By John Corrado

New releases for the week of January 24th, 2025.

Theatrical Releases:

Flight Risk (Wide Release): Mel Gibson’s latest directorial effort is also his most constrained and straight-forward film yet, following elaborate, historical productions Hacksaw Ridge, Apocalypto, The Passion of the Christ and Braveheart. This is a stripped down thriller that follows a U.S. Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) transporting an informant (Topher Grace) in a small plane. Mark Wahlberg is the pilot. It’s a January B-movie through and through, but mostly enjoyable as one. (Full Review)

Hard Truths (Limited Release): Filmmaker Mike Leigh’s latest is a brilliant character study of Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a bitter woman who tears down everyone around her. The film works thanks to Jean-Baptiste’s ferocious performance, with her delivering a remarkable piece of acting that ranges from darkly funny to deeply tragic. Michele Austin is also excellent as her sister. It’s worth seeing for the absolute powerhouse performance from Jean-Baptiste at the centre of it. The fact that she didn’t receive an Oscar nomination is almost shocking after watching the film. (Full Review)

Presence (Wide Release): Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a haunted house ghost movie that is told entirely from the perspective of the ghost, through floating, POV camerawork. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this one when I saw it at TIFF (it feels gimmicky and can descend into melodrama, with performances that are hit-and-miss), but I’m in the minority. Check it out if you’re curious what Soderbergh is up to. (TIFF 2024 Review)

More Releases: The Brutalist (Expanding), The Colors Within (Wide), Brave the Dark (Limited), Curl Power (Limited)

Streaming Releases:

Nightbitch (Disney+): Amy Adams stars in this latest from writer-director Marielle Heller as an overtired mother who believes she is turning into a dog. This was one of the buzziest premieres going into TIFF last year, and now it’s unceremoniously being dropped on streaming in January, without even getting a theatrical release in Canada. It’s tonally uneven but worth a look, mainly for Adams’ undeniably interesting performance. (TIFF 2024 Review)

More Releases: This is the Tom Green Documentary (Prime Video), Prime Target (Apple TV+), The Night Agent: Season 2 (Netflix), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Digital), Nosferatu (Digital)