March has arrived bringing with it the hope of warmer weather and, perhaps, and chance to get outside and into some sunshine. But why do that when you could go on a magical adventure, take part in a journey of self-renewal, witness the birth of a superhero, watch a new take on a Chinese tale, or observe a favorite literary hero recreated on the big screen? Any of these options and more await you at your local theater. To help you make your plans, here are 26 films to keep an eye out for.
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March 6th
Onward
Director: Dan Scanlon.
Cast: Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Waithe, Ali Wong, Grey Griffin, Tracey Ullman, Wilmer Valderrama, George Psarras, John Ratzenberger.
This spring, Ian & Barley’s quest beginneth. Watch the new trailer for Disney and Pixar’s Onward now.
Set in a suburban fantasy world, Disney and Pixar’s Onward introduces two teenage elf brothers who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there. Pixar Animation Studios’ all-new original feature film is directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae—the team behind Monsters University.
The Way Back
Director: Gavin O’Connor.
Cast: Ben Affleck, Janina Gavankar, A Madrigal, Michaela Watkins, Glynn Turman, Rachel Carpani, Hayes MacArthur.
Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck) once had a life filled with promise. In high school, he was a basketball phenom with a full university scholarship, when suddenly, for reasons unknown, he walked away from the game, forfeiting his future. Now years later, Jack is spiraling down, triggered by an unspeakable loss, and drowning in the alcoholism that cost him his marriage and any hope for a better life. When he is asked to coach the basketball team at his alma mater, which has fallen far since his glory days, he reluctantly accepts, surprising no one more than himself. As the boys start to come together as a team and win, Jack may have finally found a reason to confront the demons that have derailed him. But will it be enough to fill the void, heal the deep wounds of his past, and set him on the road to redemption?
First Cow
Director: Kelly Reichardt.
Cast: John Magaro, Toby Jones, Orion Lee, and Ewen Bremner.
Kelly Reichardt once again trains her perceptive and patient eye on the Pacific Northwest, this time evoking an authentically hardscrabble early nineteenth century way of life. A taciturn loner and skilled cook (John Magaro) has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon Territory, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) also seeking his fortune; soon the two collaborate on a successful business, although its longevity is reliant upon the clandestine participation of a nearby wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow. From this simple premise Reichardt constructs an interrogation of foundational Americana that recalls her earlier triumph Old Joy in its sensitive depiction of male friendship, yet is driven by a mounting suspense all its own. Reichardt again shows her distinct talent for depicting the peculiar rhythms of daily living and ability to capture the immense, unsettling quietude of rural America.
The Burnt Orange Heresy (Limited)
Director: Giuseppe Capotondi.
Cast: Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Mick Jagger, Donald Sutherland, Alessandro Fabrizi, Rosalind Halstead.
You can’t paint over the truth.
Charming and ambitious art critic, James Figueras (Claes Bang), has fallen from grace. He spends his days in Milan lecturing witless tourists about art history. His only glimmer of hope is a new-found love interest, the enigmatic American, Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki).An opportunity strikes when he is contacted by wealthy art dealer Joseph Cassidy (Mick Jagger) who summons James to his villa on Lake Como and asks him to steal a painting from the legendary reclusive artist, Jerome Debney (Donald Sutherland). Soon, James’ greed and ambition get the better of him, and he finds himself caught in a web of his own making.
Sometimes Always Never
Director: Carl Hunter.
Cast: Bill Nighy and Sam Riley.
Able to blend charming gruffness and winning affability with just the raise of an eyebrow, Bill Nighy has long proven himself one of Britain’s best character actors, and now he stars alongside Sam Riley and Alice Lowe in this stylish and heartfelt comedy-drama about a tailor searching for a lost son.
Sharp of both suit and vocabulary, Nighy (The Bookshop), is winningly deadpan as Scrabble-obsessed Merseyside tailor Alan, whose eldest son Michael stormed out of the house after a particularly heated round of the popular board game, never to return. Years later, Alan and his other son Peter (Sam Riley) continue the search while trying to repair their own strained relationship. Working from a witty and astute script by veteran screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce (The Railway Man, Goodbye Christopher Robin), Liverpudlian director Carl Hunter deploys a vivid visual style and striking production design to capture the shifting moods of a family who know plenty of words but struggle to communicate.
Run This Town
Director: Ricky Tollman.
Cast: Ben Platt, Mena Massoud, Nina Dobrev, Scott Speedman, Jennifer Ehle, and Damian Lewis.
A young journalist and a young political aide become entangled in a larger-than-life political scandal as they struggle to navigate adult life. Like all their friends, Bram and Kamal are struggling to climb the ladders at their respective workplaces: Bram at a newspaper, Kamal at City Hall. When Bram learns of a scandal involving Kamal’s larger-than-life boss, he seizes the moment to advance his career. Meanwhile, Kamal grapples with containing the story while maintaining his integrity.
Hope Gap
Director: William Nicholson.
Cast: Annette Bening, Bill Nighy, Josh O’Connor.
The intimate, intense and loving story of “Hope Gap” charts the life of Grace (Annette Bening), shocked to learn her husband (Bill Nighy) is leaving her for another after 29 years of marriage, and the ensuing emotional fallout the dissolution has on their only grown son (Josh O’Connor). Unraveled and feeling displaced in her small seaside town, Grace ultimately regains her footing and discovers a new, powerful voice.
Escape From Pretoria
Director: Francis Annan.
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber, Ian Hart, Mark Leonard Winter and Nathan Page.
Based on the real-life prison break of two political captives, Escape From Pretoria is a race-against-time thriller set in the tumultuous apartheid days of South Africa.
Swallow (Limited)
Director: Carlo Mirabella-Davis.
Cast: Haley Bennett, Austin Stowell, David Rasche, and Denis O’Hare.
On the surface, Hunter (Haley Bennett) appears to have it all. A newly pregnant housewife, she seems content to spend her time tending to an immaculate home and doting on her Ken-doll husband, Richie (Austin Stowell). However, as the pressure to meet her controlling in-laws and husband’s rigid expectations mounts, cracks begin to appear in her carefully created facade. Hunter develops a dangerous habit, and a dark secret from her past seeps out in the form of a disorder called pica – a condition that has her compulsively swallowing inedible, and oftentimes life-threatening, objects. A provocative and squirm-inducing psychological thriller, SWALLOW follows one woman’s unraveling as she struggles to reclaim independence in the face of an oppressive system by whatever means possible.
March 13th
Bloodshot
Director: Dave S.F. Wilson.
Cast: Vin Diesel, Eiza Gonzalez, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell, and Guy Pearce.
Based on the bestselling comic book, Vin Diesel stars as Ray Garrison, a soldier recently killed in action and brought back to life as the superhero Bloodshot by the RST corporation. With an army of nanotechnology in his veins, he’s an unstoppable force –stronger than ever and able to heal instantly. But in controlling his body, the company has sway over his mind and memories, too. Now, Ray doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not – but he’s on a mission to find out.
My Spy
Director: Peter Segal.
Cast: Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman, Kristen Schaal, and Ken Jeong.
My Spy follows JJ a hardened CIA operative (Dave Bautista) who has been demoted and finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, named Sophie (Chloe Coleman) where he has been sent undercover begrudgingly to surveil her family. When Sophie discovers hidden cameras in her apartment she uses her tech savviness to locate where the surveillance operation is set. In exchange for not blowing JJ’s cover Sophie convinces him to spend time with her and teach her to be a spy. Despite his reluctance JJ finds he is no match for Sophie’s disarming charm and wit.
The Hunt
Director: Craig Zobel.
Cast: Ike Barinholtz, Betty Gilpin, Emma Roberts and Hilary Swank.
Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are, or how they got there. They don’t know they’ve been chosen… for a very specific purpose … The Hunt.
In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, a group of globalist elites gathers for the very first time at a remote Manor House to hunt humans for sport. But the elites’ master plan is about to be derailed because one of the hunted, Crystal (Betty Gilpin, “GLOW”), knows The Hunters’ game better than they do. She turns the tables on the killers, picking them off, one by one, as she makes her way toward the mysterious woman (two-time Oscar® winner Hilary Swank) at the center of it all.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Director: Eliza Hittman.
Cast: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold, and Sharon Van Etten.
Written and directed by Eliza Hittman (Beach Rats), the film is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery and compassion
I Still Believe
Director: Jon Erwin and Andrew Erwin.
Cast: KJ Apa, Britt Robertson, Gary Sinise, Shania Twain, and Nathan Dean.
From the makers of “I Can Only Imagine” comes the true life story of Christian music mega star Jeremy Camp. Jeremy’s remarkable journey of love and loss proves there is always hope in the midst of tragedy and that faith tested is the only faith worth sharing.
The Roads Not Taken
Director: Sally Potter
Cast: Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek, and Laura Linney.
Sally Potter’s The Roads Not Taken follows a day in the life of Leo (Javier Bardem) and his daughter, Molly (Elle Fanning) as she grapples with the challenges of her father’s chaotic mind. As they weave their way through New York City, Leo’s journey takes on a hallucinatory quality as he floats through alternate lives he could have lived, leading Molly to wrestle with her own path as she considers her future. Also starring Salma Hayek and Laura Linney.
Inside the Rain (Limited)
Director: Aaron Fisher.
Cast: Ellen Toland, Eric Roberts, Paul Schulze, with Catherine Curtin and Rosie Perez.
Inside the Rain is an authentic portrait of bipolar disorder and depression, written, directed by and starring Aaron Fisher, who has these mental health disorders. The colorful ensemble cast includes Ellen Toland as a moonlighting sex worker, Rosie Perez as a tough love shrink, Eric Roberts as an unhinged film producer, and Catherine Curtin and Paul Schulze as the long-suffering parents. Donnell Rawlings rounds out the stellar ensemble cast.
The Vast of Night
Director: Andrew Patterson.
Cast: Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz, Bruce Davis, Gail Cronauer, Cheyenne Barton, and Mark Banik.
In the twilight of the 1950s, on one fateful night in New Mexico, a young, winsome switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) and charismatic radio DJ Everett (Jake Horowitz) discover a strange audio frequency that could change their small town and the future forever. Dropped phone calls, AM radio signals, secret reels of tape forgotten in a library, switchboards, crossed patchlines and an anonymous phone call lead Fay and Everett on a scavenger hunt toward the unknown.
The Postcard Killings
Director: Danis Tanovic.
Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Famke Janssen, Cush Jumbo, Joachim Król, Steven Mackintosh, Denis O’Hare.
In The Postcard Killings, based on the James Patterson and Liza Marklund #1 New York Times bestselling novel, NY Detective Jacob Kanon’s (Jeffery Dean Morgan) world is destroyed when his daughter and son-in-law are brutally murdered in London. Unable to sit idly by and do nothing, Jacob travels to London get the answers he needs. As he learns of similar heinous murders happening across Europe – each preceded by a postcard sent to a local journalist – Jacob is in a race against time to stop the killings and find justice for his little girl.
Tuscaloosa
Director: Philip Harder.
Cast: Devon Bostick, Natalia Dyer, Marchånt Davis, Tate Donovan, YG, Ella Rae Peck, and Birgundi Baker.
Alabama, 1972. As Billy falls for a patient at his father’s mental asylum, his best friend becomes involved in a radical civil rights movement against Tuscaloosa’s power elite.
March 20th
A Quiet Place Part II
Director: John Krasinski.
Cast: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou.
Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.
The Climb (Limited)
Director: Michael Angelo Covino.
Cast: Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Gayle Rankin.
Kyle and Mike are best friends who share a close bond — until Mike sleeps with Kyle’s fiancée. The Climb is about a tumultuous but enduring relationship between two men across many years of laughter, heartbreak and rage. It is also the story of real-life best friends who turn their profound connection into a rich, humane and frequently uproarious film about the boundaries (or lack thereof) in all close friendships.
Blow The Man Down
Director: Danielle Krudy and Bridget Savage Cole.
Cast: Morgan Saylor, Sophie Lowe with June Squibb and Margo Martindale.
Welcome to Easter Cove, a salty fishing village on the far reaches of Maine’s rocky coast. Grieving the loss of their mother and facing an uncertain future, Mary Beth & Priscilla Connolly cover up a gruesome run-in with a dangerous man. To conceal their crime, the sisters must go deeper into Easter Cove’s underbelly and uncover the town matriarchs’ darkest secrets.
Military Wives
Director: Peter Cattaneo.
Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan, with Jason Flemyng and Greg Wise.
Military Wives centers on a group of women from different backgrounds whose partners are away serving in Afghanistan. Faced with their loved ones’ absences, they come together to form the very first military wives choir, helping each other through some of life’s most difficult moments, and quickly find themselves on an international stage. Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) directs Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan in this feel-good crowd-pleaser inspired by true events.
March 27th
Mulan
Director: Niki Caro.
Cast: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Gong Li, and Jet Li.
When the Emperor of China issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army to defend the country from Northern invaders, Hua Mulan, the eldest daughter of an honored warrior, steps in to take the place of her ailing father. Masquerading as a man, Hua Jun, she is tested every step of the way and must harness her inner-strength and embrace her true potential. It is an epic journey that will transform her into an honored warrior and earn her the respect of a grateful nation…and a proud father.
Saint Maud
Director: Rose Glass.
Cast: Jennifer Ehle and Morfyd Clark.
YOUR SAVIOR IS COMING.
The debut film from writer-director Rose Glass, Saint Maud is a chilling and boldly original vision of faith, madness, and salvation in a fallen world. Maud, a newly devout hospice nurse, becomes obsessed with saving her dying patient’s soul — but sinister forces, and her own sinful past, threaten to put an end to her holy calling.
Vivarium
Director: Lorcan Finnegan.
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots.
Tom and Gemma (Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots) are looking for the perfect home. When a strange real-estate agent takes them to Yonder, a mysterious suburban neighborhood of identical houses, Tom and Gemma can’t leave quick enough. But when they try to exit the labyrinth-like housing development, each road takes them back to where they started. Soon, they realize their search for a dream home has plunged them into a terrifying nightmare, in this taut thriller filled with white-knuckle suspense.
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Categories: Coming Soon, Recommendation
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