Movies to Watch Over the Holiday Break

Noted film critic Bill Newcott, creator of AARP's "Movies for Grownups," offers his picks.

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Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (December 29)

Oscar alert for Annette Bening: She’s breathtaking as 1950s movie star Gloria Grahame. We find her in late 1970s Liverpool, seriously ill, and throwing herself into an affair with a handsome actor decades her junior (played by Jamie Bell). Bening, gloriously unafraid to show her age on screen, brings yet another indelible screen character to life.

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Molly’s Game (January 5)

Writer/director Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) packs this based-on-a-true-story script with his usual wall-to-wall one-liners, and Jessica Chastain dazzles as a former Olympic skier who went on to run L.A.’s most exclusive illegal poker game. Idris Elba ditches his British accent as Molly’s lawyer, desperately trying to get her to roll over on her high-profile clients.

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The Leisure Seeker (January 19)

Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland make a truly endearing pair in this funny and sometimes heartbreaking story of an elderly couple taking one last jaunt in their trusty old motor home. Mirren is adorable, adopting a lyrical southern drawl. Sutherland, making the most of the best role he’s had in years, charms as a brilliant professor struggling with Alzheimer’s.

Follow Bill Newcott at saturdayeveningpost.com/movies or at his website, moviesfortherestofus.com.

This article is featured in the January/February 2018 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.

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