Friday Releases: Civil War

April 12, 2024

Civil War

Directed By: Alex Garland
Studio: A24

A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Nick Offerman
Genre: Action
Rating: R (for strong violent content, bloody/disturbing images, and language throughout)
Country: USA | UK (English)
Runtime: 109 minutes

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Arcadian

Directed By: Benjamin Brewer
Studio: RLJE Films

In a near future, life on Earth has been decimated. Paul (Nicolas Cage) and his twin teenage sons, Thomas (Jaeden Martell) and Joseph (Maxwell Jenkins), have been living a half-life — tranquility by day and torment by night. When the sun sets, ferocious creatures of the night awaken and consume all living souls in their path. One day, when Thomas doesn’t return home before sundown, Paul chooses to leave the safety of their fortified farm to find him before the creatures arrive. Just as he finds his boy, a nightmarish battle ensues and Paul is gravely wounded. Now the twins must devise a desperate plan for surviving the coming night and use everything their father has taught them to keep him alive.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins, Sadie Soverall, and Samantha Coughlan
Genre: Action | Horror | Thriller
Rating: R (for bloody images)
Country: Canada | USA | Ireland (English)
Runtime: 92 minutes

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Sasquatch Sunset

Directed By: David & Nathan Zellner
Studio: Bleecker Street

In the misty forests of North America, a family of Sasquatches–possibly the last of their enigmatic kind–embark on an absurdist, epic, hilarious, and ultimately poignant journey over the course of one year. These shaggy and noble giants fight for survival as they find themselves on a collision course with the ever-changing world around them. Starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, acclaimed directors David and Nathan Zellner (Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter) bring you the greatest Bigfoot story ever told.

Starring: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek, and Nathan Zellner
Genre: Action | Adventure | Comedy
Rating: R (for some sexual content, full nudity and bloody images)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 89 minutes

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The Absence of Eden

Directed By: Marco Perego
Studio: Vertical

The Absence of Eden takes place at the border between the United States and Mexico — a hellish landscape inhabited by coyotes, armed officers, desperate immigrants, and refugees. When Esmee (Zoe Saldaña), a young woman working as a private dancer in Mexico, is forced to commit a violent act of self-defense that results in the death of a cartel member, she flees her homeland for sanctuary in the United States. Guided by a ruthless Coyote and a group of undocumented immigrants, she befriends a young mother and her daughter along the way. Before crossing the border, the mother is taken from the group, and Esmee promises to protect her daughter and help them reunite again in America, touching off an interlocking story about people struggling to survive on America’s border with Mexico.

Starring: Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund, Adria Arjona and Tom Waits
Genre: Drama
Rating: R (for violent content, language and some sexual content)
Country: USA | UK (English)
Runtime: 97 minutes

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Damaged

Directed By: Terry McDonough
Studio: Lionsgate

How do you catch a brilliant monster? When a sadistic murderer surfaces in Scotland, terrified local authorities call on a Chicago police detective who investigated a killing spree with the same horrific pattern five years earlier. Samuel L. Jackson and Vincent Cassel star in this shocking thriller about two detectives with tortured pasts trying to stop a merciless serial killer before he claims his next victim.

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Vincent Cassel, Gianni Capaldi, Laura Haddock, John Hannah, and Kate Dickie
Genre: Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Rating: R (for violence, grisly images throughout, language and brief sexual content)
Country: USA | UK (English)
Runtime: 92 minutes

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Sting

Directed By: Kiah Roache-Turner
Studio: Well Go USA Entertainment

After raising an unnervingly talented spider in secret, 12-year-old Charlotte must face the facts about her pet-and fight for her family’s survival-when the once-charming creature rapidly transforms into a giant, flesh-eating monster.

Starring: Tony J Black, Alyla Browne, Alcira Carpio, Silvia Colloca, Ryan Corr, and Jermaine Fowler
Genre: Horror | International | Thriller
Rating: R (for violent content, bloody images and language)
Country: Australia (English)
Runtime: 91 minutes

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Food, Inc. 2

Directed By: Robert Kenner & Melissa Robledo
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

FOOD, INC. 2 is a timely and urgent follow-up to the Oscar®-nominated documentary from directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo. In the sequel, Kenner and Robledo reunite with investigative authors Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) to take a fresh look at our vulnerable food system. The groundbreaking FOOD, INC. ignited a cultural conversation about the multinational corporations that control our food system at enormous cost to our planet, workforce, and health. FOOD, INC. 2 comes “back for seconds” to reveal how corporate consolidation has gone unchecked by our government, leaving us with a highly efficient yet shockingly vulnerable food system dedicated only towards increasing profits. Seeking solutions, the film introduces innovative farmers, food producers, workers’ rights activists, and prominent legislators such as U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Jon Tester, who are facing these companies head-on and fighting to create a more sustainable future.

Starring: —
Genre: Documentary | News
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 94 minutes

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LaRoy, Texas

Directed By: Shane Atkinson
Studio: Brainstorm Media

Broke and depressed, Ray (John Magaro) is mistaken for a dangerous hitman and given an envelope of cash. Along with his P.I. friend Skip (Steve Zahn), he must escape the actual hitman to make it out of LaRoy alive.

Starring: John Magaro, Steve Zahn, Megan Stevenson, Matthew Del Negro and Dylan Baker
Genre: Comedy | Crime | Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA | France (English)
Runtime: 112 minutes

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Sweet Dreams

Directed By: Lije Sarki
Studio: Paramount Pictures

Johnny Knoxville, Mo Amer, Theo Von and Kate Upton unite in this wild and off-the-wall journey of second chances from the producer of The Peanut Butter Falcon. Forced into rehab at SWEET DREAMS recovery center, Morris (Knoxville) struggles to confront the wreckage of his life. But when their house goes up for auction, he reluctantly agrees to coach their misfit softball team of recovering addicts to win a cash prize and prove that everyone, despite their past, can hit a home run.

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Jay Mohr, Brian Van Holt, Gata, Theo Von, Mohammed Amer, and Bobby Lee
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Sport
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 95 minutes

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The Long Game

Directed By: Julio Quintana
Studio: Mucho Más Media

In 1956, JB Peña and his wife moved to the small town of Del Rio, TX, partly for a job as a school superintendent, but mostly to fulfill JB’s dream of joining the prestigious, all-white Del Rio Country Club. So when JB is rejected on the basis of his skin color, he is devastated. But his world soon collides with a group of young Latino golf caddies who work at the country club, and JB is inspired by the handmade course the boys built in the country to teach themselves golf. With little experience and even fewer resources, JB convinces the boys to start their own high school golf team, starting them all on a journey where they learn that it takes more than just golf skills to make history. Based on Mustang Miracle by Humberto G. Garcia.

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Jay Hernandez, Cheech Marin, Julian Works, Jaina Lee Ortiz, Brett Cullen, Oscar Nuñez, Paulina Chávez, Gregory Diaz IV, and José Julián
Genre: Drama | History
Rating: PG (for language, racial slurs, thematic material, some violence and brief rude material)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 106 minutes

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Indigo Girls:
It’s Only Life After All

Directed By: Alexandria Bombach
Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratories

With forty years of making music as the iconic folk-rock band Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have made their mark as musicians, songwriters, and dedicated activists. They have represented radical self-acceptance to many, leading multiple generations of fans to say, “the Indigo Girls saved my life.” Still, Amy and Emily battled misogyny, homophobia, and a harsh cultural climate chastising them for not fitting into a female pop star mold. With joy, humor, and heart-warming earnestness, Sundance award-winning director Alexandria Bombach brings us into a contemporary conversation with Amy and Emily–alongside decades of the band’s home movies and intimate present-day verité.

Starring: Amy Ray, Emily Saliers, and Winona LaDuke
Genre: Documentary | Music
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 123 minutes

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Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead

Directed By: Wade Allain-Marcus
Studio: Iconic Events

Seventeen-year-old Tanya Crandell (Simone Joy Jones) can’t wait to spend the summer living it up with her friends in Spain before heading to Howard University in the fall. But when her mom (Ms. Pat) decides to head to a much-needed wellness retreat in Thailand, Tanya is forced to stay home with her three siblings instead. Following the unexpected death of their elderly babysitter (June Squibb), Tanya gets a job working for the confident and ambitious Rose (Nicole Richie). Juggling work, family, and a complicated romance, Tanya faces the responsibility of adulthood at the cost of her summer of freedom.

Starring: Simone Joy Jones, Ms. Pat, Jermaine Fowler, June Squibb, and Nicole Richie
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R (for teen drug use, language and some sexual references)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 99 minutes

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Omen

Directed By: Baloji
Studio: Utopia

A young woman inherits a run-down pub and discovers a dark secret within its basement – Baghead – a shape-shifting creature that will let you speak to lost loved ones, but not without consequence.

Starring: Marc Zinga, Yves-Marina Gnahoua, Marcel Otete Kabeya, Eliane Umuhire, and Lucie Debay
Genre: Drama | International
Rating: Not Rated
Country: Belgium | The Democratic Republic of Congo | Netherlands | France | Germany | South Africa (French, Swahili, Lingala, & English)
Runtime: 92 minutes

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Disappear Completely

Directed By: Luis Javier Henaine
Studio: Netflix

After visiting a crime scene, an ambitious and insensitive tabloid crime photographer, falls victim to a mysterious illness that makes him lose, one by one, his five senses.

Starring: Harold Torres, Tete Espinoza, Fermín Martínez, Vicky Araico, and Norma Reyna
Genre: Horror | International | Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Country: Mexico (Spanish)
Runtime: 106 minutes

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In Flames

Directed By: Zarrar Kahn
Studio: XYZ Films

After the death of the family patriarch, a mother and daughter’s precarious existence is ripped apart by figures from their past. They must find strength in each other if they are to survive the malevolent forces that threaten to engulf them.

Starring: Ramesha Nawal, Omar Javaid, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Mohammad Ali Hashmi, and Adnan Shah
Genre: Drama | Horror | International
Rating: Not Rated
Country: Pakistan | Canada (Urdu)
Runtime: 98 minutes

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Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill

Directed By: Andy Brown & Brian Lindstrom
Studio: Greenwich Entertainment

The never-before-told story of folk-rock icon Judee Sill, who in just two years went from living in a car to appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone. The documentary charts her troubled adolescence through her meteoric rise in the music world and early tragic death. Featuring Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Fleet Foxes, David Geffen, and more.

Starring: Weyes Blood, Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin, David Crosby, and Denis del Giudice
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 91 minutes

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A Forgotten Man

Directed By: Laurent Nègre
Studio: Sovereign Films

In the spring of 1945 as Nazi Germany collapses, Swiss ambassador Heinrich Zwygart flees bombed-out Berlin after serving eight years in the capital of the Reich. This is the end of a dreadful mandate, during which he had to make fatal compromises to preserve the neutrality and security of his country. While he tries to reunite with his estranged family in his unscathed home country, the arrival of peace puts Zwygart in a delicate position. How could the Swiss policy, which was more than favorable to Germany, be justified at a time when the Allies and the Russians are liberating Europe and question the behavior of the Swiss Government during the war? For Switzerland to end on the winning side after the war, someone will have to pay. Haunted by his past, struggling to secure a future, but driven by his ambition Zwygart feels the trap closing in on him. He made it through the war, but will he survive peace?

Starring: Michael Neuenschwander, Manuela Biedermann, Yann Philipona, Cléa Eden, and Peter Wyssbrod
Genre: Drama | History | International | Thriller | War
Rating: R (for brief full nudity)
Country: Switzerland | UK (German)
Runtime: 85 minutes

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Sweet Dreams

Directed By: Ena Sendijarevic
Studio: Dekanalog

For the family and business led by the imperious patriarch Jan (Hans Dagelet), the rot had clearly set in long before these events. That said, Jan isn’t around to see the changes to come, what with his sudden death after one of his nightly visits to the room of Siti (Hayati Azis), his Indonesian housekeeper. With the disorder in the household further compounded by a workers’ protest, his widow Agathe (Renée Soutendijk) demands the return from Europe of Jan’s pompous son Cornelius (Florian Myjer) and heavily pregnant daughter-in-law Josefin (Lisa Zweerman). When they all learn of Jan’s decision to bequeath his estate to his son with Siti, the ensuing power struggles add a further degree of turbulence.

Starring: Hayati Azis, Renée Soutendijk, Florian Myjer, Lisa Zweerman, and Muhammad Khan
Genre: Drama
Rating: R (for pervasive language and some sexual material)
Country: Netherlands | Reunion | Indonesia | Sweden (Dutch & Indonesian)
Runtime: 102 minutes

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Resistance: They Fought Back

Directed By: Paula Apsell & Kirk Wolfinger
Studio: Abramorama

We’ve all heard of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but most people have no idea how widespread and prevalent Jewish resistance to Nazi barbarism was. Instead, it’s widely believed “Jews went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter.” Filmed in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Israel, and the U.S., Resistance: They Fought Back provides a much-needed corrective to this myth of Jewish passivity. There were uprisings in ghettos large and small, rebellions in death camps, and thousands of Jews fought Nazis in the forests. Everywhere in Eastern Europe, Jews waged campaigns of non-violent resistance against the Nazis.

Starring: Joel de la Fuente, Lisa Loeb, Andrew Kishino, Julie Benko, Mark Zeisler, and David Rosenberg
Genre: Documentary | International
Rating: Not Rated
Country: Poland (Polish, Latvian, English, Hebrew, & Lithuanian)
Runtime: 100 minutes

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Unsinkable: Titanic Untold

Directed By: Cody Hartman
Studio: Movies Plus

Titanic — you think you know the story, but think again. UNSINKABLE: Titanic Untold is the never-been-told story of the aftermath of the Titanic disaster. When the RMS Carpathia arrives in New York carrying survivors of the Titanic–passengers and crew alike–they find Senator William Alden Smith (R-MI) (Cotter Smith — Mindhunter, X-2) has hastily convened in New York to ensure the testimony of all key witnesses. What ensues over days and weeks in New York and later Washington, DC, is a period drama not to be missed. UNSINKABLE: Titanic Untold is an exhilarating, true-life account of political interference, greed, conspiracy and a desperate grasp for accountability, interwoven with flashbacks to the heroism and sacrifice on Titanic’s deck during that fateful night in April, 1912.

Starring: Karen Allen, Fiona Dourif, Jayne Wisener, Cotter Smith, and Teri Clark
Genre: Drama | History
Rating: PG (for peril, some violence, thematic elements, smoking, and a suggestive reference)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 100 minutes

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Intermedium

Directed By: Erik Bloomquist
Studio: Indie Rights

An obsessive-compulsive teenager searches for a way to rid her home of the ghost that haunts it, but their unexpected connection makes it hard to let go.

Starring: Michael Rady, Amy Hargreaves, Ellen Marlow, Haskiri Velazquez, Jesse Posey, and Emily Keefe
Genre: Fantasy | Musical | Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 106 minutes

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Migraine

Directed By: Jared Campbell
Studio: Spring Lane Studios

Farrah Walker is an artist seeking a new beginning in a remote mountain house, only to be plagued by severe headaches. As her pain intensifies, Farrah discovers that her headaches are more than just a medical issue; they are cryptic clues leading her to unravel a chilling mystery surrounding the disappearance of a serial killer’s victim years earlier.

Starring: Shea Briar, Isaac Yarborough, Jill Symes, and Alyssa Gordon
Genre: Horror
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 65 minutes

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One with the Whale

Directed By: Peter Chelkowski & Jim Wickens
Studio: Independent Lens

Hunting whales is a matter of life or death for the residents of St. Lawrence, a tiny island in the Bering Sea. So, when Chris Agra Apassingok becomes the youngest person to ever harpoon a whale for his Alaskan village, his mother proudly shares the news on Facebook. To her surprise, thousands of keyboard activists brutally attack Chris without fully understanding the scope of his accomplishment. ONE WITH THE WHALE is a thrilling yet heartwarming story of one family’s struggle to rebuild their shattered identities and find a way to live with Ancient Indigenous values in the fast-paced, cruel modern world.

Starring: Chris Apassingok
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA | UK (English)
Runtime: 90 minutes

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Escape From Germany

Directed By: T.C. Christensen
Studio: Susan Tuckett Media

“Escape from Germany” is the true recounting of a miraculous yet unsung WWII event, releasing in theaters April, 2024. Hitler’s army was rapidly closing borders in August of 1939 while eighty-five American missionaries were serving their church inside Germany. As the German military preparations escalated, word came to speedily move those LDS missionaries to safety in adjacent countries. Taken from the personal diaries of those missionaries, this riveting story is a testimony that God truly leads and protects His servants, opens doors, and provides timely inspiration. The harrowing escape of these missionaries from Nazi Germany as World War II started is one of the most remarkable but little-known events in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Starring: Whitney Palmer, David McConnell, Sebastian Barr, Pamela Beheshti, Landon Henneman, and Paul Wuthrich
Genre: Drama | History | War
Rating: PG (for thematic material and brief violence)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 97 minutes

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I Like Movies

Directed By: Chandler Levack
Studio: Visit Films

Lawrence Kweller, a socially inept 17-year old cinephile, gets a job at a video store, where he forms a complicated friendship with his older female manager.

Starring: Isaiah Lehtinen, Percy Hynes White, Anand Rajaram, Eden Cupid, and Krista Bridges
Genre: Comedy | Drama | International
Rating: Not Rated
Country: Canada (English)
Runtime: 99 minutes

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