Director Bennett Miller’s critically acclaimed “Foxcatcher,” starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo, opens Jan. 16 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.

“Foxcatcher” plays through Jan. 29, while “The Homesman” — in its second week at the Ross — shows through Jan. 22.

“Foxcatcher” is a psychological drama directed by Academy Award-nominee Bennett Miller and starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave and Sienna Miller.

Based on actual events, the film tells the story of Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum). While getting ready for the 1988 Olympic games, Schultz is offered the chance to move to and train at the estate of eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont (Carell). Schultz sees the offer as a chance to escape the shadow of his more celebrated wrestling brother Dave (Ruffalo) and a life of poverty.

At the estate, du Pont begins coaching Schultz and other athletes in an effort to gaim the respect of his disapproving mother. In the process, du Pont lures Schultz into dangerous habits, breaks the wrestlers confidence and drives him into a self-destructive spiral.

In “The Homesman,” three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life. The task to save the trio falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hillary Swank).

Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones). The unlikely pair and the three women (Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter) head east, where a waiting minister and his wife (Meryl Streep) have offered to take the women in. However, the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.

Ross show times on Jan. 16 are 4:40, 7:20 and 10 p.m. for “Foxcatcher,” and 4:30, 7 and 9:30 p.m. for “The Homesman.”

For more information, go to http://www.theross.org.