Full Metal Jacket

We follow a group of recruits to the US Marine Corps from entry through to fighting in the ruined towns and cities of Vietnam.

CW: lots of 1960s racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic language but the real horror is the dehumanising effect of war

Taxi Driver

In 1970s New York at the height of its seediness, insomniac, probably traumatised Marine Corps veteran Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) works the night shift driving a taxi. He witnesses the worst the city has to offer and wants it all to just get washed away one day, never to be seen again. He looks down on those around him even though he's just part of that world.

Lacking human connection, Travis develops a stalkery obsession with political campaigner Betsy (Cybil Shepherd) and amazingly manages to convince her to spend time with him. However she's clearly his cultural and intellectual superior and occasionally mocks him. After a terrible faux-pas she rejects him, setting him on a path to violent retribution.

CW: full spectrum 1970s seediness including paedophilia, racism, sexism, homophobia etc.

Don't Look Up

When astronomy PhD researcher Kate Dibiaski (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a comet with planet killing potential heading for Earth, she and her supervisor Dr Mindy (Matt Damon) are thrust into the company of the World's rich, famous and powerful.

The two handle their unexpected fame in different ways while every day the comet draws closer.

Spotlight

Following a change of editor at The Boston Globe, the new appointee (Liev Schreiber) steers the investigative "Spotlight" team (Michael Keaton, Rachel MacAdams, Mark Ruffalo & Brian d'Arcy James) to look into a report of a paedophile priest.

Bridling at the unaccustomed interference they reluctantly investigate but as they pick at the thread uncover a web of silence spanning all levels of Boston society.

CW: child abuse discussed in a very procedural manner

The Green Knight

Young Royal Gawain (Dev Patel) is a somewhat dissolute youth who longs to be a Knight.

On Christmas day, the round table at the court of a sickly and ageing King Arthur is confronted by the terrible, supernatural Green Knight who challenges one of them to engage him in single combat. Should they manage to strike him even in the slightest they will gain the Green Knight's fearsome axe, but in one year they must meet again and allow him to return the blow.

Eager to prove his worth, Gawain takes the challenge where all else falter.

No good will come of this.

Never, rarely, sometimes, always

Autumn (Sidney Flanagan) is a kinda-emo teen dealing with usual teen bullshit. Her home life is dull, her father is a bit of an asshole and she has a tiresome job in a supermarket where the manager is a lecherous creep.

On suspecting she is pregnant, Autumn goes to a local clinic and has it confirmed. Like many such places in the US the clinic is a thinly veiled front for the anti-abortion lobby and they try to deter her from considering this. Even if she persisted it would require consent from her parents.

Going into a nosedive, Autumn's distress is noted at work by her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) who pilfers some cash from the cash register so they can travel to another state where the law on abortion is different.

Free Guy

Bank teller "Guy" (Ryan Reynolds) lives a happy but repetitive life in Freedom City where instead of weather reports they have forecasts of mayhem and violence. Every day he is surrounded by car chases, gunfire and explosions but goes about unperturbed as he is one of the NPCs that flesh out the world in the GTA-esque online game he is part of.

One day he crosses paths with the woman of his dreams (Jodie Comer) and begins to go off script causing things to unravel both in the game and in the world outside.

Nightmare Alley

Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), running from some unclear tragedy stumbles across a carnival where he manages to find manual work.

Charming and quick witted he starts to be involved with Zeena (Frances McDormand) and helps run her mentalism act when long time partner Pete (David Strathairn) is too drunk to manage.

Slowly Stan climbs the social ladder in the carnival, to the annoyance of some until he breaks away with young Molly (Rooney Mara) to form an act of his own.

No good will come of this.