A lot of the internet reading I do is focused around casting rumors and trailers and what movies have been green lit and what movies are stuck in development hell. I thought that I would start to share that in a look forward at what is coming to theaters next month. There are a lot of good movies that can get passed over or missed because their marketing campaigns just don’t reach you. Here are the movies coming out next month that you might be interested in spending some money on.
December 3rd
I Love You Philip Morris- This is being released this date in New York, LA and San Francisco. Though it was made in 2009 and has been released in parts of Asia and Europe, this movie has been struggling to get a release in the US and has been pushed back several times. At one point it was re-edited to make it less ‘risque’ in the hopes of finding a distributor. It stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor in a bizarre based on true life love story. After a car crash Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) gives up on his married life as a police officer and decides that he’s going to live an indulgent, extravagant life as a gay conman in Miami. Eventually, this leads him to being arrested and meeting Philip Morris (Ewan McGregor) in prison – falling madly in love with him. This leads to a series of risks andimprobably cons that Russell undertakes to stay with Morris.
Black Swan- Another limited release, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder. This is a movie about ballet in a New York City production of Swan Lake.Before some of you check out, however, please note that this is directed by Darren Aronofsky, so this is not just a movie about dancing. The production needs the same dancer to play the innocent White Swan and the seductive Black Swan. Portman’s character Nina andKinus’ character Lily are both vying for the role and come into competition for it, finding themselves in an friendship that grows more and more strange as Nina discovers a dark side within herself.
The Warrior’s Way- I only just saw the first ads for this movie the other day and it looks fantastic. This is a martial arts/western (which is a cross over you don’t see that often) starring Korean actor Dong-gun Jang who plays an Asian warrior assassin forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands after he refuses to kill the last member of a tribe. Also in the movie is Geoffry Rush, Kate Bosworth and Danny Huston. I want to check this out because I honestly cannot remember the last time I saw an actual martial arts western. I’ve them adapted into each other more than once but this has a much different look than you’d expect.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader-This is another movie, sort of like Harry Potter, in that you likely already know if you’re going to see it or not. The previous Narnia movies have been very pretty but I’ve felt they were a little lacking in substance for all that. For all that, this was one of my favorite Narnia books – Edmund and Lucy Pevensie and the unfortunately named Eustace Scrubb are pulled into Narnia to accompany Price Caspian to the edges of the land in order to save Narnia. The trailers look very beautiful andthis will likely be an excellent choice for those of you with children.
The Tourist- This stars Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. As if that weren’t enough, it also has Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell and Timothy Dalton in it, which virtually puts my money in the theater’s hands. The plot is relatively straightforward. Frank (played by Johnny Depp) is a tourist in Europe. Elise (played by Angelina Jolie) is wanted by several government agencies. She runs across his path and decides to use him as a distraction for those government agencies. The trailers make it look interesting and Johnny Depp hasn’t had many chances to play an understated character in awhile.
The Fighter- This starts as a limited release and goes into wide release on the 17th. Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams star in this movie about a boxer’s quest to become the lightweight champion of the world. Dicky Eklund (Bale) was a boxer until he ended up in prison. He, eventually, turned his life around and helped his under-performing brother, Mickey, (Whalberg) find the spark for a remarkable run. This film is David O Russell and Wahlberg’s third film together, the other two collaborations being Three Kingsand I Heart Huckabees. Wahlberg trained for two years to get into the proper shape to play Micky Ward. I’m a fan of Bale andfind myself slowly coming to appreciate Wahlberg as well, making this something that I’ll try to catch before it leaves theaters.
The Tempest – This starts as a limited release and goes into wide release on the 17th. This production of The Tempesthas been getting a lot of word of mouth going. Director Julie Taymor changes the lead character Prospero’s gender, making her Prospera played by Helen Mirren. The visuals look stunning and the cast also includes Alan Cumming, Djimon Hounsou, and Alfred Molina, leading me to believe that this will be one of the stronger film adaptations of this Shakespearean play.
December 17th
Tron: Legacy- Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) goes looking for his dad Kevin (Jeff Bridges) and gets pulled into a digital world, meeting Quorra(Olivia Wilde). Together, the three of them try to get Kevin out of the virtual world he’s been stuck in for twenty years. As with most sequels, you likely know if you’re interested in it by whether or not you liked the first movie. While the original certainly has flaws, there is a core idea about being immersed virtual world that has fascinated since computers started being powerful enough for us to dream about the idea. The soundtrack by Daft Punk and the completely gorgeous special effects are just icing on the cake. I’m expecting to see this one more than once in the theaters.
Yogi Bear- I’m not entirely certain what to say about this movie. Something about how this has been marketed, has just been creeping me out from the beginning. Still, there were a few jokes that made me laugh during the trailer, so it could be worth it. Dan Akroyd is Yogi and Justin Timberlake is Boo Boo. The plot is a pretty typical one for this sort of movie and really reminds me of something from my childhood. The park is being shut down to a lack of money, so Yogi and Boo Boo have to get creative so the park doesn’t get closed and they don’t lose the only home they’ve ever known.
December 22nd
True Grit- The Coen brothers seem to have a good feel for this sort of movie and while I’m usually against remakes, it seems like this one will approach the source material from a different angle. From the trailers, it seems this version is sticking a little more closely to the original source material (the novel by Charles Portis) than the first movie starring John Wayne (for which he received an Academy Award) did. The plot is Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a 14-year-old girl, undertakes a quest to avenge her father’s death at the hands of a drifter named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Ross persuades an alcoholic marshal named Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to join her, all while a Texas Ranger (Matt Damon) is tracking him for the murder of another man.
Gulliver’s Travels- This is a ‘contemporary re-imagining’ of the classic story. In this case, I assume that means they’ve added a bunch of Jack Black style jokes for Jack Black to tell. Gulliver is a mailroom clerk who is mistakenly assigned a travel piece on the Bermuda Triangle. Once there, things get strange and he ends up in a land where he is a literal giant – Liliput. This is director Rob Letterman’s third movie, his first two being Shark Tale and Monsters vs. Aliens.
Only two movies there that I don’t care about, YOGI and anything with Jack Black. The others are ones I really want to see with highlights being TRON, TRUE GRIT, and BLACK SWAN. The latter for multitude reasons.