By John Corrado

New releases for the week of November 24th, 2023.

Theatrical Releases:

Wish (Wide Release): Disney’s 100th anniversary feature is a charming new musical fairy tale that harkens back to Classic Disney as it follows Asha (Ariana DeBose), a wide-eyed teenager in the Kingdom of Rosas, who gets help from a magical wishing star to go up against the powerful ruler King Magnifico (Chris Pine). The reviews are surprisingly middling, but I genuinely enjoyed this one. It’s a simple story that is well told with a unique visual style, cute sidekicks, a fun evil villain, and good songs. As I wrote in my review, this is “a solid hundredth anniversary legacy picture from the studio, that feels like a wonderful celebration of what Disney does best.” (Full Review)

Saltburn (Limited Release): Emerald Fennell’s followup to her Oscar-winning debut Promising Young Woman follows a socially awkward Oxford student (Barry Keoghan) as he becomes obsessed with a popular rich kid (Jacob Elordi), and it’s a mixed bag of a sophomore feature. Keoghan and Elordi are good, and Linus Sandgren’s cinematography is often eye-catching. But the “eat the rich” satire often feels frustratingly obvious. The film is not as clever as it seems to think it is as it tries to rely on shock value, and ultimately overstays its welcome at over two hours. (Full Review)

Fallen Leaves (Limited Releases): Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki’s latest unfolds like a classic screen romance, following working class heroes Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), two lonely souls who meet through their co-workers. This is one of the most charming movies you will see this year. It’s a gently humorous and very heartfelt film, that packs a lot into a beautifully paced 81 minutes. (TIFF 2023 Review)

Dream Scenario (Limited Release): Nicolas Cage stars as a college professor who starts randomly appearing in people’s dreams in this surrealist dark comedy from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, which uses its heady premise to explore things like cancel culture. I saw this one at TIFF, and have been looking forward to seeing it again ever since. It’s filled with tons of ideas (maybe even too many), but grounded by Cage’s sympathetic, tragicomic performance. (TIFF 2023 Review)

More Releases: Napoleon (Wide), Leave the World Behind (Limited), Rose (Limited),

Streaming Releases:

Leo (Netflix), EXmas (Prime Video), The Naughty Nine (Disney+), Good Burger 2 (Paramount+), The Velveteen Rabbit (Apple TV+), Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas (Apple TV+), Swan Song (CBC Gem)