Lots of great movies this week and next all coming to a theater near you

This week is Thanksgiving and while we're doing a week of bad films as our regular posts that doesn't mean you should have to suffer watching turkeys. To be honest this is the start of the holiday movie season and there are tons of great films coming to a theater near you.

First off there is a ton of great stuff if you're in New York.

Edward Yang is getting a retrospective at Lincoln Center. This will include the first theatrical run of A Brighter Summer Day which I reviewed about two weeks ago. Its a stunning coming of age film that will knock your socks off. As one person at a press screening for another film said "I didn't expect to like it. I went because I had nothing going on that day. But I instantly fell into it and all I can say is its one of the most amazing films I've seen all year". Yes yes it is.

BAM is running 2001 on Thursday and Friday and Tarkovsky's Solaris on Saturday and Sunday. If you've never seen them on a BIG screen it's worth schlepping into Brooklyn.

The New York International Children's Film Festival continues their weekly screenings at the IFC Center with two films with some winners over the next couple of weeks.

This weekend, starting Thursday is one of my favorite all time films ever any where period the end. Nocturna is a Spanish animated film that is beyond wonderful and marvelous. Its the story of a little boy in an orphanage who has to travel across the city late one night to find out why the stars are going out. Its a film that explains what happens at night when we are asleep. You MUST see this film. How great is this film? Its the first film that was ever reviewed here at Unseen Films.

While not as good as Nocturna, Oblivion Island is also one of the early reviews here at Unseen. the film concerns a young girl who travels to the land of discarded items to get something she lost back. There are some magical moments here and it's worth seeing when it runs the first weekend in December.

Mid December through mid January the NYICFF and the IFC Center will be running all of the Ghibli feature films up to 2008 in subtitled and dubbed versions. If you've never seen things like Porco Rosso or Howl's Moving Castle or any of the others on the big screen this is your chance. (For those outside of New York the NYICFF now has the theatrical rights to all of the films and they will be releasing them to theaters around the country)

December 9th at the Museum of Art and Design in Manhattan My Beautiful Girl Mari will screen. Another one of my favorite films of all time the chance to see this on a big screen is a treat. Here is more proof that Disney, Pixar and Ghibli are not the only ones cranking out classic animation.

As for those of you around the country the next two weeks brings some heavy hitters to screens near you.

Hugo, A Dangerous Method and My Week With Marilyn and The Artist all open this week. All are worth your time and money to see them.

Next Week we get the good but wildly over rated Shame, with a great performance by Carry Mulligan.Also opening is the off kilter film from Beat Takashi Outrage. Both films aren't all they should and could be but both offer enough that they are worth seeing if they tickle your fancy.

As you can see there is plenty of reason to get out and see a great film.