New Trailers! Playdate, Train Dreams, No Other Choice, Die My Love, Ballad of a Small Player, and Nuremberg
🎥 Kevin James & Alan Ritchson cause Daddy-style chaos, Lee Byung-hun & Jennifer Lawrence descend into darkness, Colin Farrell gambles big, & Rami Malek faces Russell Crowe!
🎥 “Playdate” Trailer: Kevin James and Alan Ritchson Turn Dad Duty into Mayhem in Director Luke Greenfield’s New Action-Comedy — Premieres November 12th on Prime Video
Being a father is tough business, especially when it comes time to mingle with other dads. Personalities clash. Parenting styles don’t always match. And sometimes, the other dads in the neighborhood aren’t exactly the kind of people you’d normally hang out with. But then again, like a rare cosmic event, two dads can match up so perfectly it almost becomes dangerous. Like really dangerous. Like armed-men-chasing-you dangerous.
Reacher star Alan Ritchson and comedian Kevin James play two stay-at-home dads who meet one ordinary afternoon—only to end the day with car chases, explosions, and a few too many bullets flying their way in this new action-comedy from director Luke Greenfield (Let’s Be Cops, The Girl Next Door).
In the upcoming Prime original film Playdate, Kevin James plays Brian, a recently unemployed accountant just trying to survive another lazy afternoon with his stepson—a kid he’s still figuring out how to connect with. Then along comes Jeff (Alan Ritchson) and his kid, tossing a ball around in the park. The thing is, Jeff isn’t your average dad. He’s basically a walking, talking He-Man action figure who seems way too prepared for any situation... and way too into roughhousing and turning playtime into a full-contact sport.
Jeff’s kid and Brian’s stepson quickly become fast friends, forcing the two dads to spend a lot of time together—at “Buckee Cheese,” no less. What begins as an awkward suburban bonding experience quickly spirals into pure mayhem when Brian discovers that Jeff isn’t exactly who he says he is. He’s not a dad at all, but a secret agent sent to protect a kid from ruthless mercenaries trying to hunt them down. Caught in the crossfire, Brian and his stepson have no choice but to play along—and somehow survive a day that’s suddenly gone from juice boxes and fatherly football throws to gun battles and knuckle brawls.
Co-starring Sarah Chalke and Alan Tudyk, with Stephen Root and Isla Fisher, Playdate sees Kevin James bringing his signature everyman charm while Alan Ritchson leans into full alpha-dad energy, making for an unexpectedly hilarious action-comedy duo.
Written by television producer-writer Neil Goldman (Shrinking, Scrubs), Playdate is set to prove that even the most ordinary dads can rise to the occasion when it debuts Wednesday, November 12th on Prime Video.
🎥 “Train Dreams” Trailer: Joel Edgerton Embarks on a Haunting Journey Through America’s Changing Frontier in Clint Bentley’s Lyrical Period Drama with Felicity Jones — In Theaters November 7th, Streaming November 21st on Netflix
It’s the fall movie season, and that can only mean one thing: Oscar season is revving up. Sure, we already know the usual suspects, but every year there are a few surprises that sneak into the Oscar conversation. One such film is Train Dreams, starring Joel Edgerton as a logger and railroad worker living through America’s rapid industrial expansion in the early 20th century.
Adapted from Denis Johnson’s acclaimed novella, the film takes place in the tumultuous 1920s, when measuring a person’s success meant achieving a fulfilled life built on family, hard work, and a sense of security. Those goals, however, become increasingly out of reach as the country edges closer to the Great Depression.
Since premiering at Sundance earlier this year, the film has been generating buzz, particularly for Edgerton’s standout performance as Robert Grainier, a man who spends his days carving through forests and laying down steel tracks. He’s one of many helping to build the nation’s future.
Robert eventually marries Gladys (Felicity Jones), and together they create a home filled with love and children, though his work often pulls him away for long stretches of time. When tragedy strikes, however, he’s forced to confront the emptiness left behind. And in that solitude, Robert begins to see both the beauty and brutality of the world with new eyes—an America he no longer recognizes, where hard labor isn’t valued, it’s exploited and taken for granted.
Seemingly shot with a lyrical touch and sweeping, atmospheric visuals, this haunting period drama is directed by acclaimed indie filmmaker Clint Bentley, known for his collaborations with Greg Kwedar, who also co-wrote the script. Together, they are the creative forces behind the Oscar-nominated prison drama Sing Sing and the award-winning indie Jockey.
In addition to Edgerton and Felicity Jones, the film also features supporting performances from Kerry Condon, William H. Macy, Paul Schneider, Clifton Collins Jr., Alfred Hsing, and Will Patton as the narrator.
Both a love letter to the lost frontier and a meditation on what it means to live through change, don’t be surprised if Train Dreams ends up as one of the year’s standout films. The movie is slated to open in select theaters November 7th before premiering on Netflix November 21st.
🎥 “No Other Choice” Trailer: Lee Byung-hun Turns Desperation into Deadly Ambition in Park Chan-wook’s Razor-Sharp Psychological Thriller — In Theaters December 25th
Korean star Lee Byung-hun should know a thing or two about the horrific economic struggles of ordinary people, having starred in three seasons of the hit series Squid Game. But this time, he’s no longer pulling the strings—he’s now on the side of the desperate, caught in a new nightmare that blurs the line between survival and morality.
In No Other Choice, a razor-sharp psychological thriller from visionary filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Decision to Leave), Lee Byung-hun plays a middle-aged paper industry manager whose tidy suburban life crumbles the moment he’s laid off after 25 years on the job. Stripped of pride and prospects, he spirals into a dangerous obsession: finding a way to get rehired and provide for his family.
But how can he guarantee he’ll beat out the competition? Simple... make sure there isn’t any competition left to beat.
Soon, Lee’s character embarks on a ruthless quest to eliminate his rivals one by one. And as his despair mutates into cold-blooded calculation, he’s pushed far beyond his moral limits, proving that the job market’s cutthroat... in every possible sense.
Adapted from Donald Westlake’s darkly comic 1997 novel The Ax—which was previously turned into a 2005 French film by acclaimed Greek-French director Costa-Gavras—No Other Choice marks the latest feature from Park Chan-wook. Alongside contemporaries like Bong Joon-ho, Kim Jee-woon, and Ryoo Seung-wan, Park was a key figure in the Korean New Wave of the early 2000s, a movement that redefined modern Asian cinema through its unflinching focus on class disparities, moral decay, and brutal economic struggles. And it’s good to see Park continuing to explore these same themes as they are perhaps now more relevant and resonant than ever before.
Also starring Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, and Cha Seung-won, No Other Choice opens in select U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, December 25, before expanding nationwide in January. And with any Park Chan-wook film, you can bet the Oscar buzz won’t be far behind.
🎥 “Die My Love” Trailer: Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson’s Marriage Descends into Madness in Lynne Ramsay’s Haunting Psychological Drama — In Theaters November 7th from MUBI
Till death do us part. It’s a vow some married couples make without thinking. But for some, it’s not just a promise... it’s a warning.
Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence is reportedly delivering one of her most harrowing performances in years in her new film, playing a once-promising writer whose marriage has devolved into a psychological battlefield with her husband, played here by Robert Pattinson. Raw and emotionally feral, Lawrence embodies a woman so suffocated by domestic life that it now feels more like captivity than love.
Adapted from Ariana Harwicz’s Argentine novel, Die My Love is directed and co-written by acclaimed Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin, You Were Never Really Here), proving once again that when it comes to exploring the murky, dark depths of human emotion, there might be no one better than her.
With Ramsay’s signature blend of haunting imagery, unnerving characters, and moments of violent candor that blur the line between the mundane and the surreal, the film follows Lawrence as Grace, a woman who relocates with her husband Jackson (Pattinson) from the bustle of New York City to the tense stillness of rural Montana. What begins as an escape—a chance to rebuild their marriage and embrace motherhood—slowly unravels into something suffocating and dangerously unstable. The silence, the isolation, the crushing monotony of domestic life—all of it feeds a storm brewing inside Grace... until she either implodes or explodes—or both.
It’s no wonder Die My Love has drawn comparisons to Revolutionary Road and A Woman Under the Influence, as it appears to be a striking portrait of a broken marriage fueled by lust and fire, yet told through the eyes of a woman on the verge. The film seems to ask whether love can survive once it’s stripped of its illusions—and what happens when passion devolves into madness.
Produced by Martin Scorsese and Lawrence’s production banner Excellent Cadaver, the film also stars Sissy Spacek, LaKeith Stanfield, and Nick Nolte. Following its acclaimed Cannes debut, Die My Love is set to open in theaters November 7th, courtesy of MUBI.
SO, will Jennifer Lawrence be up for another Oscar nomination? Let’s just say the odds look very much in her favor.
🎥 “Ballad of a Small Player” Trailer: Colin Farrell Gambles with Fate in Edward Berger’s Stylish Noir Thriller — In Select Theaters October 15th, Streaming October 29th on Netflix
The reason gambling is so seductive is the thrill of the bet. It’s like the ultimate drug—the chance to chase that intoxicating rush of winning it all, when for one fleeting moment, every problem you have fades away in an instant. It’s called the gambler’s high, a euphoric dopamine release. And it’s the very reason why, no matter how far the chips are down, a true degenerate gambler can never walk away from the table. They must always place their bet. Because the thought of walking away, of never knowing what could’ve been, is something a degenerate gambler could never live with.
Enter Lord Doyle, an immaculately dressed, leather-gloved, dapper man. He looks the part. He looks like he knows what he’s doing at a poker table. He looks like a high roller. In reality, he’s a no-good bum with only 24 hours to pay off his debts or face the consequences. But in his mind, Lord Doyle has 24 hours to play the greatest poker game of his life and hit the jackpot. All he needs now is someone with money to spot him... ‘cause he’s good for it. At least, that’s what he keeps telling himself.
Colin Farrell might be riding high on the success of his astonishing Emmy-nominated turn in the DC series The Penguin, but now he brings that same charm and unpredictable edge to Ballad of a Small Player, the new Netflix gambler thriller from Oscar-winning filmmaker Edward Berger (Conclave, All Quiet on the Western Front).
Farrell stars as Lord Doyle, a disgraced lawyer turned professional gambler hiding out in the neon-lit casinos of Macau. As mentioned, he’s got just 24 hours to make things right. Steeped in liquor, sweat, and utter desperation, Lord Doyle finds himself running out of luck, money, and time. But when he crosses paths with Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a mysterious casino employee with secrets of her own, the encounter offers him a glimmer of salvation.
But salvation has a habit of vanishing when you need it most. Enter Cynthia Blithe (Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton), a sharp, unrelenting investigator hot on Doyle’s trail. As his debts pile up and the clock ticks down, Doyle descends into a self-destructive dance between chance and consequence. All he needs is to play one more hand of poker, because this might just be the one where it all turns around. That is, if Lady Luck decides to show up one final time.
Adapted from Lawrence Osborne’s acclaimed novel, Ballad of a Small Player finds Berger weaving a noir-tinged tapestry of debauchery, guilt, and self-destruction, working from a script by Rowan Joffé (28 Weeks Later, The American).
Co-starring Deanie Ip and Alex Jennings, Ballad of a Small Player is slated to open in select theaters October 15th before premiering on Netflix October 29th.
🎥 “Nuremberg” Trailer: Rami Malek and Russell Crowe Clash in James Vanderbilt’s WWII Courtroom Drama with Michael Shannon — In Theaters November 7th
Courtroom dramas play out like high-stakes chess matches. Every move is calculated. Every word is weaponized. The tension comes from how the truth can be twisted, concealed, or finally revealed.
Now imagine a courtroom drama depicting the most consequential public trial in history: the Nuremberg Trials. Now that was a chess match where the stakes weren’t just about the truth—it was about the moral conscience of the entire world. It was about how humanity needed to see justice in action to ensure such horrors would never happen again.
Ripped from the pages of history itself, writer-director James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, Truth) takes on the monumental task of adapting Jack El-Hai’s acclaimed history book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist. Nuremberg dramatizes the historic post–World War II trials where the Allied powers sought to hold the architects of the Holocaust accountable before the eyes of the world. But beyond the courtroom, it’s also a psychological battle of wits and political strategy—as well as a study in the anatomy of evil and the fragile pursuit of moral clarity.
Michael Shannon stars as Robert H. Jackson, the formidable U.S. Chief Prosecutor determined to prove that justice can rise from the ruins of war and show the world that all men can be made answerable to law.
Oscar-winner Rami Malek plays an American Army psychiatrist assigned to evaluate the mental state of the Nazi defendants, finding himself locked in a chilling intellectual duel with former Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, portrayed by Oscar-winner Russell Crowe in a performance brimming with arrogance, charm, and menace.
As the proceedings unfold, the film delves into the fine line between accountability and vengeance, humanity and monstrosity—and how history’s most significant courtroom trial still resonates today. Because it’s not just about the verdict... it’s about whether truth itself can survive the aftermath of such horrific war crimes.
With Leo Woodall, Richard E. Grant, John Slattery, Wrenn Schmidt, and Colin Hanks rounding out the ensemble, Nuremberg is slated to open in theaters November 7th.
