From a shattered Jackie to a weepy Lion and over tough Fences to a classic Asphalt Jungle, Christmas week brings gifts

Thursday, December 22

If you see only one movie in the theater this week, make it Jackie. Natalie Portman has been rightly praised for her prickly, multilayered performance as the most famous widow of the 20th century, in a movie that opened yesterday.

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But much of the credit for this wrenching examination of JFK’s assassination and its immediate aftermath goes to director Pablo Larrain, who sets a haunting tone that stays with you well after the closing credits. His fluent long takes, and the mysterious sliding strings of Mica Levi’s score, make Jackie a triumph, a hugely resonant examination of conflicting emotions, grief in the spotlight, and the blurry lines between real people and mythmaking.

Friday, December 23

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The Wachowskis have been interested in split consciousness ever since 1999’s The Matrix and through their 2012 experiment, Cloud Atlas. Season 1 of their narratively bold Netflix series, Sense8, was essentially a 12-episode origin story about eight strangers who are psychically linked; today a two-hour Sense8 Christmas special is available to stream. The strange hive-mind world of this sci-fi show doesn’t seem like the most obvious choice for a holiday one-off, but I’m intrigued. If anything, it will be a good warm-up for Season 2, which premieres in May.

Saturday, December 24

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Speaking of ensemble casts and interlocking storylines, tonight is the perfect time to catch up with Doug Liman’s overlooked 1999 action-comedy-drama hybrid, Go, which takes place on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles. Three guys get in trouble at a strip club, a grocery-store employee passes off stolen pharmacy meds as Ecstasy at a rave, two closeted soap actors cheat on each other with the same man, and an Amway-selling narcotics officer who likes to walk around his house nude all collide in this fast-paced romp. It stars Sarah Polley, Timothy Olyphant, Katie Holmes, Jane Krakowski and Taye Diggs, among others, and marks the film debut of a young Melissa McCarthy. Rent it from Amazon or Google Play.

Sunday, December 25

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If you’re looking for an inspiring story the whole family can see in theaters on Christmas Day, the Golden Globe–nominated Lion fits the bill nicely. It’s typical based-on-a-true-story Oscar bait about Saroo, a poor young Indian boy separated from his family, who grows up with foster parents in Australia and then mounts a campaign to find his mother using Google Earth. It’s oddly paced because the second half features an effective Nicole Kidman as the adoptive mother, and Dev Patel as the tortured adult version of Saroo, but the first hour soars. It’s not adventurous filmmaking, but it’s a feel-good tearjerker tailor made for holiday issue.

Monday, December 26

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It’s a big week for Oscar candidates. Denzel Washington’s film adaptation of the August Wilson play Fences opened yesterday as well. I’m recommending it for theater viewing the day after Christmas because, even though it’s a family drama, it won’t necessarily leave the family feeling good. Fences focuses on a 50-something Pittsburgh garbageman with a huge chip on his shoulder (Washington) who’s trying to provide for his family. For a movie, Fences still feels pretty stage-bound, and Washington’s strident delivery overdominates at first. But Viola Davis (the odds-on favorite for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar) provides a powerful emotional center, and Washington the director eventually opens up the film language just enough to allow a break in clouds.

Tuesday, December 27

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When a movie as influential as John Huston’s 1950 noir-crime drama, The Asphalt Jungle, has been ripped off so many times, it becomes hard to appreciate just how groundbreaking it truly was. You’ve seen a desperate band of criminals come together for the “perfect” robbery before, but this gritty thriller set the standard for the genre, with its introspective, doom-laden spiral and its meticulously shot 11-minute heist. The Criterion Collection has just released a new 2K restoration on Blu-ray with fresh appreciations and interviews, and a bunch of archival footage of Huston and star Sterling Hayden talking about the film. The Asphalt Jungle also features the first true supporting performance of Marilyn Monroe. An absolute must-have.

Wednesday, December 28

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If Mike Pence had his way, he’d “cure” John Lithgow and Alfred Molina, the New York gay couple who marry after 39 years together in last year’s superb indie drama Love Is Strange. Director Ira Sachs specializes in creating conflict out of the small moments between the big dramatic ones, and the movie is all the more powerful for it. Subtext is everything, and Lithgow and Molina give naturalistic performances that rank among their best. It’s new this month on Amazon Prime. 

Eric Melin is the editor of Scene-Stealers.com and president of the KC Film Critics Circle.