Henry Golding, Emilia Clarke, and Ewan McGregor take on the multiplex while Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver launch one of the biggest Oscar contenders of the year.
EW wants you to make good choices when going to the movies (or spending a night in Netflix-and-chilling) this weekend, and our new, recurring movie preview guide will keep you informed about the best new blockbusters, indie gems, sturdy holdovers, and fresh digital standouts up for your viewing pleasure (plus a bonus box office preview to wrap it all up).
Yes, it’s November. No, it’s not too early to revel in Christmas joy… especially with one of the scariest movies of the year preparing to jingle your bells at the movies this weekend. But, as much as Stephen King, Ewan McGregor, and one very creepy Rebecca Ferguson prepare to continue the story of The Shining in their spooky sequel Doctor Sleep, a charming British duo at the center of Last Christmas is waiting on the opposite end of the seasonal spectrum to spread some holiday cheer.
As temperatures drop around the country, Hollywood has turned the heat up across the board, with Oscar fare (Marriage Story), schlocky action (Nicolas Cage’s Primal), and big-budget spectacles of fear and romance alike gunning for your pre-holiday dollars. Below, check out EW’s coverage of the best new movies now in theaters, streaming, and on VOD.
New wide releases in theaters
Doctor Sleep
Wake up, ya’ll! Don’t sleep on director Mike Flanagan’s post-Halloween horror gem, which (hold on, this is where it gets confusing) continues both the story set forth by author Stephen King in his 1977 novel The Shining as well as the narrative of Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic adaptation of the beloved book (which King reportedly disliked). Now, decades after the terrors that unfolded at the Overlook Hotel, little Danny Torrance is all grown up (as portrayed by Ewan McGregor) and using his supernatural gifts to connect with a young girl with similar powers as she escapes the clutches of a dangerous cult led by a particularly menacing Rebecca Ferguson.
“I don’t want to get into a big argument about how great the Shining film is that Kubrick did or my feelings about it,” King previously told EW. “All I can say is, Mike took my material, he created a terrific story, people who have seen this movie flip for it, and I flipped for it, too. Because he managed to take my novel of Doctor Sleep, the sequel, and somehow weld it seamlessly to the Kubrick version of The Shining, the movie. So, yeah, I liked it a lot.”
Last Christmas
Who knew Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, and George Michael tunes go together like spiked eggnog and bickering with distant relatives around the Christmas tree? Apparently Last Christmas writer-star Emma Thompson, as she personally met with the late pop star for approval to use his songs — particularly this romantically tinged dramedy’s titular jam, initially released by Wham! in 1984 — as inspiration for a film about a drifter woman (Clarke) whose life changes for the better after she meets a peculiar, elusive, and undeniably dashing stranger (Golding) just before Christmas.
“‘Last Christmas’ is not my favorite song,” Thompson previously admitted to EW of the song that served as the film’s impetus. “[But] George Michael himself [was] a complex and brilliant artist. His poetry, his lyrics are incredibly meaningful. I just thought of an idea to do with the lyric of ‘Last Christmas’ that inspired me, and then I thought, ‘Oh, actually, so much of George’s other music really works with this idea.’ ‘Heal the Pain’ is central to the ethos of the movie. Because ‘Heal the Pain’ is about the fact that if you can’t love yourself, you can’t love anyone. Creative things happen so weirdly and unexpectedly, so you can be led toward something by a piece of music you actually aren’t that fond of.”
Fans are sure to be fond of the fact that, thanks to the film, a never-before-released Michael tune, “This Is How (We Want You To Get High)” now exists as part of the project’s original soundtrack.
Midway
Have you ever thought to yourself: What would beloved pop star Nick Jonas look like in the throes of battle during the attack on Pearl Harbor? Well, director Roland Emmerich’s war epic Midway (reportedly produced for $100 million, making it one of the most expensive indie films of all time) is here to bring that fantasy to life via his latest, densely star-studded affair. Sure to appease both history buffs and action-hungry cinephiles alike, the film follows several United States Navy sailors and aviators as they fight through Pearl Harbor, Doolittle’s Raid, and the Battle of Midway, which served as a crucial turning point in World War II. In addition to Jonas, along for the ride are stars like Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Mandy Moore, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, and Dennis Quaid.
Playing With Fire
A peculiar pairing of actors (John Cena, Keegan-Michael Key, John Leguizamo, Judy Greer) seemingly makes for epic comedic chemistry in this family-focused crowd-pleaser about a crew of rugged firefighters who face hilarious obstacles as they attempt to rescue three rowdy children from an impending threat.
Better Days
One of the biggest hits in Chinese movie history (the film bagged $82 million in the region across its opening weekend — the country’s 26th best of all time), Better Days makes its way stateside in moderately wide release to several major metropolitan areas around America. Directed by Derek Kwok-Cheung Tsang, the film follows a bullied teenage girl who bonds with a peculiar young man who protects her from various assailants while she prepares for her school examinations.
New limited, indies, specialty, and streaming gems
Marriage Story
Get your tissues ready, because Oscar season is in full swing as Noah Baumbach unleashes his emotionally ruining divorce drama, starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver as a bitter, uncoupling pair fighting for custody of their young son.
“I mean, as an actor you can’t dream up speeches that delicious! It’s just crazy amazing,” Laura Dern, who plays Johansson’s attorney in the film (and is getting enthusiastic Oscar buzz for it), previously told EW of her part. “But let me just say, I’ve never cried so hard as when I first read the script. It wasn’t just the emotion of reading the story, it was the perfection of the screenplay. [And] being a parent, I understood this unbelievably sad, broken moment.”
