‘Wonder Woman 1984’, ‘Soul’ streaming: movies to watch this week

For the American public, which has been deprived of a traditional launch while the country is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Christmas Day is the closest to a hugely successful weekend that 2020 has seen so far – including the delayed release of some films originally planned for the beginning of the year.

Two of the week’s highest profile films – DC sequel “Wonder Woman 1984” and Pixar’s original “Soul” – are making their debut in very unconventional ways, shifting from releases in major cinemas to premieres streaming on their respective platforms. studios. Gal Gadot returns as the goddess of the Amazon with the gold ribbon on the set of the 1980s “Wonder Woman 1984”, the first mainstay that Warner Bros. it redirected to its subscription-based HBO Max service (although superhero fans may see it on the big screen in markets where the health crisis hasn’t forced cinemas to close). “Soul” will no longer be released in theaters in the United States, opening via Disney Plus – a pity, considering the wonderful visual and musical work that went into the film, but a blessing for families who wish to share the experience in a safe environment during the holidays .

Exclusive to cinemas, Tom Hanks experiences a western in Paul Greengrass’s “News of the World”, featuring impressive cinematography that audiences will be happy to have chosen to watch on the big screen. And Roberto Benigni has lived long enough to move from the role of Pinocchio to the role of his adoptive father, wood sculptor, Gepeto, in the Italian language adaptation of Matteo Garrone, a successful Christmas release last year in Italy that now arrives on American screens.

It was also worth waiting for, three fantastic Sundance films – restless independent films that debuted at the festival in Park City last January – hit the screens this week. Until now, only in theaters, “Promising young woman” was the subject of the festival, presenting Carey Mulligan as a crusade that took on the task of teaching predatory men a lesson, pretending to be drunk in bars and turning the tables on anyone trying to take advantage her. Equally infuriating in its own way, the documentary “The Dissident” investigates the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And on a lighter note, the Amazon Prime pickup “Sylvie’s Love” is a return to classic Hollywood love stories.

And for those who have renounced theaters in favor of Netflix this year, it’s a good week for the service as well. In addition to broadcasting nominees for awards like “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Mank”, Netflix launches the latest from director-star George Clooney, the sci-fi search movie “The Midnight Sky”, as well as a themed offer of more cheerful superheroes for children, “We Can Be Heroes” by director Robert Rodriguez of “Shark Boy and Lava Girl”.

Here is a summary of the films premiering this week that Variety covered, along with links to where you can watch them. Find more movies and TV shows to stream here.

New theatrical releases

The Dissident (Bryan Fogel) CRITIC CHOICE
Distributor: Briarcliff Entertainment
Where to Find It: In some cinemas, followed by premium on demand launch on January 8
The Oscar-winning Fogel film is a thorough investigation into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian editor and columnist for the Washington Post whose horrible murder, on October 2, 2018, was in all likelihood designed and ordered by highest echelons of Saudi Arabia monarchy. When it comes to exciting intrigues, this is a film with almost everything. There is mystery and conspiracy gathering around men of unfathomable power. There’s a homicidal betrayal inside the palace walls. – Owen Gleiberman
Read the full review

News of the World (Paul Greengrass)
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Where to Find It: In theaters
Tom Hanks is the type of actor we accept the aphorism that he could read the phone book and make it sound good. Gathering Hanks with “Captain Phillips” director Paul Greengrass, the laconic Western “News of the World” tests this theory by placing the star as a news reader, a Civil War veteran who travels across Texas to deliver the country’s headlines to small-town residents hungry for updates from afar – and the result, while beautiful to see, is just a little more exciting than the phone book option could have been. – Peter Debruge
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One Night in Miami (Regina King) CRITIC CHOICE
Distributor: Amazon Studios
Where to Find It: In Miami theaters, expanding on January 8, followed by Prime Video on January 15
“One Night in Miami” is one of those dramas with an addictive and irresistible premise of meeting minds that puts four legends in a single room, all so that we can sit and watch the philosophical-verbal fireworks fly. The film takes place on February 25, 1964, the night when Cassius Clay, aged 22, won the world heavyweight championship. To celebrate, he heads to the modest, poor suite where his friend Malcolm X is staying at Hampton House. There, the two join football superstar Jim Brown and soul legend Sam Cooke. – Owen Gleiberman
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Pinocchio (Matteo Garrone)
Distributor: Roadside attractions
Where to Find It: In theaters
Enough time has passed since Roberto Benigni’s starry evil “Pinocchio” for the actor to move more happily into the role of Gepeto in the visually rich, though strangely moderate, version of Matteo Garrone’s perennial tale. Given the director’s inclination for multifaceted narratives, the classic story seems a good fit. Instead, however, Garrone’s live action entry, while more faithful to Carlo Collodi’s original novel, underestimates the significant elements of cruelty, creating a children’s film with its share of enchantment, but curiously lacking in memorable highlights . – Jay Weissberg
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Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)
Distributor: Focus features
Where to Find It: In theaters
Fennell’s first feature film as a director is a female revenge fantasy that follows some of the tropes of this genre, but also has considerable joy in exceeding the viewer’s expectations. Starring Carey Mulligan as a woman on a singular mission, this unclassifiable, somewhat uneven but always compelling mix of suspense, black comedy and a lot of other things will generate a lot of debate. “Species”, this is not – not even a “Mrs. Updated ”. 45. ”- Dennis Harvey
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Exclusive to Amazon Prime

Sylvie's Love (Eugene Ashe)
Where to Find It: Main Video
The sensual music increases as the camera passes out over a young couple in a tender night hug. The 1950s New York City residential street is carefully polished by rain and lined with shiny classic cars: an obvious setting. Gene Kelly could have just rocked that pole; Doris Day can lean on an upstairs window to sigh in front of a painted moon. But the melancholy stars of Eugene Ashe’s competition title at Sundance, “Sylvia’s Love”, are black, which is one of the only indications that this weightless but undeniably charming novel is a 21st century product. – Jessica Kiang
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Exclusive to Disney Plus

Soul (Pete Docter) CRITIC CHOICE
Where to Find It: Disney Plus
Where do people get their personalities from? Do parents play a role, or are these things somehow determined before birth? For centuries, doctors in psychology, doctors in philosophy and doctors in theology have contributed their ideas on the subject, but the latest discovery comes from another type of doctor: Pete Docter, Pixar's great brain behind original “Inside Out” toons and "Up", which looks very deep and comes up with another intuitive and easy to embrace metaphor for - I dare say - the meaning of life. - Peter Debruge
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Exclusive to HBO Max

Wonder Woman 1984 (Patty Jenkins)
Where to Find It: In theaters and HBO Max
For almost two hours of its 151-minute run, “Wonder Woman 1984” does what we hope Hollywood tents will do: it takes us out of our worries, erasing them with pure escapism. For anyone old enough to remember the '80s, it's like going home for Christmas and discovering a box full of childhood toys in your parents' attic. This is the feeling of watching Richard Donner's "Superman" for the first time, or marveling at the strong female models of vintage TV shows like "Wonder Woman" and "Bionic Woman". - Peter Debruge
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Available on Netflix

DNA (Maïwenn)
Where to Find It: Netflix
Maïwenn appears last in the main credits of the "DNA" cast. On the one hand, it seems a courtesy to the formidable ensemble of her fifth feature film as a director, filled with stars from Fanny Ardant to Louis Garrel to Marine Vacth - all in uninhibited form in a dysfunctional family drama that often demands maximum volume from them. However, modesty seems timid in a film that eventually becomes an enlarged, almost impenetrably personal, stellar vehicle for Maïwenn herself, inspired by her own investigation of her diverse cultural identity. - Guy Lodge
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The Midnight Sky (George Clooney)
Where to Find It: Netflix
Clooney's early films had momentum, spirit and enthusiasm. This is full of self-importance. Unfolding itself in one of those distant futures that are just like the present, but darker, “The Midnight Sky” alternates between two scenarios: the frozen desert of Antarctica, where Clooney plays the only researcher left in an empty observatory; and a NASA spacecraft that, seen from the outside, looks like a baroque Christmas ornament, photographed by Stanley Kubrick. Each setting has a way of being less engaging than the one the film just cut. - Owen Gleiberman
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We Can Be Heroes (Robert Rodriguez) CRITIC CHOICE
Where to Find It: Netflix