2/4 ARCTIC DOGS FAMILY ANIMATION $4 MILL BO PG 92 MINUTES DVD/COMBO DIGITAL COPY WITH THE COMBO VOICED BY Jeremy Renner, James Franco. Mail room clerk Swifty (voiced by Jeremy Renner) has a dream: to become a Top Dog, a star courier with the Arctic Blast Delivery Service. There’s just one problem: Swifty is a fox, not a dog. Feeling trapped in his dead end job, Swifty decides to prove his mettle so he steals a sled and heads out to develop a package. But this delivery is more than Swifty bargained for, as he learns when he winds up in the sights of evil villain Otto Von Walrus (voiced by John Cleese). Can a little fox defeat a supervillain whose dastardly plan will destroy the earth as we know it? Will rent as easily as ABOMINABLE, DORA AND THE LOST CITY, TOY STORY 4, ALADDIN and A DOG’S JOURNEY. 2/4 DOCTOR SLEEP THRILLER $32 MILL BO R 132 MINUTES DVD/BLU RAY DIGITAL COPY WITH THE COMBO Ewan McGrego (TV—FARGO—FILM—TRAINSPOTTING, VELVET GOLDMINE, STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 and II, MOULIN ROUGE!, BLACK HAWK DOWN, T2) You’d think a sequel to one of the greatest psychological horror films of all time, the 1980 Kubrick classic “The Shining,” would be a disastrous, pointless mess. So it’s a bit of a minor miracle that “Doctor Sleep” is every bit as good as the movie on which its based. This continuation of the original story is engaging, well acted, skillfully shot, and touches on deeper themes that you wouldn’t expect from a horror film. It stands on its own as well as being a satisfying sequel. Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is now all grown up, and is a struggling alcoholic. Still scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook Hotel, Danny is doing his best to turn his life around and accepts the help of a kind stranger (Cliff Curtis) to get back on his feet. Everything is going well until one night he gets a “shine” vibe from teenager Abra (Kyliegh Curran), who has one of the strongest gifts he’s ever encountered. But Danny isn’t the only one who’s picked up on Abra’s powers, and she’s soon the target of the villainous Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) and her gang of followers who feed off the “shine” of others. The first-rate performances elevate the material with McGregor and Ferguson turning in some of their career-best work. They inhabit their characters so well it’s downright scary. Even the supporting cast leaves an impact, especially Jacob Tremblay, in a small role as an abducted boy. His scene is one of the most terrifying in the film, and it’s unforgettable. Fans of “The Shining” will delight in a couple of throwback sequences that are incredibly clever. We see Danny and his mom and dad as their younger selves but instead of utilizing hokey de-aging CGI, director Mike Flanagan chooses to cast look-alike actors. By the time the movie turned back to the Overlook Hotel, I was on the edge of my seat (fueled by an uneasy nostalgia) until the very end. The ominous tone is carried throughout, blending well with the significant themes of intense fear, trauma, addiction, grief, and healing. It’s cerebral and thoughtful, but still thrilling and entertaining. “Doctor Sleep” is one of the better movies of the year, and it should be embraced as a modern instant classic by fans of “The Shining.” This will rfent as well as HOBBS & SHAW, COUNTDOWN, ZOMBIELAND 2, SPIDER MAN: FAR FROM HOME, DARK PHOENIX and SHAZAM!. 2/4 THE GOOD LIAR THRILLER $20 MILL BO R 109 MINUTES DIGITAL COPIES WITH THE DVD AND THE BLU RAY NO COMBO Helen Mirren (WOMAN IN GOLD, TRUMBO, RED I & II, HITCHCOCK, THE DEBT, THE CLEARING) An airport novel of a movie, Bill Condon’s The Good Liar is efficient and consumable, if a bit hollow. For the most part, the film successfully marries the levity of con-artist hijinks, the suspenseful ambiguity of a Hitchcockian romance, and the heightened realism of a postwar spy adventure. But like so many pulpish mysteries, its resolution fails to neatly tie up these elements, and though it’s never especially difficult to anticipate at least the general direction in which the plot’s twists are taking us, it’s an enjoyable couple of hours, held together by strong performances and an unpretentious presentation. For reasons dictated by the protagonists’ ages and historically specific backstories, The Good Liar is set in 2009. British retirees Roy (Ian McKellan) and Betty (Helen Mirren) first meet on an online dating service, initially going by the respective pseudonyms of Brian and Estelle. Once these initial, foreshadowing lies have been dispelled, the two begin an adorably tepid romance, all handshakes and polite compliments. Betty hesitantly invites Roy over to her place when the restaurant where they planned to meet turns out to be closed. They watch Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds , and the two have a cordial debate about whether the film’s ahistorical representation poisons the minds of the young. Of course, the Roy that Betty knows is a lie: Hardly a retiree, the octogenarian is an active, high-level financial scammer. We’re acquainted to Roy’s alter ego as he abandons his cane and strides ably into a strip club—a shot presented in low angle so as to capture some gratuitous nudity on the dancers’ raised platform. Roy proceeds to a private booth, where he and his partner in crime, Vincent (Jim Carter), are meeting with a pair of investors (Mark Lewis Jones and Stefan Kalipha) they’ve planning to scam out of their money. This subplot will eventually spill over into the main romantic plot, though through a more circuitous route than expected. If, with its “exposed breasts connote shady dealings” rhetoric, this introduction to the seedy Roy lands a bit too hard, McKellan’s performance is more successful in threading together the multiple sides of the man. Even before Roy’s criminal associates start alluding to his dark past, McKellan suggests the weight of a troubled history in his character’s actions. He communicates a sadness and resentment that isn’t manifest in the dialogue, even as Roy takes evident pleasure in the money scams he runs on investors and, eventually, on Betty. The Good Liar is the type of neatly fabricated mystery in which every emphasized detail will prove to be significant, so when Betty’s grandson, Steven (Russell Tovey), explains that his dissertation topic is the Nazi architect Albert Speer, one can guess that WWII will play some role in the resolution of Roy and Betty’s romantic arc. When Betty suggests a continental vacation—first stop, Berlin—it’s fairly obvious that a confrontation with Roy’s shrouded war history is in the mix. Still, the final third of the film proves to be more deeply rooted in ‘40s Germany than even the pointed discussion of Speer suggests, but don’t look to the film for any particular insight into wartime Germany or the experiences of the “greatest generation.” Here, the war serves mostly as a dramatic facilitator of final twist rather than a lived experience. This will go very well with DOWNTON ABBEY, JUDY, THE KITCHEN, THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, WELCOME TO BERNADETTE, and LONG SHOT. 2/4 LAST CHRISTMAS COMEDY $44 MILL BO PG-13 143 MINUTES DVD/COMBO DIGITAL COPY WITH THE COMBO BEFORE REDBOX Emma Thompson (MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL, THE CHILDREN ACT, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, BRIDGET JONES BABY, BURNT, SAVING MR. BANKS) Kate’s (Emilia Clarke) life is a total mess. A series of very bad decisions has landed her without a place to lay her head and a bore of a job as an elf-clad assistant at a year-round Christmas shop in Covent Garden. Her boss (Michelle Yeoh) doesn’t like her, her mom Petra (Emma Thompson) annoys her with constant worrying, and her attorney sister Marta (Lydia Leonard) thinks she’s wasting her life. When handsome Tom (Henry Golding) walks into her life, he seems too good to be true. He’s absolutely perfect, but of course he has plenty of secrets of his own. Tom is the perfect Manic Pixie Dream Boy and Kate is a girl you want to root for. The two leads have a decent enough chemistry, but Clarke is the real standout. She has a bright future as a rom-com star. She’s delightful and charming, with a lovely comedic timing. What’s so disappointing is that her breezy, charismatic performance is held back by the film’s story and pacing. She deserves a much better vehicle to showcase her talents. There is no reason for this film to have a Christmas theme or to be set in late December. It’s just a cheap way to sell tickets to a supposed “holiday movie.” The script, penned by Thompson, is dreadful. It lacks focus with too many jumbled subplots rambling all over the place. The disjointed story tries to be too many things at once, including a comedy, a drama, and a romance, and somehow manages to fail at all of them. Even worse, it’s too serious and not very fun — an element that most consider a holiday movie must-have. The film is at its best when it goes for the laughs early on. This will rent as well as HUSTLERS, WELCOME TO BERNADETTE, BOOKSMART, BREAKTHROUGH, and FIVE FEET APART.