Fall-holiday Movie Preview: December
Our picks for December’s must-see movies
Avatar (pictured above)
Just to give you some perspective on this epic sci-fi project, director James Cameron wrote the first draft in early 1996 — a year before Titanic was released. It’s also the first big-screen feature film he’s directed since that great ship went down.
It’s the story of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a Marine who’s paralyzed from the waist down, so signs up for the Avatar program, which will allow him to live inside a healthy body again. Twist is, that body is half-human and half-Na’vi, the latter being
a race of slithery blue creatures who live an idyllic life on the resource-rich planet of Pandora. And Jake is supposed to help the evil humans strip the planet of those resources. Nu-uh.
Plot aside, the real reason the industry’s buzzing about this film is the special effects. Cameron planned to make this film in digital 3D long before most people realized the format was on its way back. He also developed his own motion-capture technique, which, he says, makes it easier to envision the scenes as they’re being filmed.
Too bad a bunch of slick 3D films have beaten Cameron to the punch and similar technology has become commonplace. Question is, will Avatar take those special effects to a new level?
Release date: December 18
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Brothers
Tobey Maguire’s first film since 2007’s Spider-Man 3 is this remake of a Danish drama. He plays Sam, a clean Marine who goes off to fight in Afghanistan where really bad things happen. Meanwhile, his troubled brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) starts looking in on Sam’s wife
(Natalie Portman) and kids.
Release date: December 4
Everybody’s Fine
Based on the Italian comedy Stanno Tutti Bene, Everybody’s Fine casts Robert De Niro as a widower who takes a road trip to visit, and reconnect with, his various children — Amy (Kate Beckinsale), Rosie (Drew Barrymore) and Robert (Sam Rockwell). Look for Lily Mo Sheen as “Young Amy,” perfect casting since the 10-year-old is the offspring of Beckinsale and actor Michael Sheen.
Release date: December 4
The Princess and the Frog
It’s an old-fashioned Disney animated feature...if you’re still in your teens. The studio returns to 2D animation and enlists the vocal stylings of Oscar-lock Randy Newman to support their first new princess in more than a decade, Princess Tiana. But, as Disney’s first African-American princess, Tiana also represents
a leap forward. Living in New Orleans, the princess is tricked into kissing a frog in the hopes of turning him into a prince. Instead, she turns into a frog.
Release date: December 11
The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson directs the long-anticipated big-screen version of Alice Sebold’s novel. Atonement’s Saorise Ronan is Suzie, a young girl who, having been raped and murdered, hovers over her hidden remains, watching her mom (Rachel Weisz), dad (Mark Wahlberg) and the rest of her family deal with her death. Meanwhile, her killer remains at large.
Release date: December 11
Invictus
Of all the ways one could make a bio-pic about Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman), Invictus chooses to come at its subject through an unconventional entry point — the 1995
Rugby World Cup, which the South African leader used to bring his ailing country together post-apartheid.
Matt Damon steps in as Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African team.
Release date: December 11
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
On the verge of divorce, Manhattan couple Meryl and Paul Morgan (Sarah Jessica Parker, Hugh Grant) witness a murder. So, instead of going their separate ways, they’re forced to relocate — together — to a tiny Wyoming town, courtesy of the witness protection program.
Release date: December 18
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel
Most of us know what it’s like to feel out of place on the first day of school, imagine how much worse it would be if you were a chipmunk, and all the other students were human. No, not the premise for a George Carlin bit; but the plot of the sequel to 2007’s huge live-action/CGI hit starring rodents Alvin, Simon and Theodore and their human guardian Dave (Jason Lee).
Release date: December 25
Sherlock Holmes
Robert Downey Jr. pulls his English accent out of the tickle trunk to play England’s most famous sleuth, the venerable Sherlock Holmes. Jude Law jumps in as Holmes’ sidekick, Watson, and together they
battle Satanist Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a mysterious cult leader they sent to the gallows, but who promises to return
from the grave.
Release date: December 25
It’s Complicated
In this breath-of-fresh-air romantic comedy from director Nancy Meyers, Alec Baldwin is an older guy who leaves his wife (Meryl Streep) and marries a
20-something. But guess what? He’s miserable, and realizes his ex-wife is the one who makes him happy. Too bad she’s being courted by another old guy (Steve Martin) who saw her value from the start.
Release date: December 25