Loving:

This highly touted movie looking for Oscars debuted in limited release before Christmas, and has already won a heap of awards.  This is your opportunity to see it before the Academy Awards.  Based on actual events in the 1950s, it’s the story of Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton), a Virginia resident who falls in love with Mildred (Ruth Negga).  They marry secretly in another state because interracial marriage was still illegal in Virginia at this time.  When the sheriff breaks into their home and arrests them both for the act of being married, they are imprisoned, and Richard sets off on his quest to seek equality.  They can avoid jail if they leave their lifelong homes and move to an area where their relationship is legal.  That’s what they do, but as their family grows, they miss their families and the life they knew more and more.  When the American Civil Liberties Association offers to take up the case of Mildred and Richard pro bono, it looks like good times are on the way, but the trouble is really only starting. Rated 14A.

Trolls:

From the creators of Shrek, this colourful, animated film did extremely well at the box office over the Holiday season, and it’s still in some theatres even while the DVD and Blu-Ray edition is on the shelves.  From Dreamworks, it tells the story of  the Trolls, who are happy, optimistic, and musical, and their opposite number the Bergens who happen to eat Trolls – in fact, the only happy Bergen is a Bergen with a bellyful of Troll!  The real draw here, in addition to the fun and the colour, is the music, which is largely original, and includes the voices of Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake.  Although directed largely at children, there is enough action and enough adventure to  keep the entire family engaged.  Rated PG.

The Eagle Huntress:

If you want some girl power, some female empowerment, this documentary about a 13 year-old girl in Mongolia who strives to become the first female in 12 generations of her family, to master the art of hunting with eagles.  Her name is Aisholpan, she is the real thing, and the photography and production values that surround her are absolutely stunning. The base line here is that there is nothing that cannot be accomplished with perseverance, hard work, and dedication, and that it doesn’t matter how many people say it can’t be done – it CAN be done with the right focus, the right attitude, and the right stuff.  Spectacular scenery and amazing people populate this fine film.  Rated PG.

9 to 5 (1980):

The Dolly Parton single referred to 9 to 5 as "what a way to make a living," and it's all of that with a great cast including Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda as office workers under the thumb of a sexist bully, Franklin M. Hart, Jr. played by Dabney Coleman.  This is, at the end of it all, a revenge movie with some great comedy bits.  This was Dolly's movie debut, and she not only memorized all her lines, but all the lines of every other player in the picture, "just to be safe."  Lawrence Pressman and Renn Woods also star.  Rated PG.

Jupiter Ascending (2015):

Just to demonstrate that great, Oscar-winning actors can also appear in hideous films, this sci-fi fantasy was deemed not only one of the worst movies of 2015, but one of the ten worst movies of all time.  Eddie Redmayne, Oscar winner for playing Steven Hawking in "The Theory of Everything," and managed in that same year to choose this turkey about a member of intergalactic nobility that collects planets the way some people collect stamps or coins.  Mila Kunis is the title character, but nothing she does makes any sense either, and nothing is more bizarre than the role played by Channing Tatum.  This isn't a selection or a recommendation ... it's a warning!  Rated 14A.