14 Lesbian-Approved Movies We Can't Wait to See this Holiday Season

Awards’ season is officially here, and there are plenty of outstanding movies to keep us busy at both the multiplex and the art house this holiday season!

We all know that TV has been the go-to place for great roles for women since Glenn Close stepped into Patty Hewes’ Dior suit on Damages, but look for heavy hitters including Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, and Julia Roberts on the big screen this holiday! Plus, new favorite Jennifer Lawrence stars in two movies -- a mega blockbuster and another movie from the crew that helped her earn Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook!

If that weren’t enough, the critically acclaimed lesbian love story about poet Elizabeth Bishop – Reaching for the Moon, drops in theaters today.

Grab your popcorn and Swedish Fish. It’s time to go to the movies! 

In Theaters

The New Black 

Yoruba Richen's thoughtful documentary investigates how the marriage equality movement has been received in African American communites where the black church is prevalent.

Dallas Buyers Club 

This affecting biopic of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) an ardent, if not scrappy, homophobe who was diagnosed with HIV and given just 30 days to live in 1985, illustrates his journey from good ole boy to entrepreneur for the downtrodden when he creates a club in which AIDS patients can obtain meds the FDA had not yet approved. Jared Leto offers a star turn as Woodroof's de facto sidekick Rayon, a trans woman who helps Woodroof overcome some of his predjudices. The always-welcome Jennifer Garner lends some heart and soul to the film as a doctor moved to buck the system that was pushing AZT. 

Out Today

Ass Backwards

Happy Endings Casey Wilson and New Girl's June Diane Raphael are awkward, oblivious and hilarious Romy and Michelle types who return to their small town from their relative success in New York City to relive their pageant girl roots. Alicia Silverstone, John Cryer, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Bob Odenkirk costar. 

Go For Sisters 

Legendary indie director and writer John Sayles delivers a churned down version of the female road movie with Lisa Gay Hamilton (The Practice, Law & Order: SVU) and Yolonda Ross (Cheryl Dunye's Stranger Inside) as childhood friends on divergent paths (Hamilton plays a parole officer while Ross plays a parolee) who reunite to find Hamilton's character's son. The odyssey takes them to Tijuana. Edward James Olmos and Hector Elizondo costar. 

How I Live Now 

Burgeoning action hero Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) stars as an American teen summering in the English countryside, and falling for her older male cousin, in this pre-apocalyptic piece that erupts with the onset of WWIII. 

Reaching for the Moon 

Relative to past years, it's been a banner one for lesbian-themed movies getting a theatrical release. This October we saw Concussion and Blue is the Warmest Color at the theaters, and now the epic love story between Pulitzer-winning poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Oto) and Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares (Gloria Pires) unfolds in Bruno Baretto's stunning film that earned notice at Tribeca, Berlin, Outfest and Frameline. 

NOV. 15

The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman 

Emmy nominee for Mildred Pierce, and out actress Evan Rachel Wood costars as an Eastern European chanteuse unable to extricate herself from the underworld in this Shia LeBeouf vehicle. This movie is really all about Evan for us! 

Geography Club 

Hairspray's Nikki Blonsky costars as teenaged lesbian in this coming-of-age story about a gay teen (Cameron Deane Stewart) who starts an underground Gay Straight Alliance at his school. Glee's Alex Newell costars with Ana Gasteyer and Scott Bakula.  

NOV. 22

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 

Do we really need to explain why we included this? Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as legendary badass Katniss Everdeen in the second installment of The Hunger Games trilogy. Plus, Elizabeth Banks is back as the irascible Effie Trinket! We are there, popcorn bucket in hand, opening weekend! 

NOV. 29 

The Punk Singer 

Relive the Riot Grrrl movement with a doc about the woman who pretty much started a revolution - Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna!  Sini Anderson directs the gritty doc that's sure to take any lesbian who remembers the '90s down memory lane. 

DEC. 13

American Hustle 

Jennifer Lawrence's first collaboration with Bradley Cooper in a David O'Russell film earned her all of the accolades including the Oscar! This year she reteams with the Silver Linings Playbook pair for a guilty pleasure of a gritty throwback to the disco-era late '80s and the ABSCAM scandal. Amy Adams and Christian Bale also star. 

DEC. 18 

Her 

Joaquin Phoenix may star as a lonely writer out of touch reality and in love with the voice of his computer in Spike Jonze's (Adaptation) latest mindbender of a movie, but there are five reasons Her is worse the price of admission -- Scarlett Johansson as the computer voice, Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde, Rooney Mara, and Portia Doubleday (Kimberly Peirce's Carrie). 

DEC. 25

August: Osage County

Meryl Streep stars as the Mary Tyrone-esque matriarch in movie based on Tracy Letts' Pulitzer winning play of the same name. Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Julianne Nicholson, Abigail Breslin, Margo Martindale, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, and Benedict Cumberbatch costar. Did someone say Oscar bait? Scenery will be chewed! 

Labor Day

Kate Winslet makes a welcome return to the big screen as a damaged divorcee who falls for the man who ostensibly holds her and her son hostage over Labor Day weekend. Josh Brolin stars as escaped convict who may or may not be guilty. Golden boy director of Up in the Air and Young Adult, Jason Reitman, directs.