Young and old movie buffs will be spoiled for choice during the holiday holidays, as studios compete with stories and special effects to lure them into theaters. Here are the 21 films that will brighten up the holiday season for a long time.
The Christmas cyclone
Derived from the TV series The eye of the stormthis holiday film by Alain Chicoine follows Isabelle Gagnon (Christine Beaulieu) and her family 10 days before the fateful Christmas date. Fateful? Yes, because Isabelle is determined to make these parties a success… but everyone has other plans. We find Patrick Hivon, Catherine Souffront, Danielle Proulx, Luc Senay as well as Véronique Cloutier, Michèle Richard and Louise Portal.
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Released November 8
Gladiator II
Lucius (Paul Mescal), son of Maximus (played in the first film by Russell Crowe), is captured by the Romans (the Roman general is played by Pedro Pascal). Bought by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), Lucius dreams of revenge. Directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by David Scarpa, his frequent collaborator, this Gladiator II was filmed entirely in Malta and had a production budget of US$250M.
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Released November 22
Wicked
Holiday classic, The Wizard of Oz now gives rise to a musical comedy dedicated to the youth of Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande) as well as the way in which the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) will influence the course of their lives . Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, itself based on Gregory Maguire’s novel, Wicked will be followed by a second part next year.
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Released November 22
Maria
The diva Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie, who will certainly earn an Oscar nomination) lives, reclusive, in Paris. Filling herself with pills and no longer being able to sing, the opera singer nevertheless tries to find her former voice while diving back into her memories, including her torrid love affair with Aristotle Onassis. Although the actress worked for months to perfect her voice, it is not her that we hear in the film… with one exception.
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Released November 27
Moana 2
We find Moana (voice of Cerise Calixte in French version), now a teenager. Receiving a call from her ancestors during a ritual ceremony, the young girl will call on Maui (voice of Anthony Kavanagh) to defeat a demonic goddess.
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Released November 27
September 5
Yes, I film them Munich by Steven Spielberg focuses on the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Tim Fehlbaum’s feature film focuses on the same event, but from a different angle. Indeed, the situation is presented from the point of view of sports journalists from the American network ABC and Peter Sarsgaard and Ben Chaplin are headliners.
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Released November 29 in select cities and December 13 across the province
Miss Bottine
Antoine Bertrand and Marguerite Laurence are Philippe, the uncle, and Simone, the niece, in this free adaptation of Bach and Bottineclassic Tales for All from 1986. Written by Dominic James, Rock Demers’ successor at the head of this family film collection, the film is directed by Yan Lanouette Turgeon and also stars Louise Turcot and Benoît Gouin.
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Released November 29
Mr Aznavour
When Tahar Rahim accepts a role in a biographical film – especially with the blessing of Mischa Aznavour, one of the singer’s sons, he doesn’t do things by halves. He took singing and piano lessons for six months before filming began. We note that the film was directed by Grand Corps Malade and Mehdi Idir.
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Released November 29
Nightbitch
Adapted from the novel by Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch features a frustrated stay-at-home mom (Amy Adams) who wonders if she’s turning into a dog. Directed by Marielle Heller, the feature film was presented at the Toronto Film Festival last September.
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Released December 6
Queer
Luca Guadagnino (Call me by your name) adapts the almost autobiographical short story of the same name by American author William Burroughs. In the 1950s, in Mexico, William Lee (Daniel Craig plays this character, also the writer’s pen name) falls in love with Eugene Allerton, a former soldier. Note that Queer was banned in Türkiye due to “provocative content”.
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Released December 6
The young woman with the needle
In 1919, in Copenhagen, young Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), pregnant and unemployed, agrees to become a nanny for Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), a woman who owns a clandestine adoption agency. But Karoline will not take long to discover the reality of Dagmar’s actions.
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Released December 6
Kraven the Hunter
Aaron Taylor-Johnson (in the title role), Russell Crowe, Christopher Abbott and Ariana DeBose star in this high-testosterone superhero film. Directed by JC Chandor and the sixth feature film in the Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, Kraven the Hunter is not recommended for under 17s in our southern neighbors.
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Released December 13
The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim
A must-see for fans of JRR Tolkien’s work, this 2D animated film takes place some 200 years before the events of Lord of the Rings. From the imagination of Japanese filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama, The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim features the original vocals of Brian Cox, Luke Pasqualino, and Miranda Otto.
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Released December 13
Flow, the cat who was no longer afraid of water
Directed by Gints Zilbalodis, this dialogue-free feature film follows a cat who wakes up in a world from which all humans have disappeared. A story about acceptance of oneself, of differences and of others, this animated film was presented in the Un certain regard section of the Cannes Film Festival last May. At the Annecy Festival, the feature film won the Jury Prize and the Audience Prize.
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Released December 13
The End
An apocalyptic musical? Yes, it’s possible! In The EndTidla Swinton and Michael Shannon are the parents of George MacKay and this entire wealthy family has been living in a bunker for 20 years. Because the end of the world happened and they contributed to it. The intriguing idea comes from filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer, usually at the helm of documentaries.
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Released December 13
Mufasa: the Roi Lion
Impossible to miss this prequel in which we will learn how the lion cub Mufasa (voice of Aaron Pierre in the original version) became friends with Taka (voice of Kelvin Harrison Jr.)… who will become Skar as he grows up. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the songs for the feature film, produced entirely in realistic computer graphics by Barry Jenkins.
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Released December 20
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Presumably the last part of the adventures of the blue hedgehog, the emblematic car of the Sega video game and console company, this third animated feature film sees our hero and his friends attempt to defeat Shadow, a new villain with impressive powers. We also find James Marsden and Jim Carrey in this animated delirium directed by Jeff Fowler.
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Released December 20
Babygirl
Presented at the Venice Film Festival where Nicole Kidman won the award for best actress, this feature film written and directed by the Dutch Halina Reijn follows Romy (Nicole Kidman), the director of an important company, who has an affair with a intern (Harris Dickinson) much younger than her. The filmmaker decided to explore power relations in a professional context in line with Indecent proposal et Basic Instinct.
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Released December 25
Nosferatu
It’s impossible to mention the name Nosferatu without thinking of the 1922 classic. This new version stars Bill Skarsgard in the title role as well as Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. To prepare, Bill Skarsgard took opera singing lessons to have a deeper voice and spent six hours a day in the makeup department chair.
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Released December 25
A complete stranger
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan? This is the proposal of director James Mangold, who wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks. The feature, which features Elle Fanning and Edward Norton, focuses on the singer and songwriter’s decision to use electric instruments. We note that the young actor is also a producer of the feature film.
Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in “A Perfect Stranger”.
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Released December 25
Better Man
The proposal is bold. Indeed, this musical film by Michael Gracey presents the ups and downs of the career of singer and songwriter Robbie Williams. Audacity? Williams only appears sporadically in his guise, the miracles of performance capture giving him the appearance of a chimpanzee! And yes, it is a satire.
Robbie Williams in “Better Man.”
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Released December 25