Hotmail
Messenger
My MSN
MSN Directory
Winter movies roll in like a 800-lb. gorilla
‘King Kong’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ arrive for the holiday season
 | Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody recoil in fear in "King Kong." |
Universal Pictures |
It’s holiday season, which means Oscar bait will be coming your way fast and furious. From Heath Ledger’s award-worthy turn in “Brokeback Mountain” to Steven Spielberg’s race to finish the likely Oscar best-picture nominee “Munich,” much of what comes to theaters in the next month and a half is what you’ll see on those Oscar ballots.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be blockbusters. One of the biggest is coming your way on Dec. 14 as Peter Jackson unleashes “King Kong.” Can the film live up to his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Could it even vie for Oscar?
How about turning a series of beloved children’s books into movies? No, not Harry Potter. These books star a talking lion named Aslan and are widely thought to be a retelling of the Christ story. Will “The Chronicles of Narnia” prove as popular as Harry and his pals?
Some good small films emerge as Scarlett Johansson emerges as a new Woody Allen muse in “Match Point,” and George Clooney takes possible steps towards an Oscar nomination in “Syriana.” Yes, the Oscar race heats up, my friends, but at least now we’ll have something to keep us warm this winter.
“The Ice Harvest”
Starring: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Randy Quaid, Oliver Platt
Director: Harold Ramis
Story: It’s Christmas Eve, and lawyer Charlie Arglist (Cusack) and his sleazy associate (Thornton) have just embezzled $2,147,000 from Kansas City boss Bill Guerrard (Quaid). But will Charlie be able to escape with conquest Connie Nielson before morning? Well, with the local police and drinking buddy Oliver Platt on his tail, it doesn’t look good.
Buzz: Thornton (“Bad Santa”) is making a habit of starring in unorthodox Christmas movies, which is great for viewers who need a break from all that holiday “spirit.” Cast aside, the best sign that this may be a fun anti-holiday film is that Robert Benton (“Nobody’s Fool”) and novelist Richard Russo (“Empire Falls”) wrote the screenplay. With a good script (“Groundhog Day”), director Ramis can do great work, with a bad script (“Multiplicity”) not so much. Cusack (“Must Love Dogs”) could really use a hit film (or at the very least, a good film). Platt is one of those actors that’s dependably good in almost everything he does.
Web site: http://www.theiceharvest.com/
“In the Mix”
Starring: Usher, Chazz Palminteri, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Anthony Fazio, Matt Gerald, Robert Davi, Kevin Hart
Director: Ron Underwood
Story: When a DJ (Usher) manages to save the life of a mafia princess (Chriqui), her father (Palminteri) ends up hiring him to be her bodyguard. But will these two kids from different worlds end up falling for each other? It wouldn’t be a movie if they didn’t. Meanwhile, Palminteri is more concerned with dealing with rival mafia gangs and a young interloper who wants to take his place.
Buzz: This will be the test to see if Usher (“Texas Rangers”) can open a film. This looks like pretty standard “boy from the wrong side of the tracks meets girl from the upper class”-type stuff, and it’s hard to imagine director Underwood (“Adventures of Pluto Nash”) injecting anything new into that tired formula. Basically, this is a movie for teenage Usher fans. You may remember Chriqui from her role as Eric’s girlfriend Sloan in the TV series “Entourage.”
Web site: http://www.usherinthemix.com/inthemix_teaser_content.html
“Just Friends”
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, Amy Smart, Chris Klein, Ty Olssen
Director: Roger Kumble
Story: Music executive and player Chris (Reynolds), goes back to his hometown for Christmas and finds himself confronting a former crush (Smart) who rejected him back when he was an overweight high schooler by telling him she wanted to be “just friends.” Complicating things are a superstar singer he’s trying to sign (Faris) and Dusty (Klein), a do-gooder who sweeps Smart off her feet.
Buzz: Doesn’t Reynolds (“Waiting…”) seem like the ultimate fifth choice, as if every movie he does has already been pitched to at least four other guys with higher price tags, who have turned it down flat? Come to think of it, Smart (“The Butterfly Effect”) has that exact same “OK, how about her” quality. The bright spot here could be Faris, who seems to be channeling a Paris Hilton meets Mariah Carey type. However, with Kumble (“The Sweetest Thing”) at the helm, it’s best not to expect too much.
Web site: http://www.justfriendsmovie.com/
“The Libertine”
Starring: Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, Rosamund Pike, Tom Hollander, Johnny Vegas
Director: Laurence Dunmore
Story: Depp stars as the decadent poet John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester in 17th century London, who loves drink and debauchery and who also has a passionate romance with actress Elizabeth Berry (Morton). When he writes a scandalous play that lampoons Charles II (Malkovich), it leads to his eventual banishment and downfall.
Buzz: There are certainly a lot of Depp fans out there (just note his long reign on MSNBC’s own ‘It’ List), but will they come out to support him as a drunken 17th century poet? Stephen Jeffreys adapted his own play and this is Dunmore’s first directorial effort. It seems like a movie that will play well at the arthouse but won’t penetrate mainstream audiences. Those folks will wait for the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.
Web site: http://www.miramax.com/thelibertine/
“Syriana”
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, Mazhar Munir
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Story: This political thriller features multiple storylines set in the oil industry, traveling from Washington back rooms to Persian Gulf oil fields. Clooney is a CIA operative coming to grips with truth about the work he does. Damon is an up-and-coming oil broker who goes through a family tragedy and finds unexpected solace from a Saudi Prince (Siddig). Wright is a corporate lawyer who faces a moral dilemma as he handles a merger between two oil companies. Finally, Munir is a disenfranchised Pakistani boy who falls prey to a charismatic cleric.
Buzz: With this film, “Constant Gardener,” and “Lord of War,” we seem to have a mini-trend of movies that deal with American corruption from the American point of view. The film may have a lot of storylines to juggle, but with Gaghan (“Traffic”) handling the screenplay duties as well as the directing, it should be more coherent than it seems. Clooney put on 38 pounds for the role, and seriously jeopardized his health. Considering that the Oscar buzz on Clooney's performance is starting to heat up, that sacrifice may have been worthwhile.
Web site: http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/main/movies/movies.jsp
“Yours, Mine and Ours”
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo, James 'Lil'JJ' Lewis, Linda Hunt, George Lopez
Director: Raja Gosnell
Story: Frank (Quaid) has eight kids; Helen (Russo) has 10. But when they fall in love, their brood, unwillingly becomes 18 strong (take that, “Cheaper by the Dozen”). The kids aren’t happy about their new, huge family, so after fighting each other for a while, they decide to band together against a common enemy: their parents. This is a remake of the 1968 film that starred Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball.
Buzz: Quaid (“The Rookie,” “The Parent Trap”) makes a great movie dad, but this movie definitely has potential to be the slapstick dud that “Cheaper by the Dozen” was (though that hardly stopped people from going to see it). Russo (“The Thomas Crown Affair”) is really too good an actress for a movie like this, but if it helps resurrect her fading career, why not? Amber Tamblyn (“Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) and Sean Faris (TV’s “Reunion”) are among the kids. In a really bad sign, Gosnell also helmed the remake of “Miracle on 34th Street.” Some directors don’t know when to leave a classic alone.
Web site: http://www.yoursmineandoursmovie.com/
| Rate this story | Low | High |
MORE FROM MORE NEWS AND OTHER FEATURES |
 Producers blast actors over Internet clips issue |
| Add More news and other features headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide