Movies Released January 8, 2016

Set in the legendary Aokigahara Forest, a real-life place in Japan where people go to end their lives, The Forest tells the story of a young American woman in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared. Despite everyone's warnings not to "stray from the path," Sara dares to enter the forest to discover the truth about her sister's fate, only to be confronted by the angry and tormented souls of the dead who now prey on anyone who crosses their paths.

In 1823, Hugh Glass, a 36-year-old fur trapper, joins the Rocky Mountain Fur Company on a dangerous expedition with ten other men. While hunting for food for his group, Glass is mauled by a grizzly bear, so the captain enlists two men to stay behind and bury Glass as his death was sure to come. Instead, the men rob Glass, leaving him defenseless in the wilderness, awaiting certain death. However, contrary to the belief of the good-willed captain, and the belief of the ill-willed marauders, Glass does not perish from his wounds. Fueled by anger, Glass vows to survive — and miraculously does, making his way through 350 miles of uncharted wilderness to exact revenge.

Filmmaker Liz Rogers and director Kevin Flint go to South Dakota following a story on Uranium contamination only to discover that the problem flows much farther than they imagined. Our nuclear legacy began with Uranium. From ‘Fat Man’ and ‘Little Boy’ to ‘Duck and Cover’ we believed it was safe to eat, drink and breathe in the shadow of the Atomic Bomb. The subsequent health and environmental damage will take generations, and in some cases thousands of years to heal. Our ground water, wells, drinking water, air and soil are contaminated with some of the most toxic heavy metals known to man – and yet we still have no firm plan in place for the storage of tons of nuclear materials we produce every year.

Troublemakers unearths the history of land art in the tumultuous late 1960s and early 1970s. The film features a cadre of renegade New York artists that sought to transcend the limitations of painting and sculpture by producing earthworks on a monumental scale in the desolate desert spaces of the American southwest.

Starring Brett Granstaff (Vice) as Christopher 'The Saint' Samuels, The Masked Saint follows the journey of former professional wrestler, Chris Samuels (Granstaff) who retires from the ring to settle down as a small town pastor. When Samuels witnesses rampant problems in the community, he decides to moonlight as a masked vigilante fighting the injustice. While facing crises at home and at the church, Samuels must evade the police and somehow reconcile his secret, violent identity with his calling as a pastor.

While on his way home one evening, Walter Zarrow (Sam Waterston), a popular Columbia University philosophy professor, is violently attacked on the street. There are a domino effect of events that led up to this seemingly senseless assault. Along the way, hidden connections between a seemingly disparate group of people—including a self-destructive student (Kristen Stewart), a hard-drinking suburban housewife (Gretchen Mol), and a desperate junkie (K. Todd Freeman).

Gridiron Heroes is the story of high school football star Chris Canales, who was paralyzed in a championship football game. The film chronicles the work of the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Foundation started by Chris and his father Eddie. Gridiron Heroes is also an examination of the game of football itself. Some of the most famous faces in the game discuss the larger problem of brain damage and spinal cord injuries that occur on the football field and a solution, “Heads up Tackling,” is presented.

Costi leads a peaceful life. At night he likes to read his 6-year-old son stories, to help him sleep. Their favorite is Robin Hood. Costi sees himself as the hero – righter of wrongs and defender of the oppressed. One evening, his neighbor pays him an unexpected visit and shares a secret: there’s treasure buried in his grandparents’ garden, he’s sure of it. If Costi will hire a metal detector to help locate it, he’ll give him half of whatever they get. Skeptical at first, in the end Costi can’t resist. He’s on board. The two accomplices have one weekend to locate the loot. Despite every obstacle in their path, Costi refuses to be discouraged. For his wife and son, he’s a real hero – nothing and no one are going to stop him.

Desperate to get her life back on track, the unstable Streak (Louisa Krause) takes a job as a security guard, working the graveyard shift at a once upscale, now abandoned apartment complex. But on her first night on duty, she discovers a horrifying presence lurking deep within the bowels of the decaying building. With her nerves already on edge, Streak must confront demons both real and imagined as she struggles to keep a grip on her sanity.