Full week of movies anticipates Christmas season

Above: Belgian actress Virginie Efira stars in "Benedetta," directed by Paul Verhoeven. (Photo/IFC Films) 

I wrote yesterday about Mike Mills’ film “C’mon C’mon,” which opens on Friday (including at the Magic Lantern Theatre).

But other films will premiere locally, too. Among them:

“Benedetta”: Paul Verhoeven returns to the big screen with this adaptation of the book “Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy,” which tells the story of a nun who experiences “disturbing religious and erotic visions.” In French and Latin with English subtitles.

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle calls it a “gloriously excessive entry from the cinema's master of excess, Paul Verhoeven, and it's an enjoyable, provocative experience.”

“True to the Game 3”: The third in a trilogy, based on novels by Teri Woods, about drug dealers in 1980s Philadelphia.

No review available. Never a good sign.

“Wolf”: A young man (George MacKay) who thinks he is a wolf is consigned to a facility run by a guy who believes he can convert him, and others, back to what he considers normality.

Barry Hertz of the Globe and Mail wrote, “More an extreme theatre-school exercise than a substantive act of filmmaking, the new drama ‘Wolf’ is one wild, rabid mess.”

“Christmas With The Chosen: The Messengers”: Based on the series “The Chosen,” this Christmas-themed movie dramatizes – with music – the actual birth of Jesus Christ.

Plugged In reviewer Adam R. Holz wrote that the film “is probably unlike most Christmas stories you’ve ever seen in the way it juxtaposes majesty and misery. But it might just prompt you to think about Jesus’ birth in some profound new ways.”

That’s it for the moment. I’ll update as the week progresses.