Silver Screen Weekly - What's Coming Up At The Cinema From Friday 17th November 2023

Thanksgiving (18)
After 16 long years since that "trailer" in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse, director Eli Roth has finally made the film he promised us back then and it is a fun, fierce and gory throwback to the '80s slashers of old, and a film destined to become a new holiday horror classic. Telling the story of an axe-wielding 'John Carver' mask wearing maniac who terrorises residents of the town of Plymouth, after a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy. Picking off victims one by one, in a sinister plan centred around Thanksgiving festivities! Critics have raved that this horror is one of Roth’s best pieces of work as a director and one of the horror films of the year, that is destined to become a beloved holiday horror.

The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (12a)
May the odds ever be in your favour as you enter The Hunger Games again! Based on the 2020 novel by Suzanne Collins, this fifth entry in the dystopic hit franchise is a prequel set 64 years prior to the first film, focusing on a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) on his way to becoming the leader of Panem, with a focus on his relationship with Hunger Games tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) amidst the 10th annual Hunger Games events. Co-starring Josh Andrés Rivera, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage and Viola Davis, this new entry in the beloved YA action franchise sees a whole new breath of life being given to the series. Witness where it all began, as the Hunger Games are back on the big screen again.

Napoleon (15)
Legendary director Ridley Scott is back with a brand new historical epic, that could be one of his greatest yet. Starring Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte, this film tells the story of the brilliant yet monstrous, tyrannical yet iconic, and complex yet ruthless, military commander, as we witness his rise to power as Emperor of France. Detailing his military engagements but also his volatile relationship with his wife Empress Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby). Napoleon is a cinematic craft of vision, scale and true rooted historical influence, a story of rise, fall, passion and war, centred around one of mankind’s most polarising and well known figures. Stuffed with incredible spectacle and equally mesmerising performances, which might make this one of Scott’s most excellent films in years (which is no small feat).

Other releases:
Saltburn (15) (Unhinged British thriller from Emerald Fennell, seeing an Oxford student roped into his classmate’s aristocratic life, as he moves into their wealthy family estate which is somewhat unique, starring Barry Keoghan, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant.) - Friday 17th November
Leo (PG) (Adam Sandler is Leo in this animated family feature about a classroom lizard who has got to a ripe old age and decided to escape his tank and live, and in the process changes the lives of all those around him.) - Friday 17th November (also on Netflix)
The Mission (12a) (US documentary about a missionary’s ill fated attempt to convert an isolated indigenous community.) - Friday 17th November
Tish (15) (Documentary about the life and work of photographer Tish Murtha.) - Friday 17th November
Kevin Bridges: The Overdue Catch-Up (18) (Filmed stand-up show of the comedian Kevin Bridges’ comedy performance.) - Friday 17th November
Is There Anybody Out There? (12a) (Documentary about director Ella Glendining and her relationship with her rare disability, ableism and society’s definition of ‘normal’.) - Friday 17th November
Driving Madeleine (15) (French drama about an elderly woman contemplating her life on a taxi ride.) - Friday 17th November
Journey To Bethlehem (PG) (Musical retelling of the story of the Nativity.) - Friday 17th November
Mama Wata (12a) (West Africa set Drama about two sisters taking on the armed rebels who have violently taken over their village.) - Friday 17th November
May December (15) (US drama twenty years after their relationship became public, an actress meets a married couple with a large age gap. Starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.) - Friday 17th November
X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (12a) (Robert O’Hara’s new imagining of Anthony Davis’ groundbreaking opera, filmed live at the New York Met.) - Saturday 18th November
League of Legends World Championship Final 2023 (TBC) (Live Final in the competitive pool world championship.) - Sunday 19th November
Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything (15) (Documentary looking at the life and career of the snooker legend.) - Tuesday 21st November