Holiday movies are always a great way to get out of the cold
The Holiday season is upon us, and between spending time with family and a later-than-usual Oscar season this year, the holiday movie release schedule is dense with both family fare and possible future Award-winners. Whether you’re looking to take the edge off your holiday stress with laughter or are just generally in need of some hard-hitting dramatic action, there looks to be a more solid than usual holiday movie season.
The Interview
Perhaps no movie this year has recieved more hype and press than The Interview starring James Franco as Dave Skylark & Seth Rogen as Aaron Rapoport. They play the host and producer of a celebrity tabloid show called “Skylark Tonight,” named after Franco’s character, which North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un ends up being a huge fan of. Franco and Rogen land the titular Interview with him, hoping that it’ll legitimize their careers as journalists. As they prepare to leave, the CIA recruits these two highly unqualified men to assassinate Kim Jong-un, and that’s where the hi-jinks really begin. This film was due to be released on Christmas week, and after much controversy involving a hack on Sony Pictures, it was almost cancelled altogether. Instead, it will had a very limited release and is also available on streaming services and On Demand.
Big Eyes
Tim Burton is back as a director & producer, this time for Big Eyes. Based on the true story of Walter Keane, played by Christopher Waltz, it provides biopic detail into his success as a painter of waifish girls with big eyes in the 1950s and early 60s. His style earned him quite a bit of infamy through his commercialization and thus accessibility he was bringing to the popular art movement of the time. The truth is eventually revealed that Keane’s wasn’t actually his work- it was the work of his wife, Margaret, played by Amy Adams. The film gives focus to Margaret’s beginnings of becoming an accomplished artist, and an extremely commercially successful one at that- and the rift that opens up between her and her husband, who initially took credit for her work while riding the wave of fame.
Into the Woods
It wouldn’t be the holidays without some Disney magic, and this year they’re offering up Into the Woods. It’s a modern take on several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, all tied together by an all-new story about a baker and his wife; played by James Corden & Emily Blunt. Fairy tales featured include Cinderella (played by Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy) and Jack & the Beanstalk, with Jack being played by Daniel Huttlestone. All along the way, the baker and his wife will have to contend with Meryl Streep, who plays the role of a witch who has put a curse on the couple.
American Sniper
From director Clint Eastwood comes “American Sniper,” which stars Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. But there was much more to this true American hero than his skill with a rifle. U.S. Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle is sent to Iraq with only one mission: to protect his brothers-in-arms. His pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and, as stories of his courageous exploits spread, he earns the nickname “Legend.” However, his reputation is also growing behind enemy lines, putting a price on his head and making him a prime target of insurgents. Despite the danger, as well as the toll on his family at home, Chris serves through four harrowing tours of duty in Iraq, becoming emblematic of the SEAL creed to “leave no man behind.”
Mr. Turner
Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of talented & eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner, played by Timothy Spall. Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits, he forms a close relationship with a coastal landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.
