A disgraced CEO, a paternal hitman, and Charles Dickens’ most famous old miser are heading to our screens in an unusual but (mostly) enjoyable winter line-up!
You Can See Everything // In cinemas November 20th
One of the most talked-about films of the year sees director enter the strange world of former , in the weeks before . While Holmes and her husband, Billy Evans, see the film as an opportunity for vindication, their increasingly mysterious behaviour sends Fielder on a mission to find out what’s behind the subterfuge.
Everything you’ve heard about the movie is true. Nail-bitingly tense, darkly funny, and relentlessly intriguing, somehow the fact that we never seem to see the real Holmes makes her all the more fascinating. Some will see her as a naive victim, others as a deceptive con artist, and a few will dismiss her as a lunatic. Whatever your conclusion, every scene in this nearly three-hour film will have you picking your jaw off the floor. Fielder and co-director Lance Oppenheim’s editing emphasises the weirdness, but to be fair to them, there’s plenty to work with.
A meditation on the documentarian-subject relationship, with an angry Amanda Seyfried showing up in the third act for good measure, You Can See Everything lives up to the hype and then some. Go see it with a friend, then spend another hour untangling what you’ve just seen.
9/10
Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother // In cinemas November 20th
Mahershala Ali shines in this uniquely pitched action-drama. He plays Latif, a devoutly religious father who moonlights as a hitman, working jobs he sees as just in the eyes of his faith. His job and his life are shattered, however, when his wife passes away suddenly. The film follows Latif on a chaotic journey where he must find milk for his newborn baby, parent his grieving older children, and avoid the wrath of criminals.
Ali famously trained for some time to play Marvel character Blade until the project was cancelled but puts his fighting skills to good use here as a man trying to justify balancing his life of violence with his religious convictions. Part pulp thriller, part family drama, it’s a film made of elements that perhaps shouldn’t fit together, but for the most part do. Occasionally over-the-top, but with beautiful moments, it showcases Ali’s abilities as a star even if he never gets to be a superhero.
8/10
Ebenezer // In cinemas now
comes in from the cold for this return to studio movies, playing Charles Dickens’ Christmas-hating miser who, on Christmas Eve, is visited by three ghosts who try to convince him to change his ways. Directed by horror maestro (the X trilogy), the film also features a host of supporting stars including , , and .
The result is a largely competent adaptation of a story we’ve heard told many times before. Your enjoyment may largely depend on your feelings about the star, who gives Scrooge his own unique eccentricities. This feels like the type of movie he may have made at his blockbuster height, with West bringing back the spookiness in Dickens’ tale, and Depp offering a variety of wacky reactions. Will it become your new favourite big-screen Scrooge? Unlikely, but this polished adaptation will do for those needing some early November Christmas cheer.
5/10