‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ ‘Soul’ on Streaming: Movies to Watch This Week

For American audiences, who have been denied the traditional release as the country copes with the COVID-19 pandemic, Christmas brings the closest thing to the weekend hit it has seen so far in 2020 – including delayed releases of several films originally intended for the previous year.

Two high-profile films this week – the DC sequel “Wonderful Woman 1984” and the original Pixar “Soul” – open in very unconventional ways, moving from wide theatrical releases to streaming debuts on the respective platforms of their studios. Gal Gadot returns as the Amazon goddess with golden hair in the 80s series “Wonder Woman 1984”, the first tent of Warner Bros. it switched to its subscription-based HBO Max service (although superhero fans will be able to see it on the big screen in markets where the health crisis hasn’t forced cinemas to close). “Soul” will give up theatrical release in the US, instead opening Disney Plus – a shame, given the miraculous visual and musical work that went into the film, but a blessing for families looking to share an experience in a safe environment. holidays.

Exclusive to theaters, Tom Hanks is rehearsing a western in Paul Greengrass’s “News of the World,” featuring stunning cinematography that audiences will be glad to have decided to perform on the big screen. And Roberto Benigni has now lived long enough to end up playing Pinocchio in the role of his adoptive father, the woodcutter Geppetto, in an Italian-language adaptation of Matteo Garrone, a hit of last year’s Christmas edition in Italy that now finds its way onto American screens.

It’s worth the wait, three great films about Sundance – the dizzying independent films that premiered at the Park City Festival last January – find their way onto the screens this week. So far, only in theaters has the story been told of the “Promising Young Woman,” in which Carey Mulligan was a crusader who took on lecturing lessons to predatory men, posing drunk in bars and turning tables to anyone trying to take advantage of her. Equally furious in its own way, the documentary “Dissident” delves into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And what’s easier, Amazon Prime pickup “Sylvia’s Love” is a return to classic Hollywood love stories.

And for those who have given up cinema this year in favor of Netflix, this is boff week for this service as well. In addition to streaming nominees for awards such as “Black Bottom Ma Rainey” and “Mank,” Netflix is ​​also launching its latest, directorial star George Clooney, a sci-fi film in search of “Midnight Sky,” as well as a milder offer of superheroes for kids. We can be the heroes of “Director” Boy Shark and Girl Lava “Robert Rodriguez.

Here’s a preview of these films that opened this week Diversity is covered, along with links to places where you can watch them. Here you can find more movies and TV shows for streaming.

New releases in cinemas

The Dissident (Bryan Fogel) CRITIC
Distributor: Briarcliff Entertainment
Where to Find It: In selected cinemas, followed by the Prime Minister on request on January 8
The film by Oscar winner Vogel is a complete investigation into the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, editor of Saudi Arabia and Washington Post columnist whose gruesome murder, on October 2, 2018, was apparently conceived and ordered by the highest levels of Saudi Arabia. monarchy. As for the intrigue around the edge of your place, this is a movie with almost everything. There are mysteries and conspiracies that unite around people of unimaginable power. It has the walls of the palace with a murderous knife blow. – Owen Gleiberman
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News of the World (Paul Greengrass)
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Where to Find It: In theaters
Tom Hanks is the kind of actor for whom we accept the aphorism that he could read the phone book and make it sound great. Hanks’ reunion with “Captain Phillips” director Paul Greengrass, the laconic Western “News of the World,” tests that theory by throwing a star for the news reader, a civil war veteran who travels across Texas to bring hungry small town residents national titles. for upgrades from afar – and the result, while beautiful to watch, is only slightly more exciting than the phonebook option might be. – Peter Debruge
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One Night in Miami (Regina King) CRITIC
Distributor: Amazon Studios
Where to Find It: In theaters in Miami, the expansion on January 8, followed by Prime Video on January 15
“One Night in Miami” is one of those dramas with a hooked, irresistible premise of a meeting of minds that houses four legends in one room, all so we can sit and watch the verbal-philosophical fireworks fly. The film takes place on February 25, 1964, the night Cassius Clay won the 22nd World Heavyweight Championships. To celebrate, he heads to a modest, rather shabby little apartment where his friend Malcolm X is staying at Hampton House. They are joined there by 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 the badly acted “Pinocchio” by Robert Benigni for the actor to happily switch to the role of Geppetto in the visually rich, although unusually muted version of Matteo Garrone’s long-standing story. Given the director’s penchant for multi-purpose narratives, a classic story would look good. Instead, Garrone’s entry into the action live, though more faithful to Carl Collodi’s original novel, underscores significant elements of cruelty, creating a child-friendly film with a fair share of charm but unusually lacking in memorable events. – Jay Weissberg
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Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)
Distributor: Focus characteristics
Where to Find It: In theaters
Fennell’s first directorial feature fantasy is female revenge that follows some of the tropes in the genre, but also takes considerable joy in meeting viewers ’expectations. Starring Carey Mulligan as a woman with a unique mission, this unclassified, somewhat uneven but always compelling mix of thriller, black comedy and a whole host of things will spark a lot of discussion. “Species,” this isn’t – not even the updated “Mrs. 45.” – Dennis Harvey
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Exclusive to Amazon Prime

Sylvie's Love (Eugene Ashe)
Where to Find It: Prime Video
Sad music swells as the camera faints over the young couple in a gentle night hug. New York City’s 1950s residential street is carefully licked with rain and lined with shiny classic cars: the obvious scenery. Gene Kelly may have just swung on that lamppost; Doris Day could lean out the upstairs window to sigh at the painted moon. But the stars of canoodling in Eugene Ashe’s Sundance competition title “Sylvia’s Love” are black, which is one of the only indicators that this weightlessly brilliant but undoubtedly charming romance is a product of the 21st century. – Jessica Kiang
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Exclusive to Disney Plus

Soul (Pete Docter) CRITIC
Where to Find It: Disney Plus
Where do people get their personalities from? Do parents play a role or are such things somehow determined before birth? For centuries, doctors of psychology, doctors of philosophy, and doctors of theology have given their thoughts on the subject, but the latest breakthrough comes entirely from another type of doctor: Pete Docter, Pixar’s brain with the big idea behind the boxes. "Inside Out" and "Up", which peeks deep into itself and devises another intuitive, easily acceptable metaphor about - 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 on HBO Max
Nearly two hours of its 151-minute work, “The Wonderful Woman 1984,” achieves what we ask of Hollywood tents: it takes us away from worries by erasing them with pure escapism. For those old enough to remember the 80s, it’s like going home for Christmas and discovering a box full of children’s toys in the parents ’attic. It’s feeling like I’m watching Richard Donner’s “Superman” for the first time or marveling at the powerful female role models of such vintage shows like “Wonder Woman” and “Bion Women”. - Peter Debruge
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Available on Netflix

DNA (Maïwenn)
Where to Find It: Netflix
Maïwenn is the last to be charged in the lead roles for “DNA”. On the one hand, it seems courtesy to the intimidating ensemble of her fifth role, complex as is the case with stars from Fanny Ardant through Louis Garrel to Marina Vacth - all in fine, unrestrained form in a dysfunctional family drama that often demands maximum volume from them. Yet modesty seems shy in a film that eventually becomes an enlarged, almost impenetrable personal star 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 courage, spirit, and rapture. This one is overwhelmed with self-importance. Evolving in one of those distant futures that is similar to the present, except that it is even more carrot, "Midnight Sky" cuts back and forth between two environments: the frozen wilderness of Antarctica, where Clooney plays the only explorer left in an empty observatory; and NASA’s spaceship that from the outside looks like a baroque Christmas decoration as photographed by Stanley Kubrick. Each setting has a way to be less appealing than the one the film just cut off. - Owen Gleiberman
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We Can Be Heroes (Robert Rodriguez) CRITIC
Where to Find It: Netflix