize your child’s mind while extracting your money with the bland efficiency of a Series II THX FK-YU Grifter droid. Step around the blast radius and check out some of the more grown-up titles coming to the movies in the next couple months, if you’d like to level a small blow or two against the Empire.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Director Luca Guadagnino makes a return visit to the woozy splendour of I Am Love with this tale of queer passion set in everybody’s new favourite decade, the ’80s. Armie Hammer stars. (December 15) THE SHAPE OF WATER Mute Sally Hawkins develops a relationship with a “thing” in a tank, but the monster in Guillermo del Toro’s latest, not untypically, is vintage Cold War American military fascism (largely in the shape of Michael Shannon). (December 15)
THE BREADWINNER Vancouver’s Laara Sadiq lends her voice to this passionate animated take on the Deborah Ellis novel, in which a girl in Taliban-era Afghanistan disguises herself as a boy to keep the family fed. (December 15)
BLACK CHRISTMAS Keir Dullea, Olivia Hussey, and Margot Kidder (plus PRE–SCTV Andrea Martin) star in Bob Clark’s Canuck horror classic from 1974, at the Cinematheque for one night only. (December 21)
DOWNSIZING Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig headline Alexander Payne’s dark satire about people who choose to shrink themselves down to a neat four inches (to combat overpopulation, obviously!), although word is that Vietnamese actor Hong Chau emerges as the film’s real giant. (December 22)
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD
Miserly J. Paul Getty refuses to pony up when kidnappers take his grandson, receiving a severed ear as a booby prize. Alternatively: Kevin Spacey nails it as Christopher Plummer. (December 22)
CITY LIGHTS Charlie Chaplin’s alltime greatest returns to the Cinematheque along with Days of Heaven, Paris, Texas, and a handful of other Essential Big Screen selections. (Starts December 22)
MOLLY’S GAME Jessica Chastain stars as the Hollywood lady who ran the world’s highest-stakes poker game, until the FBI came knocking. Aaron Sorkin makes his directorial debut, so maybe this should be called Molly’s Gab. (December 25)
BEST OF 2017 Dunkirk, Lucky, and Blade Runner 2049 are among the titles returning to the Vancity Theatre for its annual roundup of the year’s bestest. (Starts December 26)
2018 ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL
Classics old and new come together at the Vancity Theatre, beginning with Martin Scorsese’s heartfelt My Voyage to Italy and ending six days later with the very hot Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle. (Starts January 5)
THE POST Meryl Streep comes onboard for the latest from the Steven Spielberg/tom Hanks happy time creative history program, this time taking on the story behind the Pentagon Papers—allegedly. (January 12)
HAPPY END Isabelle Huppert reunites with director Michael Haneke for a scathing look at the indiscreet charmlessness of the 21st-century French bourgeoisie. (January 12)
THE FINAL YEAR Documentarian Greg Barker goes inside the White House for the last photogenic 12 months of the Obama administration. (January 19)