Welcome to Oscar season everyone! You made it through the slow and lumbering fall and have made it to the holiday season of November and December. This season’s batch of award-worthy release dates keeps moving like a driveway snow drift on a windy winter night. Several Oscar contenders (Diana, Dallas Buyer’s Club, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Monuments Men) have all danced and postured when and where they will release, with even a few moving out of the season entirely. The latest dates are here, but keep an eye on the calendar, as even these dates might change in the next two months.
NOVEMBER 1
Ender’s Game— X-Men Origins: Wolverine director Gavin Hood is hoping to create the next Hunger Games and not the next After Earth in adapting Orson Scott Card’s much-beloved and hotly-anticipated science fiction novel. Hugo‘s Asa Butterfield and True Grit‘s Hailee Steinfeld play the central youth alien fighter while Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, and Viola Davis round out the adult mentors. There is a whole fanbase that begs this movie not screw up the book. Good luck. (trailer)
About Time— British romantic comedy hit-maker Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill, Four Wedding and a Funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary) decided to mix a little time travel this time around with Harry Potter series supporting star Domhnall Gleeson pursuing Rachel McAdams while getting time travel wisdom from his father, played by Bill Nighy. The underserved romantic crowd will surely grab this one as preview audiences have been giving About Time stellar review. (trailer)
Last Vegas— Billed as The Hangover for the AARP crowd, National Treasure series director Jon Turteltaub combines the charismas of four Oscar winners, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline, as a quartet of old friends hitting Sin City to celebrate a bachelor party, settle old rivalries, and sort out new cobwebs. (trailer)
Free Birds— Newcomer animation house Reel FX Creative Studios is bankrolled their first CGI feature, a zany buddy movie about talking turkeys dodging becoming Thanksgiving meals. Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, and Amy Poehler lead the voice cast. (trailer)
NOVEMBER 8
Thor: The Dark World— As big, dumb, and loud as you think the God of Thunder is, the Avengers-connected Marvel franchise can make money with just about anything. Continuing the Asgardian adventures of Thor (Chris Hemworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and planting seeds towards The Avengers 2 coming in 2015, you’ve got this automatic box office hit. Iron Man 3 is the top grossing movie of the year so far. Expect this to give it shot to make it two big hits in a row. Nothing else is opening this weekend. No one wants a piece of the Disney-Marvel machine. (trailer)
NOVEMBER 15
The Best Man Holiday— Fourteen years after one wild wedding weekend of revealed secrets and test friendships by director Malcolm D. Lee, the entire Best Man ensemble (Taye Diggs, Morris Chestnut, Terrance Howard, Nia Long, Monica Calhoun, Harold Perrineau, Regina Hall, Sanaa Lathan, and Melissa De Sousa) is back for a holiday-themed reunion. The first film was an underrated gem of a romantic comedy. Here’s to hoping this one can be a special return treat. (trailer)
The Book Thief— Based on the 2005 international bestseller by Markus Zusak, newcomer Sophie Nelisse portrays a young girl discovering the open world of books during the Nazi occupation of World War II while living with a foster family (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson) sheltering Jewish refugees. With powerful historic ties and prime source material, The Book Thief has been gaining attention on the festival circuit and will be an Oscar contender. (trailer)
NOVEMBER 22
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire— Here’s the big hitter of the season. Springboarding off of the phenomenal success of the first film, newly vested Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence returns as heroine Katniss Everdeen, whose triumphant victory in the 74th Hunger Games has inspired a bit of a brewing uprising in the divided citizens of Panem. When she is thrust back to the killing field of the 75th Games, her symbol of strength is tested once again. Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth return to form the love triangle while Philip Seymour Hoffman joins Donald Sutherland as the villain. I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence takes over the director’s chair from Gary Ross. (trailer)
Delivery Man— Vince Vaughn is doing what Vince Vaughn does best: talking and joking around. This time around, he enters Sandler territory of wannabe heartstrings as a slacker that finds out his fertility clinic donations from back in college have fathered 533 children. He feels the guilt of responsibility, thanks to his lawyer buddy (Chris Pratt), to get to know many of them and see his genes in action. (trailer)
Nebraska— The Descendants Oscar winner Alexander Payne is back with a small father-son road movie about an aging Montana bum (Bruce Dern) who believes he’s a won a million dollar contest. He drags his son (Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte) along on the quest to Omaha to claim the money. The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival where Dern won the Best Actor award. Expect similar buzz here stateside. (trailer)
NOVEMBER 27
Frozen— The Disney makers of Tangled, set their sights on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen for this CGI-animated feature about dueling princesses (Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell) with a talking snowman sidekick (Josh Gad) tagging along. I’m sure this one is selling costumes and dolls already, even before its big Thanksgiving weekend release. (trailer)
Homefront— Oh look! Another Jason Statham movie! I wonder if he’s the anti-hero who’s thrust into violent and explosive action that he doesn’t want, but is fully capable of handling. Maybe there are bad guys who deserve punishment that crossed him. Gosh, I hope he makes it in the end. This guy’s career cycle continues with Kate Bosworth, Winona Ryder, and James Franco fueling the fire. (trailer)
Oldboy— Director Spike Lee aims high to remake the 2003 South Korean cult classic about a kidnapped man and father who is released after 20 years to find answers and those responsible for his imprisonment in a most violent way. Josh Brolin, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharlto Copley, and Elizabeth Olson star. (red band trailer)
Black Nativity— The long-favored, Langston Hughes-written Off-Broadway tradition of the Nativity retelling with an all-black cast gets a feature film musical treatment from the director of Talk to Me and Eve’s Bayou Kasi Lemmons. Forrest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Tyrese Gibson, and Mary J. Blige lend their voices to this movie. (trailer)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom— In the second and far more respectable Mandela biographical film of the year, Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) directs Idris Elba as he plays the South African revolutionary in a film outlining the entire span from his earlier life, long imprisonment, and resurrection as the country’s president. Skyfall‘s Naomie Harris support Elba as Winnie Mandela. U2 crafted a special song for the movie that’s sure to get sung on Oscar night next year. (trailer)
DECEMBER 6
Inside Llewyn Davis— The multiple Oscar-winning Coen Brothers are at it again with another quirky period piece. This time they are following a struggling folk singer on the Greenwich Village music scene of the 1960’s. Oscar Isaac is the title character and Carey Mulligan is the long-suffering girlfriend at the center of the story. They are joined by John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, and F. Murray Abraham. The ubiquitous music will be provided by mega-producer T-Bone Burnett collaborating with Marcus Mumford from Mumford and Sons. The film won second place at the Cannes Film Festival and hopes to bring that success and pedigree to Oscar night. (red band trailer)
Out of the Furnace— From the director of Crazy Heart, Academy Award winner Christian Bale plays a struggling Rust Belt man who leaves prison only to be brought into a dark world of crime to rescue his younger brother (Casey Affleck) from getting mixed in with the wrong people. Redneck justice commences, co-starring Woody Harrelson, Forrest Whitaker, Sam Shepard, Willem Dafoe, and Zoe Saldana. (trailer)
Dallas Buyer’s Club— Piggy-backing off of one Oscar-worthy starring role earlier this year in Mud to another, Matthew McConaughey stars in the true-life story of Ron Woodroof, a wild 80’s Texas rodeo cowboy, who’s life changes when he contracts HIV and takes it up himself to smuggle unapproved and experimental drugs from Mexico and other foreign countries to help himself and fellow sufferers of the disease. Think Philadelphia meets Catch Me If You Can. (trailer)
DECEMBER 13
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug— After The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the other big hitter this season is the second chapter of Peter Jackson’s new prequel trilogy that was started last year. Bilbo Baggins, with the One Ring in his possession, continues his quest alongside the heroic dwarves, led by Richard Armitage and at odds with the elves like Legolas (Orlando Bloom), who are hoping to reclaim their homeland from a powerful and ruthless gold-loving dragon (performed and voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). The middle chapter of a trilogy tends to be the best. Let’s see if this big film can follow that trend. (trailer)
American Hustle— Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter writer-director David O. Russell reunites with Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, and Jennifer Lawrence for a 70’s/80’s crime epic right out of the Scorsese realm about a con man and his girlfriend being propositioned by the FBI to infiltrate the Jersey mob, which reaches all the way up the mayor (Jeremy Renner). Russell’s last two films netted Bale and Lawrence their Oscars. Combine all of that talent and more together and it just might be Russell’s turn himself to get awarded. (trailer)
A Madea Christmas— Tyler Perry in drag… again… this time at Christmas. Does this need any more description? I guess it has Larry the Cable Guy in it. That ought to blow your hair back. Someday, this act is going to get old, but the man still sells tickets and has a following. This man will be doing this until he himself is Madea’s age and further. Then, he won’t need the makeup. (trailer)
DECEMBER 18-20
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues— The 70’s have become the 80’s and the Channel 4 News Team of Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), and Champ Kind (David Koechner) are hoping for a comeback with the onset of the cable news revolution. Harrison Ford, James Marsden, Kristin Wiig, Meagan Good, and bevy of cameos join the fray. I believe former New York Jet linebacker Bart Scott said it best. (trailer)
Saving Mr. Banks— The Blindside director John Lee Hancock goes behind-the-scenes in 1961 to chronicle the making of Mary Poppins at Walt Disney Studios and the negotiation it took for Walt Disney himself (Academy Award winner Tom Hanks) to persuade Australian Mary Poppins author Pamela Travers to acquire the rights to make the movie. Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, B.J. Novak, and Colin Farrell in this joint venture between Disney and BBC Films. (trailer)
Her— Spike Jonze, eclectic director of Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Where the Wild Things, puts out unexpected romantic relationship film set in the near future when a divorcee (Joaquin Phoenix) becomes attached to a personal operating computer system voiced by Scarlett Johannson. Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Chris Pratt, and Olivia Wilde join Phoenix to put the human element into this feature. Sound unconvinced by the odd premise? Check out the mesmerizing trailer.
DECEMBER 25-27
The Wolf of Wall Street— Martin Scorsese returns to the decadent 1980’s for a Wall Street tale of greed and corruption with Leonardo DiCaprio’s fourth-wall-breaking lead at the head of the pack. This is DiCaprio’s fifth collaboration with Scorsese. Their partnership has rivaled the director’s old muse relationship with Robert De Niro. Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Favreau, and Jean Dujardin round out the cast. Buyer beware, this is one of the films jockeying to possibly leave this winter season and wait until next year. (trailer)
The Secret Life of Walty Mitty— James Thurbar’s classic short story, previously made into a film way back in 1947 starring Danny Kaye as the titular daydreamer, has now made it into Ben Stiller’s hands as the director and star after Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg flirted with the project. The perpetual loser and big dreamer played by Stiller longs for a co-worker’s (Kristen Wiig) attention and relevance while working at Life magazine when a possible adventure presents itself. This film has arguably the slickest and simplest teaser and trailer of any film this year. You have to respect marketing that doesn’t give away an entire film.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit— Star Trek star Chris Pine becomes the fourth man to play Tom Clancy’s favorite CIA analyst Jack Ryan, in director Kenneth Branagh’s action-thriller hashing out an original Ryan story not connecting to any particular book. That’s their first mistake right there. There’s a plethora of great stories by the master that is Clancy. Why pretend to write something smarter and not true to the character? Branagh himself playing the heavy, Kiera Knightley playing the love interest, and Kevin Costner playing the mentor is not enough. (trailer)
August: Osage County— Adapting Tracy Lett’s Tony and Pultizer-winning play of domestic Midwestern family strife, director John Wells has assembled a showdown between a crass mother (Meryl Streep), her oldest daughter (Julia Roberts), and the rest of the family clan gathered to address a family tragedy. Oscar winner Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Emmy winner Margo Martindale, and Oscar nominees Sam Shepard, Juliette Lewis, and Abigail Breslin are those arriving for this family conclave. See two great actresses go toe to toe. (trailer)
Grudge Match— While they aren’t playing the same characters, to have Academy Award winners Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro playing aged boxing rivals might as well be Rocky Balboa versus Jake LaMotta. All of the old people jokes are included, along with Kevin Hart’s talkative promoter, Academy Award winner Alan Arkin’s trainer, and Kim Basinger’s love interest. Stallone did the right thing ending Rocky with 2006’s near-perfect Rocky Balboa and De Niro has finally stopped being a clown lately at his old age. Even with this being new characters, neither guy needed this movie ruining their previous work. (trailer)
47 Ronin— Keanu Reeves makes a rare feature appearance in this samurai fantasy film about a warrior joining a small band of fellow samaurais facing long odds and insurmountable challenges to avenge their fallen master. Dazzling effects coupled with decadent fight scenes has suited Reeves before. Let’s see if it works again. (trailer)
Lone Survivor— Peter Berg, the director of The Rundown and Friday Night Lights, hopes to avenge this Battleship flop with this real-life story set during the War in Afghanistan. Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, and Emile Hirsch play outnumbered Navy SEAL Team 10 troops behind enemy lines with the long trek on foot out of harm’s way with an army at their back. Eric Bana is the commanding officer back at base for this sure-to-be riveting macho action drama. (trailer)
