Box Office Review: December 1, 2017

We are in the thick of the holiday movie season, but it’s not all big-budget blockbusters. Films angling for award-show glory also debut around this time of year.

There’s only one fish in the sea for Sally Hawkins in "The Shape of Water." The "Blue Jasmine" actress plays a blue-collar worker without the ability to speak. However, she finds a way to communicate with a living experiment inside a government lab – a connection that will make both their voices heard. "The Shape of Water" is in limited release.

Wannabe actors get the role of their lives in "The Disaster Artist." Brothers Dave and James Franco team up for this real story of the greatest bad movie ever made. James plays Tommy Wiseau, a Polish actor who bombs every audition. Nevertheless, he decides to make his own film, "The Room", which has been hailed as the "Citizen Kane" of suck. "The Disaster Artist" is rated R.

Kate Winslet fights for her little boardwalk empire in "Wonder Wheel." This woody Allen feature is set in 1950’s Coney Island. Winslet is a waitress married to carousel operator Jim Belushi, but when Belushi’s daughter shows up with hitmen on her trail, it puts everyone’s lives on a tilt-a-whirl. "Wonder Wheel" is rated PG-13.