By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
In Amarillo theaters this week: A homicidal trip by train, Christmas with Daddy and one of the movie's most iconic romances.
New in theaters
Daddy's Home 2
I never got around to seeing Daddy's Home, despite the fact that Sofia Coppola named it one of her favorite movies of the century, but in case I was worried that Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg couldn't put aside their differences and work together for their shared children's best interests, the trailer for this sequel assured me that, yes, they could. (I wasn't worried.) So this time around, now that dad (Wahlberg) and stepdad (Ferrell) are getting along, in come their own fathers (Mel Gibson and John Lithgow). (I know: Colored me shocked, especially considering A Bad Moms Christmas used this plot ploy exactly a week ago.) No reviews are available yet, but I'm sure Coppola has her ticket to opening night. Although, I do wonder: In today's climate, are viewers gonna line up to see Gibson in a comedy? (PG-13 for suggestive material and some language; click here for showtimes at United Artists Amarillo Star 14, 8275 W. Amarillo Blvd., and Cinemark Hollywood 16, 9100 Canyon Drive)
Murder on the Orient Express
Kenneth Branagh dons a prodigious moustache to play Agatha Christie's intrepid detective Hercule Poirot in this star-studded new adaptation of one of her most famous works, which Branagh also directs. Among the passengers suspected of the eponymous homicide (or, perhaps, the victim; I haven't read it in years, but I have my suspicion who the victim is): Judi Dench, Olivia Colman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Daisy Ridley, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe and more. Reviews are mixed but mostly positive: "If it's all a little too crowded with characters, Branagh’s pacy direction keeps the story zipping along to a conclusion that’s tense even if you remember whodunnit," writes Time Out's Anna Smith. (PG-13 for violence and thematic elements; click here for showtimes at Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16)
Special engagements
Mully
This faith-based documentary tells the story of Charles Mully, who rose from being abandoned on the streets to becoming a wealthy, powerful man in Kenya. He used his fortune to start a children's rescue organization. It'll encore at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Amarillo Star 14.
Casablanca
Play it, Sam, at this 75th anniversary screening of this iconic romance for TCM's Big Screen Classics series. It'll be shown at 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday at both the Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Genesis: Paradise Lost
One biblical theory of the Earth's creation is explored in this 3-D film, screening at 7 p.m. Monday at the Amarillo Star 14.
Justice League Double Feature Event
Savvy synergy at work: The smash success of this summer's Wonder Woman has expectations higher than they had been for Justice League and, captializing on that, Warner Bros. will offer a double feature of WW and JL beginning at 3 p.m. Nov. 16 only.
Opening Nov. 16
Advance tickets are on sale now for comic book blockbuster Justice League, animated holiday film The Starand family drama Wonder.
Still in theaters
American Assassin (WM-6); A Bad Moms Christmas (AS-14, H-16); Despicable Me 3 (WM-6); The Emoji Movie (WM-6); The Exception (WM-6); The Foreigner (H-16); Geostorm (AS-14, H-16); Happy Death Day (H-16); It (AS-14); Jigsaw (AS-14, H-16); Kingsman: The Golden Circle (WM-6); Let There Be Light (H-16); Only the Brave (AS-14); Same Kind of Different As Me (AS-14, H-16); Spider-Man: Homecoming (WM-6); Thank You for Your Service (AS-14, H-16); Thor: Ragnarok (AS-14, H-16); Tyler Perry's Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (AS-14, H-16); and Wind River (WM-6). (Click on titles for my reviews and on theaters for showtimes.)
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
