48 Best Movies to Watch From Focus Features (Page 3)

The Outfit doesn’t need to do a lot to be as sleek and surprising as it is. In fact, much of the film takes place in a single place while consisting of only a few (albeit memorable) characters. It’s deceptively simple, but the tricks it hides up its sleeves are plentiful and pleasurable. It’s a well-made and even better-performed gangster movie. Led by a quietly powerful Mark Rylance (who plays Leonard, the tailor with hidden depths), the actors are serious enough to lend it gravitas but easygoing enough to make it light on its feet.  

All in all, The Outfit is an agile action film with twists that will keep you at the edge of your seat right till the very end. 

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Dylan O'Brien, Johnathan McClain, Johnny Flynn, Mark Rylance, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Scoop Wasserstein, Simon Russell Beale, Zoey Deutch

Director: Graham Moore

Rating: R

Pedro Almodovar’s films tend to swing wildly between comedy/farce and melodrama/tragedy. Volver somehow hits the sweet spot right in the middle of all four genres, with an added dose of magical realism. It’s a total joy to watch, which is really saying something since the story touches on murder, adultery, incest, malignant tumors, ghosts, and Penelope Cruz’s derriere. But maybe that’s the magic of Almodovar’s films? He’s able to take dark themes and surround them with bright colors, warm characters, and screwball humor—and really, is there anything better than that?

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance

Actor: Agustín Almodóvar, Antonio de la Torre, Blanca Portillo, Carlos Blanco, Carlos Blanco Vila, Carlos García Cambero, Carmen Maura, Chus Lampreave, Concha Galán, Eli Iranzo, Elvira Cuadrupani, Fanny de Castro, Isabel Ayúcar, Leandro Rivera, Lola Dueñas, Luis Lattanzi, Magdalena Brotto, María Alfonsa Rosso, María Isabel Díaz Lago, Mila Espiga, Natalia Roig, Neus Sanz, Penélope Cruz, Pepa Aniorte, Valeria Vereau, Yohana Cobo, Yolanda Ramos

Director: Pedro Almodoóvar, Pedro Almodóvar

Rating: R

One of the many good movies from director Edgar Wright - if you loved Shaun of the Dead, then this Buddy-Cop Homage will make you double over (and question humanity – or lack, thereof) just as much. Sandford is a small English village with the lowest crime and murder rates, so when overachieving police Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) gets sent there because he was so good he intimidated those around him, he just about loses it. From car-chasing, bone-thrilling, head-blowing action, he graduates to swan-calling, thrill-seeking, sleep-inducing madness. But all that’s about to change – for the worse? For the better? You decide. An obscenely funny flick that has an intriguing plot and an even greater set of characters, Hot Fuzz wasn’t named the best film of the Cornetto trilogy for nothing, clearly cementing Pegg and Nick Frost as the ultimate action duo of the genre.

Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Mystery

Actor: Adam Buxton, Alice Lowe, Anne Reid, Ben McKay, Bill Bailey, Bill Nighy, Billie Whitelaw, Cate Blanchett, Chris Waitt, Colin Michael Carmichael, David Bradley, David Threlfall, Edgar Wright, Edward Woodward, Eric Mason, Garth Jennings, Graham Low, Jim Broadbent, Joe Cornish, Julia Deakin, Karl Johnson, Kenneth Cranham, Kevin Eldon, Lorraine Hilton, Lucy Punch, Maria Charles, Martin Freeman, Nick Frost, Olivia Colman, Paddy Considine, Patricia Franklin, Paul Freeman, Peter Jackson, Peter Wight, Rafe Spall, Robert Popper, Ron Cook, Rory McCann, Simon Pegg, Stephen Merchant, Steve Coogan, Stuart Wilson, Tim Barlow, Timothy Dalton

Director: Edgar Wright

Rating: R

Atonement is a tribute to cinematography, an epic film that might just remind you why you fell in love with movies to begin with. A young girl and aspiring writer has a crush on the man her older sister loves, so the young sister indulges her imagination to accuse the man of a crime he didn't commit. The two are separated and the latter is then sent away to prison and after joins the army.  As the young girl grows up and realizes the true consequences of her actions, what can she do, what can anyone do, to remedy such a wrong? Winner of two Golden Globes and nominated to 6 Academy Awards.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Ailidh Mackay, Alex Noodle, Alfie Allen, Alice Orr-Ewing, Anthony Minghella, Benedict Cumberbatch, Billy Seymour, Brenda Blethyn, Bronson Webb, Charlie von Simson, Craig Douglas, Daniel Mays, Elliott Francis, Felix von Simson, Gina McKee, Harriet Walter, Ian Bonar, James McAvoy, Jamie Beamish, Jérémie Renier, John Normington, Johnny Harris, Julia West, Juno Temple, Keira Knightley, Leander Deeny, Lionel Abelanski, Mark Holgate, Michel Vuillermoz, Michelle Duncan, Neil Maskell, Nick Bagnall, Nonso Anozie, Olivia Grant, Patrick Kennedy, Paul Stocker, Peter McNeil O'Connor, Peter O'Connor, Peter Wight, Roger Evans, Romola Garai, Ryan Kiggell, Saoirse Ronan, Tilly Vosburgh, Tobias Menzies, Vanessa Redgrave, Vivienne Gibbs, Wendy Nottingham

Director: Joe Wright

Rating: R

Blue Bayou is a powerful film about a Korean-American man threatened with deportation from the only country he has ever known. Antonio LeBlanc is a hard-working mechanic living in a small town in Louisiana with his wife, Kathy, and their young daughter Jessie. Blue Bayou is a beautifully made film with compelling performances from Chon, Vikander, and the rest of the cast. The film is heartbreaking and hopeful, offering a powerful message about the importance of family and belonging. Justin Chon's direction is assured and confident as he captures the beauty of the Louisiana Bayou and aptly conveys Antonio's isolation and loneliness. He brings a strong sense of empathy and humanity to the material.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Alicia Vikander, Altonio Jackson, Emory Cohen, Geraldine Singer, Jeremy Sande, Jim Gleason, Justin Chon, Linh Dan Pham, Mark O'Brien, Martin Bats Bradford, Randy Austin, Renell Gibbs, Rhonda Johnson Dents, Susan McPhail, Sydney Kowalske, Sylvia Grace Crim, Tyler Henry, Vondie Curtis-Hall

Director: Justin Chon

A beautiful and subtle masterpiece exploring the life of Alike, a teen in Brooklyn navigating her identity as a gay black girl. Caught between the traditional world of her family and the butch and sexual world of her friend who has already come out, director Dee Rees allows the audience to see the trials and tribulations of Alike's attempts to be comfortable and sure of herself.  It's a moving and raw coming-of-age story with many characters in the film being quite lovable and relatable making it easy for the viewer to become attached.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Aasha Davis, Adepero Oduye, Afton Williamson, Charles Parnell, Jeremie Harris, Joey Auzenne, Kim Sykes, Kim Wayans, Ozzie Stewart, Pernell Walker, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Rob Morgan, Sahra Mellesse, Samuel Encarnacion, Shamika Cotton, Stephanie Andujar, Zabryna Guevara

Director: Dee Rees

Rating: R

A bully (Josh Peck) is lured into a plot of revenge. The bullied victim (Rory Culkin), his brother and their friends then see the bully's human side, and learn that revenge often comes with a greater price than imagined. Talented teen actors give fantastic performances in this absorbing and impactful coming-of-age tale, with a real moral compass and ability to demonstrate multi-sided characters.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Branden Williams, Carly Schroeder, Heath Lourwood, J.W. Crawford, Josh Peck, Kaz Garas, Raissa Fleming, Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Shelly Lipkin, Trevor Morgan

Director: Jacob Aaron Estes

Rating: R

Champions is as formulaic as it gets, but it’s impossible not to smile watching it. It’s based on a 2018 Spanish movie of the same name, but it feels a lot like the 2023 Korean movie Dream too. In both (and indeed a lot of other) films, we follow a sad sack antihero who, by virtue of being exposed to less fortunate people, is magically transformed into a good guy who gets all the glory he wished for by the end of the story. You know where it’s headed and you even know how it gets there, so it’s devoid of genuine twists and thrills. But the ways in which it gets there, however familiar, are sometimes funny and heartwarming. If you can stomach the cheesiness and predictability of it all, then Champions comes as an effectively hopeful and feel-good film that’s worth tuning into if you want a light laugh. Otherwise, it's all familiar fluff you can skip for better fare.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Aaron Hughes, Alexandra Castillo, Alicia Johnston, Ashton Gunning, Barbara Pollard, Champ Pederson, Cheech Marin, Clint Allen, Ernie Hudson, Heath Vermette, Jacob Blair, Jalen Rose, Jean-Jacques Javier, Kaitlin Olson, Kevin Iannucci, Lauren Cochrane, Lois Brothers, Matt Cook, Mike Smith, Scott Van Pelt, Seán Cullen, Stephanie Sy, Woody Harrelson

Director: Bobby Farrelly

Rating: PG-13