After almost a month of darkness, Ontario’s movie theatres get the green light to reopen today – at 50 per cent capacity, with proof of vaccination required and masking mandates. And thanks to last week’s reversal of the province’s ban on food and drink, the snack bars will be open – meaning audience members can take their masks off to eat and drink once seated.
So if you’re comfortable going to the movies under those conditions, here’s a list of the films you can only see on the big screen.
Scream
If you’ve managed to avoid the spoilers that were flying around the web last week, you can now catch up to the fifth film in the self-aware slasher series – which finds a new generation of Woodsboro teens stalked by a killer in a very familiar mask, bringing Sidney (Neve Campbell), Gale (Courtney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette) back home once again. Directors Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett demonstrated a fine hand for this sort of thing in Ready Or Not a couple of years back, so the franchise seems to be in good hands.
Belle
With a story about a teenager whose online identity as a musical superstar is derailed when a performance is disrupted by villagers chasing a mysterious beast, the latest anime feature from Mamoru Hosoda (Wolf Children, Mirai) sounds like a mashup of Beauty And The Beast and Ready Player One. It’s been garnering ecstatic reviews in its American run, and only has a few screenings scheduled up here. Both the original version and the English dub are being shown, so be careful about which tickets you’re buying.
The 355
Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger and Penélope Cruz play international women of mystery – okay, spies – forced to team up to keep the usual doomsday thingie out of the hands of an even more mysterious rival (Fan Bingbing) in this action-thriller from producer/director Simon Kinberg, who last directed Chastain in the X-Men franchise-killer Dark Phoenix. This has to be better than that, right?
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Marvel’s latest superhero smackdown didn’t much impress NOW’s Radheyan Simonpillai, but audiences turned out for it in droves before theatres shut down, making it the biggest hit of 2021 and the sixth most successful motion picture ever released. Which means there’ll be fewer people going to see it now, if you want a quiet room.
The King’s Man
Matthew Vaughn’s prequel to the Kingsman movies – set in and around the First World War, with Ralph Fiennes grimly battling an assortment of early 20th century baddies – will be on Disney+ on February 18. But if you really can’t wait to be disappointed by its boneheaded emptiness, the megaplex awaits.
Licorice Pizza
We’re much higher on Paul Thomas Anderson’s formally loose, emotionally complex dramedy about two young people (Cooper Hoffman, Alana Haim) figuring themselves out in 1973 California, which just won the TFCA‘s best supporting actor for Bradley Cooper’s performance as real-life movie producer Jon Peters. TIFF Bell Lightbox will be screening it in 70mm starting Friday, but if you’re okay with a digital presentation you can catch it right now.
Nightmare Alley
Guillermo del Toro’s stately, moody, psychological thriller – which stars Bradley Cooper as a 40s carny who reinvents himself as a mentalist and gets in way, way over his head with a sultry psychotherapist (Cate Blanchett) – was one of several December releases that didn’t get the audiences they deserved.
West Side Story
Steven Spielberg’s robust, thrilling new take on Sondheim and Bernstein’s 1957 musical – which introduces the incredible Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose and reminds us of the phenomenal presence and power of Rita Moreno – really does deserve to be seen on the biggest screen you can find.
By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.
