Serious Films:
Plot
Summary: Rodney and is older brother Russell live in the depressed Rust
Belt, always dreaming of finding a way to escape. But, Russell ends up in
prison and Rodney is drawn into a life of crime with some rough people. Russell
finally gets out of prison, but finds that his brother has mysteriously
disappeared and the police are incapable of helping. Now, he must take things
into his own hands, risking his newfound freedom. Filmmakers:
Out of the Furnace is writer-director Scott Cooper’s follow-up to his
feature debut Crazy
Heart, and like that film it looks to be a strong performance-based drama.
He is working with composer Dickon Hinchliffe
(Rampart),
cinematographer Masanobu
Takayanagi (Silver
Linings Playbook), and production designer Therese DePrez
(Stoker).
Cast: The film stars Christian
Bale, and features supporting work from Zoe Saldana, Woody Harrelson,
Sam Shepard,
Willem Dafoe,
Forrest
Whitaker, Casey
Affleck, and Boyd Holbrook.
Expectations: Out of the Furnace looks like
a potentially fantastic character crime drama. If nothing else can be said
about Crazy Heart, it does feature a strong leading performance, and the same
is true of this film. Christian Bale is brilliant in it. The film is a slow
burning exercise in great character development and the use of tension. It is
not going to work for everyone, but for those looking for a drama built on
performances and a darkly simmering tone Out of the Furnace is well worth
checking out. Bale will likely either get nominated for this or American Hustle.
Trailer: Here.
Plot
Summary: Walt Disney wishes to adapt the novel Mary Poppins for his
latest live-action feature. However, to do so he must work with its difficult
author P.L. Travers. Filmmakers: Director
John Lee Hancock continues his trend of adapting true-life stories. This is his
fourth in a row (following The Rookie, The Alamo,
and The Blind
Side – which I am still highly perplexed by its nomination for Best
Picture). He is working with great composer Thomas Newman (Skyfall),
cinematographer John
Schwartzman (The
Amazing Spider-Man), and production designer Michael Corenblith
(Frost/Nixon).
Cast: The film stars Emma Thompson
and Tom Hanks,
while featuring Colin
Farrell, Ruth
Wilson, Paul
Giamatti, Jason
Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford,
Rachel
Griffths, and B.J. Novak
in support. Expectations: Saving Mr. Banks
is another film that should be in the awards season discussion, though I
suspect it will only see nominations (if any) in acting categories. As a
life-long fan of Disney’s movies (including Mary Poppins), I
am interested in this just to discover the behind the scenes story (of course
taking it with a grain of salt, as it has no doubt been dramatized to make a
better film). But that is really where my interest stops. John Lee Hancock is
not a particularly great director. Sure, he is adequate. He delivers films that
stylistically feel very Hollywood, sugar-coated, and smarmy – and rather
sickeningly fake. He has never made a great film (or even a good film) and I do
not anticipate that will change with this. Although, Emma Thompson and Tom
Hanks should do great things with their characters Travers and Disney, which
might be enough to make it a decent light character drama. Trailer: Here.
Action/Adventure:
Plot
Summary: Following the events of The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, and the
dwarves continue their quest to reclaim Erebor (the dwarves’ homeland). The
problem is that it is presently inhabited by the dragon Smaug. Filmmakers: Writer-director Peter Jackson and his
team from the first film (and The
Lord of the Rings series) return behind the camera. Cast: Returning cast members include Martin Freeman,
Richard
Armitage, Hugo
Weaving, Ian
McKellen, Christopher
Lee, Andy
Serkis, James
Nesbitt, Ian
Holm, and Cate
Blanchett, while Benedict
Cumberbatch (voicing Smaug), Evangeline Lilly,
Orlando Bloom,
Luke Evans,
Lee Pace,
Stephen Fry,
Billy
Connolly, and Manu Bennett
join the cast. Expectations: An Unexpected
Journey was what fans of the series expected and served as a good beginning to
this new trilogy (but did not play as well for general audiences – and is the
weakest of all the Middle Earth films by Peter Jackson et al). The Desolation
of Smaug looks to be even better as it gets more into the heart of the story
and action (much in the same way The
Two Towers was more engaging than The Fellowship of the Ring). This will
likely be the biggest box office film of the month. Trailer:
Here.
Plot
Summary: Walter Mitty is a day-dreamer, always dreaming of adventure but
never doing anything. Finally, when his boring life is uprooted by his job
disappearing, he decides to take a global journey that turns into something
incredible. Filmmakers: Director Ben Stiller
has made some under the radar cult films like Reality Bites,
The Cable Guy,
and Zoolander,
and then had a bigger hit with Tropic Thunder
more recently. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is his most ambitious to date (and
it also looks like his best). He is working with composer Theodore Shapiro
(who also scored Tropic Thunder), cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh
(The Painted
Veil), and production designer Jeff Mann (who
worked on Tropic Thunder as well). Cast: Ben
Stiller also stars with Kristen Wiig,
Sean Penn,
Kathryn Hahn,
Adam Scott,
Shirley
MacLaine, and Patton Oswalt
in support. Expectations: The teaser
trailer for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is incredible – almost to the
extent where I cannot imagine the film actually living up to it (but I hope I
am wrong). The film looks very ambitious, which is great but also presents the
high probability that it does not come-off. It could very well be the next
great ‘grand story epic’ following in the footsteps of David
Fincher’s The Curious Case
of Benjamin Button, but I am subduing my expectations because I just do not
see that happening (even with its brilliant teaser). The potential is there
though. Trailer: Here.
Comedy:
Plot
Summary: It is the 1980s, a time of 24-hour news. Only one man is truly
up to the challenge: Ron Burgundy. San Diego’s top rated news-team is off to
New York. Filmmakers: This is
writer-director Adam McKay and writer-star Will Ferrell’s
fifth film together – however their last, The
Other Guys, was easily their worst. Hopefully, Anchorman 2 will recapture
the magic of Anchorman:
The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega
Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and Step Brothers
(my personal favorite). McKay is working again with producer Judd Apatow, cinematographer
Oliver Wood,
and production designer Clayton Hartley.
New to the team are composers Andrew Feltenstein
and John
Nau (Bachelorette).
Cast: In addition to Will Ferrell, Paul
Rudd, Steve
Carell, Vince
Vaughn, Christina
Applegate, David
Koechner, and Fred Willard
return. Featuring in supporting and cameo roles are Harrison Ford,
Jim Carrey,
Kristen Wiig,
Liam Neeson,
Nicole Kidman,
Kirsten Dunst,
James Marsden,
Sacha Baron
Cohen, Amy
Poehler, Tina
Fey, Meagan
Good, John
C. Reilly, Greg
Kinnear, Kanye
West, and Dylan
Baker. Expectations: Anchorman 2 carries
with it almost unattainable expectations, as Anchorman has become a comedy cult
phenomenon. There is almost no way the jokes in this will be as good – right? I
am afraid that this will end up just being a joke-by-joke retreading of the
original film, when hopefully it will instead try to be as different and
comically groundbreaking as possible (but still with some throwbacks, of
course). It looks kind of funny in the previews, but nothing amazing (but that
could be because they are saving the good stuff for the film – which I hope is
the case). 2013’s best comedy so far is either This
Is the End or The
World’s End, but Anchorman 2 is definitely in the hunt. Trailer: Here.
Grudge Match (Peter Segal) – Sports Comedy –
Dec 25
Plot
Summary: Rivals Henry ‘Razor’ Sharp and Billy ‘The Kid’ McDonnen were
boxers at the top of their game thirty years ago, each winning a head-to-head
bout. But, they never got to fight a third and deciding time – until now. Filmmakers: Comedy director Peter Segal makes
generic films, mostly starring Adam Sandler – but
he did direct Tommy
Boy. He is working with composer Trevor Rabin
(who scored Get
Smart for Segal), cinematographer Dean Semler (Date Night),
and production designer Wynn Thomas
(who also worked on Get Smart). Cast: Sylvester Stallone
and Robert De
Niro star, while Jon Bernthal,
Kim Basinger,
Kevin Hart,
and Alan Arkin
feature in support. Expectations: Grudge
Match looks like an okay sports comedy – basically it is just a rehashing of
any washed-up athlete who gives it one more shot narrative (The Rookie, Mr 3000, Rocky Balboa,
among others). The only reason to have any interest in this is because it stars
Rocky
and Kevin Hart is funny and on a roll right now. At best, this is a rental. Trailer: Here.
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