OH, CANADA

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (limited)

Creator/Director: Paul Schrader

Cast: Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Jacob Elordi

Why We’re Excited: “When you have no future, all you have left is your past.” The second film with Spirit Award alums Schrader (First Reformed, Affliction) and Gere (The Agency, Unfaithful) after 1980’s American Gigolo, this elegiac drama about a man confronting his own mortality is based on Russell Banks’ novel, Foregone. Dying of cancer, Canadian filmmaker Leo Fife (Gere) sits down for a CBC documentary made by his students, where he confesses to a multitude of sins, some of which were unknown even to his own wife, Emma (Thurman). With Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi playing the younger Leo in flashbacks, he reminisces through decades of regrets and secrets to unburden himself before his time is up. Filmed in New York, it was shot in four aspect ratios to denote specific time periods in Leo’s life.

BETTER MAN

When You Can Watch: Now (theaters)

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Directors: Michael Gracey

Cast: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany

Why We’re Excited: Chronicling the rise and fall of British pop singer Robbie Williams, the biographical musical film was one of the Film Independent Presents screenings last fall, followed by a Q&A with director Gracey moderated by Euphoria creator, Sam Levinson. Performed by Davies (Amazon series, Hunters) using mo-cap, Williams is portrayed as an anthropomorphic chimpanzee using CGI. The idea came to Gracey (The Greatest Showman) when he heard the singer talking about “being dragged up to stage to perform like a monkey.” The film was mostly shot in Melbourne, with scenes depicting Willaims’ 2001 concert in London being shot at the Royal Albert Hall. The film recently received a record-breaking 16 nominations at the 2025 AACTA Awards, including Best Film, direction, screenplay, and acting.

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Directors: Pedro Almodóvar

Cast: Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Juan Diego Botto

Why We’re Excited: For his first English-language feature, Spanish auteur and three-time Spirit Award nominee, Almodóvar (All About My Mother, Volver), collaborates with fellow Spirit Award alums Moore (Mary & George, May December) and Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive, The Grand Budapest Hotel). Adapted from Sigrid Nunez’ novel, What Are You Going Through, the film was shot in Madrid and New York City. Although they have drifted apart over the decades, successful writer Ingrid (Moore) reconnects with childhood friend Martha (Swinton) once the latter is struck with terminal illness. Moving to a quite country house, Ingrid promises to help Martha end her own life when the time comes.

BABYGIRL

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Director: Halina Reijn

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas

Why We’re Excited: Dutch writer-director Reijn’s erotic thriller about sexism, power, and the allure of self-destructive behavior has garnered much acclaim since it won Spirit Award alum Kidman (The Undoing, Expats, Moulin Rouge) the best actress trophy at last year’s Venice film festival. The CEO of a tech company in New York City, Romy (Kidman) is happily married to Antonio Banderas’ Jacob, except for their mediocre sex life. When a hot male intern at the office, Samuel (Dickinson), seduces her, their trysts blossom into BDSM melodrama that soon threatens her family life and career. One of A24’s Oscar contenders this season, Reijn’s second English-language feature is inspired by her appreciation for erotic thrillers of the 1980s and 1990s.

THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Netflix

Directors: Tyler Perry

Cast: Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson

Why We’re Excited: “They did not send us because they thought we could do it. We are here because they are sure we cannot,” explains U.S. Army Captain Charity Adams (Spirit Awards past nominee for Lift, Washington) to the soldiers under her command in the 6888^th Central Postal Directory Battalion. Writer-director Tyler Perry’s moving WWII drama is based on Kevin Hymel’s 2019 magazine article about the all-Black and all-female battalion led by Adams, who was sent to alleviate a six-month backlog of mail in England after it resulted in low morale amongst the servicemen. Clearing 65,000 pieces of mail per shift, these women cleared the backlog in just three months!

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: James Mangold

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning

Why We’re Excited: For James Mangold’s (Ford v Ferrari, Logan) biographical music drama, Chalamet (Spirit Award alum for Call Me by Your Name) prepared for the project for five years (mostly due to COVID-19 delays), learning how to play the guitar, piano, and harmonica, while taking voice lessons. The result is a tour de force portrayal of the enigmatic singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan. Covering the years from 1961 – 1965, the film takes us through Dylan’s early days as a young folk musician from Minnesota when he moves to New York City and meets his idol Woody Guthrie (John Cassavetes Award winner, McNairy) and folk singer, Pete Seeger (Spirit Award alum, Norton). Dylan’s songs at the time were imbued with the political and social justice of the era, which puts him in the path of fellow singer-songwriter, Joan Baez (Barbaro), as the two strike up an affair. A major contender this season from Searchlight Pictures, the film was named amongst the Top 10 films of 2024 by AFI.

 BACK IN ACTION

When You Can Watch: January 17

Where You Can Watch: Netflix

Director: Seth Gordon

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Glenn Close, Kyle Chandler, Andrew Scott

Why We’re Excited: After Identity Thief, Baywatch, and the Netflix series The Night Agent, Gordon’s next action comedy is aptly titled Back in Action as it relates to his two main leads. This film is Spirit Awards alum Foxx’s first on-screen project since he suffered a stroke last April, and for Diaz, it marks her first feature out of retirement since 2014’s family comedy, Annie (which also co-starred Foxx). 15 years after disappearing from the CIA to start a family together, two highly trained operatives, Emily (Diaz) and Matt (Foxx), are forced back into the action to protect their children once their cover is blown. Shot in London and Atlanta, body doubles for Foxx were required for his remaining scenes after he was hospitalized towards the end of principal photography. Bonus: watch Diaz and Foxx’s hilarious trip down memory lane about their 25-year friendship!

LOCKERBIE – A SEARCH FOR TRUTH

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Peacock

Creator: David Harrower

Cast: Colin Firth, Catherine McCormack, Sam Troughton, Mark Bonnar

Why We’re Excited: Starring Spirit Awards alum Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Kingsman: The Secret Service), this British limited series is based on Jim Swire’s 2021 book chronicling his decades-long quest for the truth behind the investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Swire’s own daughter was killed on that fatal transatlantic flight en route to New York, which killed all 259 on board and an additional 11 souls on the ground. Another Sky and Peacock/Universal co-production after The Day of the Jackal last fall, this five-part series is timely as the trial of one of the alleged co-conspirators is slated for next year, following a 2020 indictment.

AMERICAN PRIMEVAL

When You Can Watch: January 9

Where You Can Watch: Netflix

Director: Peter Berg

Cast: Betty Gilpin, Taylor Kitsch, Kim Coates, Jai Courtney, Shea Whigham

Why We’re Excited: Written by The Revenant’s Mark L. Smith, this gritty Western drama charts the deadly origin story of the American West, when the U.S. Army, Brigham Young’s Mormon militia, and the Native Americans collided in a savage war in the mid-1800s. Risking their lives to cut across the most violent and isolated territories, Sara (Gilpin) and her son attempt to get through with the help of an escort, a Shoshone-raised white man, Isaac Reed (Kitsch). Directed by Lone Survivor’s Peter Berg, the production spent 145 days in the mountains of New Mexico, including recreating a fur trading outpost that eventually evolved into a U.S. Army post, Fort Bridger.

PARADISE

When You Can Watch: January 28

Where You Can Watch: Hulu

Creator: Dan Fogelman

Cast: Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, James Marsden, Sarah Shahi

Why We’re Excited: Created by the man behind the massively successful tearjerker This Is Us, this series marks a reunion between Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love and Galavant) and This Is Us alum Brown since the series ended in 2022. A father of two children, Xavier Collins (Spirit Awards alum Brown, of American Fiction and Black Panther) is on the protection detail of former President Cal Bradford (Marsden, of Amazon mockumentary series, Jury Duty, and The Best of Me), while he is housed in a secure enclave populated by some of the world’s most wealthy elite. But when Bradford is murdered, suspicion falls on Xavier as the investigation reels him into a deadly political quagmire. Shot in the Los Angeles, the eight-part series is produced by 20^th Television.