Screen Scene for week of Dec. 22: Holiday movies abound led by ‘Jumanji’ (+trailers)

Best bets opening this week

▪  “Darkest Hour” – Gary Oldman is racking up awards – and probably will win an Oscar for best actor – for his portrayal of Winston Churchill, in this World War tale as he takes on Hitler.

▪  “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” – Good luck getting that ol’ Guns N’ Roses song out of your head now with this re-imagining of the 1995 action/fantasy that starred Robin Williams. Here, four teens discover an old video game console and pop into the game’s jungle setting in the avatar bodies of Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Karen Gillan and Kevin Hart.

Also new this week

▪  “Downsizing” – Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig are a couple who want to shrink themselves to live a more frugal, eco-friendly life. Or maybe you could just spend and eat less?

▪  “Father Figures” – Owen Wilson and Ed Helms star in this comedy as brothers who go in search of their dad when mom Glenn Close admits she doesn’t know who he was.

▪  “The Greatest Showman” – Hugh Jackman stars as P.T. Barnum in this musical about how he originated the circus. Michelle Williams and Zac Efron also star.

▪  “Pitch Perfect 3” – Now post-college, the Bellas reunite for one last (there they go throwing that “last” word around again) singing competition at an overseas USO tour. Anna Kendrick, Hailee Steinfeld and the rest of the a capella gang return.

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Screen Scene for week of Dec. 22: Holiday movies abound led by ‘Jumanji’ (+trailers)."