Out January 1
Point Break
(USA, crime/action/thriller)
PG
Director: Ericson Core
Starring: Luke Bracey, Edgar Ramirez, Ray Winstone, Teresa Palmer
What's it about?
A young undercover FBI agent infiltrates a gang of thieves who share a common interest in extreme sports. A remake of the 1991 film, Point Break.
[link title="Watch: First trailer for 'Point Break' remake" url="node/39475"]
[link title="Casting Aspersions: Point Break reboot gets its Bodhi" url="node/2537"]
Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie
(USA, comedy/animation/family/adventure)
G
Director: Steve Martino
Starring: Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez, Venus Schultheis, Hadley Belle Miller
What's it about?
Snoopy embarks upon his greatest mission as he and his team take to the skies to pursue their arch-nemesis, while his best pal Charlie Brown begins his own epic quest back home.
A Parents’ Guide to School Holiday Movies: Dec - Jan 2016
SBS 2: More All-Ages Adventures
Out January 7
Sisters
(USA, comedy)
MA15+
Director: Jason Moore
Starring: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, John Leguizamo
What's it about?
Kate and Maura Ellis are summoned to clean out their childhood bedrooms when their parents sell the family home. They resolve to throw a wild party to bid farewell to the house.
[link title="Watch Tina Fey and Amy Poehler party like they're teens in 'Sisters' trailer" url="node/42317"]
[link title="Sisters review: This party's over, in more ways than one " url="node/55348"]
The Revenant
(Canada, drama/adventure)
MA15+
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson
What's it about?
In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.
[link title="Film review: The Revenant" url="node/53422"]
[link title="Golden Globes: Leo, 'The Revenant' win big" url="node/55646"]
Out January 14
Goosebumps
(USA, adventure/horror/comedy)
PG
Director: Rob Letterman
Starring: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Jillian Bell
What's it about?
A young kid teams up with the niece of young adult horror author R.L. Stine after the writer's imaginary demons are set free on the town of Greendale, Maryland.
[link title="The scariest thing about the 'Goosebumps' movie" url="node/49979"]
Carol
(UK/USA, romance/drama)
M
Director: Todd Haynes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, Sarah Paulson
What's it about?
The life of a Manhattan socialite trapped in a loveless marriage of convenience is forever changed when she meets a department store clerk. As conventional norms of the time challenge their undeniable attraction, an honest story emerges to reveal the resilience of the heart in the face of change.
[link title="Cate Blanchett opens the closet door with lesbian romance 'Carol'" url="node/38003"]
[link title="Watch Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara fall in love in 'Carol' trailer" url="node/44349"]
The 5th Wave
(USA, adventure/sci-fi/thriller)
M
Director: J Blakeson
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Alex Roe
What's it about?
Sixteen-year-old Cassie Sullivan tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.
The Big Short
(USA, drama)
M
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo
What's it about?
Based on the book by Michael Lewis ('The Blind Side'), The Big Short tells the story of bond and real estate derivative geeks who saw the housing crash of 2008 coming and bet against the collateralised debt obligation bubble, thus striking it rich.
[link title="Watch Christian Bale and Brad Pitt profit from the GFC in 'The Big Short' trailer" url="node/47443"]
20 Once Again
(China, comedy)
PG
Director: Leste Chen
Starring: Bo-Lin Chen, Ya-Lei Kuei, Zishan Yang
What's it about?
When her family suggests she may be happier living away in a retirement home, an outspoken and bossy grandmother decides to have her 'funeral' portrait taken at a special studio – which magically transforms her into a 20-year-old woman.
Out January 21
Ip Man 3
(Hong Kong, action/martial arts)
M
Director: Wilson Yip
Starring: Donnie Yen, Lynn Hung, Zhang Han, Jin Zhang
What's it about?
At the end of the 1950's in Hong Kong, when a band of gangsters led by a crooked property developer are trying to take over properties in the neighbourhood, Ip Man decides to lead his students to guard the neighbourhood.
[link title="Mike Tyson attached to Kung Fu biopic 'Ip Man 3'" url="node/37929"]
The Danish Girl
(UK/USA, drama)
M
Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Matthias Schoenaerts, Amber Heard
What's it about?
The story of Danish painter Einar Wegener as she discovers she identifies as a woman, becoming one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery.
[link title="Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hooper talk transgender challenges with 'The Danish Girl'" url="node/45761"]
[link title="The Danish Girl review: A radiant and seductive start loses its dramatic tension" url="node/46829"]
The Hateful Eight
(USA, thriller/western/drama/mystery)
R18+
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen
What's it about?
After the Civil War, bounty hunter John Ruth travel through wyoming with his fugitive Daisy Domergue to have her hanged. A blizzard soon overtakes their stagecoach on a mountainside stopover, where they meet a handful of dangerous characters who share a deadly connection.
[link title="Watch bounty hunters get stuck in a blizzard in Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight' trailer" url="node/44069"]
[link title="Quentin Tarantino on 'The Hateful Eight', white supremacy and surviving the 90s (interview)" url="node/44845"]
[link title="Quentin Tarantino says he cut two different versions of 'The Hateful Eight' " url="node/48911"]
Looking for Grace
(Australia, drama)
M
Director: Sue Brooks
Starring: Radha Mitchell, Richard Roxburgh, Odessa Young
What's it about?
In the new film from writer-director Sue Brooks, a married couple, Denise and Dan embark on a road trip across Western Australia to look for their teenage daughter who ran away from home.
[link title="Japanese Story director starts shoot of new film, Looking For Grace" url="node/19625"]
[link title="Australian film 'Looking for Grace' to compete in Toronto and Venice film festivals" url="node/44185"]
[link title="Looking for Grace review: An ambitious, involving desert drama" url="node/47255"]
Out January 28
Spotlight
(USA, history/thriller/drama)
M
Director: Tom McCarthy
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber
What's it about?
In 2001, a team of reporters at The Boston Globe launched an investigation into the misdeeds covered up by the Catholic Church. They were eventually able to expose a pattern of corruption at the church where the higher-ups privy to the scandal would effectively silence any accusers who came forward.
[link title="Why 'Spotlight' is the Best Picture front-runner" url="node/46959"]
Dirty Grandpa
(USA, comedy)
MA15+
Director: Dan Mazer
Starring: Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Julianne Hough, Aubrey Plaza, Dermot Mulroney
What's it about?
Right before his wedding, an uptight guy is tricked into driving his grandfather, a perverted former Army general, to Florida for spring break.
Room
(Canada/Ireland, drama)
M
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, Sean Bridgers, William H. Macy
What's it about?
Jack is a young boywho has lived all his life in one room. He believes everything within it are the only real things in the world. But what will happen when his Ma suddenly tells him that there are other things outside of Room?
