In Theatres
Your monthly guide to new releases
By Ingrid Randoja
DECEMBER 5
FROST/NIXON (pictured above)
Director Ron Howard adapts Peter Morgan’s acclaimed play about the
series of TV interviews British talk show host David Frost (Michael
Sheen) did with former U.S. President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) in
1977, in which the wily Frost (who paid Nixon’s appearance fee out of
his own pocket) pushes Nixon’s buttons and gets him to discuss his role
in the Watergate scandal. Kevin Bacon steps in as Jack Brennan, Nixon’s
chief of staff who negotiates the extremely tricky interview process.
PUNISHER: WAR ZONE
One of Marvel Comics’ most violent “heroes” is Frank “The Punisher” Castle (Ray Stevenson), who makes it his job to take out bad guys. He wipes out most of New York’s mafia, but leaves one disfigured mobster alive, who then recruits an entire army to punish The Punisher.
ADAM’S WALL
This Canadian drama about a young Montreal couple — Jewish Adam (Jesse Aaron Dwyre) and Lebanese Yasmine (Flavia Bechara) — gets a limited release in Toronto this month. You’ve probably already guessed where the tension comes from in this difficult love story. The ages-old distrust between their cultures and the raging conflict in the Middle East means that Adam and Yasmine’s families are less than thrilled with the union.
DECEMBER 12
Meryl Streep in Doubt
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DOUBT
John Patrick Shanley gets the chance to direct a stellar cast in the film adaptation of his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play set inside a Bronx parochial school, circa 1964. Meryl Streep plays the cold-hearted nun Sister Aloysius, who accuses the forward-thinking Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of molesting the school’s only black student (Joseph Foster). Flynn denies the charges, and caught in the middle is Sister James (Amy Adams), who doesn’t know who to believe.
DELGO
This animated fantasy film is set in a world where two races — the earthbound Lockni and the winged Nohrin — dislike one another. So when Delgo (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.), a Lockni teenager, befriends the Nohrin princess (Jennifer Love Hewitt), there’s bound to be trouble. Work on this Romeo and Juliet-inspired tale started — we kid you not — in 1998, and features the voice of Anne Bancroft (who passed away in 2005) as the evil Empress Sedessa. |
NOTHING LIKE THE HOLIDAYS
The Rodriguez clan reunites over Christmas when son Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez) returns home from serving overseas. However, the family isn’t pleased when eldest son Mauricio (John Leguizamo) brings home his high-powered executive wife (Debra Messing).
THE READER
Based on law professor Bernhard Schlink’s novel, this post-WW II drama is set in ’50s Germany and stars Kate Winslet as Hanna, a 36-year-old tram conductor who begins an affair with 15-year-old Michael. Flash-forward eight years to when law student Michael attends a war crimes trial and recognizes Hanna as one of the defendants. She is revealed to be a former concentration camp guard who allowed Jewish women and children to die, and years later Michael (Ralph Fiennes) longs to understand how the woman he once loved could be capable of such atrocities.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
This remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic cast Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, an alien who lands on Earth accompanied by destructive robot Gort. Klaatu’s mission is to decide whether humankind deserves to survive, and it’s up to Klaatu’s unofficial tour guide, Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), to convince him to spare the planet.
DECEMBER 19
The Tale of Despereaux
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THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
Swashbuckling mouse Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) proves his heart is as big as his ears when he sets out to save the kidnapped Princess Pea (Emma Watson) in this animated adventure.
SEVEN POUNDS
Will Smith reunites with his Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino to tell this story about a guilt-ridden man (Smith) who sets out to change the lives of seven worthy strangers.
YES MAN
Jim Carrey, whose last non-animated pic (The Number 23) came out almost two years ago, returns to the big screen with this comedy about a fellow (Carrey) who thinks his negative attitude is keeping him down, so decides he will say “yes” to every opportunity, no matter how far-fetched, that comes his way.
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DECEMBER 25
HURRICANE SEASON
This inspirational sports pic recalls the true story of Louisiana basketball coach Al Collins (Forest Whitaker), who assembles a team of high school players displaced after Hurricane Katrina and leads them all the way to the state championship.
BEDTIME STORIES
When taking care of his young niece and nephew, Skeeter (Adam Sandler) realizes the bedtime stories he tells the kids the night before come true the next day. However, he soon learns he has no control over what comes true, that power belongs with the young ’uns.
Tom Cruise in Valkyrie
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VALKYRIE
Tom Cruise plays real-life Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a German officer who helped engineer a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Needless to say the plan wasn’t successful, but von Stauffenberg and his German military cohorts (played in the film by Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, Bill Nighy and Terence Stamp) are revered as heroes today.
MARLEY & ME
Dog lovers are thrown a bone with this adaptation of John Grogan’s bestseller about life with his incorrigible yellow lab, Marley. Grogan (Owen Wilson) and his wife Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) adopt Marley the pup shortly after marrying, and he proves to be neurotic, virtually untrainable, but also fiercely loyal and loving. And as the Grogan clan grows, so does Marley’s place in the family, right up until his inevitable decline. |
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Judging by the trailer it looks as if director David Fincher solved the technical problems associated with adapting F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story about Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), who’s born as a wee old man and ages in reverse. At the heart of this epic, Oscar-baiting pic is the tragic romance between Benjamin and Daisy (Cate Blanchett), lovers destined to share only a brief moment of bliss before Benjamin grows too young for her, and she grows too old for him.
THE SPIRIT
Merry Christmas fanboys! This holiday season you get an eyeful of Scarlett Johansson in leather, Eva Mendes in lingerie, and other desirable dames showcased in a digitally recreated film-noir world. Director Frank Miller (co-director of Sin City) adapts Will Eisner’s cult comic series from the ’40 and ’50s about The Spirit (Gabriel Macht), a back-from-the-dead cop who takes on evil genius The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson). But The Spirit’s path to the bad guy is blocked by a bevy of femme fatales — Johansson, Mendes, Paz Vega, Jaime King and Stana Katic — who want to both help, and hinder, our hero.
WALTZ WITH BASHIR
Ari Folman was an Israeli solder who participated in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. However, he has no memory of the event, so searches out those who were there with him to help him unblock his memories. Folman uses vivid, comic-book style animation to tell his story.
DECEMBER 26
THE WRESTLER
Nicolas Cage was approached to play the lead role of a washed-up pro wrestler in director Darren Aronofsky’s indie pic, but he graciously pulled out when Aronofsky stated he wanted Mickey Rourke for the part — and now Rourke is earning career-best reviews for his turn. Rourke plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a battered warrior fighting in brutal, low-level matches so he can earn another shot at the big cards. Evan Rachel Wood appears as Rourke’s estranged daughter, while Marisa Tomei plays his stripper girlfriend in this movie that gets a limited release this month but opens wider in January.
SPECIAL EVENTS ON THE BIG SCREEN
WWE-PAY-PER-VIEW
ARMAGEDDON
Sun., Dec. 14: Brawlers from Raw, SmackDown and ECW shuffle off to Buffalo’s HSBC Arena for their annual end-of-year bash.
NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA
THE NUTCRACKER
Live: Sat., Dec. 13, 2 p.m. ET
METROPOLITAN OPERA
DR. ATOMIC (ADAMS)
Encore: Sat., Dec. 6, 1 p.m. ET
THAÏS (MASSENET)
Live: Sat., Dec. 20, 12 p.m. ET