The following films open today or before next Friday. Where the film is opening is indicated in parenthesis, an d if the movie is in four or more local theaters it is noted with “Countywide.” Check your favorite source for theater addresses, movie times and ticket prices.
Almost Christmas. Writer/director David E. Talbert's comedy focuses on a dysfunctional family that gathers together on Christmas for the first time since the matriarch died. Universal Pictures actually bought Talbert's script A Meyers Thanksgiving, then changed the holidays and made it A Meyers Christmas before finally settling on the current title. Kimberly Elise, Mo'Nique, Nicole Ari Parker, Gabrielle Union, Jessie Usher, Danny Glover, Omar Epps and Romany Malco star. (Countywide)
Arrival. Expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) leads an elite team investigating mysterious spacecraft touching down across the globe. Answers must be found before a looming global war breaks out in Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi thriller. Co-starring as he did alongside the Weekly's Nick Schou in Kill the Messenger is Jeremy Renner. (Countywide)
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. Ang Lee directs this war drama, based on Ben Fountain's novel of the same name, about a 19-year-old Army specialist (Joe Alwyn) who, along with his comrades, barely survives a tense battle in Iraq that receives massive news coverage. Brought home as heroes by the Department of Defense, Billy and his pals go on a promotional tour across the country that ends with a spectacular halftime show at a Thanksgiving Day football game, where he recounts the tragedy. Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin and Chris Tucker co-star. (Opens Thurs., Nov. 17, at AMC Orange 30 at the Outlets and Directors Cut Cinema at Regency's Rancho Niguel, Laguna Niguel)
The Eagle Huntress. Documentary follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in 12 generations of her Mongolian Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been handed down from father to son for centuries. Originally released in select theaters in January, the film likely got a new lease on life thanks to its executive producer and narrator: Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Daisy Ridley. (Regency South Coast Village, Santa Ana)
Ice Guardians. See “Ice Guardians Praises Hockey's Dinosaurs.” (AMC Orange 30 at the Outlets).
The Love Witch. A modern day witch (Samantha Robinson) uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her in this homage to 1960s pulp novels and Technicolor. Director Anna Biller is so dedicated to presenting her movie in a theatrical environment that she filmed her own PSA with Robinson telling the audience that using their phones during a movie is “anti-attractive.” Jeffrey Vincent Parise, Laura Waddell and Gian Keys co-star. (Edwards University, Irvine)
Shut In. Farren Blackburn's English-language, French psychological thriller has a widowed child psychologist (Noami Watts) living an isolated existence in rural New England. Caught in a deadly winter storm, she must find a way to rescue a young boy before he disappears forever. Jacob Tremblay, Oliver Platt and Charlie Heaton (a Stranger Things kid) co-star. (AMC 20 Fullerton and Regency Westminster)
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.