Friday Releases: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One

JULY 14, 2023

<Click film’s poster to see info/trailer>

Mission: Impossible
Dead Reckoning: Part One

Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie
Studio: Paramount Pictures

In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan’s past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most.

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Theater Camp

Directed By: Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman
Studio: Searchlight Pictures

Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Molly Gordon star in the new original comedy Theater Camp as Amos and Rebecca-Diane — lifelong best friends and drama instructors at a rundown camp in upstate New York. When clueless tech-bro Troy (Jimmy Tatro) arrives to run the property (into the ground), Amos, Rebecca-Diane and production manager Glenn (Noah Galvin) band together with the staff and students to stage a masterpiece, and keep their beloved summer camp afloat.

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Bird Box Barcelona

Directed By: David Pastor & Àlex Pastor
Studio: Netflix

After a mysterious force decimates the world’s population, Sebastian must navigate his own survival journey through the desolate streets of Barcelona.

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Two Tickets to Greece

Directed By: Marc Fitoussi
Studio: Greenwich Entertainment

When childhood friends Magalie (Call My Agent!’s Laure Calamy) and Blandine (Olivia Côte) cross paths after many years, they decide to finally take their dream vacation to Greece. A wildly entertaining tale of female camaraderie, also starring Academy Award Nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient, Four Weddings and a Funeral).

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Final Cut

Directed By: Michel Hazanavicius
Studio: Kino Lorber

Oscar® winner Michel Hazanavicius’ remake of Shin’ichirô Ueda’s cult hit One Cut of the Dead follows a director (Romain Duris, L’Auberge Espagnole) charged with making a live, single-take, low-budget zombie flick in which the cast and crew, one by one, actually turn into zombies. Featuring hysterically unhinged performances from Oscar® nominee Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), Matilda Lutz (Revenge), and Finnegan Oldfield (Corsage), Final Cut is a sly love letter to the art of filmmaking and a blood-soaked, hilarious genre farce with a meta-to-the-max premise.

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The Deepest Breath

Directed By: Laura McGann
Studio: Netflix + A24

A champion freediver trains to break a world record with the help of an expert safety diver, and the two form an emotional bond that feels like fate. This heart-stopping film follows the paths they took to meet at the pinnacle of the freediving world, documenting the thrilling rewards — and inescapable risks — of chasing a dream through the silent depths of the ocean.

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Lakota Nation Vs. United States

Directed By: Jesse Short Bull & Laura Tomaselli
Studio: IFC Films

Lakota Nation vs. United States chronicles the Lakota Indians’ century-long quest to reclaim the Black Hills, sacred land that was stolen in violation of treaty agreements. A searing, timely portrait of resistance, the film explores the ways America has ignored its debt to indigenous communities, and ponders what might be done today to repair the wrongs of the past.

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The Miracle Club

Directed By: Thaddeus O’Sullivan
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Set in 1967, THE MIRACLE CLUB is a heartwarming film that follows the story of three generations of close friends, Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates), and Dolly (Agnes O’Casey) of Ballygar, a hard-knocks community in Dublin, who have one tantalizing dream: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes, that place of miracles that draws millions of visitors each year. When the chance to win presents itself, the women seize it. However, just before their trip, their old friend Chrissie (Laura Linney) arrives in Ballygar for her mother’s funeral, dampening their good mood and well-laid plans. The women secure tickets and set out on the journey that they hope will change their lives, with Chrissie, a skeptical traveler, joining in place of her mother. The glamor and sophistication of Chrissie, who has just returned from a nearly 40-year exile in the United States, are not her only distancing traits: Old wounds are reopened along the way, forcing the women to confront their pasts even as they travel in search of a miracle. Their shared traumas can only be healed by the curative power of love and friendship.

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Black Ice

Directed By: Hubert Davis
Studio: Roadside Attractions

Black Ice, the award-winning UNINTERRUPTED documentary that exposes a history of racism in hockey through the untold stories of Black hockey players, both past and present, in a predominantly white sport. Directed by Academy Award®- and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Hubert Davis, Black Ice masterfully navigates the challenges, triumphs, and unique experiences faced by these athletes through poignant firsthand accounts from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) hockey players past, including Willie O’Ree, the first Black player in the National Hockey League, and former professional hockey player Akim Aliu, with the stories of present stars, including P.K. Subban and Wayne Simmonds. The film explores the deep BIPOC roots of the game, dating back to 1865 and the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes (CHL), the first all-pro league, which not only introduced the slapshot but shaped the game of hockey we know today. Davis exposes racist patterns that span generations, even highlighting stories of how sports institutions have exerted pressure on players seeking change to remain silent.

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20 Days In Mariupol

Directed By: Mstyslav Chernov
Studio: PBS Distribution

As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war’s atrocities.

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Afire

Directed By: Christian Petzold
Studio: Sideshow + Janus Films

While vacationing by the Baltic Sea, writer Leon (Thomas Schubert) and photographer Felix (Langston Uibel) are surprised by the presence of Nadja (Paula Beer), a mysterious young woman staying as a guest at Felix’s family’s holiday home. Nadja distracts Leon from finishing his latest novel and with brutal honesty, forces him to confront his caustic temperament and self-absorption. As Nadja and Leon grow closer, an encroaching forest fire threatens the group and tensions escalate when a handsome lifeguard and Leon’s tight-lipped book editor also arrive. Christian Petzold’s acclaimed latest was the winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

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While We Watched

Directed By: Vinay Shukla
Studio: Britdoc Films

A turbulent newsroom drama intimately chronicling the working days of broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiraling world of truth and disinformation. As factual reporting is in freefall globally, ‘While We Watched’ is a dignified lens into the abyss.

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Belle

Directed By: Max Gold
Studio: Level 33 Entertainment

Belle works on the family farm and cares for her father after he falls severely ill. Desperate to save him, she journeys in search of a mythical rose believed to be a cure. She must surrender herself as a prisoner to a vicious beast as payment for the rose. Battling the beast’s spell and the two toxic relationships in her life, Belle’s true journey is only just beginning.

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The Channel

Directed By: William Kaufman
Studio: Brainstorm Media

After their bank heist goes wrong, a desperate criminal, his out-of-control brother, and their motley crew of ex-marines must escape New Orleans and the determined FBI agent who pursues them.

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Cult of Nightmares

Directed By: David Paul Scott
Studio: Cranked Up Films

An insomnia drug linked to the military and its war on terror causes bizarre nightmares that are being intentionally ignored by the press. When a young security guard takes a job following a woman fighting the media blackout, he is sucked into a larger conspiracy involving a plot hatched by the “1 Percent” and a weird cult from the 1900’s that worshipped Dream Demons called The Others.

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Fourth Grade

Directed By: Marcelo Galvão
Studio: Gravitas Ventures

At a prestigious catholic private elementary school, a practical principal and a drama teacher gather the parents of the 4th Grade students to discuss an alarming situation: a brick of marijuana found in the theatre class. To protect the school’s reputation, they need to expel the kid responsible for the weed. Ten wealthy parents from Pacific Palisades, CA, and Eddie, an outsider, whose daughter just won a scholarship arrive at the meeting. After an aggressive discussion, the principal and the drama teacher leave the room. Eddie promises to find a solution within one hour and save the day. Accusations, intrigue, and insults ensue as the parents try and protect their own children. In an effort to calm the hostility and think more calmly, one of the parents proposes that they try a little of the weed themselves. In the process, fragile and obscure secrets are revealed, and perspectives begin to shift. The weed problem is exposed as hypocrisy, and heartfelt truths and camaraderie blossom. After a poignant, hilarious, and intriguing journey, one of the parents realizes that the brick is actually just dry manure… there was never any weed to begin with.

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The Flood

Directed By: Brandon Slagle
Studio: Saban Films

A horde of giant hungry alligators is unleashed on a group of in-transit prisoners and their guards after a massive hurricane floods Louisiana.

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End Times

Directed By: Jim Towns
Studio: The Asylum

End Times follows a pair of mismatched travelers, Claire and Freddie (Bernadette and Stark), as they try to escape a deadly pandemic that has turned Los Angeles into a zombie-infested wasteland. Claire is a privileged young suburbanite ill-equipped to survive in this hostile new landscape, until she meets Freddie, a retired soldier who lost his daughter to the virus. As they travel together to reach the perimeter, Freddie teaches Claire the skills that will enable Claire to survive, and the uneasy partnership between the two grows into something more akin to a father/daughter relationship. Before they can reach safety, the two will have to escape brutal gangs, cannibals, cults, and the undead.

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The Modelizer

Directed By: Keoni Waxman
Studio: Vertical

A Hong Kong tycoon bachelor who only dates models meets his match when he stumbles across a Brazilian model who refuses to play by his rules, and ends up not only falling for her, but also discovering the meaning of love along the way.

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Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd

Directed By: Roddy Bogawa & Storm Thorgerson
Studio: Abramorama

Syd and Pink Floyd crystallized a cultural moment where anything seemed possible but where that freedom could come with a cost. Was Syd just another drug casualty? Did he suffer from an undiagnosed mental condition? Or did he dislike the attention and fame as the fun turned to work? While there are no clear answers, there is the feeling by all those around Syd that something went terribly wrong. Have You Got it Yet? is a chronicle and a mosaic of Barrett’s creative and destructive impulses, his captivating presence and absence — a portrait of the complex puzzle that was his life.

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