New movies in cinemas and on Netflix and Prime Video from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day
For the latest flood and weather warnings, search on ABC Emergency
If you're looking to escape the summer heat by heading into a movie theatre — or if you just want to veg out at home with some Christmas ham and a flick — there's plenty of new release movies that are worth your time.
Whether you're into Daniel Craig as a well-dressed detective, or a frizzy-haired Greta Gerwig with a child on her hip; looking for something joyful to watch with the kids or with your friend who can't stop quoting The Trip; there's something on the plate that's just for you.
Here's a cheeky primer:
Starring: Javier Bardem, Constance Wu, Shawn Mendes, Winslow Fegley, Scoot McNairy, Brett Gelman
Directors: Will Speck and Josh Gordon (Office Christmas Party; Blades of Glory)
Run time: 1h 46m
Noteworthy because: It's a musical adaptation of the beloved children's book, with pop star Shawn Mendes as the voice of the all-singing, all-dancing reptile.
See it with: Kids (musical theatre and otherwise).
Our critic Luke Goodsell says: Who can resist a 9-foot, 300-pound computer-generated crocodile with sad eyes, a natty scarf and the mellifluous pipes of Shawn Mendes? Not Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians), whose extremely flirtatious song-and-dance duet with the titular lizard nearly tips this amiable kids' movie into the realm of something truly outré. (She even draws him like one of her French girls, and can you blame her? He's kinda hot.) Fun tunes (from The Greatest Showman songwriting team) and a typically irrepressible turn from Bardem (as a flamboyant impresario) give this take on the 1965 picture book some pizzazz, but the rest is mostly mild, post-Paddington kindness schtick – with the obligatory Elton John singalong.
Likely to make you: Smile at a crocodile.
Starring: Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Jodie Turner-Smith, Don Cheadle, André Benjamin, Raffey Cassidy
Director: Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha; Marriage Story)
Run time: 2h 16m
Noteworthy because: It's the prince of mumblecore's take on a postmodern classic by Don DeLillo, starring Adam Driver (as a professor of "Hitler studies") and Baumbach's partner Gerwig (as his pill-popping wife). That's sad lit girl/guy bingo.
See it with: Your nerdy book friends; Adam Driver stans.
Our reviewer Michael Sun says: For the majority of its run time, Baumbach's work hews too closely to its source material. The result is a film that feels both stuffy and overstuffed, lending credence to the long-held belief in White Noise's unadaptability … To his credit, Baumbach films the supposedly unfilmable with great gusto – which, at least initially, sustains a winning union between author and adaptor.
Likely to make you: Chuckle, darkly.
Watch it: Netflix.
Tops Arts & Culture headlines.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
