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Hollywood Hits January 2020
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Addams Family
The first family of Halloween is back on the big screen in the first animated comedy about the kookiest family on the block.
Director: Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Bette Midler, Allison Janney, Snoop Dogg, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Tituss Burgess
Quotes: "The appeal of this 'Addams Family,' which doesn't break the mold, is simply to spend some more time in this gently spooky world, a gateway for budding creepsters and goths." - Los Angeles Times
"If this installment lays on the moral (all families are freaky in their own ways) a bit thick, it has just enough wit and weirdness to honor its source material." - New York Times
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Doctor Sleep
Struggling with alcoholism, Dan Torrance remains traumatized by the sinister events that occurred at the Overlook Hotel when he was a child. His hope for a peaceful existence soon becomes shattered when he meets Abra, a teen who shares his extrasensory gift of the 'shine.' Together, they form an unlikely alliance to battle the True Knot, a cult whose members try to feed off the shine of innocents to become immortal.
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Rebecca Ferguson, Ewan McGregor, Carel Struycken, Jacob Tremblay, Emily Alyn Lind, Zahn McClarnon, Cliff Curtis, Bruce Greenwood, Alex Essoe, Carl Lumbly, Jocelin Donahue, Catherine Parker
Quotes: "A tip of the REDRUM to Doctor Sleep and to Ewan McGregor's memorable performance for giving us the opportunity to catch up with Danny Torrance in a most satisfying manner." - Chicago Sun-Times
"In a way that poignantly echoes the plight of young Danny himself, the new movie sometimes brings to mind a child caught between two quarreling parents, and attempting to stage a reconciliation." - Los Angeles Times
"It's nothing to go channeling your inner Jack Nicholson and chopping through doors. But Flanagan's "Doctor Sleep" respects both King's and Kubrick's visions while letting a rising horror master go his own way, too." - USA Today
"I found myself lured into a movie that dares to depict evil as something that makes us suck in our breath." - Variety
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Ford V Ferrari
The remarkable true story of the visionary American car designer Carroll Shelby and the fearless British-born driver Ken Miles, who together battled corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company and take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, JJ Feild, Josh Lucas, Ray McKinnon, Ian Harding, Tracy Letts, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone
Quotes: "A full-bodied and exciting true-life story in which the men behind the wheels are just as dynamic as the machines they drive." - Hollywood Reporter
"The story's great and the racetrack action leaves skid marks on the eyeballs." - Toronto Star
"A big, glossy crowd-pleaser of a film, high on horsepower, engine grease, and clean-sweat '60s masculinity." - Entertainment Weekly
"The best sports movies aren't so much about the sport as they are the personalities, and these two go big with their performances..." - Variety
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Harriet
Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, the movie tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Starring: Jennifer Nettles, Joe Alwyn, Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monae, Tim Guinee, Clarke Peters, Leslie Odom, Jr.
Quotes: "An impassioned, edifying portrait of a remarkable life, and a fitting showcase for the considerable talents of its star, Tony-winning British actress Cynthia Erivo." - Entertainment Weekly
"'Harriet' is nothing if not a dutiful and eye-opening salute." - Variety
"What better entry point for learning about one of America's real-life superheroes than this bravura performance from Erivo?" - New York Post
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Joker
Warner Bros. Pictures presents Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, alongside Oscar winner Robert De Niro, and the film is directed, produced and co-written by Oscar nominee Todd Phillips. The film centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips's exploration of Arthur Fleck, a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study but also a broader cautionary tale.
Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Marc Maron, Bill Camp, Glenn Fleshler, Shea Whigham, Brett Cullen
Quotes: "A dazzlingly disturbed psycho morality play, one that speaks to the age of incels and mass shooters and no-hope politics, of the kind of hate that emerges from crushed dreams." - Variety
"...Phoenix is the prime force that makes Joker such a distinctively edgy entry in the Hollywood comics industrial complex." - Hollywood Reporter
"... a dark, brooding and psychologically plausible origin story, a vision of cartoon sociopathy made flesh." - Los Angeles Times
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Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil
Maleficent and Aurora form new alliances and face new adversaries in their struggle to protect the moors and the magical creatures that reside within.
Director: Joachim Ronning
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michelle Pfeiffer, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Harris Dickinson, Lesley Manville, Sam Riley, Ed Skrein
Quotes: "We get a classic buildup establishing heroes and villains; gorgeous, screen-popping visuals featuring beautiful and mysterious worlds; a bounty of colorful and magical creatures, and a lengthy, CGI-laden, climactic battle sequence..." - Chicago Sun-Times
"Jolie's magnetism, plus the way she toes the line between being a fairy version of Batman and a menacing mistress of not-quite-evil-but-pretty-close, is why these "Maleficent" movies work." - USA Today
"An improvement on the first film, in the end, and an encouraging rallying cry against fear and intolerance, but it's still far too busy and baroque to match its leading lady's elegance." - Empire Magazine
"It's hard not to appreciate the sheer derangement of the plot that Ingrith has concocted, which is so cruel and so elaborate... as to make even the original Maleficent's machinations in "Sleeping Beauty" look tame by comparison." - Los Angeles Times
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Parasite (Korean)
Kim Ki-teak's family are all unemployed and living in a squalid basement. When his son gets a tutoring job at the lavish home of the Park family, the Kim family's luck changes. One by one they gradually infiltrate the wealthy Parks' home, attempting to take over their affluent lifestyle.
Director: Joon-Ho Bong
Starring: Kang-Ho Song, Sun-Kyun Lee, Yeo-Jeong Jo, Woo-sik Choi, So-dam Park
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Playing with Fire
When straight-laced fire superintendent Jake Carson and his elite team of expert firefighters come to the rescue of three siblings in the path of an encroaching wildfire, they quickly realize that no amount of training could prepare them for their most challenging job yet: babysitters. Unable to locate the children's parents, the firefighters have their lives, jobs, and even their fire depot turned upside down and quickly learn that kids, much like fires, are wild and unpredictable.
Director: Andy Fickman
Starring: Judy Greer, Keegan-Michael Key, Brianna Hildebrand, John Cena, John Leguizamo, Dennis Haysbert
Quotes: "Cena may be the first bodybuilder-turned-actor who has what Arnold Schwarzenegger had: the ability to project a mocking light soul trapped in a musclehead's body." - Variety
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Terminator: Dark Fate
More than two decades have passed since Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day and rewrote the fate of the human race. Dani Ramos is living a simple life with her brother and father when a deadly new Terminator, a Rev-9, travels back through time to kill her. In order to survive, she joins forces with Grace, an enhanced super-soldier from the future, and a battle-hardened Sarah Connor. As the Rev-9 destroys everything in its path, the three are led to a T-800 from Sarah's past as their last hope.
Director: Tim Miller
Starring: Mackenzie Davis, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Luna, Natalia Reyes, Tom Hopper, Steven Cree
Quotes: "...the best 'Terminator' sequel in over 20 years" - Los Angeles Times
"feels like a real Terminator movie at last, from the breakneck, deeply terrifying chase that opens it to its moving finale." - Empire Magazine
"The new movie earns its lavishly staged action (and its emotions, too), because no matter how violently baroque its end-of-days vision, its storytelling remains tethered to the earth." - Variety
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Mercer County Library System 2751 Brunswick Pike Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 Phone: (609) 882-9246 E-mail: nrsupprt@mcl.org |
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