Take Two

A teen is accused of being an accomplice to a botched robbery that left a man dead. Was he involved, or just an innocent bystander? The drama “Monster” stars Kelvin Harrison, Jr. (“Waves”), Jennifer Hudson (“Cats”), Jennifer Ehle (“The King’s Speech”) and Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld”).

Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”) stars in the ghost story “Things Heard & Seen,” a Netflix adaptation of  the novel All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage. The supporting cast includes James Norton (“Little Women”), Natalia Dyer (“Stranger Things”), Rhea Seehorn (“Better Call Saul”), F. Murray Abraham (“Amadeus”) and Karen Allen (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”). […]

A Korean-American family starts a small farm in Arkansas in the 1980s. Yuh-Jung Youn won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for this sweet, subtle family film.

Melissa McCarthy (“Spy”) and Octavia Spencer (“The Help”) co-star in a Netflix superhero spoof, “Thunder Force.” It co-stars Jason Bateman (TV’s “Ozark”) and was written and directed by McCarthy’s husband, Ben Falcone (“Superintelligence”).

Idris Elba (“The Wire”) and Caleb McLaughlin (“Stranger Things”) star in “Concrete Cowboy,” a coming-of-age tale set in the real-life world of Philadelphia’s inner city horsemen.

Benedict Cumberbatch (“Doctor Strange”) stars in a ’60s era spy thriller based on a true story. “The Courier” deals with a friendship that develops between a businessman, recruited to spy for the British secret service, and a Russian mole. They worked together during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Comedians Eric André (“Rough Night”, Lil Rel Howery (“Get Out”) and Tiffany Haddish (“Girls Trip”) star in the hybrid movie, “Bad Trip.” It combines elements of a buddy comedy and a ‘Punked’-stye hidden-camera show.

Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins (“Silence of the Lambs”) and Olivia Coleman (“The Favourite”) star in “The Father,” a drama about a profound struggle with dementia. It marks the directorial debut of French playwright, Florian Zeller.

Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand (“Fargo”) stars in the drama “Nomadland.” It’s an adaptation of a non-fiction book about indigent senior citizens who travel around the U.S. in trailers in search of employment. The director is Chloé Zhao (“The Rider”).

Amy Poehler (“Wine Country”) directs an adaptation of “Moxie,” a 2015 YA novel of the same name by Jennifer Mathieu.

Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”) won a Golden Globe for her performance in the dark comic film, “I Care a Lot.” It concerns a corrupt, court-appointed guardian who drains the elderly of their life savings. Other notable cast members include Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) and Dianne Weist (“Let Them All Talk”).

Can a movie about an amateur British archeological dig in 1939 be compelling? Susan and Russ fill us in on this period piece that stars Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”) and Ralph Fiennes (“The Hurt Locker”).

The new documentary film “Bobbi Jo: Under the Influence,” was shot here in Kansas City. It tells the remarkable true story of a woman who was once a drug addict living on the streets of KC. She turned her life around and opened Healing House, a charity that has provided housing and services for more […]

John David Washington (“Tenet”) and Zendaya (“The Greatest Showman”) star in the dark interpersonal drama “Malcolm & Marie.” It was written and directed by Sam Levinson, creator of the TV series, “Euphoria.”

Naomi Watts (“Birdman”) stars in “Penguin Bloom,” an Australian family drama based on the book by Cameron Bloom. Watts plays a woman, paralyzed in a freak accident, whose emotional trauma is affected by her son’s wild pet.

“The White Tiger” is a Netflix adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Arivind Adiga. It’s a Dickensian tale about a poor Indian lad who uses his wits to rise above his lower caste station.

Director David Fincher (“The Social Network”) focuses on Old Hollywood with his new feature “Mank.” Gary Oldman plays acclaimed screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz in this ‘warts-and-all” biopic, now showing on Netflix.

Vanessa Kirby (“The Crown”), Shia LaBeouf (“Honeyboy”) and Ellen Burstyn (“Requiem for a Dream”) star in the harrowing drama, “Pieces of a Woman.”

Seventies pop music star Helen Reddy gets the biopic treatment in “I Am Woman.” Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey plays the singer who went through many personal struggles before hitting it big and writing the number one hit “I Am Woman” that became the anthem for the women’s movement.

Emma Roberts (“The Hunt”) and Luke Bracey (“Hacksaw Ridge”) star in the Netflix rom-com, “Holidate.”

The late Chadwick Boseman (“Black Panther”) stars in the Netflix adaptation of August Wilson’s acclaimed play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” The cast also includes Viola Davis (“The Help”), Glynn Turman (“The Way Back”) and Coleman Domingo (“Lucy in the Sky”). The director is George C. Wolfe (“Nights in Rodanthe”).

Acclaimed Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (“The Celebration”) and actor Mads Mikkelsen re-team for the first time since their noted 2012 film, “The Hunt.” “Another Round” is a comic drama about an experiment that four high school teachers embark upon. They toy with their blood alcohol content to see how it impacts their daily performance.

Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) stars in the 70s era neo-noir crime thriller, “I’m Your Woman.” Brosnahan plays Jean, a twenty-something whose gangster husband crosses his associates and then goes missing. Jean then is forced into hiding. The film was written and directed by Julia Hart (“Stargirl”).

Riz Ahmed (“Venom”) and Olivia Cooke (“Ready Player One”) star in “Sound of Metal.” Written and directed by Dariius Marder (“Loot”), it’s a drama that deals with a rock musician suffering from hearing loss.

Guy Pearce (“Prometheus”) portrays the world’s most renowned art forger, Dutch artist Han van Meegeren, in the post WWII drama, “The Last Vermeer.” This drama explores the time when van Meegeren was on trial for collaborating with the Nazis. Was he a traitor or was he outfoxing the enemy? This historical drama also stars Claes […]