Sorry to remind you, but Christmas is next weekend and New Year's Day is the weekend after that! Your time to see the best films of 2016 is quickly running out. Get a start on the list by heading to your local cinema and checking out one (or a few) of this weekend's recommendations from Up To Date's indie, foreign and documentary film critics. There's nothing like a good movie to keep you out of the cold and wind!
Cynthia Haines
Manchester by the Sea, R
- A poignant drama starring Casey Affleck, who plays down-and-out janitor Lee. His life is changed when his brother dies and Lee takes over as guardian for his teenage nephew.
The Eagle Huntress, G
- A visually stunning documentary set in Central Asia about a teenage tradition-breaker aspiring to become her family's first female eagle hunter.
Moonlight, R
- The story of a young black man struggling to find and accept himself while growing up in a rough Miami neighborhood.
Steve Walker
Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, Not rated
- This documentary about the making, and subsequent shuttering of the 1981 Sondheim musical flop, Merrily We Roll Along, bares the blood, sweat and tears that inform the life of an actor.
Jackie, R
- Natalie Portman impressively channels the breathy entitlement and brutal traumatization of Mrs. Kennedy in the hours before and days after her husband's assassination (opens December 20).
Manchester by the Sea, R
- Kenneth Lonergan's keenly felt script and sensitive direction are bolstered by Casey Affleck's devastating performance as a man whose sealed-off grief finds pockets of air after he becomes his teenage nephew's guardian.
