There are a variety of reasons you might find yourself at the cinema come 26 December: to escape the summer heat, to flee the Boxing Day sales or to find an oasis away from the ruckus of a house filled with over-stuffed family.
There are already a bunch of big movies out now in Australia – Rogue One for the Star Wars fans, Trolls for the kids, Fantastic Beasts for everybody, Office Christmas Party for nobody – but the official release dates are held for some films to make the most of the festive rush. Here are our picks of that bunch.
Moana, directed by Ron Clements and Don Hall
Starring: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jemaine Clement
What it is: Disney’s latest animated musical dips its toes into Polynesian culture to tell the story of a teenage girl’s quest to sail across the ocean and save her homeland from ecological disaster. Moana (voiced by newcomer Cravalho) is the daring, strong and smart young woman at the centre of the tale; next in line to be her island’s chief, she’s notable for being a Disney “princess” with no love interest and – gasp! – a normal-shaped body.
Moana breaks her father’s rules to venture past the reef to restore the Heart of Te Fiti: a magical stone stolen years ago by trickster demigod Maui (a real figure in Polynesian mythology, played with no shortage of fun by The Rock).
It’s hazardous terrain for the studio: despite its good intentions, the film has still come under fire for reinforcing stereotypes and a merchandising mishap. Still, it’s undeniable fun with a progressive message, a strong heroine, exceptional animation (see it in 3D!), songs by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, and one of the greatest crab cameos you’ll ever be treated to.
What the critics are saying: Writing for the Observer, Mark Kermode praises the film’s “eye-watering visuals, earworm songs and heart-swelling messages about respect for the past and hopes for the future”.
Who it’s for: Kids who are looking for a different type of princess; adults who cry all the way through kids’ films; fans of eye-watering visuals; fans of crabs.
Red Dog: True Blue, directed by Kriv Stenders
Starring: Levi Miller, Bryan Brown, Phoenix the dog
What it is: The original Red Dog film was a surprise hit in 2011, following the story of a beloved kelpie who brought together the tiny, diverse mining town of Dampier in Western Australia. Red Dog: True Blue is a prequel, telling the story of Red Dog before he was Red Dog – when he was, in fact, Blue.
After the sudden death of his father, 11-year-old Mick (Miller) expects little more than tedium and dirt (and crocodiles) when his grieving mother sends him off to live with his brusque and standoffish grandfather (Brown) on a cattle station in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Instead, he finds a new best friend in a red kelpie puppy covered in blue paint, and all the adventure, excitement, joy and heartbreak that comes with life in the outback.
What the critics are saying: Guardian Australia’s film critic, Luke Buckmaster, writes: “This very thoughtful, very entertaining origins story is underscored with a sense of Australiana that feels, well, true blue – without trading in hackneyed or cringe-inducing stereotypes.”
Who it’s for: Dog lovers; families; adults who cry all the way through kids’ films; anyone with nostalgia for the Australian outback.
Allied, directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard
What it is: It’s 1942. Max (Pitt) is a Canadian airman, parachuted in to north Africa and making his way to Casablanca to execute a German ambassador. The mission involves him posing as the husband of Marianne (Cotillard), a spy for the French Resistance.
During the mission, the pair fall in love for real, and once it is over they pack up and head off to London where they get married and live in post-blitz bliss for a while, and Marianne gives birth to a daughter. Then one day Max is brought in for a meeting with his superiors where they inform him that they suspect Marianne of being a deep-cover Nazi spy.
With an aesthetic sensibility harking back to the days when war movies were shot for glamour rather than gore, Allied is the romantic thriller that was purported to have broken up the real-life relationship of Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
What the critics are saying: Xan Brooks for the Observer calls it “an exhausted dirigible struggling to stay airborne”. The Guardian’s critic, Peter Bradshaw, describes it as “plonkingly slow and clonkingly laborious”, and of Pitt and Cotillard: “Their screen passion bursts forth like a cold wet teabag falling out of a mug that you have upended over the kitchen sink and don’t much feel like washing up. Their rapport fizzes like a quarter-inch of bin juice left after you have taken the rubbish out.” Righto, then.
Who it’s for: Fans of Brad Pitt; fans of Marion Cotillard; less-discriminating fans of Casablanca; fans of cold wet teabags and bin juice.
La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
What it is: An unflinchingly nostalgic naval-gazer, La La Land hurls big screen favourites Stone and Gosling back together in an attempt to relive the golden age of the Hollywood musical. Whether it succeeds will depend on how much you love the genre itself – and how willing you are to let it get away with excess.
Stone plays Mia, an aspiring actor who works in the cafe of a major studio lot in Hollywood and pines for her own one-woman show. Gosling plays Sebastian, a jazz musician purist who wants to open his own club, and – like the film itself – to bring back the lost genre.
Of course the pair despise each other at first, before discovering how well they dance and banter together. They may not have the chemistry of Bogie and Bacall – and their singing ability won’t blow you away – but then that’s all part of the charm.
What the critics are saying: Our UK colleague Peter Bradshaw has hailed La La Land with a five-star review, and Guardian US made the musical its No 2 film of the year, writing: “The hold that La La Land is currently exerting over audiences is at least partly to do with its function as a comfort blanket of yearning romanticism, inward-looking nostalgia and mournful retreat from the present.”
Who’s it for: Lovers of musicals; lovers of Stone and Gosling; lovers of Hollywood; lovers of cheese.
Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio, directed by Ed Bazalgette
Starring: Peter Capaldi, Matt Lucas, Charity Wakefield
What it is: Doctor Who Christmas specials are a staple of the festive season. There have been 11 of them so far, featuring all sorts of gimmicks from an homage to Narnia to animated snowmen.
This year’s instalment is a tribute to the world of comic-book superheroes. New York is under threat from a horde of brain-swapping aliens. To help save the city, the Doctor (Capaldi) and his temporary sidekick Nardole (Lucas) team up with whip-smart journalist Lucy (Wakefield) and a masked superhero known as the Ghost. It’s like a Superman and Doctor Who mash-up, and it’s being broadcast on both the ABC and in selected cinemas.
What the critics are saying: The Guardian has not previewed this one. According to Catherine Gee for the UK’s Daily Telegraph, it is “packed with enough witty one-liners and slightly bumbling action sequences to keep non-fans happy”.
Who’s it for: Doctor Who fans; comic-book fans who don’t take themselves too seriously; anyone looking for post-Christmas dinner viewing that doesn’t require leaving the couch.
Gimme Danger, directed by Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Iggy Pop, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, Mike Watt, Danny Fields, James Williamson, Steve Mackay, Kathy Asheton
What it is: Gimme Danger is Jarmusch’s tribute to Iggy and the Stooges: the kind of documentary that can only be made by a fan, following the rise and fall and rise again of one of the world’s most influential and infamous punk bands.
It charts the Stooges’ trajectory with archival photographs, footage and some new-media magic, from their origins in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the late 1960s to their worldwide success in a time of social, political, cultural and musical upheaval. When the band split up in 1974, most people thought they were gone for good. When they reformed in 2003, they were more popular than they had ever been.
What the critics are saying: The Guardian’s film critic, Peter Bradshaw, calls it “an act of fanboy – or rather fanman – love and it is entirely beguiling”.
Who’s it for: Fans of rock music; fans of the Stooges; documentary buffs.
Sing, directed by Garth Jennings
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C Reilly, Tori Kelly
What it is: An animated romp about anthropomorphic animals who love a good tune. Buster the koala’s (voiced by McConaughey) theatre is in trouble. It’s his pride and joy and he doesn’t want to see it go under, so he decides that the only way he can save it is to host the greatest singing competition the world has ever seen.
Cue a line-up of contestants, including a sly mouse (McFarlane), a tired mother pig (Witherspoon), a shy elephant (Kelly), a porcupine punk (Johansson) and more. It’s jam-packed with familiar tunes – indeed, this jukebox musical boasts a full 85 songs in the soundtrack. Will Buster make it through the ensuing mishaps and mayhem and manage to save his theatre?
What the critics are saying: Jordan Hoffman writes for the Guardian: “The songs, like everything else in this streamlined affair, are chosen meticulously, from right now or the 1980s. In other words, half for the nine-year-olds, half for their parents. So there’s a cute gorilla singing Elton John, a porcupine singing Carly Rae Jepsen, a happy pig dancing to Taylor Swift and an elephant grooving to Stevie Wonder. God, it’s so obnoxious. And the worst thing is that it works. I was smiling and applauding at the end, then I had to take a long walk alone to wonder what was wrong with me.”
Who’s it for: Children; adults who like anthropomorphic animals; anyone who loves a good sing-along.
Why Him? directed by John Hamburg
Starring: James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally
What it is: Overprotective father (Cranston, more Malcolm in the Middle’s Hal than Walter White) meets and is underwhelmed by his daughter’s well-meaning but awkward new partner (Franco). The fiance-v-father dynamic, to which the title refers, is an established trope and this interpretation is happy not to push its boundaries.
The strength of the film lies not in the measuring contest of the two leads but in the supporting performances from Mullally (assuming her Parks and Recreation character, Tammy II, with the edges somewhat smoothed off) and Deutch.
What the critics are saying: The Guardian has not yet reviewed Why Him? but it’s had a poor rap from other reviewers, with an average rating of 4.5/10 from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The AV Club damned it with faint praise, calling it “sporadically funny”; Vulture went for “disgusting and worse, unfunny”. Make of that what you will.
Who’s it for: Those with managed expectations. Give it a miss if you’re with your child’s new partner.
Rosalie Blum, directed by Julien Rappeneau
Starring: Noémie Lvovsky, Kyan Khojandi, Alice Isaaz, Anémone, Philippe Rebbot
What it is: A wistful lonely-hearts story, in French, from the debut writer-director Rappeneau, based on the graphic novel by the French artist Camille Jourdy.
Hairdresser Vincent Machot (Khojandi) lives a somewhat repetitive life, working in the business he inherited from his father, looking after his overbearing mother in the upstairs apartment and mooning over a girlfriend he never sees. Then he claps eyes on Rosalie Blum (Lvovsky).
Vincent can’t stop thinking about Rosalie and begins to follow her around town. So Rosalie in turn asks her niece, Alice, to follow Vincent. What emerges from these farcical circumstances is an uplifting, life-affirming story about loneliness, emotional connection and, ultimately, redemption.
What the critics are saying: Boyd van Hoeij for The Hollywood Reporter calls Rosalie Blum “a quirky, cockles-warming adaptation of the eponymous graphic-novel trilogy”.
Who’s it for: Francophiles; anyone in need of heart-warming; film-goers looking for an alternative to the usual summer blockbusters
A United Kingdom, directed by Amma Asante
Starring: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Terry Pheto, Jack Davenport, Tom Felton
What it is: Pike and Oyelowo play Ruth Williams and Seretse Khama, a white woman and an African law student who fall in love in London in 1947. The film tracks their courtship and return to Khama’s homeland of Bechuanaland (now Botswana), where – surprise! – Khama is a prince.
The third feature of Asante, a female British film-maker of Ghanaian heritage, A United Kingdom is a romantic true story from a forgotten chapter of Britain’s postwar past. It opened the London film festival in October.
What the critics are saying: The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw praised the film’s “terrific warmth and idealism, and irresistible storytelling relish”.
“It’s a tale of star-crossed lovers with the bigoted British government playing a particularly shabby and nasty House of Capulet: a story of imperialism, bully-ism, and Westminster functionaries passing off their taboo horror of interracial marrying as a matter of realism and political expediency.”
Who’s it for: A grown-up, grand romance for fans of period drama – perhaps those who enjoyed John Crowley’s Brooklyn around the same time last year.
