Thanksgiving Box Office Round Up – After "The Irishman" Head to the Theater

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Category: Film

Published on Thursday, 28 November 2019 12:59

Written by Janet Walker

The Thanksgiving weekend weather wise is a wash which spells stratospheric success for streaming giant Netflix and the premiere of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, the Jimmy Hoffa film from the master of American mobster movies.

Those who brave the inclement weather and head over to the local theater after the desserts have been served have a smorgasbord of choices from the blockbuster animated FROZEN II to the mega-watt star power of Knives Out to the socially consciences Queen & Slim, the box offices holds something for everyone this holiday season.

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For those sloshing through the rain, trudging through the snow, or lucky enough to be in one of the eleven states not under some type of weather advisory, here’s is a round up of theatrical offerings for this holiday weekend.

New to the box office Knives Out, the Agatha Christie style whodunit lead by film favorites, Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Craig, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. Christopher Plummer portrays the patriarch mystery writer of the freeloading family of who are all under suspicion when the king of the mystery ends up dead. As the story unfolds, we find a flaw in each character that points the finger of guilt in their direction. Knives Out is pure entertainment, an escape into a mystery, within a mystery, a layer of mysteries best told by the cast. The idiosyncrasies of the family, who profess to be “in the know,” and prove themselves clueless are truly funny.

Queen & Slim also opens at the box office this weekend. The socially conscience debut film from director Melina Matsoukas, tells a story ripped from the headlines. A white police officer known for racial profiling pulls over an African American male, Slim, played by Daniel Kaluuya. The routine traffic stop escalates as the passenger, Queen, played by Jodie Turner Smith, steps out of the car explaining she is a lawyer and has a right to film the police officer. He begins to panic and discharges his weapons striking the Queen. He struggles with Slim who picks up the officer’s weapon and it discharges. The officer dies. The film follows the two as their lives change from law abiding to America’s most wanted. The film is shockingly truthful and handles the escalating violence honestly. Exceptional performances that capture the underlying pulse of a community. Brief nudity. See this film.

Frozen II needs no introduction and delivers the expected thrill for all.

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Another socially conscience film Dark Waters, from Participant and Focus Features, tells the story of a Cincinnati based corporate lawyer, Bill Bilott, played by Mark Ruffalo, originally from Parkersburg, W.VA., who exposes one of the largest instances of intentional chemical pollution in the history of the EPA. With family still living in the expendable small town, Bilott visits his grandmother who explains the story. Bilott decides to visit the farmer, played by Bill Camp, who explains that he has buried 181 diseased cattle. The story unfolds with Parkersburg held captive to the money of Dupont Chemical. Bilott continues demanding discovery and receives the U-Haul of documents dating back to 1957.

With Dupont attempting to burying him in paperwork and bankrupt him at the same time, he gets another call from a local and his wife who explains the amount of cancer’s and cancer related deaths, birth deformities and defects, and sterilizations.

What follows is one of the most intriguing, factual and true cases of a single corporate lawyer who makes the choice to take on a small case for a nobody farmer who through discovery finds the corporate giant intentionally chose the town because the odds of any of the residents escaping the boundaries built around them were virtuallyimpossible to penetrate and finally eleven years after the first suit was filed the giant Dupont Chemical was ordered to compensate the victims.

With Anne Hathaway (who should receive awards notice), Tim Robbins, Victor Garber, Bill Pullman, Bill Camp, Mere Winningham, Louisa Krause and William Jackson Harper. In limited release with wide released scheduled for December 3, 2019.

Charlie's Angels, which received lukewarm response on its opening weekend, will provide a girl power punch as the spin-off of the 1970’s television series and subsequent films, is still hanging on as the film delivers a combination of espionage wits, kick-ass power moves and super tech skills, modernizing the original Aaron Spelling productions to align itself with the contemporary world with all its high tech warfare and stealth intelligence operatives. Charlie's Angels travels the world with European locales and all the gadgets one can imagine. Pure escapism with an A list cast Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Banks who pulls triple duty as writer, director and star, Ella Balinska, Naomi Scott, Djimin Hounsou, Sam Clafin, Peter Fleming, Jonny Smith and Patrick Stewart. See it.

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Still spinning its wheels only falling to FROZEN II, the race film FORD v FERRARI, from Twentieth Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment, presents the true story of Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, and how they would build a Ford to race against Ferrari at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Directed by James Mangold, Ford v. Ferrari stars Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Jon Bernthal who make up team Ford. Once the team is established, the film is all about the building of the impossible dream. Once the terms are understood even the most skeptical are won over and every improvised skill used to make the car faster is implemented. Miles, of course, as the 200 club man, is behind the wheel. With the racers doing what they love the process is smooth, when the boardroom enters it becomes a chaotic, damaging, mess of egos. Matt Damon and Christian Bale each deliver high caliber performances. See it.

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21 Bridges from STX Entertainment, presents the story of an immovable force that meets with compromise and corruption and a race against time in the darkened hollowed streets of Manhattan's canyons as they hunt for cop killers. Chadwick Boseman, J.K. Simmons, Sienna Miller, Taylor Kitsch, Stephan James. 21 Bridges is a thrill ride from the beginning. See it.

Rounding out a list of possible over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, Playing with Fire, from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Media and Walden Media, brings to the screen a comedic drama that has the toughest smoke-jumpers totally unprepared for the toughest assignment they will ever face that of babysitters.

Brave the weather or not, streaming giants Netflix and Amazon and the newest Disney + provide an overabundance of home viewing offerings and still some films are meant to be viewed on the Big Screen.