The Gift (2015)

Rebecca Hall investigates.

(2015) Thriller (STX) Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Allison Tolman, Tim Griffin, Busy Phillipps, Adam Lazarre-White, Beau Knapp, Wendell Pierce, Mirrah Foulkes, Nash Edgerton, David Denman, Kate Aselton, David Joseph Craig, Susan May Pratt, P.J. Byrne, Felicity Price, Melinda Allen, Jyothsna Venkatesh, Laura Drake Mancini, DaNae West, Stacey Bender, Beth Crudele. Directed by Joel Edgerton

The past has a way of rearing its head, ugly or not, when we least expect it. Sometimes it can be a song or a scent that brings it flooding back, or a chance meeting in a retail store. We are tied to our past as surely as we are tired to our choices.

Things are looking good for Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall). They are happily married, Simon recently got a major promotion (and is closing in on another) and they’ve just purchased a beautiful home with amazing views from floor-to-ceiling glass windows. What those in thrillers fail to appreciate is that glass is two-way – you can look out of it sure, but so can others look in.

While shopping for furnishings the couple run into Gordo (Edgerton), a sad-sack sort that was a classmate of Simon’s in high school. Simon can barely remember him, and Robyn takes pity on him; he seems a nice enough guy if a bit socially awkward. She invites him to dinner.

When Gordo starts leaving little gifts; a bottle of wine, glass cleaner, Koi carp for their pond, at first it seems like a nice gesture but it begins to get a little creepy. Then there are intimations of some sort of incident in the past between Gordo and Simon that was less than savory. Robyn also has her own skeletons; a miscarriage sent her spiraling into depression and drug abuse. She has gotten better lately but Simon still worries about it.

Then again, Simon seems to have issues of his own. The more we get to know these people, the less we actually do, all of which descends to an inevitable confrontation which leads to a shocking revelation.

This is Edgerton’s first feature as a director and if this is any indication, he has a bright future ahead of him in that regard. The pacing here is damn near perfect, neither too hurried but definitely moves along at a good clip. The result is we’re constantly on the edge of our seats without feeling like we’re missing anything.

Edgerton as a writer is also amazing; all of the main characters are nicely developed and are allowed to be imperfect. The twist at the end is brilliant and shocking, a rare thing these days when we think we just can’t be shocked. This is proof that not only can we be, but we can be surprised as well. A good movie buff appreciates that more than you can imagine.

Bateman gets a rare serious role and plays it very nicely, never overplaying the dramatic aspects (which some comic actors tend to do) but not underplaying it either. He uses his nice guy persona as a bit of a tool, allowing us to settle in to a particular viewpoint of who the character is, then slowly tears down that viewpoint as the character turns out to be something different. It shows Bateman to be an actor of enormous range; I wouldn’t be surprised to see higher-profile dramatic roles coming his way because of his performance here.

Edgerton has long been someone that “everyone” knows can act, but hasn’t really ascended into the Hollywood elite yet. There’s a good chance he will now, showing himself to be a massive talent behind the camera, but a great one in front of the camera as well. Like Bateman, he uses his edgy persona to his advantage to create certain expectations for the audience and then slowly strips them away. I’ve always liked Edgerton as an actor; now I like him even more.

Hall’s character is more brittle and fragile, and in some ways more colorless. She is just beginning to get it together after essentially a breakdown but the goings on here put her back teetering on the edge. Hall doesn’t really hit it out of the park like her colleagues do, but she turns in a solid performance that is bound to get her some notice from casting agents.

The creepy factor is extra high here as we watch the events unfold. Certainly the tension through the last third of the movie is high, but this isn’t a roller coaster ride so much as a dark ride in a boat through some really terrible scenes. This movie has been pretty much universally praised and for good reason; don’t read that as being excessive however – this isn’t an essential movie, just a really well-crafted thriller that is well worth your while. And that is essential enough.

REASONS TO GO: Effectively creepy. Nice twist. Good casting.
REASONS TO STAY: The camera is a bit static. Hall’s character is a bit bland.
FAMILY VALUES: There’s a fair amount of foul language and some adult themes.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Because he wanted to focus on directing, Edgerton filmed all of his own scenes two weeks into shooting and had them completed in seven days.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 8/28/15: Rotten Tomatoes: 92% positive reviews. Metacritic: 77/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Oldboy
FINAL RATING: 7/10
NEXT: Ricki and the Flash

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Lucky

The happy couple - how lucky!

(2011) Comedy (Phase 4) Colin Hanks, Ari Graynor, Ann-Margaret, Jeffrey Tambor, Mimi Rogers, Adam J. Harrington, Allison Mackie, Tom Amandes, Michelle Davidson, Olivia Sather, Heather Marie Marsden, Sean Modica, Jill Carr, Elizabeth Uhl. Directed by Gil Cates Jr.

 

Love and marriage can be a killer. Compromise and understanding are keys to any relationship, but especially in any marriage, particularly in new ones. Getting to understand your partner in any relationship is the key to making it work.

Ben Keller (Hanks) is a bit of a noodle. He is a quiet, shy sort who works as an accountant. He seems generally nice although a bit socially awkward. He has a crush on the receptionist, Lucy St. Martin (Graynor) and has had since school but has never acted on it, not really. She’s aware of his affections but she is much more pragmatic; she has her eye casting about for men in a different economic strata. Ben is beneath her notice, frankly.

That is, until Ben wins the Iowa State Lotto and over $38 million. Overnight he’s a millionaire and Lucy suddenly sees him as husband material. Soon they are dating and before long, they are married, much to the satisfaction of Pauline (Ann-Margaret), Ben’s mom who had despaired of her shy son ever finding a match.

Lucy may be all about the money and Ben doesn’t seem to be too shy about spending it on her – from building her a dream home to an expensive Hawaiian honeymoon. It is in fact while in Hawaii that Lucy discovers that Ben has been keeping a secret from her and it’s a doozy – mild-mannered Ben is a serial killer and as Lucy looks a little more deeply into this, she discovers that his victims bear a more than passing resemblance to herself.

The director is the son of a Hollywood producer (best known for producing the Oscar telecasts) who is directing the son of an acting legend (Hanks, son of Tom). That really is neither here nor there but it is some interesting trivia. The premise here sounds tailor made for a black comedy directed by the likes of the Coen brothers but Cates comes off as a bit inexperienced here.

This kind of material needs a deft touch, one that is light where it needs to be but unfortunately the direction is mostly heavy-handed. We are hit in the face with an anvil rather than tickled gently with a feather. While the former gets our attention initially, it gets old quickly and eventually leaves us numb. The latter may not necessarily be as attention-getting at first but it stays with us longer for far more pleasant reasons.

Hanks is rapidly getting a reputation for playing nice guys with a dark side (as he does in “Mad Men”) and this might be his quintessential role. He resembles his father in many ways but he is much more of a sad sack than Daddy ever was. He isn’t quite the indelible lead man his father is but he has the DNA for it, not to mention that he adds his own stamp.

Graynor is kind of a cut-rate Renee Zellweger in a lot of ways, particularly in her delivery. She’s kind of a skinny Bridget Jones without the accent here. I get the sense she’s emulating the screwball comedies of the ’30s in the way she makes her character sassy and plucky. It’s not really original in any way but she at least captures the essence of the character nicely.

Veteran character actor Tambor plays a detective who is investigating the disappearance of several young girls. Tambor’s laconic delivery is perfect for the role and he always seems to deliver the goods no matter how small the role (and this one is small but memorable indeed). Ann-Margaret is also a welcome addition. In fact, the cast is pretty solid.

The filmmakers seem to be caught between making a screwball comedy and a black comedy and wind up with neither. There are some great moments (as when Lucy has a frank conversation with Ben’s victims) as well as some that could have been. Unfortunately, this is a movie where it felt like each turn it could have made could have gone better if they’d taken a different direction. Chalk it up to inexperience and hope the next one is better.

WHY RENT THIS: Nice performances from Graynor and Tambor. Competent black comedy.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Lacks consistency.

FAMILY VALUES: There is some bad language, a bit of violence, some sexuality and a couple of gruesome images.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The Hawaii-themed restaurant scene was actually filmed at a zoo exhibit in Omaha.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: There’s a music video by David Choi singing “I Choose Happiness” from the movie.

BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $8,564 on an unreported production budget; no way this made any money.

FINAL RATING: 5/10

NEXT: Thin Ice

Dream House

Rachel Weisz is worried that Daniel Craig's performance is a little unfocused.

(2011) Psychological Thriller (Universal) Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Marton Csokas, Elias Koteas, Jane Alexander, Taylor Geare, Claire Geare, Rachel Fox, Brian Murray, Bernadette Quigley, Sarah Gadon, Gregory Smith. Directed by Jim Sheridan

A house is just four walls, a floor and a roof. It’s a dwelling, a place to store your stuff and a place to lay your head at night. There’s no emotional connection; it’s a hotel room that’s personalized for you. A home is an entirely different matter; there are people you love, memories – ghosts, if you will.

Will Atenton (Craig) is a successful New York publisher who is giving it all up for a more bucolic lifestyle upstate. He aches to spend more time with his family – wife Libby (Weisz) and daughters Dee Dee (C. Geare) and Trish (T. Geare). The house is a bit of a fixer upper but it has some potential. It’s winter and roaring fires are the order of the day and what could be cozier than that?

Except that the neighbors are affixing some odd looks at Will and his family. There is obviously some hostility, particularly with asshole neighbor Jack Patterson (Csokas) who is going through a bitter divorce and custody battle with wife Ann (Watts) over their daughter Chloe (Fox). Will chalks it up to just general New England suspiciousness and moves on with his life.

Then things start to spiral into the deep end. Will shoos some Goth teenagers out of his basement and discovers evidence that the last family that lived in the house had been massacred – and the father Peter Ward, the only survivor of the massacre (with a nasty gunshot wound to the head) was the suspect in the case. Peter had been committed to Greenhaven Psychiatric Hospital but after five years had just been released. The girls begin to see strange figures outside peering into the house.

Will is determined to get to the bottom of things and decides to investigate further. The more he finds out, the more troubling the situation becomes. It turns out Ann may know far more than she’s letting on. And when Will goes to Greenhaven to talk to Peter Ward’s doctor, he finds out something so shocking and chilling that it threatens his very sanity; and there is no doubt that someone wants Will and his family dead. Could Peter Ward be coming home at last?

Sheridan (director of such movies as In America and In the Name of the Father) is a steady, talented director who is not known for horror films, and his inexperience in the genre shows here. He did have the presence of mind to hire Caleb Deschanel as cinematographer, and the Oscar-winning Deschanel (father to Emily and Zooey by the by) would normally have been a master stroke, but while the movie looks slick with all sorts of barren winterscapes and homey hearths there is nothing really that adds to the tension.

Craig is rapidly becoming one of film’s best leading men, and he certainly looks the part here. He gets shirtless an awful lot in the movie (considering it’s set in the dead of winter) and the part calls for him to change emotional tableaux in split seconds and he’s more than up to the task. His onscreen chemistry with Weisz is genuine and adds an extra measure of enjoyment to the movie. Watts is given less to do and her character could have used more fleshing out.

I need to address something here. The movie’s major plot twist is unconscionably revealed in the trailer – if you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. There have been rumors that Sheridan had angered the production bosses at Morgan Creek, the production company for the movie, for deviating from the established script heavily (Sheridan has a reputation for liking to work improvisationally) and after disastrous focus group screenings, forced reshoots, finally editing the movie to their own standards. Sheridan reportedly requested his name be removed from the film and he, Craig and Weisz all refused to do publicity for the movie.

There is certainly an appearance that the reveal was done deliberately and childishly in order to sabotage the movie, and I’m quite certain Sheridan, Craig and Weisz all feel that’s the case. Of course, I don’t know it for certain – but I do know that the movie was ruined by its own marketing. Certainly not knowing that revelation (which I have deliberately omitted here) made the film less enjoyable. If you haven’t seen the trailer, I strongly urge you not to.

Be that as it may, the movie is far from perfect in any case. There is never any real tension generated by the movie, and what could have been an atmospheric thriller with overtones of supernatural horror becomes a substandard potbroiler that fools nobody and entertains very few. The damn shame of it all is that the movie is actually pretty well-written and with a few tweaks here and there could have been really entertaining. Alas, this is going to go down as a case where a director-producer feud may have ultimately ruined a movie.

REASONS TO GO: Craig is a compelling performer. There is a good deal of tension and overall the movie is well-written.

REASONS TO STAY: The main plot twist is revealed in the trailer. The identity of the real killer is weak and doesn’t fool anybody.

FAMILY VALUES: There’s a bit of violence, some terror, a little sensuality and briefly some bad language.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Weisz and Craig began a romantic relationship after meeting on set. They were recently married in a discrete ceremony.

HOME OR THEATER: This is definitely one for the home front.

FINAL RATING: 5/10

TOMORROW: 50/50

New Releases for the Week of September 30, 2011

 

DREAM HOUSE

(Universal) Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Marton Csokas, Claire Geare, Taylor Geare, Rachel G. Fox, Lynne Griffin, Jane Alexander, Elias Koteas, Brian Murray. Directed by Jim Sheridan

A successful New York City publisher moves his wife and two small children into a quaint home in a bucolic New England town. After they move in, they discover that the last residents of the home were murdered, an entire family with the surviving father being the main suspect in the crime. The more they look into it, the more strange things begin to occur and soon it becomes clear that the real horror might be staring them in the face.

See the trailer and promos here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Suspense Thriller

Rating: PG-13 (for violence, terror, some sensuality and brief strong language)

50/50

(Summit) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard. A young man finds out that he has a rare form of cancer. He and his best friend decide to use humor and caring as a form of treatment for his disease. This is based on the life of screenwriter Will Reiser.

See the trailer and a clip here.

For more on the movie this is the website

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Dramedy

Rating: R (for language throughout, sexual content and some drug use)

Courageous

(Tri-Star) Alex Kendrick, Kevin Downes, Ben Davies, Matt Hardwick. A tight-knit group of police officers find their world rocked when tragedy befalls one of them. Hit in the face with their shortcomings as fathers, they turn to a higher power to help them heal the rifts in their own families and become better husbands, better fathers, better men and better cops.

See the trailer, clips, promos and a featurette here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Christian Drama

Rating: PG-13 (for some violence and drug content)

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

(Magnet) Alan Tudyk, Tyler Labine, Katrina Bowen, Jesse Moss. A group of teenagers on a camping trip run into a creepy pair of hillbillies. When one of the teens gets injured and separated from their friends, the two hillbillies – who turn out to be harmless – try to go to her aid. The others don’t see things that way however – they see a couple of murderous, sadistic backwoods serial killers out to get them and as they try to “rescue” their friend they inadvertently meet grisly demises. The trailer is really terrific – check it out.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Horror Spoof

Rating: R (for bloody horror violence, language and brief nudity)

What’s Your Number?

(20th Century Fox) Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Andy Samberg, Zachary Quinto. When a young woman reads a magazine article that those who have had 20 or more lovers have missed their shot at true love, she sets out to re-examine all of her exes to see if any of them measure up to being The One.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Comedy

Rating: R (for sexual content and language)

Fall/Holiday 2011 Preview

It is a bittersweet time as the lazy days of summer come to an end and for Hollywood, the annual orgy of blockbusters and event movies winds down. It is back to school for the kids, the end of the hot weather and the beginning of cool fall breezes, football and shorter days. Winter is right around the corner but before then, Hollywood still has the end of the year films to tempt your wallets.

The box office figures for this summer can only be termed as disappointing; this summer was one of the most anticipated in years. As I write this, the final box office figures have yet to be determined but it feels like numbers are actually down from last year, both in terms of box office dollars and in theater attendance. Much of that can be attributed to the rise of video streaming and on-demand video through home computers and cable/satellite television services. One can only assume that box office numbers will continue to erode somewhat over the next few years as theater-goers tire of high ticket prices and upcharges for 3D and IMAX screens.

The Fall seasons is also the time of the Oscar watcher. Generally this is when Hollywood releases their films most likely to strike gold at the Academy Awards next year and while it is still too early to determine which movies are going to be the ones to beat this year, you can bet that as the summer comes to an end, movies like The Iron Lady, The Descendants, In the Land of Blood and Honey, We Bought a Zoo, the David Fincher remake of the Swedish hit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Coriolanus are on Oscar’s radar early on.

The movies that look to be most likely to hit the box office jackpot are Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Muppets, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I and Arthur Christmas. There might be some love for Puss in Boots, a spin-off from the highly successful Shrek series.

We’ll see horror movies, particularly at Halloween, and on tap at the moment are Paranormal Activity 3, 11-11-11 and the new reboot of The Thing. For those looking for comedy there’s always Jack and Jill, Tower Heist, New Year’s Eve, The Sitter and What’s Your Number. Action/adventure junkies can take heart in movies like Immortals, The Adventures of Tin-Tin, Real Steel, The Three Musketeers and In Time. Those looking for something more family friendly will have Happy Feet 2, Dolphin’s Tale and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked to choose from, among others.

The fall and winter are a great time for star-gazing and 2011 will have its share. You’ll be able to see Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), George Clooney (The Descendants), Daniel Craig (Dream House and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Robert Downey Jr., (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), Adam Sandler (Jack and Jill), Ben Stiller (Tower Heist), Hugh Jackman (Real Steel), Robert De Niro (Killer Elite and New Year’s Eve), Matt Damon (Contagion and We Bought a Zoo), Jodie Foster (Carnage), Colin Firth (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), George Clooney (The Ides of March and The Descendants), Kate Winslet (Contagion), Leonardo di Caprio (J. Edgar) and Johnny Depp (The Rum Diary). Those fond of director Steven Spielberg will get a double dose this December with The Adventures of Tin Tin and War Horse, as of this writing slated to come out within a week of one another, although the two films couldn’t be more different.

So there are plenty of movies out there that will be competing for your interest; hopefully this guide will help you find a few. Further details can be found in our weekly Previews and monthly Four-Warned features, and many of the movies you see listed here will eventually make their way to our daily reviews. In the meantime, grab the keys, pack up the kids (if you have any), find that special someone to snuggle in the dark with and enjoy!

SEPTEMBER

September is usually a down time at the box office as kids head back to school and the new fall premieres come out on TV. Generally Hollywood uses the month to sneak in movies that they have less faith in that would get lost in the crush of summer or Holiday movies. Once in awhile there’s a break-out hit, but that’s fairly unusual. There are also occasionally some quality movies amongst the chaff however.

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

APOLLO 18

RELEASE DATE: September 2, 2011

STUDIO: Weinstein

STARRING:

STORY: Ever wonder why we stopped sending men to the moon? This footage of the Apollo 18 mission, which NASA denies ever took place, explains it all.

PROSPECTS: Found footage films are relatively inexpensive to produce and have often been slam dunk winners at the box office, from The Blair Witch Project to Cloverfield to Paranormal Activity seeing box office success and Troll Hunter critical acclaim. This one takes an intriguing premise and with little box office competition, could make an impressive dent.

OBSTACLES: There’s no telling whether the moviegoing audience has grown tired of the genre, and Weinstein apparently doesn’t have much faith in the film either, moving it all over the schedule from a prime spring slot to a lucrative fall slot to the kiss of death September slot.

FACTOID: This is Spanish director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego’s first American feature.

DRUID RITES

CONTAGION

RELEASE DATE: September 9, 2011

STUDIO: Warner Brothers

STARRING: Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Gwynneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, John Hawkes, Sanaa Lathan, Elliott Gould

STORY: The scientific community races against the clock to find the cure for a lethal airborne virus while outside their walls society is rapidly disintegrating into chaos.

PROSPECTS: Steven Soderbergh is the man behind the Oceans 11 trilogy. Medical dramas like Outbreak when done correctly can capture the imagination of the moviegoing audience.

OBSTACLES: These sorts of killer virus movies have been done to death and one wonders if Soderbergh has anything new to add to the mix.

FACTOID: In March, Soderbergh announced that he would be retiring from the movie business following the completion of the films he is currently attached to.

DREAM HOUSE

RELEASE DATE: September 30, 2011

STUDIO: Universal

STARRING: Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Marton Csokas, Jane Alexander, Elias Koteas, Lynne Griffin, Fernando Lara, Chris Owens

STORY: A New Yorker relocating to New England with his family discovers that the house he’s moved into was the site of the grisly murders of a mother and her children at the hands of the husband, who survived – and may not be pleased that there is a new family living there.

PROSPECTS: Suburban horror with a stellar cast has been known to strike box office gold from time to time. Craig is one of the more bankable stars in Hollywood at the moment.

OBSTACLES: Might hit a little too close to home for more timid audiences, and one of the major twists in the plot may have been revealed in the trailer.

FACTOID: Craig won the leading role over Christian Bale and Brad Pitt.

SKYCLAD

DRIVE

RELEASE DATE: September 16, 2011

STUDIO: FilmDistrict

STARRING: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, Albert Brooks, Christina Hendricks

STORY: A Hollywood stunt driver moonlights on the side as a getaway car driver for hire. When he takes a job for the husband of a neighbor, things get dangerously out of control.

PROSPECTS: This is a brand new studio that’s already had some success with Insidious. There has been some enormous buzz on this since its debut at Cannes earlier this year. The action-packed trailer has only served to fuel appetite.

OBSTACLES: Sounds uncomfortably close to Jason Statham’s Transporter series. Also Gosling has yet to prove himself able to pull in decent box office numbers.

FACTOID: When original director Rob Marshall left, followed by original star Hugh Jackman, Gosling was brought on board and hand-picked Dutch director Nicholas Winding Refn to direct.

CHANTS

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

SHARK NIGHT 3D (Relativity) finds a group of young people partying on a Louisiana salt water lake one weekend only to discover that the lake has been stocked with sharks. Hungry ones, too – and that can ruin anybody’s weekend.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

BUCKY LARSON: BORN TO BE A STAR (Columbia) is a comedy starring Nick Swardson (30 Minutes or Less) as the hapless son of two 70s porn stars who seeks out his fortune in Hollywood’s adult film industry, armed with a tool that isn’t exactly the largest in the shed. Nor the sharpest, I’d wager.  WARRIOR (Lionsgate) pits two brothers against one another in the unforgiving arena of a Mixed Martial Arts championship match. You knew there’d have to be an MMA movie sooner or later.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT (Weinstein) stars Sarah Jessica Parker as a frazzled mom trying to balance career and family, which is not unlike juggling land mines while blindfolded. However, Miss Parker looks a lot better doing it than most. THE LION KING 3D (Disney) is a re-release of the beloved Disney classic in 3D and IMAX formats for the first time. Hakuna Matata that, jerkweed. RESTLESS (Sony Classics) is the latest from director Gus Van Sant and is based on the stage play “Of Winter and Water Birds” by Jason Lew. It’s about a couple of outsiders who become drawn to one another because of – or maybe despite – their many quirks. This one is getting a limited release so it won’t be playing everywhere. STRAW DOGS (Screen Gems) is a remake of the controversial 1971 Sam Peckinpah film and stars James Marsden and Kate Bosworth as a pacifist couple who move into a remote version and are eventually pushed further and further into violence.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

PEARL JAM TWENTY (Vinyl) is Cameron Crowe’s documentary on the 20 year career of Pearl Jam. They emerged from the Seattle grunge scene to outlive their own genre of music. Utilizing home video footage, concert appearances and rare interviews with the band, audiences will get a rare glimpse at one of America’s most acclaimed rock bands.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

ABDUCTION (Lionsgate) stars Taylor Lautner from the Twilight series as a young man who discovers that the life he’s been leading is a lie when he discovers his picture on a missing child website. The more he digs into his past, the more danger he unearths and soon he is on the run from federal operatives and mysterious forces. DOLPHIN TALE 3D (Warner Brothers) is based on the true story of Winter the dolphin whose tale had to be amputated after she was caught in a lobster trap. Through the courage, inventiveness and resourcefulness of a team of volunteers, veterinarians and engineers, a prosthetic is constructed for Winter, allowing her to survive. KILLER ELITE (Open Road) pits Clive Owen against Jason Statham in a deadly battle for survival. Statham is an ex-Special Ops assassin lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor from captivity, but must first take down Owen’s elite team of assassins to get there. MONEYBALL (Columbia) stars Brad Pitt as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane who revolutionized the game of baseball a decade ago, using undervalued players to create a championship team.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

50/50 (Summit) stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young man who is diagnosed with cancer and with his good friend (Seth Rogen) decides to use humor to help him fight the disease. Anna Kendrick also stars. COURAGEOUS (Tri-Star) is about a group of law enforcement officers grappling with a tragedy that brings on a crisis of faith. WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER (20th Century Fox) features Anna Faris in a comedy about a woman who decides she will sleep with no more men until she finds out if one of the ones she’s been with previously – and there are a lot of them – might just be The One.

HOW THEY DID LAST YEAR

A look back at how last year’s previewed movies did at the box office. The budgets and box office numbers are courtesy of Box Office Mojo. My verdicts are based on the typical studio formula that for a movie to break even it must make twice its production budget; any movie that achieves that will be labeled as profitable. I define hit movies as those that make three times the production budget and blockbusters as anything that makes $200 million in domestic box office or more, or made five times the production budget with a minimum of $100 million in domestic box office. The first four movies listed are the four main previewed items; I’ve also chosen a selection of other major releases that made the preview issue as well.

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE (Warner Brothers) Budget: $80 Million. Domestic Gross: $55.7M Total: $140.1M Verdict: Flop. THE AMERICAN (Focus) Budget: $20M. Domestic Gross: $35.6M Total: $67.9M Verdict: Hit. WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (20th Century Fox) Budget: $50M. Domestic Gross: $72.5M Total: $134.8M Verdict: Made money. MACHETE (20th Century Fox) Budget: $10.5M. Domestic Gross: $26.6M Total: $44.1M Verdict: Hit. GOING THE DISTANCE (New Line) Budget: $32M. Domestic Gross: $17.8M Total: $42.1M Verdict: Flop. THE TOWN (Warner Brothers) Budget: $37M. Domestic Gross: $92.2M Total: $154.0M Verdict: Hit. DEVIL (Universal) Budget: N/A. Domestic Gross: $33.6M Total: $62.7M Verdict: Hit. YOU AGAIN (Disney) Budget: $20M. Domestic Gross: $25.75M Total: $32.0M Verdict: Flop. RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE (Screen Gems) Budget: $60M. Domestic Gross: $60.1M Total: $296.2 Verdict: Blockbuster. EASY A (Screen Gems) Budget: $8M. Domestic Gross: $58.4M Total: $75.0 Verdict: Blockbuster.

OCTOBER

October brings fall weather in more properly, as baseball begins its World Series, football is in the midst of their schedule and hockey and basketball are both getting their seasons underway. At the multiplex, the month is usually dominated by horror movies meant to compliment the Halloween festivities, although there are often some counterprogramming moves going on to get audiences that aren’t looking to be frightened into coronaries at the cinema.

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

REAL STEEL

RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2011

STUDIO: DreamWorks

STARRING: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, Hope Davis, James Rebhorn, Olga Fonda, Karl Yune

STORY: A former boxer whose sport ceased to exist when robots took over boxing, makes a last chance comeback with a broken-down sparring ‘bot and the trust of a child motivating him.

PROSPECTS: In a fairly weak month of releases this one stands out as having the broadest audience appeal. Robots beating the crap out of each other have made box office gold for the Transformers series.

OBSTACLES: Jackman has yet to prove he can pull in an audience playing someone who isn’t Wolverine. Some snide remarks about Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots have been showing up in comments about the movie.

FACTOID: Based on a short story by The Twilight Zone author Richard Matheson.

DRUID RITES

FOOTLOOSE

RELEASE DATE: October 14, 2011

STUDIO: Paramount

STARRING: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Andie McDowell, Dennis Quaid, Miles Teller, Ziah Colon, Ray McKinnon, SerDarius William Blain

STORY: A transplant from the big city to a small town fights an ordinance that bans dancing and loud music.

PROSPECTS: If this sounds familiar it’s because it is. Everyone over the age of 30 remembers the original movie with Kevin Bacon; the casting of “Dancing With the Stars” winner Julianne Hough is sure to bring some of the audience of that massive hit show.

OBSTACLES: Not sure a modern audience is going to go for what was a hit back in 1984; remember Fame?

FACTOID: The movie has been oft-delayed, with problems retaining directors (Kenny Ortega was at one time scheduled to direct this) and male leads (both Zac Efron and Chace Crawford came and went in the lead role).

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3

RELEASE DATE: October 21, 2011

STUDIO: Paramount

STARRING: Zayd Jaber, Katie Featherston (rumored), Molly Ephraim (rumored)

STORY: A prequel to the first two Paranormal Activity movies shows the curse as it originally took over the family.

PROSPECTS: With the Saw franchise at an end, this looks to take its place as the newest Halloween tradition. The first two movies made enormous profits off of tiny budgets and there’s no reason to think this won’t be the same.

OBSTACLES: Prequels aren’t the most popular things among moviegoers. Ask George Lucas.

FACTOID: The newest installment in the series is being directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the auteurs of Catfish.

SKYCLAD

ANONYMOUS

RELEASE DATE: October 28, 2011

STUDIO: Columbia

STARRING: Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, David Thewlis, Derek Jacobi, Xavier Samuel, Rafe Spall.

STORY: One of the great debates of intellectuals is whether or not the plays of William Shakespeare were actually written by the man named William Shakespeare. All sorts of theories have been advanced, ranging from Christopher Wren to Christopher Marlowe as the true authors. However, this movie posits a more sinister political agenda and machinations of the royal court.

PROSPECTS: A rare non-genre movie directed by Roland Emmerich (2012, The Day After Tomorrow), the studio is taking a very low-key marketing approach. Fans of Shakespeare in Love might well go for this one.

OBSTACLES: The subject is a little highbrow for general audiences. No big stars to anchor this and Emmerich isn’t known for this kind of movie; whether or not he can pull it off is a mystery in itself.

FACTOID: Rafe Spall is the son of veteran character actor Timothy Spall (the Harry Potter films, Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman).

CHANTS

OCTOBER 7, 2011

DIRTY GIRL (Weinstein) is about a schoolgirl whose sexual misconduct lands her in a remedial class where she’s paired with the school loner in a parenting project. She convinces him to help her run off to California, which is probably not the best of ideas. In THE IDES OF MARCH (Columbia), Ryan Gosling stars as the press secretary for George Clooney’s presidential election team. He believes in the candidate’s cause but is torn between serving a candidate he believes in and one that he thinks can actually win. WANDERLUST (Universal) is the latest comedy to be produced by Judd Apatow and stars frequent Apatow collaborator Paul Rudd who is married to Jennifer Aniston. When they are forced for economic reasons to move into the apartment of Aniston’s brother in Atlanta, they take a detour to a small town name Elysium where clothing is optional and ideas are plentiful.

OCTOBER 14, 2011

THE BIG YEAR (20th Century Fox) stars Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson as three rival birdwatchers determined to outdo one another in their year’s birding checklist. THE SKIN I LIVE IN (Sony Classics) is the latest from legendary Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, and stars Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeon determined to create a synthetic skin that would be burn resistant, something that might have saved his wife’s life. His zeal will lead him to some questionable moral decisions. THE THING (Universal) is a prequel of sorts to the 1982 John Carpenter movie, showing what happened at the Norwegian arctic camp that discovered the alien being and its space craft buried under the ice.

OCTOBER 21, 2011

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (Fox Searchlight) is the sensation from Sundance now making an appearance as a limited release. It’s about a girl who escapes from a cult but finds that what is real and what is being generated from her paranoia isn’t always easy to tell aprart. MARGIN CALL (Roadside Attractions) charts the goings on in an investment bank during the 2008 financial crisis. Kevin Spacey, Zachary Quinto, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany and Demi Moore star in this limited release. THE THREE MUSKETEERS (Summit) is yet another screen version of the beloved Alexandre Dumas classic, with Christoph Waltz – the best baddie in the biz right now – assaying the role of Cardinal Richelieu.

OCTOBER 28, 2011

IN TIME (20th Century Fox) posits a future in which we stop aging at age 25, but in order to stay alive we must earn every additional minute. Time becomes a new currency, one which Justin Timberlake will go to extreme lengths to redistribute. In JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN (Universal) Rowan Atkinson reprises his role as a suave but bumbling British superspy returns from retirement to save us all from a global conspiracy. THE RUM DIARY (FilmDistrict) is set for limited release and is based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson. Johnny Depp stars as a reporter who discovers a massive conspiracy in the Puerto Rico of the 1950s. SAFE (Lionsgate) is the latest Jason Statham action movie (no further plot details were available at present). 

HOW THEY DID LAST YEAR

HEREAFTER (Warner Brothers) Budget: $50 Million. Domestic Gross: $32.8M Total: $105.2M Verdict: Broke Even. THE SOCIAL NETWORK (Columbia) Budget: $40M. Domestic Gross: $97.0M Total: $224.9M Verdict: Blockbuster. SECRETARIAT (Disney) Budget: $35M. Domestic Gross: $59.7M Total: $60.3M Verdict: Flop. BURIED (Focus) Budget: N/A. Domestic Gross: $1.0M Total: $19.2M Verdict: Profitable. RED (Summit) Budget: $58M. Domestic Gross: $90.4M Total: $199.0 Verdict: Hit. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (Paramount) Budget: $3M. Domestic Gross: $84.8M Total: $177.5 Verdict: Blockbuster. SAW 3D (Lionsgate) Budget: $20M. Domestic Gross: $45.7M Total: $136.2M Verdict: Blockbuster. JACKASS 3D (Paramount) Budget: $20M. Domestic Gross: $117.2M Total: $170.3M Verdict: Blockbuster. LET ME IN (Overture) Budget: $20M. Domestic Gross: $12.1M Total: $24.2M Verdict: Flop.

NOVEMBER

Thanksgiving weekend is a major Hollywood seasonal barometer, and usually there are several movies that Hollywood has high hopes for box office success. This is usually when we start to see some of the more anticipated movies, usually with at least one major blockbuster arriving before Turkey Day.

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1

RELEASE DATE: November 18, 2011

STUDIO: Summit Entertainment

STARRING: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Billy Burke, Maggie Grace, Lee Pace, Elizabeth Reaser, Rami Malek

STORY: Teen romance. Werewolves. Vampires that sparkle. Soulful looks. Shirtless hunks. Brooding Byron-like bloodsuckers. Do they really need a plot? Would anyone care if they didn’t have one?

PROSPECTS: Like the Harry Potter saga, the final book in the series is being split up by the studio so that they can make twice the oodles of dollars they’re going to make with the movie. As with all of the other movies in the saga, this is going to do gangbusters the first weekend and then quickly lose steam en route to ginormous box office numbers.

OBSTACLES: A very narrow audience base limits the box office appeal, and this is a movie whose fans lose interest quickly. If it doesn’t have a spectacular opening weekend, it might be in trouble.

FACTOID: Sofia Coppola expressed interest in directing this but only wanted to commit to one of the two movies and the studio wanted to have the same director for both movies so that they could be filmed back-to-back in order to cut expenses.

DRUID RITES

THE MUPPETS

RELEASE DATE: November 23, 2011

STUDIO: Disney

STARRING: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Alan Arkin, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Zach Galifianakis, Kathy Griffin, Ricky Gervais, Emily Blunt

STORY: The World’s Biggest Muppets Fans try to reunite the Muppets for the World’s Biggest Muppet Telethon ever when a greedy oilman wants to raze the Muppets Theater to get at the oil beneath it. The trouble is getting the Muppets, who have all moved on to new lives, to agree to it.

PROSPECTS: The Muppets are cultural icons who appeal to a whole bunch of different generations of kids who are grown up now and have lots of disposable income of their own.

OBSTACLES: The Muppets have been out of the public eye for much of the 21st century and one wonders if they have enough cachet to appeal to a whole new generation.

FACTOID: This is the first commercially released Muppets movie not to feature Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson as “muppeteers.”

HUGO

RELEASE DATE: November 23, 2011

STUDIO: Paramount

STARRING: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, Emily Mortimer

STORY: A young boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station discovers a mysterious heart-shaped lock which may hold the key to a mystery that has already cost him his father.

PROSPECTS: Reading the story summary would you have guessed Martin Scorsese? Me neither…but anything the master sets his sights on is bound to be quality work.

OBSTACLES: Scorsese directing young adult fantasy? No guns, no mobsters, no De Niro? Is the public ready for this?

FACTOID: This is the first feature film by Scorsese in seven years in which Leonardo di Caprio didn’t star.

SKYCLAD

THE IMMORTALS

RELEASE DATE: November 11, 2011

STUDIO: Relativity

STARRING: Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff, Isabel Lucas, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Kellan Lutz, John Hurt, Mickey Rourke

STORY: The legend of Theseus, who stands up against a power-mad Greek king in a war that may signal not only the end of mankind but the end of the Gods as well.

PROSPECTS: This will be a preview of Cavill’s much anticipated turn as Superman in next year’s Man of Steel feature. Tarsem Singh is a visually arresting director.

OBSTACLES: Singh has been guilty of too much style over substance in his films and has yet to really knock one out of the park. Cavill as a lead is an unknown quantity.

FACTOID: The movie was initially titled Dawn of War before being changed to War of the Gods with the final name finally chosen last year during filming.

CHANTS

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

A VERY HAROLD AND 3D KUMAR CHRISTMAS (New Line) features America’s favorite stoners trying to save the holidays after accidentally killing Santa and lighting Harold’s Christmas tree on fire. Another ill-advised journey to New York becomes necessary to find the only man that can save them…Neil Patrick Harris! PUSS IN BOOTS (DreamWorks) is a spin-off from the Shrek series in which the beloved feline’s story is told, with one of his greatest pre-Shrek adventures – how Puss stole the goose that lays the golden eggs. TOWER HEIST (Universal) stars Ben Stiller and an all-star cast including Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda and Matthew Broderick as a group of staff members at an upscale posh Manhattan apartment complex who resolve to steal back their life savings from a Bernie Madoff-like financier who absconded with their pension funds.

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

11-11-11 (Not Available) is a horror film from Saw series director Darren Lynn Bousman about an author who heads to Spain to be with his dying father, whose impending fate seems wrapped up in the number 11, a coincidence that turns far more sinister than you can imagine. JACK AND JILL (Columbia) stars Adam Sandler in dual roles as a successful ad executive and his twin sister who drives him crazy. She’s the one who always turns up at Thanksgiving and turns everyone’s life upside-down. Don’t you have a relative like that? J. EDGAR (Warner Brothers) is the story of the notorious FBI director who became one of the most powerful men on Earth. Leonardo di Caprio stars in the title role and Clint Eastwood directs this film which opens in a limited run two days before it opens everywhere.

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

HAPPY FEET TWO (Warner Brothers) carries on with the series. This one focuses on the son of Mumbles, the hero and dancin’ fool of the first movie. Here, his son turns out to have two left feet, not something you want to have when a crisis is hitting Antarctica that will require everyone’s help. TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (Focus) is an adaptation of the John Le Carre spy novel with an all-star cast that includes Oscar winner Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Ciaran Hinds and Tom Hardy.  

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

A DANGEROUS METHOD (Sony Classics) explores the real-life love triangle between Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud and Freud’s patient Sabrina Spielrein. The schism that rises between them would eventually give rise to modern psychiatry. ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (Sony Animation) comes from the people who gave us Wallace and Gromit, and is about Santa’s younger son . He’s kind of a screw-up and in fact his love for the holiday is actually turning out to jeopardize Christmas entirely. THE DESCENDANTS (Fox Searchlight) stars George Clooney as an indifferent husband and father who must step up to the plate when his wife is critically injured in a boating accident. This is opening in limited release and is the latest from director Alexander Payne, who also gave us Sideways. PIRANHA 3DD (Dimension) brings our razor-toothed fishy friends to a waterpark. More blood, more boobs…and all in the magic of 3D.

HOW THEY DID LAST YEAR

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 (Warner Brothers) Budget: N/A. Domestic Gross: $295.0Total: $955.4M Verdict: Blockbuster. MEGAMIND (DreamWorks) Budget: $130M. Domestic Gross: $148.4M Total: $321.9M Verdict: Made Money. BURLESQUE (Screen Gems) Budget: $55M. Domestic Gross: $39.4M Total: $89.5M Verdict: Flop. LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS (20th Century Fox) Budget: $30M. Domestic Gross: $32.4M Total: $102.8M Verdict: Hit. TANGLED (Disney) Budget: $260M. Domestic Gross: $200.8M Total: $590.7M Verdict: Broke Even. THE KING’S SPEECH (Weinstein) Budget: $15M. Domestic Gross: $138.8M Total: $414.2M Verdict: Blockbuster. DUE DATE (Warner Brothers) Budget: $65M. Domestic Gross: $100.5M Total: $211.8M Verdict: Hit. MORNING GLORY (Paramount) Budget: $40M Domestic Gross: $30.0M Total: $58.8M Verdict: Flop. UNSTOPPABLE (20^th Century Fox) Budget: $100M Domestic Gross: $81.6M Total: $167.8M Verdict: Flop.

DECEMBER

The month of December brings fierce competition for the box office dollar, as Hollywood usually releases their big guns. Christmas Day is almost always a big one for movie releases although with it falling on a Saturday this year, there is far more activity going on the preceding Wednesday. Nothing goes with Holiday shopping like an evening at the movie theater as a way to blow off the stress of hitting the malls. Studios are also very well aware that they have to release their films at least in New York and Los Angeles before the end of the month to qualify for Oscar contention, and some of these will hit general release in January.

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL

RELEASE DATE: December 21, 2011

STUDIO: Paramount

STARRING: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Lea Seydoux, Josh Holloway, Vladimir Mashkov, Anil Kapoor, Tom Wilkinson, Ving Rhames

STORY: The IMF is closed down after a bombing of the Kremlin is blamed on them. Ethan Hunt and his team must go deep underground to find out what really happened and clear the IMF’s name before they are captured and executed as terrorists.

PROSPECTS: The first three movies in the series have all been big box office bonanzas. This is the closest to an American James Bond as we’ve ever gotten and while the movies don’t have the suave coolness of either Bond or the original TV series, the quick pacing and spectacular action scenes pack in the crowds. Producer J.J. Abrams is a hot commodity right now.

OBSTACLES: Cruise no longer has the box office draw he once did, and is getting a little long in the tooth for these sorts of roles besides.

FACTOID: Director Brad Bird is better known as a director of animated features for Pixar such as The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

DRUID RITES

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

RELEASE DATE: December 23, 2011

STUDIO: Paramount

STARRING: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook, Cary Elwes, Alex Hyde-White

STORY: Teen reporter Tintin finds himself having the adventure of a lifetime when he discovers a map to a lost  treasure ship.

PROSPECTS: Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg together? Talk about a dream team! The Tintin comics by Herge are beloved the world over.

OBSTACLES: Motion capture has simply failed to catch on. Tintin is not a well-known commodity inside the United States.

FACTOID: Although the movie once carried the subtitle “The Curse of the Unicorn,” it is actually an amalgam of four different Tintin stories.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS

RELEASE DATE: December 16, 2011

STUDIO: Warner Brothers

STARRING: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Eddie Marsan, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry, Rachel McAdams, Geraldine James, Kelly Reilly

STORY: The great detective goes up against his arch-nemesis, Professor James Moriarty in a lethal game of murder and intrigue. Holmes must find a way to win this game or the very course of history may be changed.

PROSPECTS: Downey is rapidly becoming one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. The first Holmes opus was one of the highest grossing movies of 2009. Adding the Swedish star of the Millennium trilogy (i.e. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) adds cachet.

OBSTACLES: I don’t get a sense that there is a great deal of anticipation for this movie the way I did with the first one. Movies that mess with history can really turn audiences off.

FACTOID: Downey and Harris both appeared together in the Oliver Stone film Natural Born Killers.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

RELEASE DATE: December 21, 2011

STUDIO: Columbia

STARRING: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Joely Richardson, Embeth Davidtz, Joel Kinnaman, Goran Visnjic, Geraldine James, Julian Sands

STORY: A disgraced journalist preparing to begin a jail sentence after being convicted of libel undertakes the investigation of the disappearance of a young girl forty years earlier at the behest of her Uncle, the head of a powerful industrial family in Sweden. The journalist is aided by a computer hacker and security specialist who has quite a few skeletons in her own closet..

PROSPECTS: The books and resulting films were wildly popular in Europe and critically acclaimed here. Given some of the twisted aspects of the plot, David Fincher is the perfect choice to direct..

OBSTACLES: The book is more raw than American audiences are used to, with a graphic rape and twisted familial relationships that push the boundaries. How these will translate to an American holiday audience is a bit of a gamble.

FACTOID: The stars of the Swedish version of the film, Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist, are appearing in competing films opening this month (Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol respectively). Interestingly enough, both films are sequels.

SKYCLAD

THE IRON LADY

RELEASE DATE: December 16, 2011

STUDIO: Weinstein

STARRING: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Roger Allam, Anthony Head, Richard E. Grant, Harry Lloyd, Olivia Colman, Susan Brown

STORY: The story of Margaret Thatcher, the steely British Prime Minister of the 1980s, comes to life on the screen.

PROSPECTS: Streep’s performance is said to be Oscar-worthy. Last year, Weinstein opened The King’s Speech in a limited run (as they are here) and it didn’t do too badly.

OBSTACLES: Does anyone really want to see a movie about Margaret Thatcher? Director Phyllida Lloyd is better known for directing musicals and stage productions. Is she up for the challenge of a major Oscar contender?

FACTOID: To prepare for the role, Streep attended a session of the House of Commons, visited Lady Thatcher’s childhood home and spoke with her daughter.

CHANTS

DECEMBER 2, 2011

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (Oscilloscope Laboratories) is about a mother (Tilda Swinton) trying to cope after her 15-year-old son commits a heinous act. While this is currently listed as a wide release, please note that this particular distributor has never opened a film in anything other than a limited release so do take that into account. CORIOLANUS (Weinstein), opening in limited release, is an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays and stars and is directed by Ralph Fiennes.

DECEMBER 9, 2011

NEW YEAR’S EVE (New Line) is a companion piece to Valentine’s Day. Like in that holiday-themed romantic comedy, a number of different characters prepare for the oncoming celebration, only this time in New York City and in particular Times Square. An all-star cast headlines.  THE SITTER (20th Century Fox) will remind some of Adventures in Babysitting as a college dropout slacker, living at home with mom, is talked into babysitting a trio of wild, spunky kids next door. The aforementioned slacker is played by Jonah Hill.

DECEMBER 16, 2011

YOUNG ADULT (Paramount) is the latest from screenwriter Diablo Cody. Here, a successful writer of young adult fiction returns home to relive her glory days and maybe, persuade the happily married love of her life to turn his attentions to her. This is opening in limited release the previous weekend. ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS – CHIPWRECKED (20th Century Fox) is yet another reason I’m so very grateful our son is grown and childless for the moment. CARNAGE (Sony Classics) opens in limited release. It is the newest film from legendary director Roman Polanski and depicts two sets of parents whose children got into an altercation, getting together to discuss the matter. Unfortunately, events spiral out of control and descend into something more horrible.

DECEMBER 23, 2011

IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY (FilmDistrict) is directed by Angelina Jolie and is an unblinking, unromantic view of the Bosnian War of the 1990s and is enacted entirely with local performers. WE BOUGHT A ZOO (20^th Century Fox) is a true account of how a family bought a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. It’s a difficult enough task to refurbish the zoo for re-opening that becomes doubly hard when the mother contracts brain cancer. Matt Damon stars.

DECEMBER 25, 2011

THE DARKEST HOUR (Summit) stars Emile Hirsch as an American tourist trapped in Moscow when an alien invasion of strange electric creatures decimates the city. Timur Bekmambetov, the visionary Russian director of Wanted and Night Watch, produced.

DECEMBER 28, 2011

WAR HORSE (DreamWorks) chronicles the adventures of a horse during World War I as he changes the lives of all he encounters, from a trainer on a bucolic English farm to an English cavalry officer, a German soldier, a French farmer and his granddaughter. Steven Spielberg directs.

DECEMBER 30, 2011

A SEPARATION (Sony Classics), opening in limited release, examines an Iranian couple who are torn apart by the strife in the country and by the grandfather’s battle with Alzheimer’s Disease..

HOW THEY DID LAST YEAR

TRON: LEGACY (Disney) Budget: $170M. Domestic Gross: $172.1M Total: $400.1M Verdict: Made a little money. THE FIGHTER (Paramount) Budget: $25M. Domestic Gross: $93.6M Total: $129.2M Verdict: Blockbuster. GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (20th Century Fox) Budget: $112M. Domestic Gross: $42.8M Total: $237.4M Verdict: Broke Even. SOMEWHERE (Focus) Budget: $7M. Domestic Gross: $1.8M Total: $13.4M Verdict: Broke Even. TRUE GRIT (Paramount) Budget: $38M. Domestic Gross: $171.1M Total: $250.9M Verdict: Blockbuster. LITTLE FOCKERS (Universal) Budget: $100M. Domestic Gross: $148.4M Total: $310.7M Verdict: Hit. THE TOURIST (Columbia) Budget: $100M. Domestic Gross: $67.6M Total: $278.4M Verdict: Made Money. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER (Fox Walden) Budget: $155M. Domestic Gross: $104.4M Total: $415.7 Verdict: Made Money. HOW DO YOU KNOW (Columbia) Budget: $120M. Domestic Gross: $30.2M Total: $48.7M Verdict: Flop. YOGI BEAR (Warner Brothers) Budget: $80M. Domestic Gross: $100.3M Total: $201.6M Verdict: Made Money.

So that’s our fall preview. As you can see, there are plenty of different choices competing for your entertainment dollar, so choose wisely. As always, be aware that release dates are subject to change, particularly the farther out you go so be sure and check your local listings before going out to the multiplex. So even though 2011 is grinding to a close, there are some interesting projects going on scheduled for release next year and you can check out some of them in our 2012 preview, due out at the end of December. Thanks for reading and see you at the movies!