{"id":473728,"date":"2025-12-26T22:49:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T22:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/473728\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T22:49:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T22:49:17","slug":"the-best-new-years-eve-movies-playing-this-week-plus-more-showing-in-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/473728\/","title":{"rendered":"The best New Year’s Eve movies playing this week, plus more showing in L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello! I\u2019m Mark Olsen<\/a>. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.<\/p>\n

Even as the year winds down, there are still some exciting new releases hitting theaters.<\/p>\n

Few films this year are arriving on quite the wave of expectation behind Josh Safdie\u2019s \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d in part because of the unhinged, go-for-broke promo push from its star Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet. The film tells the story of Marty Mauser, a shoe salesman in 1950s New York who dreams of becoming a champion table tennis player and will stop at nothing to make it happen.<\/p>\n

As Amy Nicholson put it in her review<\/a>, \u201cLike Marty, Chalamet was raised in New York City, and since he arrived on the scene, there\u2019s never been a doubt he\u2019ll win an Oscar. The only question is, when? To Chalamet\u2019s credit, he\u2019s doing it the hard way, avoiding sentimental pictures for pricklier roles about his own naked ambitions. \u2026 The movie\u2019s moxie makes it impossible not to get caught up in Marty\u2019s crusade. We\u2019re giddy even when he\u2019s miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surprise winner of the Golden Lion at this year\u2019s Venice Film Festival, Jim Jarmusch\u2019s \u201cFather Mother Sister Brother\u201d is a gently enigmatic film revolving around, as the title suggests, parents and siblings. Told in three separate stories \u2014 set in New Jersey, Dublin and Paris \u2014 the film stars Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Mayim Bialik, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Charlotte Rampling, Luka Sabbat and Indya Moore.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Tom Waits in Jim Jarmusch\u2019s movie \u201cFather Mother Sister Brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Atsushi Nishijima \/ Mubi)<\/p>\n

In his review<\/a>, Tim Grierson wrote, \u201cThe film\u2019s persistent brittleness may make some viewers antsy. That\u2019s partly the point, but hopefully, they\u2019ll soon be swept away by the movie\u2019s melancholy undertow. \u2026 Eventually, we learn to look past Jarmusch\u2019s deceptively mundane surfaces to see the fraught, unresolved issues within these guarded families. The characters occasionally expose their true selves, then just as quickly retreat, fearful of touching on real conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Grieving spoke to composer Daniel Blumberg<\/a>, who won an Oscar earlier this year for \u201cThe Brutalist,\u201d about his work on \u201cThe Testament of Ann Lee,\u201d director Mona Fastvold\u2019s portrait of the founder of the Shaker religious movement. Singing and dance were an integral part of the Shakers\u2019 spiritual practice, so the music for the film was of special importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnn Lee was very radical and extreme,\u201d said Blumberg, \u201cand Mona is as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Los also recently published a list of the 25 best Latino films of 2025<\/a> as picked by Carlos Aguilar. His favorites include Amalia Ulman\u2019s \u201cMagic Farm,\u201d<\/a> Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson\u2019s \u201cSerious People,\u201d Diego C\u00e9spedes\u2019 \u201cThe Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,\u201d Petra Costa\u2019s \u201cApocalypse in the Tropics\u201d and Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho\u2019s \u201cThe Secret Agent.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n

All three of this year\u2019s Envelope roundtables are now available to watch: actors<\/a>, actresses<\/a> and directors<\/a>. <\/p>\n

New Year\u2019s Eve at the movies \"A <\/p>\n

Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps in the movie \u201cPhantom Thread.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Laurie Sparham \/ Focus Features)<\/p>\n

When people talk about holiday films, they typically mean Christmas. But what if the movies that featured a New Year\u2019s Eve scene were sneakily better? To judge by the titles playing around town this week, an argument could be made.<\/p>\n

Take for example Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s \u201cStrange Days.\u201d<\/a> An exciting techno-thriller set during the last two days of then-future 1999, it\u2019s about a hustler (Ralph Feinnes) who finds himself in way over his head. The film builds to a huge millennial New Year\u2019s Eve street party filmed in downtown Los Angeles. Still something of a rarity on streaming, \u201cStrange Days\u201d will be showing in 35mm at the New Beverly on Friday afternoon and then at the Aero<\/a> on Wednesday 31, early enough in the evening to leave time for more fun after.<\/p>\n

Then there is Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s achingly romantic and bitingly funny \u201cPhantom Thread,\u201d<\/a> in which the controlling fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) initially refuses to leave the house on New Year\u2019s Eve, but then races to be with his muse and lover Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps) after she goes out without him. The movie will be showing on New Year\u2019s Day in 70mm at the Aero<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s 1997 \u201cBoogie Nights,\u201d<\/a> which will show in 35mm at Vidiots<\/a> on the afternoon of Dec. 31, features a very different take on New Year\u2019s Eve. In a pivotal sequence, many of the film\u2019s characters converge on a NYE party to ring in the transition form 1979 to 1980. It does not go well.<\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in 1960\u2019s \u201cThe Apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Bettmann Archive \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Billy Wilder\u2019s \u201cThe Apartment\u201d<\/a> will play in 35mm at the New Beverly<\/a> on Saturday and Sunday and also at the American Cinematheque\u2019s Los Feliz Theater<\/a> on Dec. 30. In the film Jack Lemmon is a lonely office drone who finds his complex relationship with a co-worker (Shirley MacLaine) ultimately coming to a head on a fateful New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n

Rob Reiner\u2019s 1989 \u201cWhen Harry Met Sally\u2026\u201d<\/a> will likely be playing several times over the next weeks in tribute to the filmmaker. Starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal as two friends trying to figure out if their relationship can (or should) be something more, the film features not one but two memorable New Year\u2019s Eve scenes. It will be playing at the New Beverly<\/a> on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

Katie Holmes, left, and Sarah Polley in the movie \u201cGo.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Tracy Bennett \/ Columbia Pictures)<\/p>\n

Doug Liman\u2019s \u201cGo,\u201d<\/a> from a screenplay by John August, is not strictly speaking a New Year\u2019s Eve movie, but it does take place in the sort of liminal zone of ongoing partying that occurs during holiday time. With a cast that includes Sarah Polley, Katie Holmes, Timothy Olyphant and many more, the film revolves around a few grocery store co-workers, some low-stakes drug dealing, questionable choices and a lot of miscommunication. The movie shows at Vidiots<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In a review<\/a> of the film, Kevin Thomas wrote, \u201cWhen all is said and done, \u2018Go\u2019 is a film about people going too far, which works precisely because its makers know when to hold back. \u2018Go\u2019 keeps us guessing \u2026 but it never forgets it\u2019s a comedy; if it was too serious it would burst like a bubble. So uniformly skilled and talented is the film\u2019s cast, which has 15 featured players, that it is impossible to single out any one. \u2018Go\u2019 is perfectly titled: Exhilarating and sharp, it never stops for a second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Points of interest<\/p>\n

The Marx Brothers\u2019 eternal comic mayhem<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Three <\/p>\n

Chico Marx, left, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Margaret Dumont in the movie \u201cAnimal Crackers.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Universal)<\/p>\n

It has become a tradition around town for theaters to show Marx Brothers movies at the holidays, and who are we to argue with that? For pure whimsy and comedy that hits somewhere deep in the unconscious, the Marx Brothers are still pretty much unbeatable.<\/p>\n

The New Beverly played some Marx Brothers movies on Christmas Day. For those who still want more, Vidiots<\/a> will be showing 1935\u2019s \u201cA Night at the Opera,\u201d<\/a> directed by Sam Wood and including the famous stateroom scene in which more and more people cram into a single room on an ocean liner.<\/p>\n

On New Year\u2019s Day, the Aero<\/a> will show 1933\u2019s \u201cDuck Soup,\u201d<\/a> directed by Leo McCarey, in which the brothers take over the fictional nation of Freedonia. That will be followed by 1930\u2019s \u201cAnimal Crackers,\u201d<\/a> directed by Victor Heerman, in which Groucho Marx plays African explorer Rufus T. Firefly.<\/p>\n

Eric Rohmer\u2019s \u2018The Green Ray\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A scene from Eric Rohmer\u2019s \u201cThe Green Ray.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Janus Films)<\/p>\n

Initially released as \u201cSummer\u201d in the U.S., Eric Rohmer\u2019s \u201cThe Green Ray\u201d<\/a> won Venice\u2019s Golden Lion in 1986. The film follows Delphine (Marie Rivi\u00e8re, who co-wrote the script with Rohmer), a single woman in Paris, as she struggles to find someone to go on a holiday trip with her, leading to a series of serio-comic misadventures. The film will show Thursday in 35mm at the American Cinematheque\u2019s Los Feliz Theater<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reviewing the film in 1986, Michael Wilmington asked<\/a> if watching a Rohmer film is really, to quote Gene Hackman on Rohmer movies in \u201cNight Moves,\u201d like watching paint peel? \u201cNot at all,\u201d Wilmington wrote. \u201c\u2018Summer\u2019 is one of the masterpieces of 1986. It\u2019s one of the most finely wrought, stimulating films of an erratic year. It\u2019s intellectual in the best sense: engaging you emotionally and mentally. It moves faster, wastes less time, and has more to offer than most movies now on view \u2014 and those who are skipping it are missing one of the year\u2019s real treats.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hello! I\u2019m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":473729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[42125,42126,1582,276,7652,42127,2882,42128,42129,21183,2961,224,2444,5337,42124,3196,6166,2433,637,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-473728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-angelina-jolie","9":"tag-barry-jenkins","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-david","13":"tag-dead","14":"tag-drama","15":"tag-evil","16":"tag-good-work","17":"tag-killing","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-times","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-lovers","23":"tag-movie","24":"tag-series","25":"tag-short-film","26":"tag-times","27":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115788315372009986","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}