In the first of two humans-into-dogs movies released this week, Amy Adams teams up with writer-director Marielle Heller for an adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel Nightbitch, in which a suburban mom finds herself succumbing to animalistic urges. Response out of Toronto was varied, depending on how high the expectations of body-horror were going in. The aptly named Movie Bitches say it’s a “a thoughtful, heartfelt, funny and real commentary on motherhood, womanhood and life,” while Laura writes “for a film that’s all about primal urges and animalistic tendencies, this is surprisingly tame.” It’s “wildly entertaining” and “honest”, according to Katie, who qualifies that it’s also “perhaps a little too simple for the ideas with which it reckons”. Adams is getting a lot of love, naturally, with Sara saying her work here “proves once again why she’s one of the best actors around.” Now in US, UK and Canadian theaters.

Acclaimed Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel, known for devastating based-on-true-events films like Snowtown and Nitram, assembles an attention-grabbing cast for ’80s-set FBI-versus-white-supremacists crime-drama The Order, also based on a real story. Jude Law, sporting a giant cop mustache, stars alongside Nicholas Hoult, Jurnee Smollett, Tye Sheridan and Marc Maron—who gets the “And” credit on the poster. Good for him. Jacob gets me on board when he describes it as “sturdy, doom-laden, meat-and-potatoes cop sh*t” and Josh seals the deal further when he says it “delivers on all the old-school hard-boiled pulpy procedural thrills of its obsessive, adrenaline-junkie ’70s-stached FBI agent vs. Nazi denim-cowboy armored-truck bank-robber premise.” “The most I’ve ever seen Jude Law dissolve into a character, and one of the finest performances he’s ever given,” hails Dan. Now in US theaters.

In a just world, Frank Grillo’s combination of Charles Bronson street toughness and matinée-idol looks would make him a giant action star. Let’s make it happen, people! Grillo stars in the latest from direct-to-streaming action specialist Steven C. Miller, who is making a rare venture into theaters with Purge-like quality to the monster genre by centering around a mutation that triggers a latent werewolf gene in every person, leading to one night a year of mass werewolf carnage. “A glorious rampage of werewolf fights and frights,” is Tom’s poster-ready take. Diego lauds it as “the type of genre picture that someone like John Carpenter would have made back in the ’80s or ’90s”, promising that “it does what it says on the tin!” Colin reckons it’s a “better Resident Evil movie than any of the Resident Evil movies.” “A rip-roaring good time filled with impressive practical effects,” says AshySlashy. “Frank Grillo does it again!” hails The Daily Kryptonian. Preach! Now in theaters in the US, Australia and Singapore.

In Oh, Canada—the latest film from living legend Paul Schrader—Jacob Elordi and Richard Gere play young and old versions of the same character, an American who fled north to escape the Vietnam War draft and who now seeks to demystify his radical reputation with a late-in-life interview. Jeff calls it “a brutally self-flagellating confessional” that explores the “gulf between myth and reality”. “For a film about growing old, this is maybe Schrader’s most youthful film,” observes Cinema Language, who goes on to call it “gorgeous… fresh… and deeply, deeply moving.” Soraya says it’s “wonderfully constructed” and delighted in how it’s “riddled with foils and doubles, and meta commentary that folds in on itself like an impossibly shaped accordion”. “Refreshingly uncompromised,” notes Keith. “The falseness of life, of cinema, of memory, of legacy, with no moral lesson. Deeply haunting.” One ticket please! Now in New York theaters, in select US and Canadian theaters December 13.

Still in theaters with Conclave, Ralph Fiennes doubles down as a jacked Odysseus in The Return, a new adaptation of the second half of Homer’s Odyssey from Italian filmmaker Uberto Pasolini, and co-starring Juliette Binoche as our hero’s imperiled beloved, Penelope. “Who doesn’t want to watch a bunch of half-naked men fighting and plotting to be with Juliette Binoche over the course of two hours?” asks Peter, reasonably. “Fiennes plays an extra­ordinarily sorrowed and wounded Odysseus with ease; his eyes emote so powerfully,” praises Kurt. Wondermeg calls it “a gorgeously shot slow-burn showing the brutal impacts of war,” and highlights that “the locations transport you to another time.” Now in US theaters.

Kyle Mooney, an always reliable, perennially underappreciated Saturday Night Live cast member from 2013–2022, directs and co-writes alt-history comedy Y2K, in which some teenagers in 1999 (Rachel Zegler, Jaeden Martell and Julian Dennison) attempt to celebrate the new millennium but discover the titular bug has turned the machines against them, Maximum Overdrive/The Mitchells vs. the Machines-style. This is Mooney’s feature directorial debut, but if it’s half as cool and weird as 2017’s Brigsby Bear (which Mooney co-wrote and starred in), or indeed his indescribable Netflix series Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, it’ll be a blast. “It’s no Brigsby Bear for me but it’s a lot of fun,” says Kit, slightly spoiling my fun. Ethan reckons that “if you shut your logic brain off, you may just enjoy the constant twists with dashes of nostalgia.” Logic, schmogic, I say. “You’ve gotta be goofy to get down with A24’s least pretentious film,” asserts Wallace. [Raises hand]. Now in US and Canadian theaters.

In a year not exactly lacking big, bold cinematic visions, The End still looks like a trip. It’s a musical about a rich family living underground in a salt mine following the apocalypse and counts Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon and George MacKay amongst its cast. Directed by acclaimed documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing), it premiered at Telluride to all sorts of reactions. “Almost certainly destined to be the most divisive film of the year and I could not have loved it any more if I tried,” says Lily in a five-star review. Vlad “found it beautiful and devastating in equal measure.” Zach makes a compelling case by asking, “What if Ruben Östlund’s cringe-inducing comedies were done in the style of a Stephen Sondheim musical?” “This has to be some kind of joke,” states Yuri. Now in select US theaters.

Pamela Anderson is getting some of the best notices of her career as Shelly, a Las Vegas stage performer reckoning with the sudden closure of her long-running show in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl. Journal contributor Marya E. Gates cited it as one of the best films of the fall festivals, and Coleman calls it “tender and melancholic”, asserting that it contains “a touching role for Pamela, who is finally in her long-deserved period of veneration. She’s graceful and comionate.” “A slight but remarkably soft and somber look at the close-knit but unforgiving world of Vegas show business,” reports Mikey. Dimitri sees it as “a wholehearted, intimate picture that shines the light on those who deserve to be seen in their bright, shining rhinestones.” In select US theaters December 13.

It’s an interesting time for original trilogy has made more movies seem inevitable for some time now, but few would have predicted that the first one to hit theaters would be an animated prequel directed by anime stalwart Kenji Kamiyama. But that is what we have in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which takes place just under two centuries before the War of the Ring. Unlike with the live-action Prime Video TV series, original-trilogy brains trust Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have their names on this, the first two as executive producers, and the latter as producer. Boyens’ daughter Phoebe Gittins is one of the credited screenwriters, making this something of a second-generation LOTR project. There are some more “official” live-action movies on the horizon, but for now you’ll have to make do with Brian Cox voicing a character named Helm Hammerhand. In theaters the world over December 13, Japan December 27.

Adapted from the book that won Colson Whitehead his second Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (after The Underground Railroad), Nickel Boys tells the story of two Black teenagers (Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson) whose friendship carries them forward while enduring horrific abuse at a Florida reform school in the 1960s. The film is shot entirely from the first-person perspective, meaning everything we see is from the point of view of one of the protagonists. The cast and crew spoke to Letterboxd’s Jeremiah Battle about that unique approach on the red carpet at the New York Film Festival screening. Nickel Boys is getting a lot of praise, especially for director RaMell Ross, who recently won prizes from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Gothams—don’t sleep on this one. “Monumental in every sense of the word—a one-of-a-kind film that almost defies description,” says Seth. Brandon loved the central narrative gambit: “Maybe the only POV film that genuinely feels like you’ve entered somebody’s fractured memories and dreams.” “Haunting and sublime,” remarks Brother Bro. Louis reckons it’s “maybe the purest articulation of Roger Ebert’s quote about film as a ‘machine that generates empathy’.” “It is really something to see a movie inventing its own rules of cinema as you watch it,” observes Katey. In New York theaters December 13, Los Angeles December 20.