Here Are All the Movies Opening Today, November 20; What Will You See?

Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, November 20. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.

Wide

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Donald Sutherland, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Stanley Tucci, Lily Rabe, Jeffrey Wright, Natalie Dormer
Synopsis: “With the nation of Panem in a full scale war, Katniss confronts President Snow in the final showdown. Teamed with a group of her closest friends – including Gale, Finnick, and Peeta – Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her. The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B (9 reviews)

The Night Before
Director: Jonathan Levine
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, Lizzy Caplan, Jillian Bell, Mindy Kaling
Synopsis: “Ethan, Isaac and Chris have been friends since childhood, and for a decade, their yearly Christmas Eve reunion has been an annual night of debauchery and hilarity. Now that they’re entering adulthood, the tradition is coming to an end, and to make it as memorable as possible, they set out to find the Nutcracka Ball – the Holy Grail of Christmas parties.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B- (8 reviews)

Secret in Their Eyes
Director: Billy Ray
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris, Lyndon Smith, Michael Kelly, Mark Famiglietti, Zoe Graham, Don Harvey, Ross Partridge, Joe Cole
Synopsis: “A tight-knit team of FBI investigators, along with their District Attorney supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.”
Criticwire Grade Average: C+ (4 reviews)

Limited

Altered Minds
Director: Michael Z. Wechsler
Cast: Judd Hirsch, Ryan O’Nan, C.S. Lee, Jaime Ray Newman, Caroline Lagerfelt, Joseph Lyle Taylor, Jake Miller, Lily Pilblad, Dennis Flanagan, Marilyn Chris, Dana Konner
Synopsis: “A family reunion goes awry when the oldest son makes the accusation that his dying father, a famed psychiatrist who also did work for the CIA, adopted his children for the purposes of psychological experimentation.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York and Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Tampa) 

Carol
Director: Todd Haynes
Cast: Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler, Jake Lacy, Carrie Brownstein, Cory Michael Smith, John Magaro
Synopsis: “Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.”
Criticwire Grade Average: A (35 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles

Censored Voices
Director: Mor Loushy
Synopsis: “The 1967 ‘Six-Day’ war ended with Israel’s decisive victory. The nation brimmed with relief, joy and pride, while a new national narrative of manifest destiny emerged.  But drowned out by the euphoria, other voices – many of those who fought the war – had something different to say. Future renowned author Amos Oz and editor Avraham Shapira recorded intimate conversations with soldiers returning from the battlefield. Originally censored by the Israeli army, the recordings provide an unfiltered lens into the Israeli zeitgeist. “
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in Los Angeles on November 27th)

Criminal Activities
Director: Jackie Earle Haley
Cast: John Travolta, Dan Stevens, Michael Pitt, Christopher Abbott, Rob Brown, Edi Gathegi, Jackie Earle Haley, Travis Aaron Wade, Morgan Wolk
Synopsis: “Four old friends act on an inside stock tip and invest in a ‘sure thing,’ only to discover the deal going south while putting them in trouble with the mob.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York and Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, Orlando, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC)

Democrats
Director: Camilla Nielsson
Synopsis: “In the wake of Robert Mugabe’s highly criticized 2008 presidential win, a constitutional committee was created in an effort to transition Zimbabwe away from authoritarian leadership. With unprecedented access to the two political rivals overseeing the committee, this riveting, firsthand account of a country’s fraught first steps towards democracy plays at once like an intimate political thriller and unlikely buddy film.”
Theatrical Release: New York

#Horror
Director: Tara Subkoff
Cast: Taryn Manning, Natasha Lyonne, Chloë Sevigny, Balthazar Getty, Timothy Hutton, Lydia Hearst, Jessica Blank, Annabelle Dexter-Jones
Synopsis: “Inspired by actual events, a group of 12 year old girls face a night of horror when the compulsive addiction of an online social media game turns a moment of cyber bullying into a night of insanity.”
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles (expands to eight additional markets on November 27th)

Kingdom of Shadows
Director: Bernando Ruiz
Synopsis: “‘Kingdom of Shadows’ follows three people grappling with the hard choices and destructive consequences of the U.S.-Mexico ‘drug war.’ Filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz weaves together the seemingly disconnected stories of an activist nun in deeply scarred Monterrey, Mexico, a U.S. Federal agent on the border, and a former Texas smuggler to reveal the human side of an often-misunderstood conflict that has resulted in the ‘disappearance’ of more than 23,000 people in Mexico—a growing human rights crisis that only recently has made international headlines.” [SXSW Film Festival] 
Theatrical Release: New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and San Diego

Legend
Director: Brian Helgeland
Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Chazz Palminteri, Taron Egerton, Colin Morgan, Paul Anderson, Aneurin Barnard, Wood Jane, Jack Oliphant, William Oliphant, Abigail Halley, Millie Brady, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Bob Cryer, Samantha Pearl, Martin McCreadie
Synopsis: “Tom Hardy will play twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray, who worked their way through the ranks to become powerful crimelords in London’s underworld in the 1960s.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B (6 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles

Mediterranea
Director: Jonas Carpignano
Cast: Koudous Seihon, Alassane Sy, Francesco Papasergio, Pio Amato, Vincenzina Siciliano
Synopsis: “Ayiva recently left his home in Burkina Faso in search of a way to provide for his sister and his daughter. He takes advantage of his position in an illegal smuggling operation to get himself and his best friend Abas off of the continent. Ayiva adapts to life in Italy, but when tensions with the local community rise, things become increasingly dangerous. Determined to make his new situation work he attempts to weather the storm, but it has its costs.” [Cannes Film Festival] 
Criticwire Grade Average: B+ (7 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York

Mustang
Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Cast: Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan, Ayberk Pekcan, Erol Afsin, Nihal G. Koldas
Synopsis: “Early summer. In a village in northern Turkey, Lale and her four sisters are walking home from school, playing innocently with some boys. The immorality of their play sets off a scandal that has unexpected consequences. The family home is progressively transformed into a prison; instruction in homemaking replaces school and marriages start being arranged. The five sisters who share a common passion for freedom, find ways of getting around the constraints imposed on them.” [Cannes Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B (14 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles (expands to various cities through 2016)

TransFatty Lives
Director: Patrick O’Brien
Synopsis: “TransFatty lives is a brazen and illustrative account of what it is like to live when you find out you are going to die. Patrick O’Brien is TransFatty—the unabashed, and charismatic internet sensation with an itch for creating bizarre and mischievously comical films, like UFO Mofo and Born Again Porn Star. In 2005, Patrick’s world implodes when he is diagnosed with ALS and given only two to five years to live. A decade in the making, this unconventional documentary is Patrick’s personal reflection on the transformative effect of this disease, not only for himself but also for those around him.” [Tribeca Film Festival] 
Theatrical Release: Los Angeles (opens in New York on Christmas)

Very Semi-Serious
Director: Leah Wolchok
Synopsis: “The New Yorker is the benchmark for the single-panel cartoon. This light-hearted and sometimes poignant look at the art and humor of the iconic drawings shows why they have inspired and even baffled us for decades. ‘Very Semi-Serious’ is a window into the minds of cartooning legends and hopefuls, including editor Bob Mankoff, shedding light onto their how their humor evolves.”
Theatrical Release: New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco (premieres on HBO on December 7th)
Criticwire Grade Average: B+ (4 reviews)

Missed last week? Here are all the releases from the weekend of November 13th.