January’s Top Movies

American Made

Barry Seal, a TWA pilot, is recruited by the CIA to provide reconnaissance on the burgeoning communist threat in Central America and soon finds himself in charge of one of the biggest covert CIA operations in the history of the United States. The operation spawns the birth of the Medellin cartel and almost brings down the Reagan White House when the clandestine operation was exposed as part of the Iran-Contra Affair.
Vitals: Director: Doug Liman. Stars: Tom Cruise, Caleb Landry Jones, Domhnall Gleeson, Jesse Plemons, Sarah Wright, Jayma Mays, Lola Kirke, Connor Trinneer, Benito Martinez, Jed Rees, April Billingsley, Mickey Sumner, Juan Gaspard, Mike Pniewski, Jonnah-Blaine Bowling.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 116 min., Action Comedy, Box office gross: $51.342 million, Universal.
Extras: Deleted scenes, “American Storyteller”; “Cruise and Liman: A Conversation”; “In the Wings”: Sarah Wright Olsen, Caleb Landry Jones, and Domhnall Gleeson discuss their characters; “Shooting American Made”; “Flying High”: Tom Cruise and Doug Liman discuss the aerial stunts in the movie; “The Real Barry Seal.”

Available: 01/02.

Battle of the Sexes

In the wake of the sexual revolution and the rise of the women’s movement, the 1973 tennis match between women’s world champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and ex-men’s-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) was billed as the Battle of the Sexes and became one of the most watched televised sports events of all time, reaching 90 million viewers around the world. As the rivalry between King and Riggs kicked into high gear, off-court each was fighting more personal and complex battles. The fiercely private King was not only championing for equality, but also struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, as her friendship with Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough) developed. And Riggs, one of the first self-made media-age celebrities, wrestled with his gambling demons, at the expense of his family and wife Priscilla (Elisabeth Shue). Together, Billie and Bobby served up a cultural spectacle that resonated far beyond the tennis court, sparking discussions in bedrooms and boardrooms that continue to reverberate today.
Vitals: Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris. Stars: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, Austin Stowell, Jessica Mcnamee, Natalie Morales, Fred Armisen, Martha MacIssac, Mickey Sumner, Bridey Elliott, Eric Christian Olsen.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 121 min., Bio-Drama Comedy, Box office gross: $12.634 million, Fox.
Extras: “Raw Footage: Billie Jean’s Grand Entrance,” “Reigniting the Rivalry,” “Billie Jean King: In Her Own Words,” galleries.

Available: 01/02.

Blade Runner 2049

Three decades after the events of “Blade Runner,” a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
Vitals: Director: Denis Villeneuve. Stars: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista, Jared Leto.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 164 min., Science Fiction, Box office gross: $90.942 million, Warner.
Extras: “Blade Runner 101: Blade Runners,” “Blade Runner 101: The Replicant Evolution,” “Blade Runner 101: The Rise of Wallace Corp,” “Blade Runner 101: Welcome to 2049,” “Blade Runner 101: Joi,” “Blade Runner 101: Within the Skies.” Blu-ray adds “Designing the World of Blade Runner 2049,” “To Be Human: Casting Blade Runner 2049,” “Prologues: 2036: Nexus Dawn,” “Prologues: 2048: Nowhere to Run,” “Prologues: 2022: Black Out.”

Available: 01/16.

Brad’s Status

Ben Stiller stars as Brad, whose satisfying career, sweet wife and comfortable life in suburban Sacramento aren’t quite what he imagined during his college glory days. When he accompanies his musical prodigy son on a university tour back East, he can’t help comparing his life with those of his four best college friends who seemingly have more wealthy and glamorous lives. But when circumstances force him to reconnect with his former friends, Brad begins to question whether he has really failed or if their lives are actually more flawed than they appear.
Vitals: Director: Mike White. Stars: Ben Stiller, Jenna Fischer, Michael Sheen, Luke Wilson, Shazi Raja, Austin Abrams, Adam Capriolo, Erin Agostino, Pamela Figueiredo.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 102 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $2.133
million, Universal.
Extras: “A Look at Ben Stiller as Brad,” “A Culture of Comparing Ourselves,” “Mike White on Directing His Own Script,” “The Story of Brad’s Status.”
Available: 01/02.

The Foreigner

Jackie Chan stars as humble London businessman Quan, whose long-buried past erupts in a revenge-fueled vendetta when the only person left for him to love — his teenage daughter — is taken from him in a senseless act of politically-motivated terrorism. In his relentless search for the identity of the terrorists, Quan is forced into a cat- and-mouse conflict with a British government official (Pierce Brosnan), whose own past may hold clues to the identities of the elusive killers.
Vitals: Director: Martin Campbell. Stars: Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Katie Leung, Orla Brady, Charlie Murphy, Michael McElhatton.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 113 min., Thriller, Box office gross: $33.769 million, Universal.
Extras: “The Making of The Foreigner,” interviews, trailers.

Available: 01/09.

Geostorm

When catastrophic climate change endangers Earth’s very survival, world governments unite and create the Dutch Boy Program: a world wide net of satellites, surrounding the planet, that are armed with geoengineering technologies designed to stave off the natural disasters. After successfully protecting the planet for two years, something is starting to go wrong, and the system built to protect the Earth is attacking it. Now it’s a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything … and everyone along with it.
Vitals: Director: Dean Devlin. Stars: Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Alexandra Maria Lara, Daniel Wu, Eugenio Derbez, Ed Harris, Andy Garcia.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 109 min., Science Fiction Action Thriller, Box office gross: $33.274 million, Warner.
Extras: “Search for Answers”: Inspired by his daughter’s question of why can’t global warming be stopped, director Dean Devlin retraces the creative journey that led to Geostorm. Blu-0ray adds ““Wreaking Havoc”: Cutting edge visual effects, research and technology create the world of Geostorm; “An International Event”: A global cast opens up about the secrets behind Geostorm.

Available: 01/23.

Goodbye Christopher Robin

At the end of the First World War, beloved children’s author A. A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) creates the magical world of Winnie-the-Pooh—which brings him immediate acclaim. But the books’ international success comes at a cost to the author, his young son Christopher Robin (Will Tilston) and his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie), in this beautifully filmed, poignant story about fame and family.
Vitals: Director: Simon Curtis. Stars: Domhnall Gleeson, Will Tilston, Margot Robbie, Kelly Macdonald.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 107 min., Drama, Box office gross: $1.721 million, Fox.
Extras: Commentary by director Simon Curtis and writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce, eight promotional featurettes, photo gallery, theatrical trailer.

Available: 01/23.

Happy Death Day

Original and inventive rewinding thriller in which a blissfully self-centered co-ed (Jessica Rothe) is doomed to relive the day of her murder unless she can identify her masked assailant and hopefully stop the madness. If she can’t, she will be stuck in an insane loop, reliving a ghoulish nightmare that has become her death day. Vitals: Director: Christopher Landon. Stars: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 96 min., Horror-Thriller, Box office gross: $55.683
million, Universal.
Extras: Alternate ending, deleted scenes, “Cupcakes & Killers,” “You’ve Killed Me!,” “Tree’s Final Walk of Shame,” “Worst Birthday Ever” with the filmmakers and cast discussing the challenges of executing the time-loop concept at the center of the film, including how to make each day feel different despite the fact it’s being repeated, “Behind the Mask: The Suspects,” “The Many Deaths of Tree.”

Available: 01/16.
 

It

Seven young outcasts in Derry, Maine, are about to face their worst nightmare — an ancient, shape-shifting evil that emerges from the sewer every 27 years to prey on the town’s children. Banding together over the course of one horrifying summer, the friends must overcome their own personal fears to battle the murderous, bloodthirsty clown known as Pennywise. Based on the Stephen King novel.
Vitals: Director: Andy Muschietti. Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, Jackson Robert Scott.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 135 min., Horror, Box office gross: $326.748
million, New Line/Warner.
Extras: “Pennywise Lives! featurette with Bill Skarsgård and how he prepared to portray the primordial creature known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown; “The Losers’ Club” with the teenage stars; “Author of Fear” with Stephen King as he reveals the roots of his best-selling novel, the nature of childhood fear and how he created his most famous monster, Pennywise; deleted scenes.

Available: 01/09.

Jigsaw

In the latest installment of the legendary “Saw” series, law enforcement officials chase the ghost of a man dead for over a decade, embroiled in a diabolical new game that’s only just begun. Has John Kramer, the infamous Jigsaw Killer, returned from the dead to commit a series of murders and remind the world to be grateful for the gift of life? Or is this a trap set by a different killer with designs of their own?
Vitals: Director: Michael and Peter Spierig. Stars: Tobin Bell, Laura Vandervoot, Callum Keith Rennie, Brittany Allen, Matt Passmore, Hannah Emily Anderson.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 91 min., Horror, Box office gross: $38.052 million, Lionsgate.
Extras: Audio commentary with producers Mark Burg, Oren Koules, and Peter Block; “The Choice is Yours: Exploring the Props” featurette. Blu-ray adds “I Speak for the Dead: The Legacy of Jigsaw” seven-part documentary: “A New Game,” “You Know His Name,” “Survival of the Fittest,” “Death by Design,” “Blood Sacrifice,” “The Source of Fear” and “The Truth Will Set You Free.”

Available: 01/23.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Dr. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon presiding over a spotless household with his ophthalmologist wife, Anna (Nicole Kidman), and their two exemplary children, 12-year-old Bob (Sunny Suljic) and 14-year-old Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Lurking at the margins of Steven’s idyllic suburban existence is Martin (Barry Keoghan), a fatherless teen he has covertly taken under his wing. As Martin begins insinuating himself into the family’s life in ever-more unsettling displays, the full scope of his intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter the Murphy family’s domestic bliss.
Vitals: Director: Yorgos Lanthimos. Stars: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Sunny Suljic, Raffey Cassidy.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 121 min., Drama Horror-Thriller, Box office gross: $2.257 million, Lionsgate.
Extras: “An Impossible Conundrum” featurette.

Available: 01/23.

Last Flag Flying

In 2003, 30 years after they served together in the Vietnam War, former Navy Corps medic Richard “Doc” Shepherd (Steve Carell) reunites with former marines Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and Reverend Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne) on a different type of mission: burying Doc’s son, a young marine killed in the Iraq War. Doc decides to forgo a burial at Arlington National Cemetery and, with the help of his old buddies, takes the casket on a bittersweet trip up the East Coast to his home in suburban New Hampshire. Along the way, Doc, Sal and Mueller reminisce and come to terms with shared memories of the war that continues to shape their lives.
Vitals: Director: Richard Linklater. Stars: Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, Yul Vazquez, J. Quinton Johnson, Cicely Tyson.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 125 min., Drama, Box office gross: $.965 million, Lionsgate.
Extras: Deleted scenes, “An Unexpected Journey: Making Last Flag Flying” featurette, “Veterans Day” featurette, outtakes.

Available: 01/30.
 

My Little Pony: The Movie

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity embark on an epic journey to save Ponyville from a dark force. Along the way, the Mane 6 meet new friends and face exciting challenges as they travel beyond Equestria to defeat the evil Storm King and his minion unicorn — Tempest Shadow. Original music and songs performed by Sia, Taye Diggs, Zoe Saldana, Kristin Chenoweth and Emily Blunt.
Vitals: Director: Jayson Thiessen. Stars: Voices of Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain.Cathy Weseluck, Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Michael Peña, Sia, Taye Diggs, Uzo Aduba, Zoe Saldana.
2016, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 99 min., Animated Family, Box office gross: $21.603 million, Lionsgate.
Extras: Deleted scene, Equestria Girls short, “Baking with Pinkie Pie” featurette, “Making Magic With the Mane 6 and Their New Friends” featurette, “The Journey Beyond Equestria” featurette, “I’m the Friend You Need” music video (sung by Taye Diggs), “Hanazuki: Full of Treasures” featurette.
Available: 01/09.

The Snowman

For Detective Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender), the death of a young woman — whose scarf is found wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman — during the first snowfall of winter feels like anything but a routine homicide. His investigation leads him to “The Snowman Killer,” an elusive sociopath who continuously taunts Hole with cat-and-mouse games. As the vicious murders continue, Harry teams up with a brilliant recruit (Rebecca Ferguson) to try and lure the madman out of the shadows before he can strike again.
Vitals: Director: Tomas Alfredson. Stars: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jonas Karlsson, Val Kilmer, J.K. Simmons.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 119 min., Mystery Thriller, Box office gross: $6.670
million, Universal.
Extras: “Cast of Characters” featurette, “Creating Jo Nesbø’s World,” “The Snowman Killer,” “Norwegian Landscape” featurette, “Stunt Files: The Sinking Lake.”

Available: 01/16.
 

Thank You for Your Service

based on the bestselling book by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author David Finkel. For Sergeant Adam Schumann (Miles Teller)—and many soldiers like him—the process of leaving combat back in Iraq was as seemingly simple as getting on that plane. But standing on the tarmac again in the arms of loved ones would turn out to be merely a first step in the long and exacting journey of actually returning home. The film follows a group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq who struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they’ve left the battlefield. Vitals: Director: Jason Hall. Stars: Miles Teller, Haley Bennett, Joe Cole, Amy Schumer, Beulah Koale, Scott Haze, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Brad Beyer, Omar J. Dorsey, Jayson Warner Smith.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: R, 109 min., Drama, Box office gross: $9.479 million, Universal.
Extras: “Staging a War,” “The Battle at Home.”
Available: 01/23.
 

Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween

Madea and friends are back in this follow-up to Tyler Perry’s comedy hit. When Brian’s (Tyler Perry) daughter sneaks off to attend a party at a haunted campground, Madea, Aunt Bam, Hattie and Joe set out on a hell-arious journey to bring her back, scaring up laughs and striking fear in all monsters, goblins and party animals standing in their way.
Vitals: Director: Tyler Perry. Stars: Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, Patrice Lovely, Yousef Erakat, Diamond White, Lexy Panterra, Andre Hall.
2017, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 100 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $47.313 million, Lionsgate.
Extras: Outtakes, deleted scenes, “Caddy Whack Boo” featurette, “Why We Love Joe!” featurette.

Available: 01/30.