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Clockwise from top: Avatar: Fire and Ash, Emily in Paris, The Housemaid, and Fallout.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: 20th Century Studios/Everett Collection, Lorenzo Sisti/Prime, Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate, Caroline Dubois/Netflix
The Ghoul. Blue guys. Berets. Okay? That about sums up this week in entertainment. There are returning seasons of Fallout and Emily in Paris. (Or should that be Emily in Rome?) James Cameron is bringing us back into the world of the Na’vi sooner than ever — don’t worry, Payakan is returning, too. Now, here’s everything.
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Getting an Avatar sequel so close (three years) to its predecessor is a strange sensation, but you know, you should never doubt James Cameron. In Fire and Ash, the story picks up the pieces after The Way of Water’s dramatic conclusion as Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) struggle after the death of their son. Meanwhile, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) schemes with the fire tribe of aggro Na’vi led by Varang (Oona Chaplin).
Video-game adaptations have a poor success rate, but Fallout is one of the better entries in the genre, and the game it’s adapting this season (Fallout: New Vegas) is one of the most beloved installments of the franchise. If that’s not enough, Walton Goggins makes nose holes look improbably alluring. — Kathryn VanArendonk
➽ No surprise — Walton Goggins makes everything good.
“Directed by Paul Feig” is all you need to hear to know that this movie will be slightly nuts. Adapted from the Freida McFadden novel of the same name, The Housemaid stars Sydney Sweeney as the titular maid hired by Amanda Seyfried’s wealthy Nina Winchester. The two engage in what I can safely assume is a messed-up cat-and-mouse game.
You’d think they’d wait to ship Emily off to another European locale until she learns French first, but no, Emily is trading Paris for Rome this season. She’s got a new Italian beau and is put in charge of Agence Grateau’s new Rome office. It’s the perfect fodder for trying to shut your brain off during the holidays.
If You’re in New York or Los Angeles
➽ A stunner at the Venice International Film Festival, The Voice of Hind Rajab has a limited theatrical run.
➽ The Will Arnett and Laura Dern–led dramedy Is This Thing On? is hitting theaters this weekend.
If Mr. Scorsese wasn’t enough for you, this documentary will provide a longer look at the tumult of the 1970s and the New Hollywood figures who bent American cinema. Narrated by Jodie Foster, it features dozens of talking heads, including Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, and Albert Brooks. Putting aside the frustration of a streamer seemingly cavalier about destroying the theater system releasing a documentary about the importance of the theater system, this one should be good. — Roxana Hadadi
The latest in the Music Box documentary series captures the pop-rockers navigating the success of their early-’90s alternative-radio hits — ”Mr. Jones,” “Round Here,” and “Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman)” — and the darker and more difficult sophomore-album cycle. — Craig Jenkins
SpongeBob? Back in theaters? Pants? Okay.
The network is calling it a “creative experiment,” but otherwise, details are sparse on this three-act special. Each segment is helmed by a different creator or creative team — Patrick McHale, Ian Jones-Quartey and Rebecca Sugar, and Pendleton Ward — without knowledge of what the others are doing, which could result in a fascinating spectacle or a flat-out weird one. — R.H.
“Even if you don’t know who Rob Reiner was, you’re living in a world he helped shape. He leveraged the TV fame he earned in the 1970s playing Mike ‘Meathead’ Stivic, the son-in-law and main adversary of motormouthed bigot Archie Bunker on All in the Family, and became a filmmaker responsible for some of the most beloved American movies of the ’80s and ’90s: Stand by Me (’86), The Princess Bride (’87), When Harry Met Sally (’89), Misery (’90), A Few Good Men (’92).” — Read more of Matt Zoller Seitz’s piece on Reiner here.
For the Reiner films listed above and more, here is a guide to the beloved director’s works. Also, CBS News will be airing a Rob Reiner special on December 21 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
“One Battle After Another is a full meal in ways so few films of this scale and budget (by most accounts, more than $130 million) these days are. It is expertly directed and lensed, brimming with aesthetic prowess. At the same time, it makes a spectacle out of its philosophical ideas. It’s a quicksilver film, shifting and melding solemn character reflections with amusing internecine conflicts. At its worst, the humor, enlivening on the level of entertainment, undermines the horror we’re otherwise witnessing. At its best, the discomfiture paves the way for charged performances — none more crucial than Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia.” — Read the rest of Angelica Jade Bastién’s piece on the talent of the Black actresses carrying PTA’s drama here.
➽ You can now see Now You See Me: Now You Don’t and Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident on VOD.
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of December 12.
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