The learning tree / Criterion Collection (Firm)

Based on Parks' semi-autobiographical novel, the film follows the journey of Newt Winger, a teenage descendant of Exodusters growing up in rural Kansas in the 1920s, as he experiences the bittersweet flowering of first love, finds his relationship with a close friend tested, and navigates the injustices embedded within a racist legal and educational system. Exquisitely capturing the bucolic splendor of its heartland setting, this landmark film tempers nostalgia with an incisive understanding of the harsh realities, hard-won lessons, and often wrenching moral choices that shape the road to self-determination of the young Black man at its center.

Nanny / Amazon Studios

Aisha, a Senegalese immigrant, takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy white family in New York City. Separated from her son and casually exploited by her employers, Aisha finds herself consumed by unsettling visions and a growing rage, one that could either destroy or empower her.

The others / Amenábar, Alejandro

A remote manor; hushed, candlelit atmosphere; and shivery, supernatural menace. With his first English-language feature, Chilean Spanish writer-director-composer Alejandro Ameǹbar resurrected the classic gothic chiller to create a ghost story of uncommon emotional resonance. Nicole Kidman stars as a World War II-era mother whose imperiousness masks a terrifying pain, as she keeps her light-sensitive children enshrouded in darkness on her country estate. The arrival of three new servants punctures her insular world and seems to disturb the balance between the living and the dead. With each stunning twist and turn, Ameǹbar immerses us more deeply in a realm haunted not only by spirits but also by guilt, trauma, and repression.

The Roaring Twenties / Bogart, Humphrey

Ripped from the headlines of the turbulent era between the Great War and the Great Depression, this dynamic, nostalgia-tinged crime drama balances tommy-gun action with epic historical sweep. Legends James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart star as army buddies whose fortunes rise and fall as their fates intersect, first in a foxhole on the front lines of World War I, then in Manhattan's Prohibition-era underworld. Directed by Hollywood master Raoul Walsh and based on a story by prolific journalist turned screenwriter and producer Mark Hellinger, The Roaring Twenties brought to a close the celebrated Warner Bros. gangster cycle of the 1930s, and it remains one of the greatest and most influential crime films of all time.

Shortcomings.

He went that way / Adams, Patrick J.

In 1964 along Route 66, a 19-year-old serial killer Bobby finds himself needing a ride but is devoid of options. His luck soon changes when he's picked up by a celebrity animal handler, Jim, who's trekking along the great American highway with priceless cargo in tow: his chimpanzee, Spanky.

Your lucky day / Brown, Daniel.

Cashing in will cost you. After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they'll go and how much blood they're willing to spill for a cut of the 156 million dollars.

Suzume / Shinkai, Makoto

A modern action adventure road story where a 17-year-old girl named Suzume helps a mysterious young man close doors from the other side that are releasing disasters all over in Japan.

Thanksgiving / Dempsey, Patrick

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the infamous holiday.

Wonka / Chalamet, Timothee.

Based on the extraordinary character at the center of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the jewel in the Roald Dahl crown and one of the bestselling children's books of all time, Wonka tells the wondrous story of how the world's greatest inventor, magician, and chocolate maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today. This irresistibly vivid and inventive big-screen spectacle will introduce audiences to a young Willy Wonka, chock full of ideas and determined to change the world one delectable bite at a time, proving that the best things in life begin with a dream. If you're lucky enough to meet Willy Wonka, anything is possible.