Collateral Beauty

After his daughter's death, advertising executive Howard (Smith) slips into a deep depression, alienating those around him and putting his company in jeopardy. Desperate to save the business, his partners Whit (Norton), Claire (Winslet) and Simon (Peña) hire three actors to help put Howard in a compromising situation that they can use to force him out of the company. The three executives, though, each have their own deep issues, and through their interactions with the actors, they begin to confront their demons. 

Director: David Frankel. Stars: Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Michael Peña, Helen Mirren, Naomie Harris, Keira Knightley. 2016. 97 min. Drama.

Fences

Years after being passed up by Major League Baseball, waste collector Troy (Washington) can't get behind his son Cory's (Adepo) ambitions to be a professional football player, despite the young man's talent and the fact that he's being scouted by a college team. When Troy receives a promotion at his job, he becomes estranged from his co-worker and best friend, Bono (Henderson), but not before Bono discovers that Troy is having an affair. Meanwhile, Troy's brother, Gabriel (Williamson), who suffered a head injury in World War II, gets into trouble with the law.

Director: Denzel Washington. Stars: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Mykelti Williamson, Russell Hornsby. 2016. 139 min. Drama.

Passengers

In the future, a starship is transporting thousands of colonists to a distant planet, a journey that takes over a century to complete. Both the colonists and crew are kept in stasis-inducing hibernation pods for the long trip, but when the ship is damaged after passing through an asteroid field, one of the pods malfunctions, waking up a passenger named Jim (Pratt) 90 years before the ship's arrival at its destination. Totally alone in a sleeping ship deep in the void of space, Jim finds himself drawn to the beautiful Aurora (Lawrence), another colonist. He deactivates her pod and wakes her up, condemning her to the fate of growing old and dying with him on the lonely ship.

Director: Morten Tyldum. Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Sheen. 2016. 116 min. Adventure.