December Preview:

December finds us in the heat of the Holiday Movie Season, as a selection of the year's biggest movies outside of the Summer make their way into theaters to take advantage of the Holiday Break and family outings to the movies.  There's usually a slight slant toward family entertainment this time of year (although not necessarily, as we may see this year), as well as larger movies that may have awards season hopes.  Among the December movies of most note this year include the second part of Peter Jackson's epic trilogy adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG; ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, the sequel to the 2004 comedy cult classic; SAVING MR. BANKS, Disney's Oscar-hopeful of the behind-the-scenes story of adapting P.L. Travers' children's book, Mary Poppins; and a couple of Oscar-heavyweight glitzy period-crime films, David O. Russell's AMERICAN HUSTLE and Martin Scorcese's THE WOLF OF WALL STREET.

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG    (FANTASY/ACTION-ADVENTURE)
Opening December 13th
Starring: Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lily, Luke Evans, Mikael Persbrandt, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch
PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.
Peter Jackson continues his three-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, following his $1 billion-grossing first part from last year, as the Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), the titular hobbit, continues his journey with the band of dwarves to reclaim their homeland of Erebor, currently held in the greedy possession of the dragon Smaug.  Meanwhile, Gandalf (Ian McKellen), their wizard counsel, is taken away to investigate the Necromancer, as mysteriously introduced in the first part.  THE LORD OF THE RINGS-favorite Legolas (Orlando Bloom) makes a return as one of the Elves of Mirkwood, who the band of dwarves encounter on less than friendly terms, and the action quotient appears higher this time which can only be a good thing, following the "dinner party in real time scene" of the first film.  I think that now we can be assured that this isn't quite LOTR, but that's okay, as long as it's a decent adventure on its own terms, and better than its part-one predecessor.

TYLER PERRY'S A MADEA CHRISTMAS    (COMEDY/DRAMA)
Opening December 13th
Starring: Tyler Perry, Chad Michael Murray, Tika Sumpter, Kathy Najimy, Larry the Cable Guy
PG-13 for sexual references, crude humor and language.
Tyler Perry returns as his trademark character, loud-talking "mad black woman" Madea, this time taking a trip to the country with a friend to see her friend's estranged daughter a surprise visit over the holidays.  Naturally, relationship revelations arise and Madea dispenses her take-no-prisoners form of urban wisdom.  If you liked the previous Madea films, I'm sure you'll like this one, but their hardly art, are they?

ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES    (COMEDY)
Opening December 18th
Starring: Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Kristen Wiig, Fred Willard, James Marsden, Harrison Ford, Vince Vaughn
PG-13 for crude and sexual content, drug use, language and comic violence.
The Channel 4 News Team is getting back together for the 24-hour cable news circuit, anchored by the legendary Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), as they get into 1980s New York-style hijinks.  The plot is probably minimal, to make way for the jokes, which, with a PG-13 rating, won't be quite as wild as those in the Unrated DVD that made the original a post-theatrical release hit, but expect plenty of stupidity, vulgarity and political incorrectness regardless.  There aren't really any great sequels to comedies though, so we'll just have to wait and see how this super-hyped comedy pseudo-epic turns out.


AMERICAN HUSTLE    (CRIME DRAMA)
Opening Nationwide December 20th
Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner
R for pervasive language, some sexual content and brief violence. 
This fictional ensemble crime drama from Oscar-darling David O. Russell stars Christian Bale as a brilliant conman forced to cooperate with Bradley Cooper as a wild-card FBI agent in infiltrating the world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia in the 1970s, as politics and heated relationships play into the mix.  Glitzy, glamorous and with a spectacular cast of Russell's latest greatest hits (Lawrence won an Oscar for Russell's SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, alongside Cooper and Robert De Niro; Bale won an Oscar in Russell's THE FIGHTER, alongside Adams), this will probably be a strong, if "honorary" presence at the coming awards season, and will hopefully be a novel yet familiar crime story.

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS 3D    (ADVENTURE/FAMILY)
Opening December 20th
Starring: Justin Long (voice), John Leguizamo (voice), Tiya Sircar (voice), Skyler Stone (voice)
PG for creature action and peril, and mild rude humor.
Inspired by the 1999 BBC documentary miniseries Walking With Dinosaurs, this family feature starring computer-animated dinosaur characters over live-action footage tells the story of three Pachyrhinosaurus, each accompanied by voice-over narratives, as the grow up and become leaders of the herd during the Late Cretaceous Period.  By the time this one comes out, Disney's family film juggernaut FROZEN will have well wound down, so it may be a decent option for family audiences, but frankly, it looks like little more than a semi-interesting trifle.

SAVING MR. BANKS    (DRAMA/COMEDY)
Opening Nationwide December 20
Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell, Jason Schwarztman, B.J. Novak
PG-13 for thematic elements including some unsettling images. 
Based on the true-life events behind the making of Walt Disney's classic 1964 Academy Award-winner MARY POPPINS, this film is the story of how Walt Disney (played by Tom Hanks) courted Mrs. P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) for the right to adapt her book, Mary Poppins, for film.  This is the first real awards season-bait that Disney has released as a "Disney" film in quite a while (the only one in recent memory), but is also likely to do pretty strong business with older families, as a feel-good, PG-13-rated Disney dramedy.  I don't think it will do well for the "big awards," I don't think the Hollywood elite take it seriously enough for those, but it has a good shot at a pair of Oscars (nominations at the very least) for its two stars.  It doesn't look like that serious, complex look at these two persons that it could be, but its apparently easygoing gait gives it a wider appeal, and it looks like a nice feel-good film.

47 RONIN    (ACTION-ADVENTURE/FANTASY)
Opening December 25th
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada
PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, and thematic elements.
A fantastical take on the national legend of Japan, the Forty-Seven Ronin, rogue samurai in Feudal Japan, seeking honor through vengeance after a cruel lord kills their master and has them banished, this film has had a disastrous production history, initially intended for release in November 2012, and then this past February, before finally being completed ahead of time for this Christmas.  It would have been cool to have a big-budget samurai adventure film, but unfortunately, this doesn't look like the one we want, starring Keanu Reeves has a half-English/half-Japanese samurai, because there has to be a half-white guy for us to focus on, and after being apparently mismanaged by a first-time director, then heavily edited and re-shot under studio instructions, this just doesn't seem worth the time.

GRUDGE MATCH    (SPORTS ACTION-COMEDY)
Opening December 25th
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin, Kim Basinger
PG-13 for sports action violence, sexual content and language.
The "senior citizen comedy" seems to be a bit of a rising sub-genre of film lately, this following last month's LAST VEGAS (also starring De Niro), and there's also a trend of old-school action stars sending up their cinematic reputations, and GRUDGE MATCH is combining both trends.  Stallone and De Niro, each famous for their roles in boxing movies, ROCKY and RAGING BULL, respectively, star as washed-up boxing icons who re-enter the ring after thirty years, to finally settle a botched match for the title.  Expect plenty of GRUMPY OLD MEN-style jokes about medications, hip replacements and erectile dysfunction, but probably an okay, if unremarkable, comedy/homage.


THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY    (COMEDY-DRAMA/ADVENTURE)
Opening December 25th
Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Sean Penn
PG for some crude comments, language and action violence.
Based on the classic short story by James Thurber, Walter Mitty (Stiller, who also directs) is a milquetoast desk jockey who daydreams of grand adventure, and is now thrust into a global-scale adventure to find a missing picture needed for the final issue of Life magazine, where he works.  The early reports from film festivals have been divisive, with some loving it and others thoroughly underwhelmed, with a majority of the latter.  Stiller's directed some pretty good stuff like TROPIC THUNDER, but this is slightly more serious fare than he's dealt with in the past, which could produce an issue, but the advertising is mostly focused on the film's hallucinogen-style imagery.  With a surprise PG-rating though, it could be a decent draw for families.

JUSTIN BIEBER'S BELIEVE    (CONCERT/DOCUMENTARY)
Opening December 25th
Starring: Justin  Bieber
PG for brief language and mild thematic material.
This concert-documentary about the "behind-the-scenes" life of pop star Justin Bieber knows the audience it's aiming for, and it simply doesn't care if you're one of the naysayers.  Personally, I have nothing against Bieber, except that he's Canadian, but we should pity him for that.  He's not a uniquely negative influence on his youth audience, and at least on occasion, he seems to have a decent sense of self-deprecating humor.  Either way, this is an obvious case of a film that you already know whether or not you'll like it.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET    (BIOPIC/CRIME-COMEDY)
Opening December 25th
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill
R for sequences of strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language throughout, and for some violence. 
After a botched initial release date from November 15, due to an excessive running time of early cuts and difficulty in editing the film to avoid an undesirable NC-17 rating, Martin Scorcese's biographical epic black comedy about Jordan Belfort, a New York stockbroker swept up in a huge Wall Street corruption case in which he refuses to cooperate, is finally coming out Christmas Day.  This one looks excellent, full of caustic humor and moral depravity, like a GOODFELLAS of our day when Wall Street irresponsibility appears so frequently in the news.  Leo will probably be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar again, too (no, of course he won't win).