Movies to end the year
December 23, 2016
Our well-deserved winter break has finally arrived, which means it’s time for quality hangouts with friends and family, hot chocolate, and, of course, movies. Yet although 2016 is quickly coming to an end, films coming out early 2017 don’t seem like they will disappoint. Finish off 2016 and ring in the new year with these four, very different films:
“Passengers” (open now)
The most popular of the bunch, this film features two passengers, Jim (Chris Pratt) and Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), who are awakened from their sleep 90 years too early when their ship malfunctions on a journey through space.
Jim and Aurora realize that they will be living the rest of their lives on board, with every extravagance they could ever ask for. Soon enough, they begin to fall for each other, incapable of denying their instant attraction. They learn that the ship is in danger and Jim and Aurora are faced with a complication only they can fix: saving the lives of 5,000 sleeping passengers on board.
“Fences” (December 25)
This movie is set in Pittsburgh during the 1950s, where Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) makes his living as a sanitation worker. When he was younger, Maxson dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player but was considered too old when the major leagues officially began admitting black athletes.
Resentful over his missed chance, Troy creates additional tension within his family when he blocks his son’s (Jovan Adepo) opportunity to meet with a college football recruiter.
“Hidden Figures” (January 6)
The film showcases the story of the African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and her two colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe).
While working in the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center, they helped NASA catch up in the Space Race. Using their calculations, John Glenn (Glen Powell) became the first American astronaut to make an orbit around Earth.
“Book of Love” (January 13)
This movie is centered around Henry (Jason Sudeikis) who is an introverted architect. After the death of his wife, Penny (Jessica Biel), who is killed in a car accident, he sets out to help Millie (Maisie Williams), a homeless teen, build a raft to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. “Book of Love” may be the most heartfelt of the holiday season movies.
