FEBRUARY 12, 2021
<Click film’s poster to see info/trailer>
Barb & star go to vista del mar
Directed By: Josh Greenbaum
Studio: Lionsgate
Take a trip and break out of your shell with Barb and Star. From the gals who brought you Bridesmaids (co-stars and co-writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo) comes BARB & STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR. Lifelong friends Barb and Star embark on the adventure of a lifetime when they decide to leave their small Midwestern town for the first time… ever.
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Jamie Dornan, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Damon Wayans Jr.
Genre: Comedy
Country: USA (English)
Rating: PG-13 (for crude sexual content, drug use and some strong language)
Runtime: 107 minutes
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JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Created By: Shaka King
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
FBI informant William O’Neal infiltrates the Illinois Black Panther Party and is tasked with keeping tabs on their charismatic leader, Chairman Fred Hampton. A career thief, O’Neal revels in the danger of manipulating both his comrades and his handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell. Hampton’s political prowess grows just as he’s falling in love with fellow revolutionary Deborah Johnson. Meanwhile, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul. Will he align with the forces of good? Or subdue Hampton and The Panthers by any means, as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover commands?
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Steinfeld, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Lil Rel Howery, Algee Smith, and Martin Sheen
Genre: Biography | Drama | History
Country: USA (English)
Rating: R (for violence and pervasive language)
Runtime: 126 minutes
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THE WORLD TO COME
Directed By: Mona Fastvold
Studio: Bleeker Street
In this powerful 19th century romance set in the American Northeast, Abigail (Katherine Waterston), a farmer’s wife, and her new neighbor Tallie (Vanessa Kirby) find themselves irrevocably drawn to each other. A grieving Abigail tends to her withdrawn husband Dyer (Casey Affleck) as free-spirit Tallie bristles at the jealous control of her husband Finney (Christopher Abbott), when together their intimacy begins to fill a void in each other’s lives they never knew existed. Directed by Mona Fastvold and scripted by Jim Shepard and Ron Hansen, THE WORLD TO COME explores how isolation is overcome by the intensity of human connection.
Starring: Vanessa Kirby, Katherine Waterston, Christopher Abbott and Casey Affleck
Genre: Drama
Country: USA (English)
Rating: R (for some sexuality/nudity)
Runtime: 98 minutes
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land
Directed By: Robin Wright
Studio: Focus Features
From acclaimed actress Robin Wright comes her directorial debut LAND, the poignant story of one woman’s search for meaning in the vast and harsh American wilderness. Edee (Wright), in the aftermath of an unfathomable event, finds herself unable to stay connected to the world she once knew and in the face of that uncertainty, retreats to the magnificent, but unforgiving, wilds of the Rockies. After a local hunter (Demián Bichir) brings her back from the brink of death, she must find a way to live again.
Starring: Robin Wright, Demián Bichir and Kim Dickens
Genre: Drama
Country: USA (English)
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic content, brief strong language, and partial nudity)
Runtime: 89 minutes
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minari
Directed By: Lee Isaac Chung
Studio: A24
A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
Starring: Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Youn Yuh-jung, and Will Patton
Genre: Drama
Country: USA (Korean & English)
Rating: PG-13 (for some thematic elements and a rude gesture)
Runtime: 115 minutes
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The Mauritanian
Directed By: Kevin Macdonald
Studio: STX Films
Directed by Kevin Macdonald and based on the NY Times best-selling memoir “Guantánamo Diary” by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, this is the inspiring true story of Slahi’s fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years. Alone and afraid, Slahi (Tahar Rahim) finds allies in defense attorney Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) and her associate Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley) who battle the U.S. government in a fight for justice that tests their commitment to the law and their client at every turn. Their controversial advocacy, along with evidence uncovered by a formidable military prosecutor, Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch), uncovers shocking truths and ultimately proves that the human spirit cannot be locked up.
Starring: Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, Shailene Woodley and Benedict Cumberbatch
Genre: Drama | Thriller
Country: USA | UK (English)
Rating: R (for violence including a sexual assault, and language
Runtime: 129 minutes
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French Exit
Directed By: Azazel Jacobs
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
A widowed New York socialite and her aimless son move to Paris after she spends the last of her husband’s inheritance.
Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges, Tracy Letts, and Imogen Poots
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Country: USA | UK (English)
Rating: R (for language and sexual references)
Runtime: 110 minutes
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WILLY’S WONDERLAND
Directed By: Kevin Lewis
Studio: Screen Media Films
A quiet loner (Nicolas Cage) finds himself stranded in a remote town when his car breaks down. Unable to pay for the repairs he needs, he agrees to spend the night cleaning Willy’s Wonderland, an abandoned family fun center. But this wonderland has a dark secret that this “Janitor” is about to discover. He soon finds himself locked in an epic battle with possessed animatronic mascots that roam the halls. To survive, he must fight his way through each of them.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Ric Reitz, Chris Warner, and Kai Kadlec
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 88 minutes
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Cowboys
Directed By: Anna Kerrigan
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Steve Zahn stars as Troy, a troubled but well-intentioned father who has recently separated from his wife Sally (Jillian Bell). Aghast at Sally’s refusal to let their trans son Joe (Sasha Knight) live as his authentic self, Troy runs off with Joe into the Montana wilderness. Meanwhile, police detective (Ann Dowd) pursues them, but her resolve about the case is tested the more she learns about Joe’s family. COWBOYS, a modern day Western from director Anna Kerrigan, is a tale of rescue, family betrayal and a father and son on the run.
Starring: Steve Zahn, Jillian Bell, Sasha Knight and Ann Dowd
Genre: Drama
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 83 minutes
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MUSIC (2021)
Directed By: Sia
Studio: Vertical Entertainment
Zu (Kate Hudson) is a free spirit estranged from her family who suddenly finds herself the sole guardian of her half sister, Music (Maddie Ziegler), The musical drama explores the tenuous bonds that hold us together, and imagines a world where those bonds can be strengthened in times of great challenge: love, trust, and being able to be there for each other is everything.
Starring: Kate Hudson, Maddie Ziegler and Leslie Odom Jr
Genre: Drama | Musical
Country: USA (English)
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic content, drug material, brief violence and strong language)
Runtime: 107 minutes
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Breaking News In Yuba County
Directed By: Tate Taylor
Studio: MGM Studios
A woman takes advantage of her growing celebrity status when the police and the public think her dead husband is just missing.
Starring: Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, Awkwafina, Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes, Juliette Lewis, Samira Wiley, Jimmi Simpson, Clifton Collins Jr., Bridget Everett, Dominic Burgess, Keong Sim, Chris Lowell, Matthew Modine and Ellen Barkin
Genre: Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Country: USA (English)
Rating: R (for violence, sexual content, language and some nudity)
Runtime: 96 minutes
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HEAVY
Directed By: Jouri Smit
Studio: Electric Entertainment
A drug dealer and his girlfriend land in hot water when he tries to help an old childhood friend.
Starring: Sophie Turner, Daniel Zovatto, Matias Varela, Al Sapienza, and Darrell Britt-Gibson
Genre: Drama
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 95 minutes
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ADVERSE
Directed By: Brian A. Metcalf
Studio: Black Jellybeans Productions
Thomas Nicholas (“Red Band Society”) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) star in this gritty, intense urban thriller about one man’s quest for revenge. Struggling to make ends meet, rideshare driver Ethan (Nicholas) learns his sister Mia is deep in debt to a sleazy drug dealer. When Mia goes missing, Ethan discovers that crime boss Kaden (Rourke) is behind the act, and to get close to him Ethan takes a job as Kaden’s driver. One by one Ethan hunts down members of Kaden’s crew to wreak bloody vengeance as he prepares to confront Kaden himself.
Starring: Thomas Nicholas, Lou Diamond Phillips, Sean Astin, Kelly Arjen, Penelope Ann Miller, and Mickey Rourke
Genre: Crime | Thriller
Country: USA (English)
Rating: R (for strong/bloody violence, language throughout, drug content and brief nudity)
Runtime: 94 minutes
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Paradise Cove
Directed By: Martin Guigui
Studio: Quiver Distribution
This February, BAFTA Nominee Mena Suvari faces danger at Paradise Cove. Todd Grinnell (“One Day at a Time”) and Kristin Bauer van Straten (“True Blood”) also star in the Martin Guigui-directed thriller, the story of a contractor and his wife who move to Malibu to flip his mother’s beach house and are terrorized by the deranged homeless lady living under the house.
Starring: Todd Grinnell, Mena Suvari, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Eddie Goines, and Krista Allen
Genre: Thriller
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 103 minutes
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LAPSIS
Directed By: Noah Hutton
Studio: Film Movement
In a parallel present, delivery man Ray Tincelli is struggling to support himself and his ailing younger brother. After a series of two-bit hustles and unsuccessful swindles, Ray takes a job in a strange new realm of the gig economy: trekking deep into the forest, pulling cable over miles of terrain to connect large, metal cubes that link together the new quantum trading market. As he gets pulled deeper into the zone, he encounters growing hostility and the threat of robot cablers, and must choose to either help his fellow workers or to get rich and get out.
Starring: Dean Imperial, Madeline Wise, Babe Howard, Ivory Aquino, and Dora Madison
Genre: Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 108 minutes
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A Writer’s Odyssey
Directed By: Yang Lu
Studio: CMC Pictures
A WRITER’S ODYSSEY tells the story of Kongwen Lu (Dong Zijian), the author of a fantasy novel series following a heroic teenager, also named Kongwen, on a quest to end the tyrannical rule of Lord Redmane, under the guidance of a Black Armor (Guo Jingfei). But through a strange twist of fate, the fantasy world of the novel begins to impact life in the real world, leading Guan Ning (Lei Jiayin) to accept a mission from Tu Ling (Yang Mi) to kill the author.
Starring: Zijian Dong, Jingfei Guo, Jiayin Lei, Liya Tong, Mi Yang
Genre: Action | Drama | Fantasy | Inrenational
Country: China (Mandarin)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 130 minutes
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FEAR OF RAIN
Directed By: Castille Landon
Studio: Lionsgate
For teenager Rain Burroughs (Madison Iseman), a diagnosis with schizophrenia means that every day is a struggle as she tries to figure out which of the disturbing images, harrowing voices, and traumatic feelings she experiences are real and which are all in her mind. But when Rain insists against her parents’ (Katherine Heigl and Harry Connick, Jr.) advice that the shadows and cries from her neighbor’s attic are hiding a dark secret, she enlists help from Caleb (Israel Broussard), the charmingly awkward new boy at school — who himself may not be real. Written and directed by Castille Landon (After We Fell, After Ever Happy), Fear of Rain is a terrifying thriller that takes you inside Rain’s mind as she confronts the frightening hallucinations of her imagination to determine whether there is real horror hiding right next door.
Starring: Katherine Heigl, Madison Iseman, Israel Broussard, Eugenie Bondurant, and Harry Connick Jr.
Genre: Drama | Horror | Thriller
Country: USA (English)
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic content, violence/terror, disturbing images and some strong language)
Runtime: 92 minutes
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I Blame Society
Directed By: Gillian Wallace Horvat
Studio: Cranked Up Fillms
The lines between art and real life begin to blur when an ambitious filmmaker realizes she’s good at getting away with murder.
Starring: Gillian Wallace Horvat, Keith Poulson, Chase Williamson, Lucas Kavner, and Morgan Krantz
Genre: Comedy
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 84 minutes
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MELTDOWN
Directed By: Frederic Golding
Studio: Gravitas Ventures
Produced as a small, intimate conversation set on a large, stunning canvas, MELTDOWN follows Lynn and Tony to the tiny, picturesque town of Illulisat, Greenland, which is “Ground Zero” for the climate crisis. There they discuss the convergence of art and science in how we view the world. Beauty and tragedy share the stage, and each enlightens the other while examining how we all might address the global crisis of climate change.
Starring: Lynn Davis and Tony Leiserowitz
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 59 minutes
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Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words
Directed By: Freida Lee Mock
Studio: Kino Lorber
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses the challenges she faced to make it all the way to the Supreme Court.
Starring: Joe Biden, Irin Carmon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Barack Obama
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 89 minutes
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Rendez-vous
Directed By: Pablo Olmos Arrayales
Studio: Independent Films
Lili and Eduardo meet for the first time after connecting on a dating app. Eduardo arrives late but with a good reason in a place like Mexico City: he was mugged and they took his phone so he couldn’t text her to say he was running late. While at first everything seems to be going fine, when Lili finds Eduardo’s phone in his jacket, things take an unexpected and terrifying turn for the worse.
Starring: Antonio Alcantara, Italo Maximiliano Concha Veloz, Aaron Gomez, Markin López, and Helena Puig
Genre: Crime | Horror | International | Thriller
Country: Mexico (Spanish)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 102 minutes
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Young Hearts
Directed By: Sarah Sherman & Zachary Ray Sherman
Studio: Blue Fox Entertainment
Harper enters high school and sparks a relationship with her brother’s best friend, Tilly. While Harper deals with social blowback, the older Tilly is congratulated, setting up a very modern love story in the age of Time’s Up and Me Too.
Starring: Anjini Taneja Azhar, Quinn Liebling, Alex Jarmon, Ayla Carda, and Kelly Grace Richardson
Genre: Drama | Romance
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 81 minutes
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WEEKENDERS
Directed By: Erik C. Bloomquist
Studio: Mainframe Pictures
A scheduling mix-up at an Airbnb brings four 20-somethings together, and each one is navigating an existential crisis.
Starring: Peyton Michelle Edwards, Erik Bloomquist, Ehad Berisha, Maggie McMeans, and Rudd Anderson
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Romance
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 76 minutes
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Twilight’s Kiss
Directed By: Ray Yeung
Studio: Strand Releasing
SUK SUK is a quiet portrayal of a gay relationship between two men in their twilight years. PAK, 70, a married taxi driver who refuses to retire meets HOI 65, a retired single father. Although both are secretly gay, they are proud of the families they have created through hard work and hardship over the years. HOI is a member of the Mature Tongzhi Society, a social group, which caters for gay men who are over 60. The group is planning to attend a public forum to request the government to create senior citizen homes dedicated exclusively for gay people. However, due to the fact that most men in the group are in the closet, there is no one who is willing to voice their opinions in the public forum. HOI supports the notion of a gay senior citizen home and considers speaking in the public forum. However when HOI begins to wonder whether his son WAN suspect he is gay, his attitude shifts. As PAK and HOI fall in love they contemplate a possible future together. SUK SUK studies the subtle day-to-day moments of the two men as they struggle between conventional morals and their personal desires.
Starring: Tai-Bo, Ben Yuen, Patra Au, Lo Chun Yip, and Kong To
Genre: Drama | International
Country: Hong Kong (Cantonese)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 92 minutes
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Show Me What You Got
Directed By: Svetlana Cvetko
Studio: Double Take Pictures
An undeniable spark during a chance meeting leads Christine, Nassim and Marcello to explore their sexuality together as each struggle to prove their worth to their families, themselves, and the world around them. It’s a love story — unconventional but firmly rooted in the contemporary times we live in — that takes these three adventurous characters from Los Angeles to Italy on a journey of self-discovery.
Starring: Cristina Rambaldi, Neyssan Falahi, Mattia Minasi, Anne Brochet, and Karen Obilom
Genre: Drama | Romance
Country: USA (English, Italian, & French)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 101 minutes
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CRESTONE
Directed By: Marnie Ellen Hertzler
Studio: Utopia
In the desert of Crestone, Colorado, a group of SoundCloud rappers live in solitude, growing weed and making music for the internet. When an old friend arrives to make a movie, reality and fiction begin to blur.
Starring: Huckleberry, Keem, Mijo Mehico, Benz Rowm, and RyBundy
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 73 minutes
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Marighella
Directed By: Wagner Moura
Studio: O2 Filmes
Facing a violent military dictatorship and an intimidated opposition, writer-turned-politician Carlos Marighella articulates a resistance all the while ousting heinous crimes of torture and the infamous censorship instituted by the regime.
Starring: Ana Paula Bouzas, Bella Camero, Herson Capri, Humberto Carrão, and Adriana Esteves
Genre: Action | Drama | History | International | Thriller
Country: Brazil (Portuguese)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 155 minutes
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HAL KING
Directed By: Myron Davis
Studio: Gravitas Ventures
Hal King is a film musical; an epic coming of age romance set in the late 1950s beatnik jazz scene.
Starring: Sophia Stephens, Esjae, Kaylin Lee Clinton, Steve Wallace, and Tyrik Ballard
Genre: Drama | Musical | War
Country: USA (English)
Rating: Not Rated
Runtime: 114 minutes
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