Holiday films offer a whale of a season
Contrary to popular belief, 2015's holiday season offers more movies than “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Hard to believe, I know. But it's true.
With “Star Wars” promotions hitting us from every conceivable sector (with help from General Mills, HP, Subway, Verizon, the Disney Store and a kajillion others), we might forget about Spike Lee's hotly controversial Chicago-shot drama “Chi-Raq,” or Quentin Tarantino's 70 mm. western “The Hateful Eight,” or Ron Howard's “Moby Dick” survival tale “In the Heart of the Sea.”
We can't let “Star Wars” overshadow everything else.
It's just “STAR WARS.”
And “Star Wars” has already made enough media impressions to last a millennium Falcon.
So, if you want to see something besides “Star Wars,” here comes the Daily Herald's 36th annual Holiday Movie Preview.
Remember, not all release dates are set in carbonite.
Except for “Star Wars.”
Nov. 25
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“Creed”</b> - Good buzz for Sylvester Stallone's performance as Rocky Balboa, now the trainer for the up-and-coming boxer son (Michael B. Jordan) of the late Apollo Creed. The seventh Rocky movie, and the first not written by series creator Stallone.
<b>“The Good Dinosaur”</b> - Does every little boy fantasize about befriending a dinosaur? It happens for Spot (Jack Bright), a Neanderthal who finds the frightened dino Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) lost miles away from his parents (Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand). A Pixar production.
<b>“Legend”</b> - The never-less-than-amazing Tom Hardy plays both of the infamous Kray twins, feared English gangsters and organized crime leaders in the East End of London during the 1950s and 1960s. Brian Helgeland directs this crime thriller.
<b>“Victor Frankenstein”</b> - From Harry Potter to Igor? Daniel Radcliffe plays the assistant to Dr. Frankenstein (James McAvoy) in this retelling of Mary Shelley's literary classic, now told from Igor's perspective.
Nov. 27
<b>“The Wonders”</b> - There's this girl named Gelsomina whose isolated life on the Tuscan countryside is rudely interrupted by the arrivals of a teenage farmhand and a reality TV show host (Monica Bellucci) interested in covering the girl's family of beekeepers.
Dec. 4
<b>“Chi-Raq”</b> - Iconic independent filmmaker Spike “Do the Right Thing” Lee presents his highly controversial Chicago-shot tale of South Side violence, but, based on the classic, ancient Greek play “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes. Nick Cannon, John Cusack, Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson star.
<b>“The Forbidden Room”</b> - Experimental filmmaker Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson create a work that takes us “around the world, and into dreamscapes, spinning tales of amnesia, captivity, deception and murder, skeleton women and vampire bananas.” Does it have a peel?
<b>“Krampus”</b> - “It's Christmas!” Linda tells little Max. “Nothing bad's going to happen on Christmas!” Except that the demonic Krampus - the Mr. Hyde to Santa's Dr. Jekyll - comes to wipe out Max's dysfunctional family for not properly embracing the holiday spirit. Toni Collette, Adam Scott and David Koechner star in this scare tale, based on real Alpine folklore.
<b>“Theeb”</b> - Two Bedouin brothers get involved with Ottoman Empire mercenaries, Arab revolutionaries and outcast Bedouin raiders. All they wanted to do was help a British army officer find a water well on the way to Mecca.
Dec. 11
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“The Big Short”</b> - How could a book detailing the financial crash of 2008 become an engaging work of drama? Here's how. Adam McKay directs a comical adaptation of Michael Lewis' 2010 book following several men who predicted the American economy's collapse, and, unlike the rest of the nation, prepared for it. Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Selena Gomez and Margot Robbie star.
<b>“The Danish Girl”</b> - This year's Oscar-winning best actor Eddie Redmayne stars in this bio-drama about a groundbreaking transgender figure, Lili Elbe (Redmayne), whose artist wife (Alicia Vikander) stood by her husband, Einar Wegener, during his transition from man to woman. Tom “The King's Speech” Hooper directs.
<b>“In the Heart of the Sea”</b> - Ron Howard directs a revenge tale based on the true account of the incident that inspired Herman Melville's “Moby Dick.” What happened after the giant whale sank the whaling ship Essex? Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson star.
<b>“Youth”</b> - Aging friends, a composer and a filmmaker, discover that important experiences come later in life when they take a Swiss Alps vacation together. Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel star, along with Rachel Weisz and Jane Fonda.
Dec. 18
<b>“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip”</b> - Alvin, Simon and Theodore spring into action to stop their human manager Dave (Jason Lee) from proposing to his girlfriend, gaining a bad brother-in-law and dumping the Chipmunks.
<b>“Flowers”</b> - The compassionate reverberations of a simple kind act become the focus of this drama, about how bouquets of roses from an anonymous source quietly impact lives following tragedy.
<b>“Sisters”</b> - The dynamic duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler play sisters who, once they find out their parents' house is on the market, decide to party hardy one more time in their childhood home. With Kate McKinnon, Dianne Wiest, Maya Rudolph and Rachel Dratch.
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“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”</b> - Mount your Tauntaun! Time for what promises to be the single biggest motion picture premiere of the 21st century! (Until the next “Star Wars” movie?) Original stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew reunite for the seventh major “Star Wars” movie, set three decades after the events of “Return of the Jedi.” Even original score composer John Williams is back!
Dec. 25
<b>“Carol”</b> - Todd Haynes directs the 1952 story (based on Patricia Highsmith's novel “The Price of Salt”) of a New York photographer (Rooney Mara) who falls for a married woman (Cate Blanchett). Shot on Super 16 mm.
<b>“Concussion”</b> - Will Smith stars in this fact-based “man against the system” drama, about the forensic pathologist whose research on the brain damage suffered by professional football players is suppressed by the National Football League. With Alec Baldwin and Albert Brooks.
<b>“Daddy's Home”</b> - It's Dad vs. Stepdad when a mild-mannered radio executive and stepfather (Will Ferrell) must compete for the affections of his stepchildren when their biological father (Mark Wahlberg) arrives on the scene.
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“The Hateful Eight”</b> - Quentin Tarantino shot this violent western on old-fashioned 70 mm. film stock. So, 100 American theaters will show it on refurbished 70 mm. projectors, and some critics are dubious that today's digital projectionists won't be able to handle the old process. (Don't worry. A digital version premieres Jan. 8.) In the story, eight strangers wind up crammed into a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass during a blizzard. It doesn't end well. Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern star.
<b>“Hitchcock/Truffaut”</b> - A Christmas Day treat for movie buffs. French New Wave director Francois Truffaut persuaded the Master of Suspense to sit down for a weeklong interview. Alfred Hitchcock spilled his beans. This film is based upon recordings from that session.
<b>“Joy”</b> - Jennifer Lawrence re-teams with director David O. Russell and fellow “Silver Linings Playbook” co-stars Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper. She plays Joy Mangano, inventor of the “Miracle Mop” and president of Ingenious Designs, LLC.
<b>“Point Break”</b> - Ericson Core's remake of Kathryn Bigelow's culty 1991 thriller about surfer-boy bank robbers who wear U.S. president masks to commit crimes. Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves starred in the original. The remake stars Edgar Ramírez and Luke Bracey. Will it be as philosophically serious and inadvertently comical as the first?
Dec. 26
<b>“Man Up”</b> - A romantic comedy about a single 34-year-old woman named Nancy (Lake Bell) who, after being mistaken for somebody's blind date, meets what appears to be a perfect boyfriend, a 40-year-old divorcee named Jack (Simon Pegg).